Episode 15 (Season One Finale, The Hero and the Terror Part 1)
Angel S:1 E:15 Season One Finale “The Hero and the Terror Part I”
By G.M. Shephard
Copyright © 2012
Edited by: jeffusually
kittylover
Reid slowly opened his eyes and looked around his environment. A constant throbbing in his leg and ringing ears quickly brought him back to reality and reminded him where he was. He tried to move his left hand but quickly found it was handcuffed to something that was tugging back. There was a faint sound of a voice. He turned his head to see Liz next to him tugging on the handcuff. She was saying something to him, but he was still having a hard time hearing. It was worse than standing for hours in the front row of a rock concert. Reid got himself into a sitting position and laid his back against the wall. He cringed from the pain in his upper thigh.
He inspected the wound caused by the high velocity, low energy round that had penetrated his upper thigh. The entrance wound was toward the outer edge and appeared to have passed cleanly through the leg. He was lucky, it didn’t look as if the hollow point had a chance to mushroom, thus saving him from severe muscle damage. Still, it hurt like a son of a bitch. He looked back up at Liz whose faint voice was hard to make out. Focusing on her lips and concentrating on what sounds he could make out, he was able to understand her. She was yelling at him for ignoring her.
“Liz, calm down,” he said in an elevated voice, “I can’t hear you that well. My ears are ringing, I still can’t hear. I need you to slow down and help me, OK.” Liz now understood his lack of response to her voice and settled down. Reid looked at his hand and found he was cuffed to her right wrist. His cuffs were strung through a solid metal thermostat and he knew they weren’t going anywhere. He tugged and tugged, but nothing budged other the little Liz was giving him at the expense of her comfort.
“DON”T BOTHER, IT WON’T BUDGE,” she yelled. He understood and nodded. ‘HOW IS YOUR LEG?”
“It hurts like hell, but I will be alright. Did you wrap it?” She gave a quick thumbs up instead of yelling. “Where is he, is he around?” She shook her head no, happy he asked a yes or no question as a follow-up. Once he left that door, he could be anywhere. She wondered all the places he had been over the past year, while she thought he was in his greenhouse or some other bunker. How could she have been this stupid she thought. She was played for a complete fool and she bought it, hook, line and sinker. Liz started crying, thinking of the life her stupidity robbed Ashley of. This entire time, they thought they were the sole survivors in the area, when in fact, life as normal was happening above them. Worse, she was home free, but her anger turned wrath overturned the edge they finally had over Dwayne. Still, Reid would have been better off letting her kill Dwayne.
“I’m so goddamn stupid.”
“Liz, you’re not stupid,” Reid said, able to piece together words he could make out.” We were standing on the edge of an apocalypse. It was logical to seek safety. You were lied to by an evil man with a very dark heart. Please Liz, this isn’t your fault, don’t let this get to you.
“What about Michael? You said he succeeded. Please don’t tell me Dwayne lied about him, and he has been searching for me this entire time. Please don’t. Oh, God Michael, I’m sorry.” She really started breaking down at the dreadful thought she conjured up in her mind.
“I didn’t catch that Liz, what about Michael succeeding?” She struggled to say it again, then he finally understood.
“Liz, I’m so sorry, but that part was true. Michael is gone. I’m really sorry you have to find that out this way. He reached his right hand over to take her left. He caressed it, doing the best he could under the circumstances to comfort her. “They did succeed though, somehow the asteroid moved off course and passed by. There was some emergency and he left the ship to save his crew, but -” he stopped thinking it wasn’t a good time to tell her how her husband died.
“Please, I need to know. Don’t hold back. I would know by now if I weren't so damn stupid. Please tell me.”
“Ok, I am sure you will be privileged to more detailed information if we can make it out of here, but from what the public has been told, a piece of the asteroid hit him and ejected him away from the ship. The ship was badly damaged and they couldn’t go after him. He saved the other four who, by some divine miracle, returned to earth.
“Four, there were a total of seven?”
“Yes, the military guy and one of the Russians were killed. The rest have returned. You know Dr. McCormack?”
“Megan? Yes, very well, we are good friends. You telling me she’s alive?”
“Yes, I am here because she and your sister-in-law haven’t given up on you.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Back the hell up, my who?” He didn’t catch that last sentence, “Who did you say was helping Megan?”
“Your sister-in-law, Karen,” he replied.
“Buster, I don’t have a sister-in-law. Both Michael and I are only children. I have no idea who you are talking about.”
“You don’t know a Karen Santucci? She is Michael’s half sister from his mom’s side.”
“I don’t know where you are getting this information from, but his mom left him a long time ago.”
“Well Dr. McCormack seems to know her well, in fact she has some remarkable skills that really helped me find you.”
“Look Reid, I am really confused right now, so please don’t talk about people I don’t know. I am just figuring out everything I have known for the last year has been a lie. The one thing I want to be a lie right now is that Michael is dead, and his death seems to be the only bit of truth that asshole has been feeding me. Some mystery sister? Don’t mention her again, in fact keep her away from me and my daughter. Did it ever fucking occur to you detective, that she was some poor bastard kid that Michael’s bitch of a mother probably had and has come out of the woodwork seeking fame and money from a brother she never gave a shit about?”
“I’m sorry Liz. Honestly, I don’t know who she is. She and the Doctor came into the station to file a missing persons. McCormack was in space at the time, and we never even questioned her motives. We just assumed her friend was just as good and decent as she was. I will find out who she is, but she cares for you and Ashley very much, it just seemed like she has known you two for a while now.” Reid paused in thought, “Ashley, where is she?”
“Dipshit has her locked up in the bedroom next to us. I think she’s asleep, don’t wake her, I need to think.”
---Houston Police Department, Westside---
Trish walked along the row of offices with her morning coffee when a loud noise startled her. Scared out of her wits she turned in time to see a small Hacky Sack fall from the window of Whithers' office. Her first response was out of anger and she looked up at him expecting him and several others to be laughing. Instead, he was on the phone and waving frantically to get her attention. As soon as they made eye contact, he stopped signaling and began waving her inside. She opened the door and timidly walked inside, closing the door behind her.
"Yes sir, you want to see me," he held up his hand while he continued to yell at someone on the phone. He finally slammed the phone back on the hook and looked at Trish with a very serious look.
"Where the hell is Reid?" Trish shrugged her shoulders.
"How should I know?"
"Mendoza, do I look like a beat cop to you?"
"Sir?"
"Don't bullshit me right now, I'm a senior detective if that placard on my door wasn't obvious, it's my job to use my keen senses to uncover bullshit. Hell, it didn't take much to figure out you and Reid have been shacking up, so don't stand there and pretend you don't know what the fuck I am talking about and answer my goddamn question."
"Sorry sir, I haven't talked to him since yesterday morning."
"Did he say where he was going?"
"No, just that he was going to check something out. He was pretty vague. Why, what's going on?"
"He didn't show up this morning like he was supposed to. A dispatch relay out near Dayton received a faint radio call from a 162 reporting in, then silence. No trace of him."
"What about the transponder in his shop?" Mendoza said using Houston PD slang referring to their vehicles.
"No good, his shop is in the motor pool. Must have taken his truck."
"Well sir...we...we-"
"-Spit it out Mendoza, what is it?"
"We were supposed to go out last night, but he never picked me up. I called his house several times, but no answer."
"Ok, I am going to let your boss know I'm borrowing you for a while, head over to his house and see if he's there. If he's sick or hung over tell him to get his ass in, I don't care how shitty he feels."
"Yes sir," Trish said, making for the door.
"And Mendoza, keep it quiet."
"Sure thing Sarge, you mind doing the same for us?" she said, tossing the Hacky Sack back at him.
---Bunker---
“Wake up you two,” Dwayne said, repeatedly smacking Reid on the cheek. Reid awoke suddenly, wanting to fight, until he saw Dwayne's 9mm pointed at him. Liz woke up and started cussing at him.
“You bastard, I hope you rot in hell.” Liz said spitting at him
“Liz, I very well might, I know I deserve it, but you and the Lone Ranger over there aren’t going to get the satisfaction. He pointed the gun at her while he withdrew his Smith & Wesson .357 and pointed it at Reid. Liz cringed, afraid that her life was about to end.
“Do it you miserable asshole, kill us. I would rather us die and be with Michael again, than live after what you did to us,” she said, screaming.
“Liz, you don’t understand, I don’t want to kill you. You know I love you, but I can’t have you screwing up my plans. Since that first day, I knew we would reach this point, it was unavoidable that this day was coming. Ever since you found that can, I’ve been planning my escape. Never thought I would have to give you up so soon, but it is here. I have-”
Reid interrupted him. “-You’re sick. You kept Liz and the girl in here for a year, taking advantage of her fragile state. Her husband gave his life for you and you conned her into being...I don’t even want to know what you were getting from her. You sir, are one very fucked up individual. I have seen some of the worst criminals, but you Dwayne, there is a special place in hell that they are renovating just for your arrival. You couldn’t have what Michael had, because he is really that much better than you are.”
“You are completely correct, I am, but that doesn’t mean I am going to stick around. I have made all the arrangements, and I am going to deprive you of my worthless self soon enough. I will go away, and by the time you get out of here, I will be long gone. Now you two are going to be in here a few days, and if you want to be comfortable, you listen to me, otherwise, you can stay like that.” Dwayne produced a handcuff key from his green Alpha Jacket and tossed it to Liz. He cocked the .357 and pointed it at Reid.” None of that Aikido crap, you hear me?
Now, Liz, I want you to un-cuff yourself, and cuff the detective’s other hand around the thermostat. She quickly did as she was told. He put the gun in his waistband and, while keeping Reid’s 9mm trained on her, tossed her a length of chain, a couple of padlocks and a second pair of handcuffs he bought at the local gun store.
“What the hell are you doing, you can’t leave us here.” Ashley was suddenly awake and started yelling to be let out of the room.
“Ashley honey,” Liz yelled through the wall, "Mommy’s here. I know you’re afraid, but I need you to stop banging on the wall.”
