Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance Read online

  BOOK SUMMARY

  Jimmy Parker is a typical high school student. Unpopular with the girls and picked on by the boys, he’s just trying to survive long enough to escape the tiny Pennsylvanian town of Knorr. With Jimmy and his friend, George, heading to the school dance, they expect nothing but the usual ritual humiliation from their peers. But when a girl in a brilliant blue dress enters their lives at the side of a lonely old bridge…everything changes.

  Her name is Sapphire, and she is the most alluring girl that Jimmy has ever met. Yet, there is something strange about her; something different. Why has he never seen her at school? Why does she only want to meet up near the bridge? And why does everybody keep warning Jimmy to stay away from her?

  Before long, Jimmy is plunged into a decades-old mystery. The town of Knorr has many secrets; some held by powerful men. Men that would do anything to keep them from getting out. Something dark happened one night in Knorr, and now Jimmy is a part of it whether he likes it or not.

  And Sapphire holds the key to understanding it all.

  Jimmy discovers that his bond with the mysterious girl creates a unique power between them. A power that bridges time, space, and even dimensions. It is the one thing that could save them both.

  Because sometimes the most powerful force on Earth is love.

  SAPPHIRE

  BY

  BRYAN W. ALASPA

  This novel is dedicated to the woman I love more than I ever thought it possible to love another person. This one, perhaps more than any other, is for Melanie.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE: SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  The novel you are about to read takes place in the same town where my horror novel The Dead Phone is set. The setting is the small town of Knorr, Pennsylvania, and since The Dead Phone is a novel intended for a different audience than Sapphire, there are a few things you should know. You do not need to read that novel to understand this one, but a few things might help explain some of the reactions characters have in this book.

  First, Knorr is set in the country, and the land is notorious for being filled with hills, trees, and long, winding, twisting roads. It is not a place for the faint of heart when it comes to driving or riding a bike. More importantly, Knorr is a small town, with a few hundred people in it. That means that everyone tends to know everyone else and everyone else’s business. Despite this, Knorr is a town where bad things have happened over time. It is also a town good at hiding secrets from the outside world.

  At one time a serial killer who was dubbed “the Boogeyman” took children, mostly little girls, from their beds while the family slept and murdered them. He would leave grisly mementos behind for their families before allowing the bodies to be discovered. The Boogeyman killings eventually stopped and the town of Knorr did its best to forget.

  At the start of The Dead Phone, non-fiction and true crime author Warren Hollis has rented a small cabin and intends to research the Boogeyman killings. He soon finds out that Knorr is not like any other place on Earth.

  The veil between the living and the dead is very thin in Knorr. Sometimes one person from one side of that veil can reach over into the other. When an antique, disconnected phone decorating an alcove in the cabin where Warren is staying starts ringing in the middle of the night, he finds out that the Boogeyman may not have left Knorr entirely, and that his digging into the past might be stirring up that monster. The killings start again, and Warren discovers that his dead phone can provide him with a bridge across to the other side and he can speak to the dead, and the Boogeyman himself.

  Warren eventually teams up with a local newspaper editor named Tabitha. Tabitha is the keeper of Knorr’s history and has information to share about the Boogeyman case. The two of them want to figure out who is killing again and why. In the course of events, Tabitha’s newspaper offices are firebombed and several buildings in downtown Knorr are destroyed in the fire when they face the evil side of Knorr.

  As you will see in this story, Warren, Tabitha, and even the sheriff from The Dead Phone make appearances again Sapphire. This novel takes place after those events, with Warren and Tabitha now married and trying to start their lives over again, having had all of their illusions about life, death, and life-after-death shattered.

  Knorr is a place where unusual things happen. This is another story from Knorr that needs to be told. It is probably just the second tale of many of Knorr’s secrets that refuse to stay hidden.

  I hope you enjoy the journey and come back to Knorr another time.

  Bryan W. Alaspa

  Chicago, IL

  May 2013

  1

  Jimmy stood in front of the full-length mirror and did not like what he saw. The sleeves were too short. The white cuffs of his shirt stuck out from the sleeves of his jacket. Any dork could see that. Unfortunately, most of the student body at Knorr High School already thought of him as a dork. The last thing he wanted was feeling that way during his senior prom. However, here he was, looking at an image that could only be described as “dork.”

  “No one will notice,” said his mother from behind him. She was hovering over his shoulder like a specter. She was smiling and proud. “You can take it off once you get there, and no one will even be paying any attention. Everyone will be too busy having a good time to care what you’re wearing.”

  Jimmy sighed and tugged uselessly at the jacket’s sleeve. “Mom, you just have no clue.”

  She came forward and hugged him. Then she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Jimmy felt even more like a geek.

  “I’m not supposed to,” she said. “Mothers are not supposed to have a clue.”

  “Why couldn’t I have rented one?” Jimmy asked for the nine-hundredth time that afternoon.

  “You know why,” she said, turning her back and fussing with something out of his sightline. “We can’t afford it. Your uncle had this perfectly serviceable tuxedo and it’s a shame not to use it.”

