Port Charles Chronicles: Chapter 48

      Alison watched in surprise as Sam suddenly backed up against her.  He was clearly afraid.  She knew Miles was scarred, but not scarily so, and why was Sam calling him Daddy?
“Sam, it’s alright there’s nothing to be frightened of.  That’s not your father.  I told you, he’s your uncle.”

     Sam looked up at her and pointed at his father.  “He’s a ghost.  He’s dead, my mom and my Uncle Todd told me he was gone.”

     Walker quickly interjected. “Alison, I can handle this.  Thank you for bringing him, if you’ll leave us alone I can explain to him.”

     “But Miles....” She faltered. The look of anger that flared in Miles‘ eyes told her she had overstepped. “I’m sorry, of course, you want to explain.  I’ll be in my room.  Sam, behave. Remember your grandmother.”  Alison headed up the stairs to her room keeping an eye on the happenings below as she went.

     Sam watched her go, then looked back at the man in front of him.  He had been watching the man as he spoke to the lady and had started to notice some differences between this man and his father.  The glasses and the way he had his hair slicked back were strange, but there was no mistaking his voice.  He’s real. My dad is alive.  As the lady left, Sam straightened his shoulders. With more courage than he was feeling, he said. “Why did you lie to her.  You’re my Dad, not my Uncle.  Why, Dad?   Jack told me you were dead.  Mommy said so, too.  Why do you look weird?”

     Walker frowned.  Sam’s innocent questions irritated him.  “Nevermind why I look like this.  Come with me.” He took Sam’s hand.

      Sam walked with him, looking around with interest now that he knew his father wasn’t a ghost. “Dad, why are you here?”

     Walker pulled Sam into his office and shut the door behind them.  He looked down at his son. “I like it here and I don’t want to go back to Llanview.”

     “But Jack really misses you and so does Aunt Tea.  She’s been so sad since losing her baby.  Can I call her and Mom and tell them you’re not dead after all?”

      Walker sat down and stood Sam in front of him.  “Sam, things are different now.  I can’t let you call and tell them that.  I’m afraid your Uncle Todd will try and kill me again.”

     “No Dad!  Uncle Todd was just sick.  He didn’t really want to hurt you.”

     “Stop that!” Walker shouted suddenly. He shook Sam in anger. “I don’t want to hear you talk about your precious Uncle Todd again.  Do you understand me?” God, he hated Todd Manning.  The man had ruined everything and now his own son seemed to worship the man.

      Sam’s eyes widened, as his father grabbed him. Why was he so mad? Uncle Todd was his pal.  He braced himself and said staunchly. “He’s my friend and Mom says you should stand up for friends.”

      In anger, at Sam’s words, Walker slapped his son.  “Enough!  You won’t talk about him again. This is what’s happening.  You’re going to live here with me.  You will obey me and never try and contact your mother or anyone.  You’re my son and you’re going to respect me.”

      Sam had fallen to the ground from the slap and he held his hand to his cheek.  Tears formed.  “You’re not my Dad.  He would never hit me.”

     Walker got down in front of Sam. Coldly he looked at his son. “Oh, I’m your dad.  I allowed Blair to raise you and that was a mistake.  It stops now.  Your mom let you have entirely too much freedom and she never disciplined you or Jack.   Look at all the trouble Jack got into.  I should have stepped in sooner, then Jack wouldn’t have been so stupid.  Of course, with Todd as his father, I’m not really surprised.”

     Sam began to cry.  “I don’t want to be here, I want to go home to Mom.  That lady hurt Grandma Addie.   You’re mean and I don’t believe you’re my dad.   You better let me go home or you’re going to be in trouble.”

    “Stop sniveling, you’re not going anywhere but up to your room.  Alison will bring you down for dinner.  You can forget about seeing your mom again, you're going to live with me now.”  Walker pulled Sam off the floor, his patience was at its end. He hauled him out of the office and up the stairs to the room he had laid out for him.  Opening the door, he pushed Sam in.  “It’s not all bad.  I had them make the room exactly like the one at home, except for a telephone.  Everything you had there, is here, including your God-awful obsession with Spiderman.”