“I want out, let me out,” she screamed.
“What are you going to do with my daughter?” Liz had a growing concern he was going to take her.
“She will be fine, if you listen to me. Now secure that chain to the thermostat and then lock the other end to those cuffs. Secure them around your own wrists, and then you are going to do the same for the detective here. When you are done, use the other end of the key to engage the double locks so they don’t tighten on you while I am gone.” After she finished locking Reid into place, Dwayne backed up beyond the length of chain. “Now give me the key.” After she tossed it back to him, Dwayne walked to the front of the bunker and fiddled around with some kind of device. He bent over and gave the large blue object a couple of good tugs, ensuring it was tight. He walked out of sight and they could hear the door closing behind him.
---
“Those were some pretty fancy moves back there Detective,” Liz said trying to break the erie silence. “How long have you been studying that.”
“Oh, about five months or so.”
“Pretty impressive for such a short time. So what made you start learning? Something all you cops do?”
“I learned how to fight and some other basic control holds, but it was actually, your...I mean Karen that has been teaching us-”
“-Her again? Look Detective, I don’t want to hear about her,” Liz said cutting him off.
“Liz, I admit I really don’t know her like I thought I did, but she saved my life. This bum and a detective wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for her. In many ways that’s true. If it weren’t for her diligence, the police and FBI would have thrown in the towel long ago.”
“Why did they give up on us?”
“You two left, leaving really nothing behind. It was almost as if some alien beamed you aboard their ship one night and took off. After a while, it seamed as if you left on your own accord and didn’t want to be found. I tell you, I would have never in a million years put it together that you had been duped by this asshole that the earth above had been leveled. You mean you haven’t been above in about a year?”
“No, he always talked about high levels of radiation in the air, and he had this suit to keep him safe when he went out. What the hell did I know. It was a very believable to me, but in the end, I was stupid. Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s talk about something else.”
“Yeah, I know, I feel a little violated myself, but it’s really my fault, I just never thought to check her out. Still, she acts as if she’s known you and Ashley forever and refused to stop looking. Perhaps she connected with Michael before he left, and he never said anything?”
“No, Michael and I don’t keep secrets, I would have been the first person he called had some mystery sister showed up. Well Reid, if we get out of here, the first thing I want you to do...first thing after you are done hanging dipshit out to dry, is checking her out.
“James, my name is James and you can count on it.”
---
Whithers brought his car to a stop on Reid’s drive way. He grabbed his flashlight and made his way to the front door. There were no lights on inside other than the one in the front living room. Whithers knocked several times anyways.
“Reid! Reid, I’m coming in,” he quickly picked the lock and entered scanning the house with the bright beam of his flashlight. The place looked as empty as Mendoza found it yesterday. A foul odor of something dying in the trash can led the detective to conclude he hadn’t been home in days.
“Where the hell are you Reid?”
---
“What about the girl Dwayne?”
“Here is how it’s going to work, Ashley is coming with me.”
“NO!, no don’t take my baby from me, please don’t take her,” Liz started yelling at him. She could hear Ashley crying and banging on the door.
“Dwayne you are only making things worse, you cross state lines with a minor, and you are going to find yourself in a huge federal manhunt.”
“Well I won’t be in the US that long anyway. Ashley and I are going to make a few flights in my plane to unknown destinations. At some point, I will leave her somewhere safe. In my house, there is the number of where she will be. That person has nothing to do with this, but rest assured, they will look after her until you are able to get out of here.”
“They will stop you before you can fly out.”
“Now Detective, lets cut the crap, you and I both know no one knows where you are, and no one ever will.” He picked up a ball of string and threw it to Liz. “At the end if this string is a 5 gallon water bottle that’s been frozen and secured to the other end of the room. You can’t pull that bottle over to you, and will have to wait for the ice to melt. When it does, the keys to the cuffs attached to the other end of the string will be free. Simply pull them to you and you can unlock yourselves. No I won’t lock the door so when you are free from the cuffs, you can escape. I have rigged a heater and calculated you will be down here about three to four days before you can leave. By the time the Detective starts a trace, I will be gone, never to be seen again. I left plenty of food and drinks, so you will be fine until the ice melts.”
Dwayne walked out of the room toward Ashley’s. Liz could hear him unlock the door.
“Get away from me,” Ashley yelled at him.
“Dwayne, you don’t need her. You said yourself you have plenty of time to get away, what do you need to take the girl for?” Reid said, trying to reason with him. Dwayne didn’t respond and continued struggling with Ashley.
“Ouch, you're hurting me you jerk.”
“Stop it right now. Listen to me, or I will tie you up. Do you want to be tied up?” There was silence for a moment. “Well if you don’t, then stop fighting me. Now put on this jacket, hat and sunglasses.” Liz held her hand up listening carefully at the exchange happening in the other room while Reid, his hearing still recovering, had a hard time following the conversation. “Ashley, if you promise to be good, I will let you say goodbye to your mother until you see her again. You promise me?” They appeared at the door, Dwayne keeping a firm grip on Ashley’s upper arm.
“Dwayne, please don’t take her,” Liz begged.
“Quiet, or we leave right now.” Liz immediately become silent wanting one last moment with her daughter. He held onto her jacket and inched her close to Liz’s maximum reach with her chain. “Hurry, you got one minute.” Liz got up and hurried toward her while Dwayne pulled his jacket aside to show Reid his .357. “You stay right where you are Detective.”
“Ashley sweetie, don’t cry. You are going to be okay. Dwayne isn’t going to hurt you and in a few days I’m going to see you again.” He held her just within reach, letting them only touch hands. “Be a good girl for mommy ok?”
“I’m scared, I don’t want to leave you.”
“Oh sweetie, I don’t want to leave you either. Mommy’s sorry. I really am. I love you baby.” Liz tightened her grip on Ashley’s hand as Dwayne began pulling her back.
“No, don’t let him take me Mom, please help me, help.” She started screeching loudly as Dwayne dragged her out of the bunker for the first time in a year.
“We will find you Dwayne, I will make it my lifelong quest. I will find you and bring you to justice.” Reid got up and started yelling at Dwayne as they heard the big steel door closing, leaving them alone.”
---
“Any luck?” Whithers asked pulling up opposite along side Mendoza’s cruiser. She was parked in her hole, her hidden place where she could park and her supervisors wouldn’t see her parked, doing nothing.
“No, nothing, I went by last night, and he wasn’t there. He hasn’t been home in several days,”
“It’s not like him to not check in, I think something is wrong. You think he found something?” Mendoza asked.
“On this case? Don’t be silly. You make it sound like he uncovered some major conspiracy. Might have just thrown in the towel, but a major break through, no way.”
“Jeez Lieutenant, I hope you are right on that one. Hey if you don’t mind, I am going to go see if Karen has heard from him.
“Ok, sounds good, keep me posted,” Mendoza threw her car into gear and raced down the alley way towards the Owen Residence.
---
My hand fumbled with the cassette as I fed it into the tape deck in my Porsche. As the music started I leaned back and stretched across the closed jump seats in the back with my feet hanging over the driver side just behind the door. The grey smoke of the Cuban cigar permeated my garage. It was a pleasant sweet tasting tobacco well worth the two minute trip to Cuba to pick up. I reached behind me and flicked the ashes while taking a good chug of whiskey straight from the signature 750ml square bottle. Half the rich amber colored liquid remained in my third bottle. Tingling feelings in my toes and arms indicated the booze was starting to affect my body and relax my nerves. The mix tape I made for Liz before departing rolled, playing Van Morrison’s Moondance.
Well, it's a marvelous night for a moondance
With the stars up above in your eyes
A fantabulous night to make romance
'Neath the cover of October skies
And all the nights magic seems to whisper and hush
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush
Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?
Can I just make some more romance with you, my love?
“Baby, I want one more moondance with you. Just one more. I’m not ready to let you go.” I added after singing the last of the lyrics. I continued to listen and sing along until I heard a voice approaching.
“Hope you're not planning on driving?” Trish said as she walked up the driveway. I turned and looked at her. She was in uniform and showed off that authoritative presence of an on duty officer. Her sudden appearance startled me. I fought to sit up and straighten my posture hoping she didn’t hear me talking out loud.
“Hi Trish, want a paper cup?” I said, offering her the bottle.
“Can’t, I’m working. Maybe later. I see you are picking up our slang.”
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?” She walked into the garage and scanned the cherry red convertible Porsche I was sitting in while the radio continued to play.
“Pretty nice ride 911 SC?”
“Pretty sexy isn’t she?” I said, admiring my car.
“Quite. She your’s?”
“No, this sexy girl belongs to Michael.”
“Well I think he would want you to have it,” she said, running her fingers along the side.
“Yeah,” I thought out loud, “he would, wouldn’t he?”
“You take her out before?”
“No. No license. You might pull me over and bust me.” I took a long hard drag on my cigar before letting it linger a few and then blowing the carbon smoke out my nose.
“Damn woman, you’re not supposed to inhale those things. Gonna put hair on your chest.”
“That sounds great, you think it really works, growing a hairy chest like the guys? You ever wish you were a man Mendoza?”
“Are you ok?”
“Answer me, you ever wish you could be one of the guys. Nobody give two shits about what you look like. If people constantly want nothing more than to screw you, that’s a good thing.” She looked me over, carefully studying me.
“I’m sure everyone of us has wondered what being the other sex is like. Sure, being a guy would have it’s advantages. Hell, can’t tell you how envious I get of the others after drinking too much coffee and having to take all this shit off to take a leak,” she said pointing to her belt. “Would be nice to pull over and pee on a tree somewhere.”
“I can pee on a tree,” I said giggling.
“Well, I bet that’s an interesting talent you have. I really don’t want to know the details. Look Karen, what’s happening to you?” She motioned toward the door. I curled my feet up and made some space. She opened the door and hopped up on the back of the seat.
“I’m lonely, my friend left me and my wi...my brother’s family is gone. I’ve been starting to think that we will never find them.
“Aww honey, I’m sorry.” I took another long tug of the whiskey, spilling a little on my shirt. “You should go easy on that stuff, you are going to get sick.”