  She reappeared beside him in the mirror, her hand on her hip. Her mouth was a tight line. Jimmy knew that poking at the nerve that they were not a family of means was a low blow. He had seen that look before. This was the same look she had given him as a kid when he wanted a toy that was just too expensive. It was the same look she had given him when he begged her for a cell phone. And he saw the exact same look from her whenever he talked about needing a car.

  “I spent a lot of time getting the shirt and pants to fit you,” she said. “I did the best I could with the jacket. If you want, you can spend the night at home with me instead of going at all. So, either deal with this situation the best you can or don’t go. I really don’t care.”

  She cared. Jimmy knew she cared. She and his father had worked their fingers to the bone to provide for Jimmy. The family had never gone hungry. They had never been without clothes. They may have shopped for their new school wardrobe at Goodwill, but they had clothes. They may have eaten more macaroni and cheese than others, but they were never hungry. Their car may have been rusted through and coughed out oily blue smoke, but they always got where they needed to go. The house may have been run down and it may have been in the part of town most of the other kids avoided, but they always had a roof over their heads. Then his father had died, suddenly, a few years ago. The pain was always there, behind Jimmy’s eyes, lurking around every corner. His dad had done what he could to make sure his family was cared for, but it had not been easy. His mother worked very hard.

  Jimmy smiled his crooked smile. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I appreciate it, Mom. Come on, it wouldn’t be a weekend if I didn’t complain about something.”

  His mother’s face softened and then her smile returned. Jimmy managed to turn away, sear
ching for the bow tie, before she could plant another kiss on him. He was only willing to be gracious up to a certain point. He found the tie and fiddled with it for a moment. When he turned back toward the mirror his mother was fiddling with something behind him again. He affixed the tie and straightened it. He took another look. His image still said “dork,” but he had lived with that image for a long time.

  Before too long he would be elsewhere, and all of the things he had gone through in high school would be over. He could live with looking like a dork for another night. Besides, he was going with his best friend George, anyway, so things couldn’t get too bad.

  “When is George getting here?” his mother asked.

  “About five more minutes,” Jimmy said.

  “I wish you two had managed to find some nice girls to ask,” his mother said.

  “Mom, there isn’t a girl in Knorr High School that would be caught dead attending the senior prom with Jimmy Parker or George Howell,” he said as he adjusted his tie one more time. It immediately went crooked again, and he decided that the tie really didn’t matter.

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” his mother said.

  Jimmy turned to face her. “Mom, trust me on this one. George and I are not the most popular kids in school. In fact, we are far from it.”

  She reached out and pinched his cheeks. This was the one thing worse than the kiss on the cheek. One thing was certain: his mother had some kind of cheek fetish.

  “But you’re such a smart, nice kid,” she said.

  Jimmy snorted. “Mom, even in your day the smart and nice kids were not the popular ones in school, were they?”

  She put her hands on his shoulders. “I found your father in high school. He was smart and nice.”

  “He also played football,” Jimmy said.

  “He was the kicker,” she said. “You know, back in the old days when dinosaurs walked the Earth, and your father and I were young.”

  “Kickers still wear uniforms,” Jimmy said. He paused to make sure his hair looked OK one more time. The cowlick towards the back of his head was still there despite the industrial strength hair gel he had put in there.

  Just then, the phone rang. Jimmy’s mother vanished into the kitchen and Jimmy turned back to the mirror and adjusted his tie for the millionth time. He also tried to plaster his hair down, but to no avail. He sighed. He was always going to look this way, right?

  “Jimmy,” his mother said, returning to the bedroom. “It’s Jesse.”

  Jimmy smiled. Jesse was the town’s librarian. The library was small, but filled with wonder, as far as Jimmy was concerned. It overlooked a river and was surrounded by touristy attractions, but inside it was all books and musty smells. Jimmy had buried himself there when his father died and Jesse had taken a kind of liking to him. It may have been a stretch to say that Jesse was a father figure, but their relationship was pretty close. Jimmy ran to the phone.

  “Hey, Jimmy! Are you looking sharp in your suit?” Jesse asked.

  Jimmy laughed. “Jesse, I would not look sharp wearing a suit full of razor blades.”

  “Come on, you know that isn’t true,” Jesse said. “I’m sure you and George will have a good time. Maybe try to get up the nerve to ask a girl to dance.”

  “I wouldn’t put money on that,” Jimmy said. “I’m betting most of the girls there arrive with dates.”

  “You just never know,” Jesse said. “I had a pretty amazing time the night of the big dance when I was your age. And I ended up going with a beautiful girl, to boot. You need to be a bit more positive.”

  A honk came from outside. This was followed shortly by a sound that was only slightly quieter than a Howitzer shell going off in the living room. George had arrived with his car. The engine settled into a low rattle as the car set about trying to shake itself to pieces again.

  “Yo, Jimmy!” came the bellow from the car. That could only have been George leaning out the driver’s side window. George was not known for being subtle.

