7:43 p.m.

I stepped out of my car and set the alarm. I didn’t like the looks of

this neighborhood. Stepping through the doors of the building. I

immediately began to smell disinfectant reigning the halls. I gave the petite

graying woman behind the desk my name and she checked me off a list

pointing to the double doors that resided at the end of the long hallway.

I walked quickly through the doors and the feeling changed from medicinal

to a that of a boisterous party with many a child’s peeling laughter. I wasn’t

used to this sort of atmosphere. It made me nervous.

One child in the corner of the room caught my eye. She looked alone and

afraid. So out of place. I barely noticed the fact that she was in a wheelchair.

She sat in the corner beneath an imitation spider web and painted pumpkins

made out of paper bags. As soon as I approached her I saw another connection.

Her name was Samantha. Her name tag said so. My thoughts drifted to my

long lost sister. I weakly tried to smile at her and she looked away. This wasn’t

going well. Where in the hell was Scully anyway?

"Hi. Samantha…Is it?" At least by speaking to her, it seemed to get her attention.

"Ya, I like Sam though" she looked at me quizzically through hazel eyes.

"Why? Who are you?"

"My name’s Mulder." I answered quickly to catch her interest.

She couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11.

"Silly name." She had some real attitude, I could tell that already.

"Well if you don’t tell anyone, My first name is Fox, but my friends

call me Mulder."

"Even sillier." I then noticed the dark circles ringing her eyes, I hadn’t

noticed them before.. "Your mom didn’t like you much huh?" She finally smiled.

"No, I guess not…" I put my hand on her chair and kneeled to her level.

"My sister’s name is Samantha."

"Really? Is she here?" I had caught her interest.

"No, I lost her a long time ago when I was 11."

"I’m 12 now. How did she die?" Sam looked truly concerned.

"She’s just missing, we never found her." I didn’t know what else to say,

how else to explain the circumstances to her.

"That’s very sad." She wheeled herself closer to me as I spotted Scully

enter the room out of the corner of my eye. I waved her down and we watched her approach. "Is that your wife? She’s pretty, I like red hair."

"No", I laughed, "She’s my friend. We work together."

"She has a doctor coat on. Are you both doctors?"

Scully heard the last remark and added her two cents. We work for the FBI

Do you know what that is? Who’s your friend Mulder?"

Samantha, as witty as usual, said "Ya, they are kind of like cops for the

government, but you dress better."

We all laughed and I introduced the two women in my life for tonight.

One thing still sat on my mind, the circles under Sam’s eyes were horrible.

As the night progressed, I found the nerve to ask her about it.

Her inner strength welled in her as she told me of the nightmares that had been

cradling her sleepless nights.

"They seem so real and sometimes…Just sometimes, I think they are real."

I didn’t want to push her further. I felt helpless and I wanted to do something,

but there wasn’t much I could do, but smile and tell her we all have nightmares.

Sam grabbed my hand, "I like you Mulder. And I don’t like a lot of people."

I think this was a compliment, but I didn’t know how to read a twelve year

old girl yet.

Scully had wandered off to chat with some other children.

"Well Sam, not too many people like me, so that makes you special. I said lightheartedly.

"Mulder, I’ll tell you about my dreams…If you want. Maybe it would make

me feel better." She tugged at me weakly.

"Sure Sam…Tell me all about them." I was picturing bogeymen and dark streets

and re-enactments of whatever tragedy placed her in her chair at such a young age.

That wasn’t the case of these night terrors.

"I dream about people…People I’ve never met. I see them hurting and afraid

and I can’t help them. I try to run to them, to tell them not to go swimming, or

not to get in their car. I tell them it will crash, or they will drown but they can’t

hear me. Nobody can hear me. And now I’m afraid to sleep. Afraid I’ll see more.

I’ve seen too much already." Tears fell on her thin cheeks. I looked to see if she’d

drawn attention to herself. No one seemed to notice.

But Sam appeared truly terrified. "Samantha," she glared as I spoke her name,

"Why do you think these dreams are real sweetie?"

"Because…" She paused as though trying to read my expressions. And spoke almost

 angrily. "Because I see it the next day on the news or in the paper. And now you’ll think

 I’m crazy too." She lowered her head shamefully.

I took her chin in my hand trying to gain her trust back. "Ya know Sam,

if anyone’s gonna believe you, it’ll have to start with me."

I took the kid over to play some games with the others. Knowing

I couldn’t be around for her like she needed me to be. But hoping that I would

be able to brighten this night a little with a change of surroundings for her.

When the night was over, I’d probably never see her again. Just like my Samantha. And that

 made me ill.

Monday, October 27th

5:01 p.m.

I parked my car and fed the meter on the street. I was still haunted by

the words of the sleep deprived adolescent. This kid really got to me.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t thinking about finding my sister

Or who might be listening in on my phone calls. I was wondering if I

might ever be a parent myself. And I was thinking there must be

something I could do for that girl. I didn’t want to walk into her life,

make it a little brighter and walk out. I passed by a tinted window on my

way to the deli to grab a sandwich, and I saw something I hadn’t seen

since my childhood. It was a dream catcher. It resembled an intricate man made

spider web decorated with feathers, an arrow tip, and fur. My sister had one of these

as a child. Indian legend says it was used to filter bad dreams beside a child’s

bed. I put it on plastic impulsively and had them put it in a gift bag for me. I forgot

all about that sandwich I was going for. Maybe later I’d meet up with Dana for that dinner she owed me.

Cliffridge Children’s Home

Monday October 27

6:08 p.m.