“Did you come here to lecture me occifer, or is there something you want?”
“Karen, have you heard from Reid?”
“Nah, not since July.”
“You haven’t talked to him since running out on him? Don’t you think that’s a little hypocritical? You sitting here in a drunken rut over your friend Megan walking out on you, yet, here you are alone while another friend who has been getting his ass in the sling for working on your case even though you turned your back on him.” I started to get pissed off at her questioning my actions.
“Well who the hell asked him. I told him to stop risking his career for them. In fact, when you see him, tell him to drop the case for me. I’m through. I don’t care anymore about anything, just find me a hole to crawl into for the next ten years.” Trish got annoyed and jumped out of the car. Her weight shook the small sports car as the left shocks were freed from the force she exerted.
“Karen, I would love to tell him that, but no one knows where he is. He didn’t come in two days ago, and no one can reach him.” I sat up and became serious, concentrating so that I could focus through my buzz.
“What do you mean? Where did he go?”
“Don’t know, he and Whithers got into it about four days ago.”
“He didn’t come into work today. No one know’s where he is.”
“Oh, I get it, someone goes missing, and you guys all sit around for a few weeks to make sure they are really missing. Then, by the time you spring into action, they are dead, or long gone. One of you coppers goes missing for a few hours, and we release the dogs, get the birds in the air, and pull every officer off of their day off.”
“Karen, what’s happening to you?”
“I already told you. My life sucks, it’s not worth living anymore.”
“Life isn’t easy Karen. It’s not all fun and games. Good things happen to bad people, while bad things happen to good people. I have seen a lot of shit on the streets. You’re not the only one who has lost those they love. I had to tell a ten year old girl that a drunk driver swerved into oncoming traffic and killed her parents and her baby brother. I was a rookie back then, fresh out of the academy. The worst part is the asshole survived, and she had to spend many years in and out of foster care, doing drugs trying to figure out why her family had to go instead of him. Back in June, she passed her Bar exam and is on her way to becoming a young attorney. She makes me really proud to be her mom. It was a tough road and I adopted her in her mid teens, but she found comfort with me. She stabilized and I got her cleaned up. It wasn’t the most ideal life for her, but we look back and think how truly blessed we are to have each other. Our journey started off tragic, but now we can’t imagine life having played out any other way.” A voice poured through Trish’s radio.
“All units, priority one. All units, priority one 10-31 in progress Mercury Savings 2600 Hackett St.. Suspects armed and dangerous, proceed with caution.” Trish started running for her car without saying a word. I stumbled out of my car trying to give chase, but my motor functions were slower than I thought. She peeled out with lights and sirens blaring, speeding down the street. I tripped and fell face first on the pavement, cracking the concrete and shattering the bottle of whiskey.
“Shit,” I said, watching my drink leak all over the driveway. I turned and saw my neighbor standing on his driveway in the fading light staring at me.
“What the hell you looking at?” He didn’t reply but continued to stare.
“Oh screw it,” I said as I turned around and went back to my car, stopping to get a new bottle from the case sitting in my garage.
---
“Liz. I’m not feeling so hot,” Reid said, as he curled up on the ground pulling the blanket up around his neck. An hour ago they turned the heater on to keep warm.
“What’s the matter James?”
“Feel feverish, I think the wound is infected.” Liz crawled over to him and pulled the blanket aside. There was a coaster sized rusted brown stain of dried blood on the bandage where the entrance wound was on his thigh.
“Let me take a look at it,” Liz fought with the handcuffs trying to move them into a comfortable position so she could work. She untied the knot, keeping the bandage in place, and slowly unwrapped it. Reid grinned from the pain as she struggled to peel the last of the gauze away from the wound, the dried blood having bonded the dressing to the injury.
“Oh, son of a bitch,” he yelled out loud. “Shit that hurt.”
“Sorry.” As she looked at the wound, it started to bleed a little. “I don’t see anything. You know what I should be looking for?”
“Yellow puss, blackness, strong stinky cheese smells.” Liz cringed at the descriptions.
“No nothing like that, looks fine to me. Maybe you are just catching a cold.”
“Hopefully that’s all it is. It’s not going to be good if this starts getting infected.” Liz crawled over to the small stack of supplies Dwayne left them. She hadn’t eaten much since just before Reid found her a couple of days ago. She found some cans of Spaghetti O’s, and some dried goods. Nothing looked appetizing to her. Liz found several liter bottles of water and realized her mouth was very dry. She opened a bottle and began drinking, then offered some to Reid.
“Thanks. Is there anything to eat?”
“Nothing exciting. Then again you haven’t been eating this shit for the past year so maybe you won’t mind. That asshole was probably going topside and having dinner at a nice five star restaurant while feeding us this crap. I wish you would have let me kill him. It would have been justified.
“Maybe, no one would doubt that, but would you be able to live with yourself?” She didn’t reply, instead she excavated a half buried bottle of whiskey with a little less than half remaining. She didn’t hesitate, unscrewing the cap and taking a long sip before offering it to Reid. He pushed himself up off the ground and took the bottle from her.
“Thank you. You know, I should use some of this to clean the wound.”
“Won’t that hurt?”
“Very much, but it’s better than losing the leg. You think you can help me out and redress it?
“Sure,” Liz dug up the basic first aid and began prepping the fresh dressing while Reid started drinking.
“You want some more?” he said, handing the bottle back to her, but she refused.
“You need it.” He looked at the label briefly before taking another long sip, waiting for the calm feelings to start. “So detective, what made you persist looking for us when everyone else gave up? You have some kind of desire to be some kind of hero?”
“No, it was something personal.” He recounted the story of his sister, how he felt powerless to find her.
“So you thought you can have some kind of peace by finding us? Did it work?”
“It’s not that, I just didn’t want to leave someone alone in their search for those they love.” Reid realized he was touching on on a forbidden topic again. Before she could resist, he switched it up a bit. “You know, I have a cousin who found you and Michael on a beach a couple of years ago?” Liz’s head shot up.
“Wait, that was your cousin? Oh my god, I remember that now. His name was Reid...um-”
“-still is Reid. Daniel Reid. Talked about that night for a long time. Still tells the story.”
“I bet,” she said, thinking back to that night. They made love all night. A couple of times on the beach, then they went back to the hotel where they continued for hours, enjoying being in each others arms in between. It was such a lovely night. A tear dripped quickly down her face. “That was our last night together. I saw him a few times before he left, but that was the last night he and I spent together.
“Liz, I’m so sorry. From what I have heard, he sounds like quite a man.”
“He was. You wanna see a picture of him and I that night?”
“I would love to,” Without hesitating, she crawled over to the bed and pulled her case out and opened it. She began unpacking it and placing the contents on the ground. The folders and envelopes of photos slid all over the floor concealing the cold impersonal concrete. Finally she found the photo and brought it over to Reid. ”This is my last picture of him."
“That’s a good picture of him. Most of what I have really seen are those press release photos where he is posing in his space suit or jump suit. Found a few in the house of you two together, but this is a good picture.”
“Thanks,” she said, noticing the blood dripping down his leg.
“You feel ready to get this wrapped up?” He pointed both thumbs up in the air.
“Let’s do it,” Reid said as Liz took the bottle, turned him to his side and without warning him, started pouring the bourbon onto the wound.
---
Dwayne finished fueling up the plane from the tanks he had waiting at the field. They were miles away from any civilization and completely secluded. He had flown his boss out to the site the company had purchased very cheaply a couple of years ago. A family, who bought the land but never developed it except for a small shack, panicked after the announcement of the asteroid. BioTech snagged the land after the family bit at the first measly offer they gave them. They left to dig in somewhere, not knowing the company would have paid ten times the amount. This was going to be the site of the first large scale biosphere test. When complete seven men and women would enter and live there for two years, living solely off what they could produce inside.
He looked across the field, sad that he wouldn’t get to see his work become reality. Not only would his expertise be lost when he went into hiding, but so would the recent sums of grant money that were transferred into his work accounts. No one would check until after the news broke about his involvement. By that time, he would have moved the money to offshore accounts where he could access them from anywhere in the world.
Dwayne walked to the door and opened it up. Ashley was sleeping, having tired herself out from crying and was lying down across the back seats.
“Ashley, wake up. Come on, I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Leave me alone.” Dwayne grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
“Ok, you going to stay in the plane then by yourself?”
“Yes?”
“Ok, there is no one around for miles. In about 20 minutes, this place is going to get very dark and lots of animals are going to come out. See that shack all the way over there. That’s where I am going to be if you get scared. I only have one flashlight and I need it, so if you get lost, just start yelling and I will come find you.” Dwayne watched as she got up and started looking around, finding that Dwayne wasn’t lying to her. He smiled as she quickly got out of the plane.
“Did you change your mind?” She shook her head but remained silent. “Okay, let’s go. I am going to make some dinner, and then we are going to get some rest. We have another long stretch tomorrow and I want to leave early.”
---
“Did you exchange, A walk on part in a war, for a lead role in a cage?,” I sang along with David Gilmour’s voice pouring through the Porsche’s sound system. “Hey Pink Fraud,” I paused laughing at my new name for the one I used to call a friend. “That’s right, you’re a fraud. Turn tail and run leaving your friend alone in this goddamn cage."
“Liz, how I wish, how I wish you were here,” I continued to sing loudly, hating the soft feminine voice filling the garage. I tilted my head back getting lost in the song. A box in the rafters caught my attention. My eyes made out the writing on the side of the box as I stood up staring at my family film archive. I fiddled with the ladder for a few minutes before remembering I could float up and grab it. After bringing it down, I set it on the ground and began looking through the contents. There were about a dozen or so 8mm film reels and the projector. I packed the box back up, loaded a couple of bottles on top of the box and went inside the house.
---
Liz finished recounting to Reid the events that led to her winding up here in the bunker. From the early calls where Dwayne suddenly changed, becoming more friendly and offering to help her out while Michael was away, to him supposedly saving her and Ashley, to her first doubts.
