The image was a gruesome one as blood poured down from Father Preston's eyes down to the floor in an everlasting trail that stunned me deeply. Yet this scene made no sense at all. Father Preston was a man of the Bible.....why would he be accused of a belief in another God? 

Father Preston hung dumbly from the cross; his bleeding eyes open wide in a pleading manner. His death bed was ironically the church.

I just knew that the man hanging in front of me knew something about Paige...but it was too late. No help would come from this man, just pity. 

The image receded back into the dark recesses of my mind as the tendrils of my "gift" slackened their grip. I was thrown back into reality and once again realized that my dreams had come of no use. I had just been reminded of the gruesome and destructive power of the killer.

I cursed myself for willingly driving myself into a worthless dream that gave me nothing but pity for a man whom I had barely known. 

Even telling the police was out of the question once again as of course my knowledge would be questioned. 

"Paige, where are you" I sat up, now pleading, pleading for my gift to work and show me my Paige. I pleaded with the plague that had found a comfortable spot within my brain, eating away at the last bits of sanity I had left.

The tears began falling down my cheek leaving their imprint of the darkness within.

"PLEASE"

The crying escalated and I was becoming more and more desperate...

Once again I was taken a-hold of, and was thrust into the "dreams" that had reappeared over and over throughout my life. 

It was the same image...that of Father Preston.

_______________________________________________________ 

In the morning I just couldn't get Father Preston off my mind. Why was I shown his image over and over again? What secrets did that man hold? And was it actually too late to get to him or had I just had a premonition of what was to come?

Then my mind reeled on to my assistant, the one whom had cared for me so long. She knew almost everything about me and most importantly, she knew so much about my dreams. I couldn't get my mind to place Methra into the shoes of the killer, I just couldn't. Besides what did a sun God named Mithras have to do with the Ten Commandments?

Then there was Paige. She was so innocent, so sweet and she was taken from a world of sweetness and paradise into one filled with pain and danger, all because of one dream. Or perhaps it had been me who had driven the killer into taking Paige. Perhaps the main target of the killer was me and he was just toying with me. 

These thoughts stunned me. Who would be next Franco? 

I couldn't think about these things anymore. Now was the time for action, and it would have to start with Father Preston. 

Quickly now I got dressed and ran down the steps and was out of the door in a matter of a few minutes. 

That was weird. There were no officers around... Weird. I guess they got all the evidence they could...

Explanations and queries to Franco were going to have to wait, for Father Preston could have met his crucification by now. I put the key in the ignition, fired down the driveway and was on my way to a man who I basically loathed.

What was I going to do when I got there? He had called my gift a curse from the devil, so what good would running to him now with the "curse" do? 

All of this thinking just accumulated in to frustration. Nothing was going right and Paige was still nowhere near to being found. 

The frustration quickly turned to anger. I would force all the information out of Father Preston if I had to. Now I just had to hope that he was alive.

Quickly I pulled in to the big mound of nostalgia and parked my car. I ran into the school and straight in to the main office. Everything was normal, nothing was out of place. The school day was going as it should have, as the teachers busily conversed about their school work, and the secretary sat as usual welcoming me with a warm greeting. 

"HI...Dr...."

"Sorry I need to speak to Father Preston right now"

"Yes...of course...give me a minute dear"

I waited as she picked up her phone and dialed a number. After a few minutes I was being ushered into an office. Father Preston sat upon a chair staring at his computer screen, conceiving a look of concern. He looked up to see me staring back at him.

"Ah Adara what brings you down to my office?" He looked at me with a grin. His eyes looked sneakily into mine. It was as if he knew what I was going to say and was edging me on.

"Well....Paige isn't going to be coming in for a while." I couldn't bring myself to telling him of my dream... I just couldn't.

"Yes, Yes I heard all about that incident, first Eliza passes on and then Paige is...well.... I'm very sorry." His mouth was now contorted in a serious face but his eyes shone as if he were having fun. Fun torturing me.

"There's another thing I came here to tell you Preston" 

"And what would that be?"

"It's about my dreams"

His eyes now shone with fury. The phone rang now saving me from the wrath of his fury. I quickly went through what I was going to say to the man whom considered my dreams the work of the devil.

"Ah yes, yes, tell Ms. Methra I'll see in a few minutes"

I ran out of the office leaving an opened mouthed Father Preston at his chair. Now my thoughts racing with disbelief. What business would Methra have here; she didn't have a child. Perhaps my suspicions were right, perhaps she was the killer. No...no it couldn't be. Hiding my face with my hands I chanced a glance at Methra who had been sitting down on a chair that had been supplied for her in the hallway.

Methra. No it couldn't be, it just couldn't be. Would Father Preston meet his death by the assistant I held so dearly. I ran out to my car and started crying. Things were getting out of control and there wasn't much I could do.

Methra....Mithras......