     Sam looked around, it was just like his room at home, but that made it worse.  He was scared.  His dad was different and mean.  He walked over to his bed and picked up the Spiderman action figure sitting there.  Spiderman would know what to do.  I need to find a way to let mom know where I am.  He looked around, his dad was right, there wasn’t a phone, but there was a computer, just like his new one.  Jack had been teaching him a little bit about them.  He already knew how to find games.  He turned it on and sat down.  He needed to remember just what Jack showed him.  “Spidey, if I can get hold of Jack, he’ll tell Mom and then they can get me.  Cross your fingers.”  Sam crossed his fingers and began tapping on the keyboard.  The screen came up.  “Now what do I do?”  He gnawed at his lower lip.  His tears came back as he realized he should have been paying better attention.  In his head, he heard his Uncle Todd saying. You’re not going to be scared because you’re a brave kid.  Spidey’s counting on you.

      He rubbed the tears out of his eyes.  I can do this.  I’m brave. Jack hit a symbol on the screen.  After several tries, Sam saw something familiar come up on the screen. “ I did it.”  Sam was happy.  He was about to continue when he heard footsteps outside his door.  Sam turned off the computer and grabbed the action figure. “That’s the mean lady, Spidey,  I don’t want her to know what I’m doing.  She’ll hurt Grandma some more.”  He moved away from the desk and sat down on the floor just before Alison opened it.

      “Sam, it’s time for dinner.  Come along.”

       He got up, put the figure down close to the computer, and followed her out of the room.

****

    Todd arrived for his appointment with Dr. Collins a little ahead of schedule.  He told the limo driver to return for him in an hour and walked into the office.  The sign was still on the counter exactly like the last time.  It seemed like forever since that morning when in reality it was just several days.  The headache, that had started before leaving the lake house, was getting worse.  He sat down in the lobby and leaned his head against the cool interior wall.  It felt good. and the pain lessened.

    “This isn’t going to help.”

     Todd”s eyes flashed open in time to see his mother reaching to put her hand on his shoulder.  He cringed and sprung up from the couch to move away from her.

     “He won’t be able to get rid of me any more than your wishing it so.  I am in your soul and in your head.  This is merely a waste of time.” Irene followed him, again reaching out to touch him.

     “Get away from me!” Todd put out an arm to ward her off, his voice rising volume.. “I will find a way. You’re not going to get me.”

     Kevin had been heading for the door when he heard Todd’s voice.  He emerged in time to see Todd responding to someone only he could see.

      Todd was mesmerized by his vision. Irene's eyes seemed to glow red.  It’s like she was suddenly demonic.  Todd found himself standing in the park again.  

       She said. "It's time to go." 

       Todd shuddered and closed his eyes. “This isn’t real, it isn’t happening.   Blair, I need you!”  It was too much. Todd felt like his head was exploding.  He cried out as the pain hit him and lost consciousness.

       Kevin began moving as soon as he heard Todd’s plea.  He reached Todd as he collapsed.  He pulled out his flashlight and checked Todd’s pupils. They were still reactive.  That was a good sign, but Kevin wondered about the lesions.  Todd’s anguished cry indicated he was in some pain right before he dropped.  It’s possible his vision had triggered something.  He was reaching for his phone to make the call for help when Todd stirred.  “Easy Todd, lie still.”

       Todd moaned, “I don’t think I could get up this minute if I tried.  God, that was a bad one.” He slung his arm over his eyes, the light in the room was just adding to the pounding still going on in his head.  For a brief moment, he felt like heaving, but took deep breaths, finally quelling those feelings.

       “You left the hospital too soon, Todd.  This is going to get worse.  Dr. Drake tried to tell you.”

       “I don’t need the lecture, Doc.  I’m not going to have the operation and that’s that.   I came here because of Irene.  Help me off the floor.” Todd struggled to a sitting position.  There was no way he was letting Irene get the better of him.