"I had a suspicion he had a thing for me. Wouldn't put it past that asshole to have engineered this whole thing from day one."
"Things like this aren't uncommon, but far from being a textbook case. They are few and far between. Most of the time it's women being kidnapped and scared into being some kind of sex slave, afraid if she doesn't comply, he will hurt her family. Years go by and they become dependent on the prick, even going as far as defending him in court. This case, this is unique."
"Great, look forward to hearing about the Dwayne Turner Syndrome, where some guy becomes so obsessed with someone, he keeps her in a bunker and pretends the world ended."
"How about Ashley, he didn't abuse her did he?"
"No, not at all. He didn't have any interest in her, just with me." She grew very silent as she started to think about the times she slept with him. Reid saw her face change and knew Liz was carrying a major burden.
"Liz, I am going to ask you a question, not to get personal, but as a detective. You don't have to answer me if you don-"
"-No, he didn't," she said interrupting, "Not forcibly, anyways. He just guilted me into it. I thought he was risking his life for us. Seriously, Ashley and I had nothing to give, nothing to offer him, so I gave him," she stopped mid sentence and started yelling. At first Reid tried to get her to calm down, but instead let her vent. She stood up and started kicking anything she could find.
"Goddamn it. I'm such a stupid woman. I let this jerk take my life and my daughter's. Oh God Michael, please forgive me. I cheated on you. All that we had is dishonored by an infidelity with a man who hated the best man in the world." Liz knelt down next to her box and stared at the images. All the memories, now painful to recall, were on display. She couldn't take the guilty feelings she was had as the saw Michael staring at her from the image on the floor.
"Don't look at me, Michael, I'm a whore. I don't deserve you. Please don't look at me."
"Liz, Michael is gone, you weren't unfaithful to him. You were fragile and that creep took advantage of you. Anyone would have done the same thing, don't let it get to you." she began scooping up all the photos and memorabilia and tossed them in the box haphazardly, not stopping to give it the care she always showed it. She slammed the box shut while photos were still hanging out around the edges. She didn't bother with the locks, instead she just stood up and arced her foot back before letting it fly. A moment before her foot hit the case she herd Reid yell out.
"STOP!" Her foot impacted, sending the case sailing across the floor. “Liz, no.” As the case slid further back toward the corner, she watched in horror as her freedom instantly vanishing before her eyes. The string leading to the keys pulled taut, the spool, now mixed in with her memories, strained and snapped. The thin cord seemed to float in the air and hover a moment before springing backward and collecting where the case had come to a stop.
"Oh god no! No, no, no. What the fuck did I just do?" she said and she lifted her hands to her head, fingers wide open and wrapping around her skull. She was too busy stashing the photos back into the box, she never saw that she grabbed the spool by accident. She ran over to the string and began pulling on it, hoping the ice had melted already, but the lack of resistance told her otherwise. The severed end of the cord finally reached her trembling hands to which she immediately ran as far as her bindings allowed her to go. The other end of the string was nowhere to be seen.
"Oh god, I just killed us."
---
My body was recovering, but I was still having difficulty walking straight. I set the box on the flood and cracked open a new bottle, guzzling the whiskey before turning to the box. I pulled the projector out and placed it on a tray table and began setting up the screen. My fingers had difficulty feeding the film strip through the loops, but eventually get it working. The lights off, my bottle in hand, I began my night with the ticking of the projector rolling in the back of the room. The first images appeared, from our wedding day. It was a simple wedding, only my closest friends and my Dad there to celebrate me committing to the love of my life. I sat and watched, changing reels every twenty minutes. By the eighth reel feeding the film through all the wheels was almost impossible.
After a five minute battle with my head starting to spin, the lamp came on and started projecting a backward image of Ashley at two years old wearing a little purple bathing suit with a flower sewn onto the left shoulder strap. She was covered in sand as she sat filling a bucket with a cheap plastic shovel while Liz helped her prepare the first part of the castle. We were so happy then. My eyes were seeing double, but somehow I felt myself transcend the camera and I felt as if I was right there on the beach again during that hot July afternoon in California.
It was as if every detail my brain ever recorded was suddenly pulled out of the vault and loaded back into the main projector. Every sight, every scent, every decibel was being recalled for me to relive. I was at the height of my experience when a loud pop sounded and the room went dark. “FFFuckk!" I mumbled out loud. The lamp after all these years picked this moment to pop, robbing me of the opportunity to be reunited with my family. Pissed off at my stroke of bad luck, I kicked the folding dinner tray that I used to set the projector projector on. The film projector went sailing across the room, shattering on the wall and disintegrating into a thousand debris fragments, producing a loud crashing sound that likely woke the neighbors up. I stumbled to find the light switch, laughing as I tripped over coffee table, destroying the cheap piece of furniture in the process. I laughed as I struggle to get back on my feet, spilling my drink all over the floor. As I stood up, the sound of the phone ringing echoed throughout the room. I stumbled over to where the phone was mounted in the kitchen and and answered in a drunk voice.
"Go ahead Houston," I said, joking.
"Karen?"
"Wrong number, can I take a message and I will have her call you.?"
"Michael, it's me Megan."
“Whaaatzuuuuup Doooc! What blings you suddenly black into my life? Stopped having fun in that fancy Embassy and thought we could pick up where we left off after you ditched me?”
"Michael, I know I left you alone, but I'm back home. I want to see you, there are things I need to say to you."
"Well I don't want to see you. Liz and I are celebrating our anniversary together. We're having a great time without you."
"Michael, you found her?"
"Yeah I founder her,” I said as I looked at her photo on the wall reaching up and pulling the frame off the hook, “all that searching for that fucking crystal, and she was here hanging on my wall the entire time. We’re having one last anniversary together and tomorrow I am going to bury her and Ash. Time to accept they're never coming back.” I fought back the emotion and continued, “I just want one more night with her."
"I'm sorry Michael. I forgot today was your anniversary, I should have been there for you."
"What the hell did I do to you? I'm so alone and you left me for another jerk."
"Gene and are are friends Michael, nothing more. And no, you didn't do anything. It was me. I was being very stupid and selfish. It's complicated, but I am going to come over in the morning and tell you about it. I don't expect you to forgive me. Let me come over and after I will help you lay them to rest if that's what you want.”
“Whatever you slay Doc,” I said in a very slurry voice. A sudden feeling that I had been oblivious to came to my attention and started to well up inside me. In an instant my lower body started sending warning signals to my brain that I was in desperate need to purge the high quantity of liquid poison from my body.
“Heyy Doc, I have to go, time to drain the lizard. Wait! Shit I forgot, I don’t have a lizard any more. Some alien bitch ran off with my Johnson. What do you chicks slay when you gotta pee like an acehorse?” I started simultaneously laughing at both my crude joke and my inability to talk properly.
“Michael, go lie down and get some sleep. Have a good night and I will see you in the morning.”
She hung up and after a few seconds of crossing my long slender legs, desperately trying to keep my bladder from bursting, I gave up trying to put the handset back on the cradle and left it on the counter. I ran to the bathroom reaching down my pants trying to find my penis in order to pinch it shut before the dam broke. In my drunken daze I frantically searched everywhere for it, before my bladder finally gave out. The warm urine ran down my legs, soaking into my pajama bottoms and eventually creating a puddle on the tile floor. After fighting the stream for a few seconds I released my muscles, letting the urine flow freely, just basking in the warm wet feeling.
My pants were around my ankles and soaked in urine. Without stopping to pull them back up, I stumbled toward the bedroom, dragging my pants down the hallway, leaving a wet trail behind. My head was still spinning, but slowly recovering. I collapsed on the edge of the bed, sitting down with my pajama pants sill around my ankles. My bare ass, still slightly wet from the urine, was on the bedspread. Reaching down, I struggled to pull my pants off from around my feet. The smell of the urine was repulsing me and I stopped fighting and kicked them off, sending them across the room where they hit the closet door. I fell onto my back, legs spread wide open, laughing in hysterics from the sight of the pajama bottoms hitting the mirror, leaving a large wet spot on the glassy surface.
The ceiling was twisting in the faint light. Losing control of my vision, my eyes shifted between the different wavelengths. Closing my eyes, I fought to restore my vision back to visible light. I turned away from the ceiling and found myself face to face with a picture of Liz and I together at the Christmas party on my nightstand. My drunk hand reached up and struggled to get ahold of the frame. She was so beautiful that night. My eyes welled up as I tried to fight back the tears. I wanted to be with them so badly. “Anything, if I have to live forever in this body, I will. I will hate it, but I will if you can just give them back to me.” With all my will and determination I sat up again. Still on the edge of the bed, I stared at the picture.
In the mirrored door of the closet, a bottomless Kaaren was staring back at me. Her legs were wide open in an inviting pose. “Go away you bitch, you ruined my life. Why did you make me this way? I don’t want this body, I don't want it anymore. You took everything from me, everything I love. I fucking hate you,” I yelled as I threw the photo of Liz I at her image. The mirror shattered, sending thousands of glass shards all over the wood floor.
---
Liz was drunk. After saving the bottle for all these years, she found her pain was too great to get through the night sober. She peeled away the foil on the wine bottle and pushed the cork in with a pen from her box. She read the label on the bottle and checked it with the date on Reid’s watch. It was their anniversary.
“Michael, I miss you so much. I don’t care what Reid says, even though you are gone, I still feel unfaithful to you. Unfaithful, and I failed to protect your daughter. Please, please forgive me. I was weak and alone and needed someone to keep me from hurting. He meant nothing to me, I swear to you, it’s you I have always wanted, no one else. In a few days my love, I will be dead, punishment for all my failures as a wife and mother. Please forgive this miserable abomination of a woman. Please, I want to be with you again.” her head was spinning and the tears were rolling down her face, dripping on the photos and smudging the paper. “Why, why did this have to happen to us? Why did you have to leave me?” she said, picking up a photo of her and Michael out of the box.” She put the photo down and looked in the mirror on the lid of the case. Her face staring back was a complete mess. “I love you, I always have, and I always will. Happy anniversary my love.”
