Battle the Dark: Chapter 1

Todd was in the chair again.  His hands and feet were fastened to it; he was in the white scrub-like clothing they'd given him.  He could hear a baby, screaming, in the distance.  He tried to call out, "Blair," but it was as if he could not open his mouth to let the cry free.  Try as he did, nothing came.  

The screams of the baby became more urgent and seemed closer.  He tried to pull himself free of the chair, and couldn't, just as so many other times in the past.  He struggled, and could feel the sweat running down his forehead and the center of his back.

Footsteps in the hallway had a familiar rhythm, and the baby's shrieks were piercing as they neared.  He choked, knowing the steps, the pacing; the feet dragged a bit when nearing the door.  

The Slice and Dice had the baby.  

He opened his mouth to a silent scream as the door opened, slowly, to reveal what he knew would be his son in The Slice and Dice's arms.

He sat up, gasped and gulped, breathing rapid and uneven.  Blair, who was attempting to quiet the baby and feed him, turned in surprise, and called for Jack.

Over the monitor, Jack heard his mother's voice, and came to the bedroom door.  The scene was distressing to him: his father, panting and shaking, and completely in the grip of terror; his mother, holding the baby and the bottle, and trying to soothe Todd with her voice; and the baby, coming down from crying and settling into drinking his bottle.  He came into the room, "Mom, what is it?"

She handed off the baby to him, which startled Jack, but he complied, having helped with Little Ray many times during the day, and watched her wrap herself around his father, and hold him, from the back.  She was whispering into his ear whatever it was she knew would bring him down.  

Jack wondered, at that time, what would ever bring his father to unbroken healing.  He held the bottle for Ray, while still staring at his parents.  Hearing Todd sob, and Blair struggle to calm him, Jack could make out a few of his words.  Realizing what was going on, he knelt on the bed, and presented Little Ray to them.  "Dad, look.  It's not real.  Ray's okay.  Here."  He pushed Ray toward his father, and watched him look down and realize where he was.  Todd turned and fell into Blair's arms, while one hand remained on the little crown of Ray's head.  Holding Blair in one arm, and pulling Jack and Ray to him with the other, Todd realized where he was at last.  "I'm sorry," he said.  "I just thought..."

Blair said, "Shhhh.  I know.  It's all right.  Everyone's okay."

Todd said, "I can't shake it, Blair, the feeling.  He's out there..."

She didn't respond.  Jack said, "No one is going to hurt this family, Dad.  You and I can take him, whoever he is."

Todd's breathing was better, and he looked to Jack, reaching his arms out to take the baby.  "Sam?"

"I'll get him."  Jack left the room, headed to Sam's to retrieve the little boy.  Jack returned in minutes, with Sam cradled in his arms, still sleeping.  Todd handed the newborn to Blair, and turned to hold Sam in his arms.  Once having hugged him tight, he looked to his eldest son and said, "Thanks, Jack.  I'm sorry for you to see me this way."

Jack shrugged it off.  "It's okay, Dad.  I understand."

Blair, who finally fed the last of the bottle to Ray, put him down in his bassinet and turned to her husband and sons.  "Jack, take Sam back to bed, and then go back to sleep.  Love you, son."

"Love you, Mom.  Are you okay, Dad?"

"I'm all right now, Jack.  Thanks."

Jack retreated to the hallway, with Sam in his arms, and off to bed.  Blair, put her arms back around Todd.  "It was so real, Blair."

"I know it was.  Do you want to talk about it?"

He stopped, looking at her in the moonlit room.  The nightlight they used to help them maneuver in the dark and care for the baby set an additional glow as well.  He said, "You know, I can't even call back what he looks like?  But that doesn't matter.  What he means just brings this cold feeling of horror to me.  For some reason, I've been seeing him in my dreams with a dead face, like a skeleton."  He shook.  "Blair, he's out there.  Something has to be done.  He can't hurt you or the boys."

"He won't.  John's out there looking for him, he and his men.  They're out there every day."

He fell back against the pillow.  "If that's true, why haven't they found him yet?"

She wasn't sure what to say, but was also secretly frightened by the thought of Michael Leona coming to get them.  "They will," she said, unconvincingly.  She, unlike her husband, did remember what he looked like.  A numbing terror set itself in the pit of her stomach as she flashed on the outline of his face, and his leering smile at her when he cut her bra strap and reached for her exposed breast.  She didn't let on to Todd how scared she was; he was going through enough.  If Todd hadn't come up behind the man and took his arm away that day, he would have cut her.

She moved close to him, putting her head on his chest and listening to his heart.  He stroked her hair in the darkness, and saw it shining in places, with the moonlight bouncing off her.  She lifted her head a moment and found his face.  "We will be okay," Blair said.  We did not come this far, and have this baby together, for any other reason but forever."

"I know.  We've made it this far."  He said, sounding more encouraged.

"If he wanted to hurt us, he'd have been here by now," she said.  "He's probably wanting to lie low and stay free.  He's probably in hiding."

"Probably.  Blair?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to kill him.  I have to.  He can't come and hurt you, or the kids.  I have to take that dead smile off his face."

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