“Damn FBI, I’ll show them that mother is safe and sound” but then he had second thoughts about the visit.
“What if… just maybe…that that ghostly figure wasn’t mother…then what?” But he was sure in his mind that the body discovered was not that of his beloved mother.
That night, when Billy had finally fell into an uneasy sleep, he heard a wailing sound. He was sure that it was that of his mother.
“Mother, is that you? I knew you would come back. I knew it.” There was no reply apart from the deafening silence.
“Mother?” Billy was now upright, in his bed, looking out for his mother.
“Mother, why don’t you reply?” Then came the reply that he had awaited for almost six weeks.
“Billy, help me, help me Billy. He has me”
“Who has you mother, I’ll get him. Who has you?” Billy answered in desperation
“He has me, he has me, he has me” She kept on wailing blindly. Her wailing got softer and softer.
“Mother don’t leave, tell me who has you. Mother!” He leapt out of bed and ran towards the sound. However, to no avail. His mother had gone.
Morning quickly arose and Billy still had no sleep. He was awaiting the re-arrival of mother. But alas, no mother!
Just then at that instant, the phone rang.
“Detective Roberts here. Mr. Drake. I am awaiting your arrival.”
“Oh damn! Sorry Mr .Roberts, I completely forgot. I’ll be there in five minutes” He slammed down the receiver, and hurried to get changed.
“Damn FBI, can’t they just leave me alone. If I met mother yesterday, why do they still want me” he complained as he put on a navy blue shirt.
As he arrived in the car park, a swarm of media reporters came upon his to answer needless questions. He tended to ignore all of his questions.
“Mr. Drake, do you think your mother is the body that he FBI have discovered?” Shouted one reporter.
“Shut up!! How dare you ask such a stupid question? Of course that’s not her. She came to me last night.” As soon as he said this, there was another swarm of questions being hurled at him. However, two FBI men in dark suits came and led him silently into the building.
“What was all that about? You said you met her yesterday?” demanded a stern looking detective Roberts.
“Yes, she came to me yesterday and…” he left the sentence unfinished.
“And..?” Roberts questioned
“That’s between me and mother” answered Billy in a equally stern voice.
“Very well. Would you like to come and identify the body now Mr. Drake?”
“Sure, lets get his over and done with shall we?” he replied as he followed the detective to an unknown secret area. The detective pushed some buttons as he arrived in a doorway. He opened the door and took out “exhibit B” There lie a human body covered in a white cloth. Billy’s heartbeat jumped aggressively high.
“This is the moment of truth Mr. Drake.” whispered the detective.
He lifted the cloth away from the bodies’ head. Billy’s heart skipped a beat.
Billy fainted. Underneath the white cloth lay a weathered decapitated body, exposed to the sun for many days. He breathed a deep sigh of relief. It did not have any physical features of his mother However, he noticed something that could defy all people from his mother; the elephant pendant that she always used to wear around her neck. It was one of a kind, given to his great great grandmother by a gypsy woman almost one hundred years ago. It had been passed down from generation to generation. The body was gripping it tightly in one hand.
Billy Drake was kept in intensive care for two days, because of deep shock. He had suffered a minor heart attack, but was ordered to be kept in the hospital in the intensive care unit for two days.
When Billy was discharged, he was once more contacted by the FBI.
“Mr. Drake. It’s detective Robert from the FBI. Glad to hear that you made a swift recovery.”
“Please just leave me alone. I want some time to myself.”
“Mr. Drake, we would like to have an interview with you, it will be the last of the kind.”
“Piss off!! You don’t know how I feel at the moment. Just leave me alone” And then Billy hung up.
Three months passed, and not a single clue was found, not a single lead, not a single trace of the murderer. During this period Billy had been detained several times under the mental health act. He was also sent to a rehabilitation hospital after incidents of heavy drinking and drugs.
When he was allowed to return, there was no FBI call. He was resolute that FBI had dropped the case of his beloved mother. But time had passed, and Billy now come to the fact that mother was indeed, dead. He decided to find work again. He instantly regained his position at his previous job, and things went back to normal. Billy’s work kept his mind occupied, his previous eagerness to do work had finally returned and his general self was back to normal working order.
One night however, Billy had a perplexing dream. The next day he consulted this with his colleague at work.
“Hey, Joe, check it out. I had some weird dream man. You want to hear it?”
Joe laughed. “Yea might as well, why not?”
“Well, basically, I heard a voice, and then a series of flashing pictures of the New Mexican woods. You know, their distinct red colour of the tree leaves. I couldn’t make out what the voice was saying. It said something like “hiiisss hiiimmmm” ”
Joe pondered this. “Well beats me man. I don’t have a clue what you’re on about.” Billy laughed, and carried this on with his work.
But the next day, the same dream disturbed his sleep. The dreams continued for two days and Billy had no idea what it was about. However, on the third day, the same dream haunted him. There, in his dream was a man with a severed head. He screamed.
The next day Billy took off a day at work, and stayed at home wondering about his dream. He considered the place and the man. It kept on playing over and over in his mind. Billy thought and thought, wondered what meaning this dream could have.
With nothing else to do, Billy headed off towards the New Mexican Woods. He had hoped that it would assist him to understand the dream better. His daunting dreams would come to an end if he could find the meaning of it.
As he arrived at the scene, he recognised the area where the dream had taken place.
He walked slowly up to the shrubs and brushed them away.
Underneath the shrubs was… a severed head. Torn and weathered by the scorching heat, it was unrecognisable. It had dried blood over it, and the stench of it seemed unbearable. Billy panicked and shivered and goose bumps slowly arose all around his body. He looked around, turned left, turned right, but nothing was to be seen in sight apart from the wilderness.
Billy had no idea what to do. He stood there, hypnotised to the point and could not move. Memory flashbacks steamed through his mind again. Then a chilling thought gripped Billy. Could it be Mother?
Billy, stood stunned, as if he had just been stung heavily by a bee. It seemed impossible. To find Mother’s head two thousand miles away from its body. And how has his dream led him this far? Was that man in his dream the murderer? All theses questions rushed through Billy’s mind. It seemed impossible.
The wind had now gathered speed, and the clouds gathered in, and tiny droplets of rain started to leek down in the dry earth. It had been a long day, a long week, a long year for Billy. He turned round, tears blinding his sight and walked towards the car. As he walked, he noticed someone standing by the benches. He wiped his tears away and gazed at the man. He looked familiar. He was wearing rugged clothes, black gloves and torn shoes. His trousers were ripped and old. Billy started walking towards his direction. He was sure that he had met him before.
The man looked up, and saw Billy Drake. Billy screamed. Was it? Was it the man in his dreams that carried the severed head? His eyes were the same red and weary, and his hands were torn. He smelt of strong beer, and the smell of marijuana was surrounding him.
The man, deep under the influence of beer, finally spoke after they had a long gaze at each other.
“Billy Drake, what a name. I’ve waited a long time to see you. I knew you would come in the end. I know what you’re thinking. Did I kill your mother? No son. I never killed your mother. Your mother is inside you, I killed my wife”