---
Looking up, I noticed Liz’s wardrobe was on display where the mirrored door was. All her fancy clothes that Trish and I went though were hanging up, wondering where their owner is. Curiously, I stood up and stumbled to the closet, my feet stepping on the glass without being harmed. My light-sensitive eyes shifted in and out of focus as I looked over the vast wardrobe. As I scanned the contents of the closet, the images blurred as my brain took longer than usual to process the information my eyes were feeding it, as if I were taking a photograph with a long shutter speed. All the colorful blouses, dresses, and skirts Liz loved to wear were arrayed before me.
I stood there half naked, recalling all the memories I had of my wife. Each and every piece of clothing had a memory attached to it, a place we went to together, a special moment we shared, they were all somehow recorded on the fabrics of her clothes. My hazy mind recalled the Christmas party from 1983 as my hand slid a coat aside, revealing the long red satin gown she wore that night. She was so beautiful that night. It was a special evening, one of the last events we dressed formally for before our world was turned upside down. That night, there was no impending doom, no rush to save mankind. Sure we were still under intense training, but nothing threatening the planet. We had no worries, and enjoyed each other’s company as if our lives would go on forever together.
I took the dress out and hooked it on the bar so it draped facing me. She didn’t like wearing red, and didn’t like the dress much, but she knew I loved it, and wore it with pride to please me that special night. ‘She was such a lovely woman,’ I thought as a fresh set of tears started flowing down my cheeks. “Oh Liz, I miss you so much. Where are you? Where did you go? Are you alive or are you dead? I wish I could see you again, just once."
"I would give anything if I could have one last moment with you. I love you. Please answer me." I lifted the garment to my nose, taking in a deep breath. My sense of smell could pick out traces of her natural scents left behind. The fragrances of her perfume were mixed in, bringing her to life. I held the clothing to my face and used it to wipe the tears from my face. It was so silky smooth like a baby's skin and felt great between my fingers. I imagined her inside the gown again, my hands rubbing up and down, feeling every curve and contour of her body.
Without hesitation, I reached up with one hand and tore my Air Force shirt off my body, throwing it on the ground. I stood there naked and still drunk, my face a complete mess, my vision still blurry, occasionally shifting between wavelengths. After unhooking the hanger from the bar, I held the gown up to the light briefly before taking if off the hanger. I fiddled around trying to line up the gown so the boob holders were in the right place before I reached my arms up through the bottom, wiggling into the soft fabric.
I swayed my hips back and forth working the gown down my body, pulling and yanking here and there before it finally felt right on me. The top hung down, exposing Kaaren’s perfect-looking breasts. I struggled a bit more trying to find the loop and pulled it up over my head, fighting with my thick mess of hair. The straps felt awkward against my breasts and took a little adjustment before I felt like the gown was on right.
I stared at my image in the unbroken mirror on the other sliding door. The light glistened off the satin, creating a stark contrast between the highlights and the shadows. In my drunken state, I found myself becoming very attracted to Kaaren’s image staring back at me. Instead of hating her, I was starting to like her, I was starting to feel like her. Suddenly I felt beautiful, and was enjoying the feeling. A part of my rational consciousness that remained unaffected by all the sour mash in my stomach felt shame wearing my wife’s clothing, but the drunk part of me took over and I wanted more.
I scoured the closet looking for other things to wear. In the drawers I found what was left of her stockings, panties, and bras. I fiddled with the softness of the nylon panty hose and decided to try them on as well. My feet stepped into the nylon tubes and I fought to pull them up my leg. I got frustrated and pulled too hard, tearing them with my super strength. I fell backward on the bed laughing. I ripped the torn panyhose off my long silky smooth legs and started from scratch.
This time I tried to remember how she always put them on. My mind thought back to our Sunday mornings where our schedules aligned and we were getting dressed at the same time. She always used to keep them rolled up, sticking her toes in and then rolling them up her legs. I fought my vision and tried to control my actions, slowing down and taking my time. Little by little the silky feeling crept higher and higher up my legs until I let go, snapping the elastic around my waist. Admiring the fruits of my struggle in the mirror, I rubbed my legs together, enjoying the electrical sensations.
“More, oh god more,” I said out loud, wondering what was going through my head. I picked up a pair of her panties and sniffed them, picking up her scent. I bent over and slid them up my legs, not really caring that my sequence of dressing was a little reversed. With the panties snug around my hips, I turned back to the closet looking for more things of hers I could put on.
Next I found the long purple cocktail gloves she also wore that night. It was her compromise for the night. I loved red, but Liz had a thing for purple. Although I found the red and purple to be a little strange color combination, she some how pulled it off and looked amazing. One after the other I slid them on, enjoying the encasing feeling they had on my fingers and arms. After another glance in the mirror I started to get hot as the image staring back at me was stimulating my male desires and somehow, in my drunken state, was also triggering my dormant female ones. It became addicting.
Every piece of clothing was like taking yet another shot of whiskey. I couldn’t control my urges as I rebuilt the image of Liz from that night. Next I found a bra and tried to put it on over the red gown, struggling with the snaps in the back until my strength ripped the bra in half. The room was full of the sound of my laughter as I grabbed another and tried again, this time putting it on backward, not really thinking very straight anymore. Her expensive white fur coat I bought her with my dad’s money hung in the closet. I put the coat on, savoring the soft fur around my neck, my hands traveling up and down the length of the fur.
More, I wanted more. Along the top shelf were all of Liz’s shoes. It seemed like she had fifty pairs of shoes for every one of mine. There were stacks of boxes rising all the way to the ceiling. Effortlessly, without needing a step stool, I pulled boxes off the shelf, dropping many of them where they burst open, spilling their high-heeled contents all over the glass-covered floor. I went through about twenty or so boxes before finding the red high-heeled shoes she had on that night. I forced my feet into the leather shoes and buckled the little straps around my ankles. They were a tight fit, but weren’t uncomfortable. For a moment I sat on the bed getting used to the curvature of my feet in the shoes, sitting still while waiting for my head to take a brief break from spinning. Slowly, I pushed myself up, momentarily forgetting I could fly, and fought to keep my balance.
“Shit, now I am really tall." For the first time, I could see the thick dust layers on the top shelves of the bookcases as I stood taller than my previous body by eight or nine inches. I tried taking my first step over to the mirror to see the fully reconstructed wardrobe Liz wore for me that night so long ago. My first step wobbled as I brought the heel down first as I would normally walk. I quickly found out that’s not the way to walk in this ridiculous footwear. Sure they looked great, but why women voluntarily choose to torment their feet on a daily basis was beyond me. My second step was a repeat of the first, as if I were trying the same thing, and expecting a completely different result. I slowly approached the mirror and came to a stop.
“Liz,” I said as I stood up straight and admired my reconstruction of one of my favorite images of my wife staring back at me. I shifted my weight to the back of the shoes. The wobbled and the there was a loud snap as the left heel suddenly broke, causing me to lose my balance and fall hard to my left. Before I could react and hover, my head hit the oak dresser along the window, causing a deafening sound. My dense head hit the hard oak and bounced off. What would have been a fatal head wound to others caused a minor sensation in my head. An electrical impulse traveled from my head and made its way down my body.
I started laughing, looking back at the mirror. I was on all fours with Kaaren’s nice ass sticking up in the air, while frantically trying to stand. The strange feeling continued to flow though my body, then returned to my head. My vision started shifting all over the place. An intense dizzy spell overcame by head.
“Damn, I must have hit my head harder than I thought,” I said as my vision shifted from infrared back to radio. The dizzy feeling grew more intense as I tried to concentrate, bringing my vision back to normal visible light. I fought and fought before everything went bright white.
“Well that’s new,” I said, alarmed at what I was seeing. Scared, I panned around the room, seeing nothing by white light. The opaque white started to become a cloudy translucence, allowing me to see again. My eyes blinked several times trying to clear my vision. Little by little it continued to clear, but something was different. I was no longer in my bedroom. I was on the floor of some strange room. I tried to look around, but couldn’t move my head. I began to panic as I found myself without control of my bodily movements. After a struggle, I calmed down and paid attention to what I was seeing.
The electrical impulses continued to surge through me as I focused on the image before me. In front of me was what looked like an opened suitcase and a pair of hands appeared before me, holding a photo of Liz and I sitting on the beach together on our last anniversary. The more I looked at the box, the more I recognized it. There were photos of Liz, Ashley and I taped to the lid around a mirror. All I could see in the mirror was the back side of the photo and part of the hands. Something metallic and shiny was just out of sight but reflecting light into the mirror. I tried to reach out, but my hands wouldn’t move, it was as if I was looking through someone else’s eyes and not my own. I had no control and could only see wherever the eyes looked. The sensations started to fade as did the image just as the figure put her face in the mirror. The final image I saw before the image faded and my drunkenness overtook me, was Liz’s beautiful face covered in tears staring back at me.
“No! Come back, please come back,” I yelled as my eyes closed, the alcohol finally overtaking my brain and shutting down my conscienceless.
---Morning---
Megan used the code on the keypad that Liz gave her to open the garage door. She entered in through the garage door past the washer and dryer and into the main family room where a complete disaster had struck the house. It was as if the Tasmanian Devil tore through the place in the middle of the night.
“Holy shit Michael,” she said as she surveyed the living room a bit further to find empty Jack Daniel’s bottles all over the floor, a shattered coffee table, parts of a film projector and a hole in he back wall among other things. Her heart sank knowing it was a bad night for him and worse, he had to go through it alone. She continued checking the front of the house but found no sign of him. She made her way down the hallway, stopping in the bathroom. It reeked of urine and upon further inspection she found a huge puddle in front of the sink. “Bad girl.” Megan said, laughing at her own joke.
She made her way to the bedroom door expecting to find him sound asleep in the bed. Instead the tall blond woman was sprawled on the floor wearing a red silk gown that was bunched up to her upper thighs. Her right knee was high in the air while the foot was planted flat on the ground; her other leg was spread wide and angled to the left. She was wearing her panties outside of her torn stockings and had it not been for that would have been on display for anyone who entered to see. She laughed briefly before a sad look overtook her face, looking at her friend with sorrow.
