Subj: The Homecoming--Chapter 5
Date: 4/6/02 11:23:50 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Peggy Boone

Willie walked around to the front of the headstone to read the name on it. It was the grave of Josette Collins. Barnabas didn't turn around when Willie crept up behind him. Willie put his hand on his shoulder. When he turned around, there was a look of relief on Willie's face. "Are you all right?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"We've been worried about you."

"Does Julia know?"

"No. She has been at the hospital."

"Can I ask you somethin'?"

"What?" "Why did you leave Professor Stokes' apartment?"

"I was afraid that if I was cursed again, I would hurt one of you." "Nothin's gonna to happen to you."

"You can't be sure."

"Come back to Professor Stokes'." He helped him up from the ground and walked him to the Old House. When they got there, Adam, Barnabas and Elliot got back into the car and went back to Elliot's. When Julia returned to the Old House, Willie told her that Barnabas had disappeared from Elliot's. When he saw the look of panic on her face, he told her that he had found him at Josette's grave. "Julia?"

"What?"

"When is Barnabas gonna be the way he was?"

"I don't know, Willie."

Early the next morning, while Barnabas and Adam were still asleep, Elliot got dressed and crept out of the apartment. Julia sat in the drawing room of the Old House. Like Willie, she wondered when Barnabas was going to be back to the way he was. She didn't like to see him hurting the way he was. Inside of Adam's house, a lone figute was creeping through the house moving toward the door to the basement. A hand reached out and turned on the light and the figure moved down the basement steps. He went over to the mirror and lifted it down from the wall. Flames shot up from a trash dumpster. When Adam and Barnabas woke up, Elliot was no where in the apartment. As they searched for him through the apartment, they heard the door open. When they went in to see who was there, they saw Elliot. He was returning from wherever he had gone. "Where were you?"

"I went out for awhile." He didn't say where he had gone. Adam was wondering why he wouldn't tell him.

After they had found Elliot gone, Barnabas had gone back into the bedroom and gone back to sleep. He didn't know of the visit Elliot had made to Adam's house. Elliot didn't know of the anguish that Barnabas was suffering. Julia was spending less time at Wyndcliffe. Even with Barnabas staying with Elliot, she was still afraid to go somewhere and not know where Barnabas was and whether he would disappear again.

Barnabas laid in bed at Elliot's. As he slept, he got a sudden feeling that someone was in the bedroom. When he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow. "Who's in here?" As the shadow moved closer to the bed, he saw it was a woman dressed in white. It was frightening to him, because he wasn't sure who she was and what she wanted. When he was finally able to see her face, he saw that it was Josette. She looked lke she had minutes before she had jumped from Widow's Hill. "My darling, you've returned."

"I've come to tell you that it is not your time."

"Josette, I'm in danger. I want it to be over."

"Everything will be better. You'll see." She then vanished.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production