Mother's Intuition

Mother’s Intuition 

Deanna tossed and turned beneath the heavy blankets. She should have been asleep hours ago, had in fact been in the bed since eight o’clock. She reached for her cell phone in the dark. 11:06 pm. It was almost midnight. She never stayed up this late. Not since her husband passed away three years ago. Deanna considered the bottle of melatonin in the bathroom cabinet. James had taken them almost nightly. He’d always told her that it was the stress of the job that kept him awake at night, and melatonin was the only way that he could sleep. She considered getting up and taking one, but surely after three years they would be expired. No, she would stay in bed. Getting up would probably bring her wide awake, and she needed her rest. Her son was coming home tomorrow. She’d had an uneasy feeling since Michael had called her that morning. He was coming home for a week, and was bringing his new girlfriend with him. The moment she had answered his call, a wave of despair had overcome her. She wanted to see her son, was elated at the thought, but something just didn’t feel right. She remembered the days leading up to James’ accident. She had felt the same way. She hoped the feeling would go away, and said a prayer for Michael before rolling over and pulling the blankets up under her chin. The feeling of foreboding refusing to leave her. She felt as though a darkness had crept into her very soul. It would be hours before Deanna would finally fall asleep, and even then, it would creep into her dreams. 

The sound of the grass brushing against the undercarriage of the car snapped Michael out of his doze. He eased the midsized sedan back onto the road and glanced over at Jen. She was still sleeping. He had hoped to drive straight through without stopping; but now he was thinking that a hotel room would probably be best. He had been lucky that the highway had been mostly empty this time. He didn’t want to push his luck. Jen stirred a bit in the passenger seat, then opened her eyes and sat up. “Where are we?”, she asked. Michael marveled at how beautiful she was and how lucky he was to have caught her attention. 

“About halfway there.”, he told her. He hoped he was right. He’d been driving for the past six hours, and the gps was still showing another five and a half to go. “I think we’re going to have to grab a hotel for the night.” he said yawning loudly. “I hoped we wouldn’t have to, but I’m not doing so good over here. I need a few hours of sleep.” 

“Great.”, Jen told him. “This car is not comfortable to sleep in.” She’d always wanted to stay in an expensive hotel. 

They drove another half an hour before finding a hotel with a vacancy sign. “The Dew Drop”, Michael read aloud. “Well, it looks as good as any of the other hotels in this area.” He didn’t see Jen snarl her nose at the thought of staying in a place called The Dew Drop. He was too busy navigating the turns and curves of the parking lot.  

Michael parked near the office and went in. He didn’t see Jen pull out her phone. A scruffy, overweight man approached the counter. “We only need one night.”, Michael told him. “What time is check-out?” 

“That’ll be $123.49 Mr. Evans”, the desk clerk told him. “Check-out is at nine. If the room is still occupied at 9:15, you will be charged for a second night. Free continental breakfast at eight in the morning, wi-fi is also free. The password is by the phone in your room. There is no smoking in the rooms, no pets allowed, and no late-night parties. Understand?” he asked while handing Michael the key. 

“I think we’ve got it, thanks.”, Michael told him, stuffing the key into his pocket as he left the small office. 

“I think we’re on the back side”, he told Jen. Michael started the car and pulled around to the back. “Do you want to grab all of the luggage, or just what we need for tonight?”, he asked her. 

“We better take it all”, Jen told him with a sigh. “I wouldn’t want the car getting broken into over a few suitcases while we try to sleep.” 

Michael handed her the key to the room. “It’s 307, go on up and I’ll bring the luggage.” He didn’t think the neighborhood looked bad enough to warrant dragging all of their luggage up to the room, but sometimes it was easier to pacify a woman than to argue with her. Michael checked the time on his phone. It was 10:54 pm. He hoped to be sound asleep by midnight.  

Deanna walked down a corridor that she didn’t recognize. The wallpaper was red with a gold pattern. A dark beige carpet with unidentifiable stains lined the hallway. Behind her, she heard the elevator ding and the doors open. Deanna turned around to see who had come to her floor. This was her floor. She felt that very strongly, even though she’d never been here before. No one else should be here. She watched as a female, most likely in her twenties, stepped off of the elevator with a key in her hand. Deanna felt an immediate dislike for her. She was tall and slim with long dark brown hair. The dress she was wearing looked expensive. Deanna hated anyone who showed off their wealth. Mentally noting how out of place the young woman seemed, she watched as the girl walked to the door that was closest to Deanna. The numbers on the wall beside it declared that this was room 307. The woman inserted the key and entered the room, Deanna followed her, unnoticed. 