“Oh Michael. I’m so sorry. Life isn’t supposed to be this hard.”
Megan grabbed a blanket off the bed and covered her friend with it. Ignoring all safety, she squatted down before him, avoiding the broken glass. She removed the broken shoe from his foot and then removed the other, tossing them aside. She knew startling him while he slept could be fatal if he suddenly awoke and didn’t have control of his speed or strength. Nevertheless, she knelt beside her friend, running her fingers through Kaaren’s thick golden hair. She traced her hand down along the side of Kaaren’s face, touching the soft alien cheek. She was stunningly beautiful and had very smooth perfect skin. It felt so soft, yet it could deflect bullets without blemish.
Megan noticed a silver chain around her neck for the first time and carefully pulled the hidden end out from between her breasts. Secured to the chain was a gold wedding band, one made for a man’s finger. She immediately identified it as Michaels. As she examined the ring, Kaaren’s eyes flickered and came to life, slowly opening like a flower sprouting in response to the first rays of the Sun. Her radiant blue eyes sparkled as they tried to focus.
“Good morning sunshine.” Megan said looking down at Michael. “How do you feel?” It took another few moments for him to come around. He turned his head away from Megan,
“What are you doing here?” Michael asked, sitting on the fence between wanting her company and chasing her off.
“Michael, I came over because I have some things to talk to you about, but mostly because I care about you.”
“Really? Haven’t really shown me much affection the last five months.” Michael sat up and felt the surging pain rush through his alien head, something he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Pain, oh man I have a hell of a headache.”
“I’m sorry, hangovers are never fun, especially after drinking an entire case of whiskey.” Megan sounded as if she were disappointed and scolding me for a reckless night.
“Surprisingly, I am rather enjoying the pain. I feel alive again, miserable, but human.”
“I never thought anyone would enjoy that feeling,” Megan said.
“You should try living where you can’t feel pain. I’ve gotten fairly used to it, but I do go crazy at times. Right now though, I feel like a million bucks.”
She laughed, “Well you certainly don’t look it. If you insist, I guess you won’t be needing this?” She held up a large styrofoam DK Donut’s cup emitting the aroma of my morning coffee. Michael sat up and took the cup into his hands. Megan kept her hands on the cup, helping him take the first couple of sips. “We gotta get you out of that coat before you spill coffee on it.
“Oh, god, what the hell am I wearing? What the heck did I do last night?” He looked down at the strange wardrobe then glances around the room seeing the broken mirror and furniture. “Holy shit, what a night.”
“You should see the living room and bathroom.”
“That bad huh?”
“Looks like you had a raging house party last night," she said, offering her hand and standing up. “Come on lets get you to the kitchen, I brought you something to eat.” Megan helped her friend walk down the hall laughing a little inside at the wardrobe Michael was wearing, “Little lesson about girl’s clothing Michael, these puppies are supposed to go on the inside,” she said as she grabbed the bras I had haphazardly put on, and unsnapped them.
“Yeah, well those are difficult to take off, let along put on while wasted so give me a break.”
“Is that the gown Liz wore the night I met her?
“Yes it is. I am taking this off, I can’t believe I got that drunk last night that I started dressing up in my wife’s clothing.”
“By dressing up like her. You thought you could see her again?”
“Maybe. Kinda stupid huh? It was the booze talking.” I peeled off the purple gloves and set them on the counter where Megan grabbed them and neatly folded them up. “You know come to think of it, I have this vague memory that I had a dream about her.”
“You had a dream? Michael, that’s an improvement. Most people don’t dream when they are passed out. Your mind basically takes a hike while you reboot. You, you hardly sleep and never dream, then you get drunk, pass out and I find you sound asleep. It’s going to start costing you a small fortune to sleep every night with the amount you have to drink.” Megan began spreading bagels out on the table and said, “can you remember the dream?”
“Not much, It was as if I was her. I was looking through her memory box.”
“Her what!”
“Her memory box, that’s what she calls it.”
“What’s her memory box?” Megan asked afraid of the answer.
“It’s a suit case, say yea big,” I stretched my arms out, “she has every little memory of us together in there. Everything from movie tickets to receipts, flowers, photos. She was going through it, and I saw a quick glimpse of her face in the mirror. It was the most lifelike dream I ever had.”
“Give me a few days, and I will unpack that for you. Lots of symbolism there. The memories, the sadness. Oh Michael, I know how much you miss her. The grieving is going to be hard for a while, for Ashley too. The worst part is just not knowing what happened to them. In time your heart will heal.”
---
Reid woke up before Liz. Beads of sweat were dripping down his forehead. He was hot, and had a pounding headache. He was afraid of dying down here, chained up and starving to death, but the reality was setting in, he would die from an infection before starvation got him. The wound needed treating but it wasn’t looking that bad yet. Still, he needed to find a way out of here. He looked around and found little he could use.
He noticed the case next to Liz and crawled over to it. Inside were stacks of photographs and other items. He sifted through it looking for something he could use. He looked at Liz sleeping a moment before withdrawing some cards Michael had written her for her birthday and anniversary. He knew he was violating her privacy, but the intimate connection they shared was unlike anything he ever encountered before. Michael was one hell of a man, but he had his sensitive side. He was a complete romantic and utterly adored his wife, treasuring imperfection she might have had. Reid read through half of one of the card’s intimate messages before guilt started overwhelming him, violating Liz’s most personal of treasures. He put the card down and continued looking.
His eyes found a small white box with a logo from a florist on the top buried under some cards. Reid took it out of the case and opened it up. Inside was a red boutonnière, all dried up and long since faded after many years of storage. He was about to close it up and put it back when he quickly grabbed it and pulled it out, stabbing his finger on the large pin driven through the stem.
“I love you,” he yelled as the blood started pooling around the small pinprick. “Liz, wake up, I think I found a way out. LIZ!” She opened her eyes and pushed herself up off the ground.
“What?”
“Help me, I think we can get out of here,” he said as he took the pin and rested it on the edge of the case. He closed the lid on it and started bending the pin so the tip had a 90 degree angle on it.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m making a handcuff key. The pin might be strong enough to turn the locking mechanism.”
“Hurry.”
“Liz, I know you are excited, but I am not doing very well, and I need you to calm down. Don’t rush me, because if I break this we are screwed.”
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault we are stuck like this. I know I killed us Reid.” He stopped and looked at her.
“Liz, it’s not your fault, not the reason you are down here, the reason he got away from me, nor the reason he took Ashley, or breaking the string. He is the one that caused all this pain, not you. The string was a complete accident, I could have done the same thing, but if we give in to our shame, we will indeed kill ourselves. Now, can you do me a favor, and let’s use our brains to find a way out of here. Think of Ashley, we need to save her. Can you do that for her?” Liz, sobbing, shook her head in agreement. “Good, I knew you were strong.”
“I want my daughter back, and that creep to pay. Ashley can’t lose both parents, not yet.”
“That’s the spirit. don’t worry, if we get out of here, I will make sure of it. Hey we might get lucky, Ashley might be able to call for help,” Reid said, trying to comfort her while he worked the lock. His fingers just couldn’t get a strong enough grip on the bulb to be able to twist the pin. He tried bending the other end to give him a little leverage, but it was no use.
“Fuck!”
“What’s the matter?”
“Prick had us double lock them. I don’t think I can jimmy the lock. I’ll keep trying, but I think we are going to have to try something else.”
“What else is there?” Reid looked around, finding the empty whiskey bottle. He took the blanket and wrapped it around the bottle, “what are you doing Reid?” Without warning he hit the bottle hard against the concrete, hearing the muffled sound of the glass shattering. He unwrapped it and withdrew the neck with a large knife edge.
“Ok Liz, here’s what I need you to do,” she looked at him with great concern, “I want you to help me cut my thumbs off,” she shook her head violently.
“No, please no, I can’t do that to you. Please don’t make me.”
“Liz, it’s all we have left. I am going to die if I don’t get help soon. I can slip out of the handcuffs, and still have fingers to get the keys.” She kept shaking her head in refusal. “Then we are both going to die and we won’t be able to help Ashley.
She got up and started tugging on the chain. HELP, SOMEONE HELP US!” She became hysterical as she tugged and tugged on the chain keeping her permanently bound to the thermostat tightly bolted to the concrete.
“HELP, PLEASE GOD, SOMEONE HELP US.”
---
“Feel better?” Megan asked as she cleared the table. I sat feeling ridiculous in the red gown, but I felt too sick and tired to take it off.
“Much better," I said looking down, staring deep into my half-eaten breakfast. "Megan, why did you leave me? I know you think everything is my fault, but I think that's a bullshit excuse. How could you pin all that on me and then abandon me like that? I appreciate you coming over and checking on me, but really? You think you can just waltz back into my life as if Russia never happened?"
"Michael, I know I let you down. I was being stupid and I knew I wasn’t being a good friend. It took a while, but I realized that I needed to let go of the guilt and anger I was harboring.”
"So, what changed your mind?"
"Mitri, we had a long talk, and he helped me see past my selfishness." My eyes locked onto hers as she casually told me she spoke with Mitri.
"What did you tell him about me? You didn't tell him who I am did you?"
"No Michael, he already knows who you are." I sat confused as she reached down to the side of the table and picked up a bag. She withdrew the box that Mitri had given me. “Michael, did you see this? Did you see what was inside?"
"Yeah some lame doll with an angel on it."
"Inside of that?" I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what she was talking about as she opened the box. "Are you telling me, this expert in all things Russian, you don't know what these are?"
"No, don't really care. I'm not a chick and I don't need a doll to play with."
"Michael, this isn't what you think. Mitri was afraid to tell you, so he sent you a little message. These are nesting dolls. The outer doll opens up to reveal another inside, and another and another. Why don't you open this and see what's inside?"
