Chasing the Monsters: 52

He wasn't sure he wanted to wake her.  The laptop was on, next to him, and had been for three hours.  In the dark, the small screen gave off very little light.  Blair was sleeping soundly, and her breathing next to him this way had become a comfort to him that he knew he would never be able to live without again.  

He looked at her, lying there, her breasts slightly coming out of her pajama top.

Her hair always fell over her face when she slept.  He resisted the urge to brush it back and study her peaceful face, knowing it might wake her.  

Then, he realized it:  Sam hadn't cried out, screamed in his sleep, or moved around the upper level of the house.

He got up, carefully, and checked into the nursery, because it was on the way.  The two youngest Mannings were asleep in their places.  Jack's door was closed; Todd wasn't concerned about the whereabouts of his eighteen year-old, though in the past, he would have been.  Sam's door was open, and there, in the dark, was Sam.  He was sleeping, soundly, his arm wrapped around his pillow.  The tent wasn't even set up.  

He thought back to their conversation earlier; perhaps all it took was a promise that everything would be all right and that he'd handle it.  He decided to believe that, and made his way back to the master bedroom.  If only he had been able to hear someone say those words himself, when he was a boy.  It could have made all the difference in the world. 

Blair was already sitting up, looking intently at the computer screen, with her knees tucked up under her chin.  "What's wrong?" she whispered.

"Nothing.  I went to check on . . . everybody."

"How's Sam?"

"He's sleeping."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"In the tent?"

"Nope."

She was puzzled a minute, and then said, "Whatever you said to him, it must have made him feel safe.  I'm not surprised, because you do that for me, too, when I need it."

He ignored what she said a moment, and went back to the computer.  "Where the hell is he?  It's past three."

"He's late?  Or, maybe he doesn't show every night.  Did Sam say he does?"

"No."

"My poor boy, Sam.  I can't believe what he's been through, and we never even realized it."

"It's over now.  He's all right.  We'll take care of the rest of it, whenever that coward comes on this screen."

"What do we do?  He's going to see us, right away."

"I don't know.  We'll do what we do, I guess.  We'll know what to do when he shows his face."

A while later, Blair woke up to the brightness of the morning sun coming through the glass panes, as Todd opened the covering to let the light through.  She sat up, "Todd, why did you let me sleep?"

"He never showed."

"Oh, shit!"  she said, and her Southern accent was very pronounced when she said it.

"Yep."

"Todd, what are you doing?"  

He was readying to leave.  "Just let me go, Blair."

"Todd, no.  We agreed about this."

He ignored her, and readied himself to go outside.

"Todd!" she shouted and jumped off the bed, going toward him.

"Babe, come on.  Let me go do this in person, it's what Zeus deserves."

"What does that mean?"  she said, getting anxious.

He stopped and looked at her.  "It means . . . it means I'm going to do what I have to do."

"No, Todd.  That's enough."

"I'm not going to hurt the guy.  I'm just going to tell him to leave us alone."

"You can do that by phone.  Call him."  She handed him her cell.

"Blair, it's better in person.  More effective."

"Call him," she insisted, and he saw a look in her eyes he recognized.  Fear.

He walked by her, and back to the bed.  The clock read 6:00 am, and he sat down on the edge.  She crawled up behind him, and hugged under his arms.  "Don't go."

"Okay," he said, so softly, she almost couldn't hear it.

"You won't?"

"No, I won't," he answered.  Something in him was holding him back; he knew if he went, Zeus would end up hurt, or dead.  Get it together, you're not Peter.  You're not leaving them again.

She ran her hands along his chest, and moved herself closer.  Just then, a sound rang through the room, and both of them turned abruptly, Todd breaking free of her loving grasp, and Blair scooting up after him to the edge of the bed.  Both peered at the laptop screen.  It was a message, similar to the one he saw before.  A message appeared:

Houdini:  You there, Sam?

***

She was standing in an empty cathedral, and looking down, she could see that she was dressed in all white.  Was it her wedding day?

Her hair was long, and brushed like silk.  It shone as it covered her back to the top of her waist.  

The empty church had a haze caused by the glare of the sun coming in the stained-glass windows.  Colors were strewn onto the floor from the huge, colored murals made of glass and trimmed in lead.  She stood, at the end of the center aisle, looking straight ahead to the altar, and started walking forward, as if compelled.