“Disgusting!”, the young woman said to the empty room. “I can’t believe this is where he brought me!”  

Typical snob. Deanna thought. She watched as the snobby, well-dressed woman dropped her black and white Chanel handbag on the small brown table that served as a nightstand. The feeling of dislike had grown almost to hatred. Deanna had been born to a very wealthy family, then had married an equally wealthy man. But she had never been one to flaunt that fact. Preferring a moderate lifestyle as opposed to a lavish one. This young lady seemed to be the opposite with her Chanel handbag, designer clothes, and snobbish assessment of the room. The woman pulled her phone from the bag, and walked into the bathroom. Once again, Deanna followed her. 

“Hey, it’s me.”, she heard the girl say into the cell phone. “No, not yet. We’ve stopped at a hotel for the night. If that’s what you want to call this hovel! No! Can you believe it? One of the richest bachelors in America, and he’s got me staying at a place called The Dew Drop!” Her nose snarled in dissatisfaction. She listened intently to the person on the other end of the phone. “I know, it’s just embarrassing.”, she sighed. “I have to go; he’ll be up in a minute. I know, Mom, I know. Stop worrying! Yes, I know better than to sign a prenup! That would make everything I do, we do, useless! After I meet his mom, and dazzle her with my charm, he’ll be putty in my hands. Trust me, he’s a mama’s boy.” She listened again as what Deanna assumed to be the girl’s mother spoke. “No, I think we should wait at least six months this time before getting rid of him. If it’s too soon people will people will begin to question why I’ve lost three very rich husbands in less than two years. I have to go, love you! Bye!”, the girl hurried to hang up the call as she heard someone knocking at the door. Deanna felt sorry for whoever the man was that this woman was trying to con. The girl, who Deanna now thought of as the snobby con artist, hurried to the door and opened it. A man came in carrying enough luggage for a month-long vacation! It wasn’t until the man dropped all of the bags on the floor that she realized that man was her son. 

“Michael!”, Deanna shouted, waking herself up from the very vivid dream. It must have been the dark feeling that had her dreaming that way, or maybe just a mother’s worry over her son. He had said they were driving straight through until morning. Since they had not planned to stop at a hotel for the night, she brushed if off as just a bad dream. She’d probably wake up and find Michael asleep in his old room, and his girlfriend asleep in the guest room in the morning. She kept this thought in her mind as she drifted back to sleep. In the morning, she told herself over and over. Even the bad feeling will be gone in the morning. You just need a little sleep. You’ll see, Deanna. In the morning. 

Even though he had turned the heat on as soon as they had gotten there, the room was still cold. Michael scooted closer to Jen. “I need your body heat!”, he joked as he draped his arm around her. She immediately pushed it off.  

“Don’t you dare!”, she snapped at him. 

Confused, Michael grabbed her arm and pulled her over to face him. “Hey, what’s wrong? What did I do?”. He gently brushed her hair out of her face.  

“I’ll tell you this, Michael Evans. When we are married, you will not make me stay at a rundown, rat trap like this one!” Jen yelled at him before turning to face the other way again. 

Michael, more confused now than ever, slid out of bed. He walked around to her side, and sat next to her. “What do you mean, married? We’ve only been dating for a couple of months. Who said anything about marriage? And what’s wrong with this hotel?”, he questioned her. 

“What’s wrong with this hotel?”, Jen practically screamed at him. “The wallpaper looks as though it’s old enough to remember the civil war, the furniture has to predate that, and a free continental breakfast? Only cheap hotels made for blue collar workers who can’t afford a hotel and breakfast offer that! You have money, and plenty of it. Why would you make me stay at a place that only charges $125 a night? Do you think so little of me?” 

Michael stood up and paced the floor at the end of the bed. He had been careful not to let Jen know that he came from a wealthy family. He’d dated several girls that he had really liked only to find out that they were dating him for his money. After the last one, he’d moved halfway across the country, and swore to himself that he would keep his wealth a secret. Now, here he was with the woman he loved, the woman he thought loved him, having a conversation about something that she shouldn’t even know. “What makes you think I have money?”, he asked her. 

“I don’t think, I know!”, Jen yelled at him while sitting up in bed to face him. Tears began to roll down her cheeks. This was a tactic that she had learned years ago. Men hated to see women cry.  

“Jen, I’ve never told you that I had money. I’ve been careful to keep that a secret. I drive an older mid-size sedan, live in a small apartment with little furnishings, and always choose cheap restaurants to eat at. What’s going on here?”, he questioned her. 

