Ryan Ruiz - The Black Cadillac

The strange dreams and nightmares kept on coming. It was only five years ago that a little girl named Sam Jennings was kidnapped and taken from a plaza just a couple of cities away. Authorities ended up finding the girl on the side of the road in the country an hour away from where she was taken. The man that took her was never found. Cody was roughly the same age as Sam and remembered the incident well.

The first dream always had floating questions in it like Was this event connected with the black car? Why was the sick and twisted man that took her never found? And was there ever a black car in any of the details of that case?

Cody had a nightmare about another situation earlier in his life. He was younger at the time, and the incident struck fear into his heart. He would plead with his stepfather at the time to not leave him in the car in gas stations while he went and paid for the gas. His stepfather did that often, and Cody always feared he would be taken. This was right around the time the girl went missing. He hated when his stepfather would stop at a gas station, and he would actually cry. In the dream, while Cody’s former stepdad went to pay, a man jumped in the car and drove off with Cody strapped in the backseat.

Another nightmare was about running from someone. In these dreams, it was as if his feet were trapped in quicksand. He could never outrun the person chasing him. Cody was somewhat athletic and could run very fast, but in this dream, he was slow. That nightmare would wake him up sweating and panicking.

The dreams were so real and continued.

Another one was about sitting with his grandfather, whom he called Papa. He was close to his Papa, and they would laugh together playing card games. His Papa had lost his battle with cancer a couple of years ago, and Cody did not handle it very well. His conversations in the dream were about asking his Papa about good and evil.

Cody’s grandpa would explain to him that there were a lot of bad people in the world and to always be on guard. He explained to his grandson that when he passed, Cody was the man of the house, and it was his sole duty to protect his sister and mama. His Papa had moved in with them right after Olive turned two.

In another dream, Cody was just sitting across from his Papa, asking him if he could help out with this mysterious black vehicle that tried to pick him up. While it seemed like his Papa would open his mouth and respond to the questions, he didn’t. He just had a worried look on his face and pointed toward the ground. Cody didn’t understand what his Papa was trying to say to him, and before he knew it, the dream was over.

The last nightmare was about all the police sketches of the man who took the girl from five years ago. The dream showed a bunch of sketches on Cody’s desk in his room, and the window was open. A strong wind blew the sketches all over the room. The nightmare ended with him standing in his room and catching one of the sketches with his left hand. It was different from the others. The drawing that he caught showed a completely different person. It was a drawing done by Cody himself. Who was this man in the drawing?

It was Sunday, and Cody was on his own for the day. Zach’s mother needed him all day and also thought the two needed to be separated for a day. The weather was actually pretty decent for an end-of-winter day. Spring was officially starting in just three days. The temperature was in the low fifties, which was very unusual. It was a perfect opportunity to get out his bike and go for a ride. Cody asked his sister if she wanted to go for a short bike ride down the street to the local store. He needed to pick up his pictures and more film for his camera. Cody thought it would be nice to take his sister for a bike ride.

“Hey, Mom, is it okay if I take Olive for a bike ride today? The weather is getting better, and it would be nice to get some fresh air,” asked Cody, knowing his mom wouldn’t have a problem with that.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Just be careful with her and go slow. She can’t keep up with you,” his mother said.

Olive was in the living room, listening in.

“Yes!” she screamed.

“Thanks, Mama. She will follow right behind me,” he explained. “Ol, get your jacket and meet me outside.”

Olive was excited to spend time with her brother, even if it was just a short bike ride to the store and back. They both went outside to the backyard. The bikes were in the beaten-down old garage that was slowly rotting away on the outside. Their garage was painted white, and it had black trim on the sides.

Cody opened the garage door and grabbed Olive’s bike first. And although she didn’t want to, he made her wear a helmet. Cody strapped the helmet on his sister and made sure it was secure on her head. He went back inside the garage and wheeled out his eighteen-speed mountain bike from where he'd left it the other day.

Cody opened the wooden gate that separated the back of the house from the front, and off they went.

“Stay right behind me, Olive,” Cody said.

“Okay, brother,” Olive replied.

The two came to the main light on Bunting Road. The crosswalk sign was completely red. They waited until it turned white and then crossed the busy street. On the way to the store, they pedaled slowly; Cody had to go super slow because Olive didn’t have very strong legs. She was only eight years old. He set the gear on his bike down to second.

“How’s that project going with Zach?” she asked as she pedaled along.

“It’s going good, but we are nowhere near the end. Ol, please be patient with me and I will make it up to you,” Cody replied.

They pedaled a couple of blocks.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cody saw something across the street while at a complete stop, waiting for Olive to catch up.

There across the street, parked in a paid parking meter spot, a black car sat. Cody was so occupied by this that he started pedaling and almost crashed into a fire hydrant.

Olive laughed as Cody dodged his front tire to the left of the hydrant.

“Stop your bike, Olive,” Cody yelled—but didn’t mean to—at his sister.

Olive came to a halt right in front of the back tire of her brother’s dark-green mountain bike.

“What’s wrong?” Olive cried.

Not wanting to let Olive know what he saw, Cody quickly thought of an answer.

“Nothing, I just thought I saw someone I know,” he replied.

“You’re a weird brother.” Olive laughed.

“I know. Let’s get to the store. I’ll buy you some Laffy Taffy,” Cody said.

When they got to the store, Olive headed straight to the candy aisle.

“I’ll be at the register, grabbing some film. Get your candy and meet me there, okay?” Cody asked Olive.

“Okay,” Olive agreed.

Cody went to the cashier and handed the woman his receipt stub from a couple of days ago for his pictures. He also asked for a roll of film. Olive returned with two cherry Laffy Taffy sticks and then set them on the counter she could just barely reach up to.

“If that will be all, it’s $9.56 please?” the cashier asked.

Cody pulled out a ten-dollar bill from his jacket and handed it to the cashier.

“Out of ten, forty-four cents is your change,” the woman said as the cash register closed. “You kids have a nice day,” the cashier said, handing Cody a bag full of the items.

Cody pulled one of the Laffy Taffy sticks out of the bag and gave it to Olive. Outside, they both got on their bikes and rode out of the parking lot. Olive had a stringy piece of candy hanging out of her mouth.