The Devil You Know: Chapter 48

Despite what was happening, Todd couldn’t help but smirk.  When Victor threw him a glare, he simply shrugged his shoulders at his twin.  “What, you are the baby of the family.”



A hand flew out and smacked Todd’s chest.  “Stop teasing your brother,” she said in a motherly tone.



“And once again, she whacks me,” Todd mumbled.



“I think you deserved it,” Victor replied, a chuckle coming from him.  Then he turned to the red-head.  “You’re…Meredith?”



“Hello, Victor,” she repeated.  “Yes, I’m your sister Meredith.”



“What are you doing here?” he asked.



Holding up Todd’s hand, still in a vise grip with her own, she said, “Helping Todd remember.”  Then with her other hand, she took his.  “And now I’ll help you, too.”



In the distance, Victor thought he heard someone else calling but it was faint and he felt entranced by his situation.  “I think I learned something,” he told her and Todd.  “I remember being at the recital.  I remember you seeing me with Irene.”



Todd wasn’t paying attention to Victor.  He was just staring at his younger self.  He let go of Merrie’s hand finally and moved over to where Victor Lord’s sons were seemingly frozen in time.



The older Victor Junior watched him go for a second and then followed.  He was getting an uneasy feeling.  “Todd, do you remember something?” he asked.



Todd turned to him, his face a mask of horror.  “I remember this now,” he said, pointing towards the boys.  “But there’s more.”



Time seemed to become stuck again and Victor and Todd watched themselves.  “No way!” Young Victor said in amazement.  “You look just like me…How is that possible?”



“I don’t have a twin…this is weird,” Young Todd replied.



Before anything else was said, the limo that contained Irene Manning turned towards them.  “No!” Young Victor cried.



The other boy could tell he was scared.  Looking around quickly, he grabbed his hand and said, “This way.  I think I know a place where we can hide.”  With that the two boys took off.



Todd and Victor looked at each other and followed.  They wound up outside a metal shed in a backyard.  “I remember this.  This is Harry’s property,” Todd said.



“Harry Redding, that guy that’s visiting?” Victor asked.



“Yeah, he was my mom’s lawyer in my parent’s divorce,” Todd explained.  The brothers walked up to the door that was jimmied open.  Inside, they heard two quiet voices.



Todd’s younger self had managed to find a flashlight and he shined it at the other boy.  “How can you look like me?” he asked.



“How can you look like me?” Victor retorted.



“Guess some things don’t change,” Merrie said, rolling her eyes in amusement.



“What’s your name?” Todd asked.



“Victor Lord, Jr.  What’s yours?”



“Thomas Todd Manning, but everyone calls me Todd.  I hate the name Thomas.”  Todd found a crate and sat on it.  “Where do you live?”



“My mom and I live in New York City mostly, but she travels around a lot.  That’s why we’re here now.  She saw something about some piano recital in the paper, I think and we came,” Victor explained.



“Yeah, my mom taught me.  She’s says I’m really good, like I could be a professional.  But my dad…”  Todd’s voice trailed off, remembering what he had just witnessed.



“I don’t have a dad.  I think he died or something.  I asked my mom about him, but she says she doesn’t want to talk about him.  It’s too painful,” Victor replied.  Then he thought about it for a minute.  “I heard you play.  It was really good.”



“Thanks,” was Todd’s only response.



There was a moment of silence between the boys.  Their older versions looked on.  “Are you remembering this?” Todd asked.



“I think I’m starting to,” Victor said.  He walked over and crouched next to himself.  “I do remember falling out of the car.  I don’t remember why, but I remember it happening.”



An ominous feeling collapsed in on Todd.  He began to look around look around wildly.  “We have to go.”



“What?  Why?” Victor asked.



“We just have to,” Todd said as he grabbed his brother’s arm.



Victor knew what was happening.  Whatever came next was quite possibly the root of Todd’s problems.  “No,” he stated firmly.



“Victor, we have to go!” Todd cried, tugging his brother’s arm but his twin wouldn’t move.



“This is it, isn’t it?  The thing that you fear.  It wasn’t our meeting out there on the street.  Whatever it is, it happened in here,” Victor said.  Todd didn’t answer.  He couldn’t.  Victor had his answer.  “No, we stay.”  He looked at Merrie who smiled approvingly.



She moved over to Todd’s other side and took his hand.  “We are staying, and we will help you.”



It didn’t take long for all to be revealed.  As the boys sat there in the shed, the door burst open and the redheaded woman came it.  “There you are!” she snarled.  She grabbed Victor, who was struggling to get away.



“Get off of from him!” Todd yelled.  For some reason, he was feeling very protective of the boy.  He began to tussle with the woman when she backhanded him.  Todd fell back briefly, but came after her stronger. He grabbed her arm and bit down.



“You little brat,” the woman roared.  This time, she shoved him and he fell against a metal shelving unit.  It began to grow dark around the corners of his eyes.  But before he lost consciousness, he heard the woman say, “I should have killed you in my womb.  You are such a waste, and Peter and Bitsy were fools to take you.”  With that, Young Todd blacked out.



As quickly as they were in the shed, the image of that place melted away.  Todd fell to his knees and allowed a sob to escape.  That was the moment.  Not seeing Peter beat his mother, not meeting his twin on a street, but hearing the woman who gave birth to him, who he believed had loved him for so long through her diary tell him she wished he was never born.



Victor knelt next to Todd, and, surprisingly took him in his arms.  He held his brother close, closer than he had ever expected.  “I’m glad she’s dead.  After that, I’m glad you killed her.”



Todd still couldn’t respond, but he began to collect himself.  After taking a few deep breaths, Todd went into further explanation.  “After that night, I knew I didn’t fit in, not with Peter Manning.  She must have really clean my clock with that last shove.  When Harry found me the next morning, I thought it was all a dream.  And then he took me to the hospital to see my mom and I was just so worried about her, I forgot.  How could I?”



“You didn’t understand any of it and it was probably easy for you to write off,” Merrie told him.  “It’s not your fault, Todd.  You were just a boy.”  Then, she looked to the side.  “You both need to go back.  It’s time, you need those you love to face the rest.”  She moved over to Victor.  “I wish we had more time, but I will still be looking out for you.  You are real trouble and may be in need of guidance.  Just look to me.”  Then she turned to Todd.  “You know I’ll always be there for you.  Go back to your family, Blair and all your children.  Your new baby will need you.”   With that, she walked off into newly-formed mist.



Victor looked to Todd.  “New baby?”



Todd looked at his twin and a goofy smile formed on his lips.  “Yeah, seems that way.  Blair’s pregnant again.”



Victor had to roll his eyes.  “What it is with you two?  If you hadn’t disappeared for all those years, how many kids would you have?”  He shook his head.  “Never mind, I don’t want to know.  Well, let’s get back.  We have a lot to talk about and I think I want to do it in the real world.  And I think you need to talk to Blair.”



Todd nodded.  He closed his eyes and when he re-opened them, he was staring into Blair’s emerald ones.  “Hi,” he said sheepishly.



“Todd!” she whispered before burying her face in his chest.  “Oh God, you had me so scared.  Why do you keep doing that to me?”



He shrugged his shoulders.  “We have a lot to talk about.”  Then he reached out for her stomach, laying his fingers on it.  “But this is the most important thing.”



Blair realized he knew she was pregnant.  “How…?”



“Her guardian angel told me,” Todd said simply.  Then he looked at her, as if they were the only two people in the room, in the world.  He sat up, his one hand still on her stomach, but with the other, he caught her chin and brought her lips close to his.  “I love you…so much.”



In that moment, Blair had never loved him so much, either.





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