The tears had not worked on Michael. She would have to try something else. “Forget it, just forget that I said anything. I’m going to sleep. I suggest you do too!” She lay back down in bed and pulled the blanket back up over herself, refusing to say another word. She’d try shutting him out. 

Michael snatched his phone from the night stand. He went into the bathroom and shut the door, reaching behind himself to lock it. He couldn’t believe that he’d gotten himself into this situation, again. He’d been so caught up in Jen, that he hadn’t bothered to dig into her past. It was a lesson that he’d thought he’d learned well. He’d thought wrong. Michael began his search for the girl who’d insisted on coming home with him to meet his mother. At first, he couldn’t find anything. Then he’d found an article that said that Jen had married a man named Seth Weathers. She’d never mentioned a marriage before. He’d always thought that she had been born a Weathers. Michael typed Seth Weathers into the phone’s search bar. Millionaire dies in freak accident at California home, young bride distraught. Michael clicked the link. A picture of Jen in her wedding dress, extravagant to say the least, and another of her standing by a casket as it was being lowered in the ground. She was dressed all in black, holding a tissue up to her face. He zoomed in on Jen’s face. Was that a smirk? A small smile? He wasn’t sure, but he knew that it wasn’t grief he was seeing. According to the site, Jen had inherited two million dollars. So, she had money too, and was hiding it, he thought to himself. Michael continued searching. 

Deanna sat up in bed. Her dream had seemed so real. She had been on a ladder, changing in a bulb. The ladder had begun to shake; and when she looked down, that same long-haired girl was standing there. Both of her hands were on the ladder and she was shaking it violently. Not getting the results she wanted, the woman had rammed her shoulder into the ladder, causing it to fall. Before Deanna hit the floor, her dream had switched to another. She was driving down the side of a Colorado mountain. It was raining and her brakes had stopped working! The vehicle was going so fast that she had lost control. A transfer truck rounded the corner of the next hard curve. Deanna screamed as the car slid into the side. Then her dream switched again. She was relaxing in an indoor heated pool. A woman sat next to her. As she turned to see who it was, her head was violently shoved under water. Deanna woke gasping for air. She wiped the sweat from her brow and checked her phone. 4am Michael should be there by seven. She wanted to call and check on him; but she didn’t want to disturb him if he was driving. She decided that she would try to sleep a couple more hours. Deanna rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes. Although she thought that she would never get back to sleep with the other dream still so clear in her mind, she drifted off easily. 

She was back in the hotel. The same floor, the same room, with the same girl. This time the girl was sitting up in bed texting someone. Deanna moved to a spot over the girl’s left shoulder to get a better look at the screen. She had seen Michael here earlier, so this woman must be Jen. She was texting someone called X. 

Jen: I don’t think this one is going to work out. I think I blew it. 

X: Are you sure? 

Jen: pretty sure 

X: then you know what you have to do 

As before, the girl didn’t seem to notice Deanna. She lay the phone on the bed and quietly got up. Michael, Deanna thought. Michael was here before. She looked around the room. There was a light coming from beneath the bathroom door. He must be in there. Deanna watched as Jen crept around the room silently. Her son’s new girlfriend pulled a long knife with a white handle from one of her bags. She crouched just outside the bathroom door. Deanna had to warn her son! “Michael!”, she shouted. “Michael! Can you hear me?” She pounded on the bathroom door. Jen didn’t notice, and Michael didn’t answer. Maybe she could get the knife before anyone got hurt. The bathroom door started to open. She was too late. Deanna watched in horror as Jen slowly stood from the crouched position she had taken by the door. Jen raised the knife. “NO!”, Deanna screamed. Instinctively she jumped between the raised knife and her only child. The knife went straight through her as Jen buried it deep into the back of Michael’s neck. 

Monique 5:00 News 

“Yesterday evening police were called to 156 Meadow Drive for a well check when 62-year-old Deanna Langly failed to report to work or answer calls. According to police, they had just received a call from South Mingshire stating that Deanna’s son, Michael Langly, had just been found stabbed to death in a local hotel. The unusual thing about this case is that both victims were stabbed to death on the same night, over 400 miles apart. Even more interesting is that police are saying that both murder weapons were found at the scenes and that they are part of a matching set. The police also report that there are suspects at this time. Deanna Langly owned the world renown, locally based business, Adams. The company makes bone replacement parts for millions around the world. With no living relatives, the fate of the company is left in the hands of the shareholders. Back to you Dave.”