The Shadows Fall: Chapter 26

Todd, having met with Jessica at St. Anne's, returned to the car with tape in hand.  Driving himself to The Break Bar, his plan was that while no one was there, he would get in and steal the rest of the tapes.  Having seen what it did to Jessica to see herself in video, he realized he had to rid the world of that evidence.  He knew he would keep some for the investigative report and subsequent police files, but at that moment, he just wanted them out of the hands of whoever was taping them.


He drove to The Break Bar and parked three blocks down.  Walking along at a decent pace, he breathed in the cold, but it didn't bother him.  In fact, nothing about being outdoors and free would ever bother him again.  He loved the feel of the cold air, the breeze, and the sun, that pushed some warmth through the briskness of the winter.


Pulling his jacket around his neck to defray the chill, he turned into the parking lot, and walked close to the building, hugging it for warmth and camouflage.  As she had promised, Jessica propped the Loading Zone door with a tiny pebble so that he was able to get in.  He slid in the back door, and crept into the brown hallway, moving slowly toward the door to the sitting area.  Slipping inside, he headed straight for the cinema room, he helped himself to a cabinet, left ajar, of various tapes and loaded them into an oversized knapsack.  He also replaced the tapes with blanks.  While putting tape after tape into his bag, he could not help but think of Jessica, her DID, and the young women that were in the grip of something unexplainable, leading them to practice the oldest profession.


Turning to go, he stopped short, freezing in place.  Standing before him, in a deep beige robe, with a hood pulled down over his face, was...


The hand moved forward, and bringing forth the lighter, silver, the thumb flicked the igniter, and held the flame out toward Todd.  Still unable to move, he backed away, holding tight to the backpack in one hand and stumbling backward toward the wall.  Soon, he felt the coolness of the plaster on his back, and struggled for air as he felt pressed by fear.  The blackness approached him, and as much as he fought, he found himself sliding lower along the wall until the floor met his body and he blacked out.


***


At the hospital, Larry raced into the ER, as Starr, holding Hope, was beside herself.  "Larry, please, tell us something?"


"Starr, I'll be back in a minute,"  he was rushing in to the cubicle.


Starr turned to Jack, "What happened here?"


He stared up at her from the waiting area chair, with a look of affliction and sorrow.  "She heard me."


Starr spotted Addie across the waiting room, returning with Sam from the cafeteria.  "How's my mom, is she okay?"  Sam said.


"She's going to be fine."  Starr looked to Addie, "The kids don't really belong here right now.  I should take them home."


"It's hard to leave your mother, Starr, so I called Viki.  She's coming to get them.  Says she'll keep them as long as we need," Addie said. 


Just then, Viki raced through the ER doors, looking agitated.  Seeing the family, she made her way over to them.  "My God, Starr, what is going on?"  She said, taking Hope and grabbing Sam's hand.


"Um, we're waiting for information.  We just...we think the kids need to go home.  We'll call you."


Viki looked about.  "Where is your father?"


Jack said, "We can't find him.  His phone is dead or something.  We've been trying."


"All right, I'm going to get the kids out of here.  Please Starr, say you'll call me.  Or have your father do it when he arrives."  Hugging them each in turn, Viki headed out.


"Once I know my girl is all right, I'll go get them and bring them home, Starr."  Addie said, sitting beside Jack.  To him, "Do you want to tell us what happened?"


Jack relayed the story, through tears, about the events of the day: the nice lunch, the trip up to Mountainview, his therapy session, and the things he believed his mother heard him say, before her subsequent collapse.


Starr's mouth hung open.  "What?  How could you say those things let alone believe them?  Dad...Dad loves her so much.  She's everything to him.  Everything."


***


Todd opened his eyes, suddenly, and reached around for the bag.  It was still at his feet, as he remembered.  He also winced, remembering what he had just seen: The Grim Reaper.  The light in the room was different; he could tell time had passed.  He looked around, and the room was empty, but he could hear sounds, as if coming from the bar area, of the movement of setting up for the night.  Quickly, he gathered his wits about him, and headed out the door, to the sitting area, the brown hallway, and out the Loading Zone door, hurrying down the street toward his car.


When he arrived, he threw the door open, tossed the bag inside and rushed in to the driver's seat, collapsing on the wheel.  I thought I had moved forward.  What is this?  Stop your crying, Manning, you've got to keep it together.


He breathed deeply, and despite the urge to drive directly to Mountainview, he followed his need to drive immediately to the penthouse and fall into Blair's arms and seek solace.  The trip could not be short enough; he focused all of his energy on driving as fast and as safely as possible to reach her and be able to feel whole again.  


In the elevator, he picked through the bag.  All twenty-three of the tapes were inside the bag, as he'd hoped.  Fishing his keys from his pocket, he exited the elevator and quickly walked to the penthouse door.  Breathing out, and much calmer, he opened the door to his home, and walked in, throwing the keys customarily onto the desk.  "Blair?"  He bellowed, running up the stairs in three bounds.  


No one.


He returned to the living room, and walked back to the desk, seeing a slip of paper on the top.  Hastily scribbled, it was Starr:  Where the HECK is your phone?  At hospital.  It's Mom.  Hurry.   


"The baby," his voice was husky and sounded strange to himself.  Grabbing the keys, he ran back to the elevator and pounded the down button.  Once in the elevator, he hugged himself across the chest, and tried to desperately grasp control.  She'll be all right.  Blair will fight.  She won't go down without one.


His actions between the penthouse foyer and the hospital parking lot would always be a blur.  Not sure how or in what manner he arrived, he threw the door closed and ran to the ER doors, throwing them open and racing to his family without so much as a scrap of hesitation.  Starr tried to preview the events for him, but he pushed past the waiting area and into Blair's cubicle.  Rushing to her side, he groped for her hand.  It was so cold.


"Blair, I'm here,"  he said.  Then softly, "Don't leave me." 


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