"What message? What are you telling me doc?" I said, taking the doll in my hands and examining it. The thin line around the shoulders led me to where the parts separated. The wood was snug, but offered little resistance as I twisted the head and removed the top. Inside I saw a man's face and little else until I withdrew the second doll. After examining it for a moment, my hands started trembling as I understood the message. My head shot up and caught Megan looking at me with a large smile on her face. "How? How did he figure me out?” I said, looking at the astronaut. “The dinner and vodka, he was sharing that with me, not Kaaren. We were both pretending I was the alien I claimed to be, but the entire time he was drinking with me, it was Michael he saw."
"Yes, he did see you, just as I did," she said as I opened the next layer to find only a small piece of paper inside with writing in Russian. I slowly read the writing, pausing once in a while to recall the Russian characters.
"Commander,
It is with great joy to know that my friend is alive and well, living among us. I look forward to continuing the friendship I so greatly cherish and it is my sincere hope you will be able to confide in me as your trustworthy comrade. My door will always be open, the Vodka on the table, ready and waiting for our next language lesson. I have much to teach you about conjugating past tense verbs. I only taught you the masculine form, I see I need to teach you the feminine form. Until then my friend.
Nikolai”
“Well, what did it say?” she asked as I set the paper down.”
“I guess my Russian wasn’t as good as I thought. Well, good for a man, but not for a woman. Your sister-in-law picked that as well with my Japanese. Guess women have a different way of saying certain things in different languages.”
“You are going to find that those who know you really well will see Michael inside regardless of the technicalities of linguistics. Each one of us is unique, and all that we love about Michael is still with us.”
“Well I miss the other part. God, I really hate this body,” I said, looking down at what I was wearing.” Now I know why Liz hated this gown so much, so restrictive, just like my body.”
“But you can do amazing things Michael, things you wouldn’t have-”
“-enough, I don’t want to hear about how awesome it is to fly and deflect bullets. This body is so fucking amazing? Bullshit, there's one thing I want it so much to do, and it seems like they forgot to include that feature. And just so help me if you start trying to convince me that being a chick is so wonderful. It’s not. Live a couple days as a man Megan, and you will realize being a woman sucks. I am sick and tired of assholes treating me like I’m a stupid broad just because I don’t have a cock. I’ve built components of the Space Shuttle, I know its systems inside and out, but I go to a hardware store and they treat me like I’m a dumb shit. Sometimes I can hear their voices in their heads, all they want to do is screw my brains out-”
“-Michael, I know how you must feel-”
“-No Megan, you don’t have any goddamn clue. You think you’re so shittin smart? You understand human emotion? Well, this isn’t human emotion, it’s that goddamn alien bitch that’s driving me mad. I can’t feel, I can’t sleep, I’m quick to anger, and I get all emotional like a chick. I hate her, I hate her, I hate every thing about her. She took everything from me and left me with this ridiculous ogre of a body. The one person I thought would always be there turned her back on me and left me to grieve all alone. Oh god, I’m so alone,” I said as the rage rapidly faded, leaving me crying loudly. I fell to me knees, my hands on my reddened face. Through my hands I saw the shape of her body heat approach and kneel down next to me. Without fear, she took me into her arms and held me tight, letting me expel my pain.
“Michael, I was a horrible friend to you. I should have never said the things I did. You did everything you could to save us, and you succeeded. Back then I was hurting very much inside and buried my feelings. Almost dying in space, thinking I lost you, Brad cheating on me, your wife and daughter, both friends of mine, missing. I sucked it all up for you and I cracked. I snapped hard after watching a man almost put a bullet through me and then taking Gene’s legs from him. I couldn’t deal with it anymore and instead of talking to you, I ran. I pushed you away. If you never forgive me, I understand, but you need to know how much I love you.” I continued to cry as she confessed her shortcomings. No longer did I want to push her away, instead, I held her tightly.
“I will never leave you again. You can be assured that I will stand by you through your darkest moments. I know today is one of them and if you want to lay them to rest, know that I will help you dig their graves.” I shook my head, finally lifting it out of my palms.
“I’m not ready. I don’t think I can do it. I don’t want to look anymore, but I can’t bury two empty coffins, not like the one that has my name on it in Arlington.”
“Ok Michael, then we will wait to see what we can find. Until then, let’s get you cleaned up and out of these clothes ok?” I did feel disgusting and felt in desperate need of a good long shower.
“Good idea. I need to hit the head, and hopefully the shower will help this hangover. I’m already starting to hate the feeling.”
“Can you wait a few minutes, you left a little mess in there.”
“What did I do?”
“Well, lets just say, if you do it again, I am going to stick your nose in it and hit you with a newspaper,” she said, laughing as she stood up and stopping behind me. I could feel her breath as she leaned over and wrapped her arms around me, crisscrossing her hands just above my breasts. Her head brushed up against the side of mine.
“I so sorry Michael, for leaving you. It is my sincerest hope that you and I can be best friends again. Know I will alway love you no matter what you throw at me. My life belongs to you.” She kissed me on my forehead and turned to leave.
“Megan,” she stopped as I turned around in the chair, “I’m sorry too.”
“What for?”
“For letting this body get to me. What I said earlier is true, there is a great power I wield, and it’s hard to keep it restrained. Sometimes I’ve been an asshole to people just because I know I can. Like Clint, the power I had over him was intoxicating, as much as he deserved it. My ego was never that enlarged, but now? Now I can let it get the better of me. I’ve been channeling it in a more productive manner, but before Russia, I did a lot of showing off. This body has changed the person inside. I’m sorry because I do feel guilt for Gene. You were right in the hotel, I might be invincible and think I can do anything, but there are always consequences. Other’s can get hurt in my place, just like you. So, you were partially right. Your feelings weren’t entirely unjustified, and I hope one day, Gene can forgive me.”
“So you thought strong-arming Clint to give up a bunch of money was going to fix that?” I was surprised at her knowledge of Clint’s donation.
“No Megan. It’s not what you think. I merely gave some subtle hints that Gene needed help, but he did so out of compassion, not because he was afraid of me. He’s a rather fragile man. I started by breaking him, but now, I am slowly rebuilding him to be a man and what it means to have a family that loves you. I will tell you the story sometime, I think Ms. Pink Freud would be proud of me.”
“I’m always proud of you. Now, go take those clothes off and throw them in the laundry room, while I get the bathroom cleaned up for you.” While I waited for her to clean up the mess in the bathroom, I cleaned up the glass in the bedroom and put the shoeboxes back in place. The damage I caused last night wasn’t bad, but the house needed some cleaning and some minor repair work.
After she finished, I closed the door to the bathroom and fully stripped naked. I stood a moment in front of the mirror staring at Kaaren, resenting her and wishing she would have made me something else. She wanted me to use this body in the limited time she gave it to me, to do good. Use it to help people, bring them together, so that this world could be a better place. Yet, I have done little good. My dysphoria, my self loathing has left me paralyzed where I spend all my time wishing to be free, to be me.
“The steam from the shower fogged up the mirror and hid her image from view allowing me to concentrate on cleaning myself up. After brushing my teeth, getting the foul taste of last night’s whiskey off my tongue, I sat on the ground of our large shower, naked and curled up, letting the water run over my head. My brain shifted thoughts away from my pain and recalled the dream from last night. Over and over I tried to reassemble it, resurrecting the images. The images were so real, but strange. What was it that made me think of that box of hers like that? Why did I suddenly dream of Liz’s box of memories? I knew she kept every memento from our lives together. To me, her collection was her own journal, one without words and I always treated it as such, never prying. I can’t say I really know the contents that well, but somehow in my dream, the contents were very detailed.
“Megan!” I yelled from the shower. After a few seconds, there was a knock then the door opened.
“You all right?” she asked.
“Hey Megan, can you do me a favor and look under our bed on Liz’s side. That box I saw in my dream last night, she keeps it under there. It’s a leather bound case like a large suitcase.”
“Sure. I think that is such a cute idea she had, keeping all those treasured memories of you and her together. I left you a fresh towel and something for you to wear until your clothes are dry.”
“Thanks,” I said as she closed the door. I became excited about looking through her case and started scrubbing my body down. As I reached down to scrub my legs, something caught my attention. Several blond colored hairs I never noticed before were growing above Kaaren’s nether region.
“Well shit, how come I never noticed those before?” I found my razor on the holder in the shower. “Goodbye!” I said as I dragged the razor across the hairs. After several strokes, the hairs were still there, the razor wasn’t cutting them. “Damn.” Cussing, I dropped the razor and resorting to plucking them out with my fingernails. With a little effort the hair popped out at the root. I held the small hair in front of me examining it when the door opened.
“Michael!” I frantically shifted, covering up and tossing the hair aside before she could see me. I slipped and fell backward, hitting my head on the tile, making a loud noise. “Michael, you ok?”
“Fine, you mind knocking?”
“Excuse me. I was just in here a minute ago. What are you doing in there?”
“Nothing?”
“Sure, I bet. Listen, the case isn’t there.”
“It’s on the left side of the bed, did you look there?”
“Yes Michael, I don’t need a PhD in Psychology to know what side of the bed the woman sleeps on. There are some pretty clear territory markers on your nightstands that gave me the clue. Anyway, it’s not there.”
“Ok, I will be right out.” She shut the door and I stood up and finished rinsing off. After a few minutes of rinsing the shampoo out of my hair I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower to find a fresh towel and a long white cotton dress.
“Seriously?” I said as I started drying my body off. “Megan, can you get me something else to wear, I’ve had my fill of girl clothes for the day. Whatever I did last night, I was not in my right mind, so don’t start thinking that was some new trend.”
“Oh come on Michael, give me a break. There's nothing else in here for you to wear. Just put it on for a few while your pants are still drying. It’s only you and I, and I already saw you in a dress today, what's the big deal?”
“I don’t want to, that’s why?”
“Really, you seemed to be having fun dressing up last night.”
“I was drunk, and I was wearing my wife’s clothes for other reasons.”
“Well you can stay in there until your clothes are dry, or you can man up and come look for Liz’s case.”