  “That sounds like George,” Jesse said.

  “Yeah, that’s him,” Jimmy said.

  There was a pause. It seemed like there was more to say, but anything else would have crossed some line between them and that line was still held by Jimmy’s father, even though he was gone.

  “You be careful tonight, Jimmy,” Jesse said. “Come by the library when you can and tell me all about it or give me a call tomorrow.”

  “I will,” Jimmy said, and paused, then added. “Thanks for calling.”

  “You bet,” Jesse said.

  Then he was gone, and Jimmy ran back to the bedroom. His mother was there with her hands to her throat in an unconscious anxious gesture she often did, looking as if maybe she had been crying. His mom appreciated how Jesse looked after him, but the pain of losing his father was still there. Jimmy smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Another honk came from outside, so Jimmy had to move.

  Jimmy tried to move past his mother, but she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him back and looking him full in the face again. She smiled, and, much to Jimmy’s consternation, he saw tears swimming in her eyes. She was about to give him some sort of speech about how proud she was of him. It would be similar to one she had given him when he had first gotten the scholarship to attend Clark University.

  “Be careful,” she said instead, her voice quavering. “And have fun.”

  Jimmy smiled. This time, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. He left quickly just because he did not want to see her cry. He ran down the hall and through the living room.

  Jimmy bolted through the door and heard it bang shut behind him. George was hanging out the window of his car, his tuxedo jacket already tossed in the backseat. He had a huge grin on his face, his hair already wild and windblown from driving with the window down.

  “Come on, the party awaits!” he yelled in the rather odd way of speaking that George had and that so marked him as an outsider, and leaned back into the car, reaching over the passenger’s seat to unlock the door.

  “What’s it waiting for?” Jimmy asked as he opened the large, rusty door with a loud screeching sound.

  “Us, my man,” George said as Jimmy planted his ass on the passenger seat and slammed the door. “It is waiting for us.”

  Jimmy laughed. “You do live in an amazing fantasy world.”

  George leaned around the passenger seat to peer out the back window as he shifted into reverse. “You should move into my world, my friend,” he said. “Plenty of room, and the fun never stops.”

  Jimmy laughed again. He thought that maybe it would be a night to remember, after all. Once Jimmy was situated in the passenger seat, as often happened when he was with George, Jimmy’s own form of speech slipped into the oddly formal way that George spoke.

  “Then lead on, sir,” he said. “Lead on!”

  2

  Driving through Knorr was like having access to your own personal roller coaster track. For Jimmy and George, this was the route they took nearly every day of their lives. The high school was right next door to the grade school, and they had been that way for as long as they could remember. To an outsider, however, the long and twisty roads that ran up and down steep hills with no streetlights and forest and wilderness encroaching upon the road were a white-knuckled thrill ride. Most tourists bypassed places like Knorr. They stayed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and hurried to places like Pittsburgh or farther east to places like Philadelphia, New Jersey, or New York.

  George drove like a maniac. Even to Jimmy, who had driven the roads many times and ridden in his share of cars and buses, it was a bit too erratic. He held on to the strap above the passenger door several times and repeatedly stomped his right foot down on an imaginary brake pedal. George laughed each time he saw Jimmy’s stomping and stepped harder on the gas.

  “You have got to lighten up,” he said. “If we are to get any action tonight, you are going to have to be a bit more fun than you usually are.”

  “How
the hell are we going to get any action tonight or any night?” Jimmy said. “In case you’ve forgotten, everyone else at this dance is going with a date. We are in the bullpen with the losers who stand along the wall and watch.”

  “Perish the thought,” George said. “Some fair young maiden will swoon before me before this night is over. Mark my words. Maidenhoods shall be taken tonight!”

  Jimmy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because girls our age really dig guys who use words like that.”

  George laughed and reached into the back seat to a spot behind Jimmy. He rummaged for a second and then pulled his hand back. In his right hand he held a silver flask.

  “What the hell is that?” Jimmy asked.

  “Find out,” George said.

  Jimmy sighed and took the flask. He unscrewed the cap and took a whiff. Whatever it was, it was powerful enough to curl the hairs in his nose. He immediately drew back and coughed.

  “Jesus!” he said.

  “I bring something more than my fancy-ass words,” George said.

  “You are going to get in so much trouble if you get caught bringing booze into the prom,” Jimmy said as he handed the flask back. George immediately deposited it into the pants of his ill-fitting tuxedo.

  “We are the best people to be bringing in contraband,” George said. “We are the good kids. No one will suspect us.”

  “You sure are some master criminal,” Jimmy said.

  They rounded a bend, and the wheels of the car crunched on the gravel near the edge of the road. The trees seemed to be reaching for them. Up ahead was a short bridge that narrowed the two lanes. It was a long bridge that stretched across a huge gap. At the bottom of that gap was a river that, to the untrained and unknowing eye, looked lazy, but really had a vicious current.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Jimmy said, pointing and leaning forward.