As she walked, her white dress was marked with panels of colored light, and the emptiness of the church created an echo of her footsteps.  As she neared the altar, she saw him, his back to her, but she knew.  She knew who he was, without him turning.  His broad shoulders, and the shape of his back.  She felt her breath catch.

As she got closer, he spoke.  "Stop."

She did.

He turned toward her slowly, and her breathing escalated.  Her heart, beating rapidly in her chest, pounded almost against her sternum with fervor.  

And then, his face.

He said, "What must you tell me?"

She couldn't speak.  She opened her mouth, but nothing would come out.

He asked again, "What must you tell me?  Speak, woman!"

Her body jerked with the effort to answer him, and she saw him become enraged, and walk toward her.  

It wasn't fear she felt - it was excitement, through every vein in her body.

As he neared her, she felt her head tip up, toward him, and he whispered into her face, "What must you tell me?"

"Heed the Messenger," she finally said, and her grabbed her waist and pulled her to him, his mouth on hers, and his hand moving up her side and his thumb resting on her breast and pressing roughly against her.

She sat up in the dark, and realized she was sweating.  She took a gasp of breath, and sat a moment, clutching her nightgown at the neck.  "My God, how can I want him?" she asked herself, aloud in her pink room in her son's home.  "How can I want that monster?"

***

Todd wrote, using Sam's I.D.:  

SamTheMan:  Yeah.

Houdini:   Morning.

SamTheMan:  Morning.

Houdini:  I have a question to ask you today.  Will you accept my voice chat?

SamTheMan:  I don't know.

Todd looked at Blair, and her face was covered in tears.  He moved to take her in his arm and hold her to him for a moment, then returned to read the next message:

Houdini:  I want to ask you something important.  You've been enjoying our talks, right?  We had fun on the XBOX game?  I just want to make up for the bad things.

SamTheMan:  Okay.

Houdini:  I want that chance.  That's why I want to ask you if . . . if you'll come and visit me.   It's beautiful.  You've been to Greece before.  Beaches and sun.  And you can see Tea, Dani and Isabella.  Click the button for the video chat, and we can talk about it.

Todd caught Blair's eye, and she nodded.  He clicked the appropriate button, and they saw Zeus appear.  Todd had covered the webcam with his thumb, so Zeus could still not see them.  But there he was, on the screen, waiting to see the image appear.  His voice came through clearly, "Hey, are you there?"

Todd slowly removed his thumb from the cam area.  "Yeah, we're here, Zeus.  And before you hang up, maybe you should listen to what your 'calls' have done to our son."

Zeus folded his arms, and sat back.  "You know?"

"Yeah, we do."  Blair said, "Zeus, how could you do this?  You agreed that Sam would be with us."

Todd waited to see Zeus' response, and something in the man's face told him all he needed to know.  Todd said, "What do you want?"

Zeus answered, "My son back.  There's too much pain and trouble there."

"Pain and trouble?"  Blair's voice escalated.  "Your son has been in treatment because of your calls.  He can't sleep.  You made him keep secrets, you scared him to death."

"What do you mean?" Zeus said.

Todd answered, "You're fucking with his head.  He's kept it inside, he's been up nights, he's been afraid.  He has completely withdrawn.  That's what your talks have done.  He doesn't want to go with you.  He wants to live here."

"He's ten.  He doesn't realize he'd be better off."

"Better off?"  Blair said.  "How?"

"Let's just say he won't have the complications of being a Manning."

Todd fumed, "Complications of being a Manning.  You're not getting your hands on him.  He's been through enough."

"He needs a normal life," Zeus leaned forward.

Blair said, "A normal life?  You've been cyberstalking him, and talking to him behind our backs.  He's so scared he can't sleep, he can't play, he's not happy.  He's not."  Zeus' eyes traced her expression over the screen.  She said, "Please, Zeus.  He loves us, and he wants to be here."  For a moment, she saw pity in his face, and traces of understanding.

Zeus' face twisted, and then he shrugged and suddenly said, "I can't talk about this now.  We'll be in touch.  I won't call him anymore.  For now.  You'll be hearing from us, instead."

The screen went black.

She said, "He's suing for custody.  Of Sam."

Todd said, "Not yet.  I'll call Dad, see what's up with this from a legal standpoint."

Blair watched him reach for the phone and said, "Todd?  We can't lose Sam."

"We won't," he said, while listening to the phone with his other ear.

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