“Oh screw it,” I thought, picking up the dress looking at it. It was pure white and I didn’t remember Liz ever owning it. I held it up to my body and let it unfold. It was long and ran down to my feet, while the top was cut high around the neckline and had short sleeves. The fabric was a soft white cotton and looked incredibly comfortable although I didn’t have much desire to wear it even in the privacy of my own home. Still, finding that that was the case trumped my male pride so I decided to suck it up.
“All right, at least it’s not pink,” I said out loud.
“That a boy, it’s not so bad. You’re lucky you didn’t grow up a girl, some of the dresses my mom put me in when I was a kid were awful. I should show you pictures some day. They had these giant puffy sleeves and ribbons all over them.”
“Yeah, real lucky indeed,” I said through the door as I fiddled with the dress, trying to align it so my knockers fit properly in the cups sewn into the top of the dress. It was a bit of a tight fit as Kaaren was a little more endowed than Liz. Finished, I looked in the mirror, my hair dripping wet. The top of the dress was getting all soaked from the water still running down my long hair.
'Not too shabby, and yes quite comfortable too. Come on Michael, it’s not that bad, quit being such a wuss,' I said quietly to myself. “Hey Megan, how do you do that Hindu wrap?” Her cute laugh penetrated the wall.
“Come out and I will show you. Hindu wrap, god Michael that’s hilarious.” I opened the door and she was standing there like Liz would in front of the dressing room, waiting to see how I looked in clothes we were shopping for.
“Well look at you, not so bad is it. I’m proud of you Michael, not for wearing this, just for having some courage. Hell you might find you like it.” As she was talking, my body started feeling strange. The somewhat familiar tingling sensations started developing in my head, overriding the remaining pain from my hangover. The electrical like charges started making their way down my body and returned, hitting my head and causing me to get dizzy. I clutched the door frame and leaned against it.
“Michael, what’s the matter?” she asked, clearly seeing something different. “Are you okay?” My vision started shifting uncontrollably and began turning all white as if I just flew into a cloud. Everywhere I turned I saw nothing but white. Megan’s voice started fading out only to be replaced by the sounds of a woman screaming. My heartbeat accelerated as I began panicking. The screams got louder just as I appeared to emerge on the other side of the cloud. I was no longer in my house, but appeared to be in a dimly lit room surrounded by concrete walls. A pair of hands handcuffed together appeared before me, tugging on a chain, desperate to free themselves.
“Help, somebody help us. Please somebody hear us.” The voice called out as she tugged on the chain that was attached to a thermostat. Occasionally she would turn her head and look out a door that led into a larger open room with more concrete walls. I was trying to figure out just what I was seeing when the image started to fade. I could feel a pair of hands gripping my upper arms and slowly, as I passed through the cloud again, I emerged staring at Megan’s face.
“Michael, what’s going on, talk to me.” Truth was I had no idea, but as I thought about it, I had a sudden realization.
“Shit, that was no dream,” I sad aloud. Was I really seeing through my wife’s eyes, and now hearing her voice? What was causing it? I hit my head again, maybe that was triggering the hallucinations. I continued to think rapidly, processing the information as Megan was trying to break through my trance. I was completely ignoring her, not quite sure what to make of everything. I’m invincible, shower tile isn’t going to hurt my head, hell cannon fire didn’t do shit to me. The only thing different was...what else happened last night. I closed my eyes trying to recall the images from the night before. I saw the projector, all the alcohol, the shattered mirror, and then I saw myself standing in Liz’s clothes, my image reflecting back at me.
“Her clothes,” I said aloud, “I was wearing her clothes, and I’m wearing them now.”
“Michael what are you talking about?” I broke out of her grip and ran down the hallway taking the dress off, throwing it on the ground and running stark naked the rest of the way.
"Jeez Michael, you're such a wuss." Frantically I started pulling Liz's clothes out of the closet and tossing them on the bed. Megan came into the room and watched as I sifted through her wardrobe. I grabbed the first thing I could find, a skimpy purple and pink dress. Quickly I slipped it on, tugging on the end to pull it the skirt down as low as it would go. I turned to the wall just as the electrical impulses started again. After a second or two of transition, I was seeing and hearing everything as if I was now in her body. She was on the ground, apparently worn out from fighting. Her legs were curled up to her chest and her handcuffed arms were now wrapped around her shins. She looked to the side and the corner of the box appeared just as the image started to fade again. I stripped, tossing the dress to the side, and grabbed a purple floral knee length dress and slipped it on, waiting for the sensations to return.
"Ok, I'm confused, now after a year of you resisting women’s clothing, today, you suddenly want to play dress up?"
"Shh, Shut up" I said crudely, trying to concentrate on the wall. One by one the images returned for a little while, allowing me to see through Liz's point of view. She was looking through the box and picked up a picture of Ash.
“You fucking bastard, give me my daughter back. Give me my baby back, please!”
“Oh god no. No!” I said as the image faded again, “Not Ash.” Who the hell was Liz talking about. I pushed past Megan and ran into Ashley’s room, grabbing clothing out of her closet and finding something I could use. There was no way I was going to get any of this stuff to fit. I found one of her sweaters and stretched it over my head, the empty sleeves dangling where my ears were. I turned to see Megan looking at me with a look of disapproval just as a new image appeared. All I could see was a pair of folded jacket sleeves. Ashley was looking down at her lap and all I could make out was she was in some kind of vehicle. I tried to listen, but only heard a muffled humming sound.
"Come on, come on, look around for daddy." The image started fading again, leaving me staring at Megan who continued to watch my strange behavior.
"Ok Michael, you are really starting to scare me, or you just dove off the diving board of sanity into the crazy pool." With a fresh piece of clothing, the image came back, this time stronger. I heard a voice and a stranger’s hand came into view handing Ashley a thermos. Ashley refused it and continued to look at her lap.
“Come on, drink a little something, we still have another hour to go,” the man’s voice said. She turned away and looked out to her right. It was bright and the light took a second to adjust. As it did the image faded.
“Michael, please talk to me, what are you doing, what’s going on?” The image came back, this time very strong as I put one of her favorite shirts on over my head.
“Ash, be a good girl for daddy and look around so I can see.” The vision came back and she was looking out the window. Off in the distance was the ocean. The view was from a really high vantage point and I realized she was in an aircraft. “Ash, look at the man, who’s flying, come on, help me out.” As if hearing me, she turned her head. I stood ready with another piece of clothing, but the image didn’t fade. Her point of view stared at his hand with the thermos.
“That a girl, we are going to be landing soon, ok?” the stranger said as Ashley’s eyes traced up the man’s arm and looked directly in his face. There, looking through my daughter’s eyes, the face of Dwayne Turner was staring back at me. My blood started to boil as the final image faded. I could suddenly hear Megan’s voice as the sounds of the aircraft faded. She was shaking me and yelling at me to share what was happening with her.
“Damn it Michael, what the hell is going on, snap out of it and talk to me. Instead I reached up and put my arms around her and hugged her so hard I could hear her back cracking slightly. Quickly I released my grip, grabbed the side of her head and pulled her toward me, planting a long hard kiss on her lips. Her eyes opened wide not sure what the sudden kiss was all about.
“Oh Megan, I love you.” A huge smile lit up on my face as I thought things through.
“Megan...They’re alive."
To Be Continued....Episode 16 Season One Finale “The Hero and The Terror Part II”
Join my mailing list for announcements or send feedback, questions, editorial mistakes or comments to: [email protected]
Like "Angel" on facebook and receive exclusive updates and sneak peaks before episodes are released. facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Angel/507706609254340
Comments
What a place to leave us hanging.
Well I've got to admit that despite grinding my teeth at the cliff-hanger, I'm thoroughly enjoying your well written tale. The characters and the emotions, the anguish, all make for an entertaining and well crafted story. Please don't keep us in suspense too long.
Thanks, Kiwi.
Rock bottom
After hitting the figurative rock bottom and lost in the darkness, Light shines down on our heroine giving her the resource needed to bring this to a conclusion. Can't wait to read the next chapter.
Oh yeah...
Looks like a certain ex-coworker is about to enter a whole new world of hurt.
Keep up the great work. :)
Kristin Darken
Argh!
Help! Cliffhanger! Can't hold on... :)
Hugs
Grover
Uh huh! I finally figured it out.
You are a torturer of the first degree, aren't you? As Grover said, "ARRRGGGHHHH!!"
Okay, okay. Let me step back from the edge of the cliff you have so adroitly left us all standing on. I swear to Rudy, when I was writing I thought cliff hangers were cool and a good way to keep the readers coming back for more. Now? I HATE the damned things! ESPECIALLY now!
So how am I gonna keep hanging on until you deign to throw us a rope so we can pull ourselves back up? Lemme see... slipknot... no that won't work. By definition a slipknot, slips. Okay. Half hitch? Bowline? Damn! My Sea Scout training was too long ago. I can't remember all them damn knots any more.
Okay, okay. Deep breaths. Relax Cathy. In with the good air, out with the bad. Ommmmm...
As I resign myself to waiting, however impatiently for the finale, please remember that I ain't young no more. My heart can't take this suspense and stuff like it used to.
A certain young friend of mine used to threaten me with her sheep prod, all the way from Kiwiland, to get me to write faster. Don't force me to take her place to get you to hurry... please?
Seriously. Great chapter and really good writing. What a story!! I honestly can't remember the last time I waited so impatiently for the next chapter.
Huggles and love,
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
awesome
Really nice story with alot of feelings thanks for another great episode
<-Night->
MIchael/Karen
Has found a link to his missing family. Well, hers now, but you know what I mean. Karen knows they are still alive and now we have to wait for her to find them. Excellent work.
Maggie
That Dwayne!! GRRRR!
Waiting to see him meet his end. But who will do it?
May Your Light Forever Shine
oh hell...
are you vying for the title of queen of the cliffhanger.
hurry back soon, thanks
Do not fear my friends....
The next and final episode will not have a cliff. There will be some setups for season two, but nothing to leave hanging on the edge.
People say, "You don't know what you had until it's gone." Very true, but also equally true is, "You don't know what you've been missing until is arrives."