Read Dear Evie: The Lost Memories of a Lost Child for Free Online

evening for… something or perhaps for someone. Both of them would look at the front door which was visible from the kitchen, and then at each other before returning their attentions to the task at hand. Her mother was trying to hide her concerns, but as the clock struck six, the tension began to grow. Both of them looked up often to watch the long hand of the clock make its journey to the bottom when it would be time. Evie’s mother reached up and turned off the music, and both of them seemed to be bracing themselves for something. My own stomach was in knots, and my body tensed up as the dread multiplied in Evie. Her mother started talking to her in a gentle but pleading voice.
     
“Hurry, Evie,” the woman said while attempting a smile, “he’ll be home soon, and we need to be sure things are the way he likes it. We don’t want to make him mad, now do we, baby girl?” Evie looked up from her work and shook her head slowly and timidly.
     
She was wearing the same green dress she wore in the vision, but it was clean and looked freshly pressed. She did not tell me so, but I knew Evie loved the little dress and had worn it to school. Why had I never heard her speak in my dreams? She would look at me, and it was as if we could communicate with each other in our minds, but I never heard a verbal response from her.
     
As the little girl and her mama were looking toward each other, there was a loud slam of the front door that made not only both of them jump, but me as well. I was feeling her tension in my own body. I could feel our body shrink into the chair as the fear traveled through us. I had a lump in my throat and felt my eyes begin to burn with unshed tears. I also knew that everything I felt was mirrored in Evie, and I knew every feeling and thought she had.
     
“Evie don’t you say a word now, baby girl. You want to be a good girl, don’t you?” her mama asked.
     
That same question had caused my vision earlier. Why did that question cause such a reaction from me and from Evie?
     
A man entered the room. He was tall and muscular with dark hair and a dark complexion; one that implied he worked outdoors and had darkened from the sun. His eyes were almost black and seemed angry. He looked toward Evie first without smiling, but then approached the woman who still stood at the sink and pushed against her with his body while kissing her neck and whispered something in her ear. Evie’s mother seemed embarrassed and tried to playfully pull away without making him angry. She placed a nervous hand on his chest and reminded him they were not alone. She tried to do it with a smile and a kiss on the cheek to appease him. Evie kept her face down toward her papers on the table.
     
Who was this man who obviously brought fear to these two? I was feeling the fear along with them, but I didn’t understand why. I didn’t know the man. I didn’t know the woman, and, for that matter, I didn’t know Evie; but I felt a great deal of responsibility for her. I felt I had to protect her. Those dreams were not like the dreams I’d experienced my whole life. Those were vivid, detailed and felt as if they were actually happening to me. And when I would wake up, I didn’t forget them the way I usually forgot the details of my normal dreams, if I remembered my dreams at all. Those dreams seemed more like memories, but they were not my memories, they were Evie’s.
     
The man went to the refrigerator and took out an entire twelve pack of beer, and without a word he went into the next room and turned on the television where he was quickly served his dinner on a tray. The woman seemed relieved, and she and Evie sat down to eat at the little table. Then the dream seemed to fast forward and it was my old dream again. Suddenly the man was furious. He had grabbed Evie by her hair, and as she pulled away, he almost pulled the rubber band completely out of her hair. Then he was holding her by her dress as he was unbuckling his belt. He