I grabbed the bag from my car and ran inside. I must have looked like a nut.

The same elderly woman behind the front desk shook her head in awe.

When I told her who I was and what I wanted. She just smiled a warm

motherly smile.

"They do tend to get to you don’t they. And that Samantha is a doll."

I went down the hall to the room with the T.V. Star Trek something

was on…It was hard to follow these days. I saw Samantha in the corner.

I walked towards her, the other kids didn’t seem to notice anything but the

television. Samantha looked even more worn down than she had been last night.

She was holding something in her hand, a rag doll that she was making out of

scraps of material.

"I have something for you." I pulled the gift bag out from beneath my coat.

"Hi!" her face lit up like a Jack o Lantern. I could see the beginnings of

adolescent puppy love build in the corners of her smile. It was touching.

She took the package and opened it confused by what it had inside.

So I began to tell her the Native American story behind the dream catcher.

"Does it really work Mulder?" she said inquisitively.

"I hope so Sam…For you hon, I hope it does."

Her face suddenly fell and I asked her what was wrong.

"I…I…" she stuttered. "I had an awful dream last night." But

you were in it. I was…Running to you." She glanced at her

motionless limbs. "You were in a car, a gray one, with a funny

license plate…It had a letter on it? Not like the letters in the number,

it was on the side. My lips went numb as she began

to described my car. A car she surely could have never seen.

She continued, staying reasonably calm. "It was raining, and

your windshield wipers were acting funny. Like they were stopping

and starting…And stopping again. And I called to you but you didn’t

hear me." A single tear ran down her cheek. I brushed it away, wishing it

would wipe away her nightmares as well. "So I tried to run after you,

make you stop, but you didn’t and you hit something. It was all fire

and smoke and sparkles like lightning."

I took a deep breath. "Well kiddo, that sounded pretty scary, but there

isn’t any rain in the forecast and I don’t drive a car like that." I was really glad

I’d parked out back, or that lie would come back to haunt me if she ever saw my

car.

"Thank you for the gift." Samntha placed her arm around my back. "I hope it

works too… But promise me one thing Mulder. You won’t drive anywhere late.

Okay?" I could see it generally meant something to her.

"I’ll tell you what." I softened my voice a little. "I’ll try my best to get home

at a reasonable time…Okay mom?" I tried to make her smile, but I had failed.

"Okay. Please be careful. You’re my friend." I hugged her tight and

felt something warm inside.

"I’ll try, but it’s getting late now. So I gotta go." I placed a kiss on her

forehead and whispered. "You’re my friend too."

October 27th

7:30 p.m.

As I drove down the street I glanced at the sky. The weather forecast

said we were headed for an unusual dry spell but the closer I looked,

the more it looked like rain. All at once as the droplets began to hit

the windshield, I wished I were already at home. My grip tightened on the

wheel and my knuckles began to go white. I was a mess. The thought that child

had put in my head filled me with such fear.

As I neared the street I resided on, I relaxed, a little. The rain was still

at a minimal and the sky was relatively clear.

October 30th

It was pretty late.

I was home.

A few days had passed since my meeting with Sam. She bribed my phone

number from her doctor and left some cute messages on my machine. I

let her know I was fine and she said she hadn’t had any more dreams

about me. She thanked me for the present and I thanked the power of

suggestion over the mind of a child silently to myself. I guess it had helped.

"Tomorrow is Halloween." she said, "Will you maybe come and see me?

I made my own costume. It’s pretty."

I promised I’d try but I had a lot of work to catch up on. I’d been preoccupied a

lot lately and I was falling behind.

I hung up the phone and heard the rain pittering outside. That queasy

feeling came over me again. I picked up a stack of newspapers I’d

neglected to read and one particular headline caught my eye. Youth Drowns

in Pool in Rescue Attempt. Sadly the girl was mistook a doll that had

fallen into the pool for her little brother. Things that I see everyday

suddenly held a new form of pain for me. I had been dulled by it all

and suddenly it was alive again. And I was on fire.

My cell phone rang in my jacket pocket and I searched frantically

to find it. Scully was on the other end and asked where I’d disappeared

to. I told her some of the story and she laughed her usual Ya I believe

that! laugh. She asked if I could meet her at the morgue, and promised

that she would start returning back owed favors real soon.

I didn’t want to go out, but she needed my opinion on something, which

usually proved interesting in the long run.

I grabbed my umbrella and headed out for my car. Not thinking about

anything of importance. The air was a bit chilled and I slipped my phone

into my pocket. And pulled my coat around me clutching my car keys tightly.

It seemed darker than normal, and that should have been my clue to

turn back right then, but I didn’t. I drove, and the sky got darker. I didn’t

even think twice until the lightning started in. The wind was minimal,

but there was a lot of debris from trees and other natural byproducts. My

wipers caught a clump of leaves on one of their passings and began

to act erratic dragging the mess along with them. And just then, I remembered

what she had said. I remembered it all, and most of all I recalled the

tear that she shed because the dream had scared her so.

I continued driving a little shaken, but very alert at this point. All

in an instant. Something. No, a child ran out in front of my car. Not just any

child, I knew it was Sam. But how? My heart leapt in my chest, and I slammed

on the brakes. The anti-locking system kicked into full gear, but I still impacted

with something.

"Please God, don’t let it be her." I jumped out of my car and ran to where

I was sure she laid, but there was no one there. Off in the distance I saw lightning

strike a little to close for comfort and a pole fell. Creating an Independence

Day like light show for all the residence to see. And I sobbed. That ^{was where my car}