On a cool, summer evening in 1992, I was walking my dog Marty on the sidewalk. It was darker out and it was hard to see what was ahead. As I walked along, he suddenly stopped. I could feel Marty’s growl through the pavement. Now Marty was a 170 pound husky-pit bull mix so naturally, I wasn’t too afraid. After all, it was probably a little animal of some sort just trying to scrounge up some food for itself.
Suddenly, his growling turned into a short whine. This was the first sign that something was wrong, as I have never heard him whine like that before, so I tried to see what was scaring him. It’s not like I could’ve done anything anyways. I was about 50 at the time so I wasn’t any spring chicken.
Suddenly, a scarcely-clothed woman stepped out of the same darkness my dog was terrified of. She was a small, petite woman with an olive glow to her skin and hair black as pitch. She bewilderingly spewed out “Mister…please help… he… he’s looking for me. I need help.” “Okay. Stay calm. I can help you. Here take this.” I handed her my water bottle that I had brought with me. Even though she looked as though she hadn’t eaten or drank anything in days, there was a sense of beauty in her eyes that no amount of starvation or suffering could take.
Marty refused to divert his eyes from the darkness ahead even though I could very much feel him shaking on the side of my leg. I managed to calm the woman down enough to find out her name was Dorothy Ainsley and she had been kidnapped by a man named Mike Davies who has been holding her captive for 7 years. When she said his name, it didn’t take me long to remember him, as news spreads fast around our small town.
A long time ago, he held a woman captive in his home. She never managed to escape his demented grasp. She stole his phone one night and called the police. But by the time they arrived, Davies was gone and the woman was found dead with strangulation marks on her neck. I shuddered at the former repressed memory. “Please take me to the police. He… he’ll hurt me again.” I turned my attention back to Dorothy. When my eyes first looked at her, she had an almost… inhuman look… as though she was and wasn’t there. “Y-yeah let’s go. I spewed out.
We began speed walking to the police station only a few minutes away, never letting her leave my gaze. I found Marty in my peripheral vision sniffing the woman, almost as though he wasn’t sure what she was. “Marty!” I snapped at him, probably due to the uncomfortable tension on the walk. “Oh it’s okay,” The woman replied. “I’d be careful too if I were him.” None of this sat well with me at all, and it was probably at this point I could start to see bruises on the woman’s neck almost in the shape of fingers. “Did Mike… hurt you?” I replied with a dry mouth. “Yes he… he wouldn’t let me leave the house and tried to choke me to stop me when I tried to escape. Luckily I got out of his grasp, bolted out the door, and found you.” “Yeah… lucky…” My hands began to feel clammy and I could feel beads of sweat start to form on the back of my neck. “Okay we’re here.” I quickly replied, wanting to hurry up and help the woman to safety.
What she did next goes against anything and everything I thought I knew about matter and physics. She proceeded to walk through the wall and inside of the station. My jaw dropped to the ground as Marty quickly ran to where Dorothy was only seconds ago to investigate. I left Marty outside and ran into the station to see where she had gone. I found nothing but 2 cops who had not yet realized that I had entered. “Unfortunately yes… we had nowhere else to put it.”
I spent a few minutes quickly explaining to the officers what had just happened to which they gave me this response. “In any other circumstance I would have called you a nut job… but you might wanna sit down for this. Dorothy Ainsley was held captive by Mike Davies. W-we knew about this.” I immediately stood up and snapped at the cop. “You knew she was in trouble? And you didn’t do anything? What the hell is wrong with you!” I could feel a vein pulsating in my forehead. “Sir! Dorothy Ainsley has been dead for 7 years.”
I slowly fell back into the chair I was in. All of the pieces started to be put together in my head as my heart started to race. “Unfortunately at the time of her death the cemetery was under maintenance… so we got permission from the city to bury her body behind the station. Tonight is the 7th anniversary of her death.” I left the station completely speechless but filled with questions.
How was this possible? Is Mike Davies still around? And after so many years, why did Dorothy come back to me? Suddenly, Dorothy reappeared in front of me as a corpse, rotting and smelling of death, but with those unmistakable beautiful eyes. I had to jump back, out of fear and disgust, but in a raspy tone, she told me “Mike is still out there… He’s watching you… he’s in everything you do and everywhere you go. He’s made you his next target. Go home, lock your door, and pray. May God have mercy on your soul.”
That was 10 years ago, and I have been to hundreds of towns and cities, the paranoia following me to every single one. It always starts the same. I think I have finally gotten away, the paranoia leaves, and then I see him. It’s always subtle, a man crossing the street, a bus driver, even once, a man on horseback. C-can you believe that! A man on horseback! Oh lord, I’ve decided that the fight is over. I’m sitting in some random hotel room now, 1911 in hand, having a final whiskey. I’ve thought about this moment over a million times, but never expected it to come this soon. Oh well, guess that’s how life is. Mike Davies will never get me.
…
This is Chief Strong of the Reno Nevada police force. We have a suicide in the Spring Hill hotel suite room number 455. The weapon was a 1911 with one round in the cartridge. The victim has been identified as Hugh Barnes, a 60 year old man whose been drifting from town to town for the last decade. His final doctor visit left some clue as to what happened. He had small symptoms of Schizophrenia, and wouldn’t keep quiet about a Dorothy Ainsley. We should keep a tab on that name, see if it brings up anything…