       Kevin frowned but gave Todd a hand and helped him to a chair in his office.  “Sit there and rest.  Irene was out there with you, wasn’t she?  Before your collapse?”

       “Yeah, I was resting my head because of a headache, and the next thing I know she was sitting there taunting me.  She wouldn’t let up about being in my soul and in my head.” Todd took the bottle of water Kevin suddenly handed him, twisting the top off and drinking it almost to the bottom. He looked up at Kevin. “She said you couldn’t help me.  Please tell me she’s wrong.  She’s just waiting for me.  This morning she said I was hers, it was only a matter of time and it would be either by the assassin’s hand or by my own. You have to be able to do something.”

       “I can certainly try to eradicate her, but only if we can get to the bottom of why you’re still seeing her.  The lesions are a very real and tangible reason.  I know you can’t stand being in the hospital and I understand why.  But we have to get you past that fear.” Kevin sat down opposite Todd.  “I’m going to be honest with you.  I believe your mother and the torture she perpetrated on you are responsible for the lesions, but I also think there’s more going on.  Whether you admit it or not, your headaches are the result of damage to your brain.  That needs to be addressed.”

       “I can’t do it, Doc.  Don’t push.  You said something else was going on.  What do you mean?”

       “I know your torture consisted of repeated shock treatments, but you had a flashback to something else, too.  You remembered being injected and whatever they injected you with, hurt.  It’s my belief that your mother might have been experimenting on you in other ways.  I’d like to try hypnosis to see if we could bring any other memories to the top.  I think with controlled hypnosis, we could prevent what just occurred in the front office.  You started seeing your mother after you killed her.  You just told me she said she was in your soul and in your head.  Has she said those words to you before today?”

      Todd suddenly recalled his mother lying at his feet on the dock. She was covered in her own blood and all he wanted was for her to hurry up and die. Then she reached toward him with her bloody hand. “You’ll never be rid of me. I’m in your soul and in your head...” she gasped and died.  Todd blinked and looked at Kevin.  “Those were her last words to me.”

       Kevin nodded.  His suspicion was confirmed.  “That explains a lot.   Todd, I believe Irene brainwashed you.  The fact that she said those words to you and you keep hearing them, tells me they were used to trigger something.  You were found not guilty of killing your brother because of PTSD, but now I’m wondering if Irene tampered with your memories.  It’s possible you didn’t kill your brother at all.”

****

    Sam sat quietly at dinner eating his food and keeping a close eye on his father.  He listened to the talk between the mean woman and his dad.  There was something wrong because the lady kept calling his dad Miles and his dad didn’t correct her.  It was weird.

    “Sam, stop daydreaming, I asked you a question.  Why were you, your mom, your brother, and grandma in Port Charles?”

    “Mom brought us there to see Starr and Uncle Todd.  Someone tried to kill him.” Sam quickly covered his mouth with his hand. He hadn’t meant to say Uncle Todd’s name.  He looked at his dad afraid he had made him mad again.

    Walker scowled, this was news he wasn’t happy to hear.  Who had tried to kill Todd?  There was only one man he could think of, Tomas.  Damn him, this obsession with Blair is going to ruin everything.  “You said tried, I take it he’s alive?”

     Sam gulped, his dad didn’t appear mad at him even though he looked upset. He answered slowly. “He’s alright.  He almost died, but he’s better now.”  Sam sighed softly to himself when he realized his dad wasn’t going to ask any more questions.

    Alison was confused by Miles’ response to the attempted killing of Sam’s uncle.  When Miles had explained his need for securing Sam, he had explained the story about Todd Manning and his real relation to Sam.  She had been surprised to find out that the Todd Manning she knew was really an imposter and the twin of the actual guy.  “Miles, I’m surprised this news bothers you.  I was under the impression you didn’t like Todd Manning.”

        Walker looked glacially at Alison. “It’s none of your business what bothers me, Alison.   Sam, if you've finished eating I want you to go back to your room.  Alison, make sure he gets there.  I have some phone calls to make.” He set his fork down, tossed his napkin, and left.



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