Sam Sawyer Chapter Eighteen

Sam Sawyer
Chapter Eighteen

 

 

    Two days later the police discovered Nigel’s
skeleton. It was covered with gnaw marks. But not one centimeter of flesh or
blood remained. Something or someone had even sucked out his brain. Later the
coroner ruled his death an animal attack, knowing full well every tooth mark
was human and female. What sort of woman could do this? Impossibly, every speck
of forensic evidence pointed toward his wife. Which had to be inhuman even
though the size and shape of the bitemarks were clearly that of a human adult female.

But, of
course, that never made its way into the official record. Such information,
like the circle lake incident would be filed away, secretly. The public could
never know the truth. They could guess, speculate but like always, they would eventually
move on and forget.

Isolated
incidents, like the circle lake massacre, quickly became conspiracy theory
folklore thanks to the expert debunking and diminishing tactics of certain
government agencies, tasked with keeping the public pacified and happily
ignorant. They would eventually, be tasked beyond their abilities, but for now these
cryptic events could be tamped down and explained away.

Except for a
few ‘conspiracy nuts’ the happily ignorant public could, for a little while longer,
go about their happy insulated lives with little fear of the dark and what
crouched deep within its obscurity.

Sam of
course enjoyed no such luxury. The morning of Hillys’ ‘awakening’ a dagger of
terror tore through his brain as, for a few horrifying moments, he experienced everything
Nigel lived just before he died. Unfortunately for Nigel, Sam was as frozen in
shock as he was, both paralyzed by the horror unfolding before them. Neither
able to do anything about it.

The
sickening image of sweet, slight, sandy haired Hilly changing into something monstrous
was only made worse by Nigel’s love for her, a love Sam also felt. A love that turned
to terror as he watched her grin at him with sadistic delight. Her perfect
teeth sparkling bright between her lips; flawless razor -sharp glass facsimiles
perfectly mimicking, more like mocking her once beautiful smile.

Her blood,
bright red, running down then up her right arm as the last helpless bits of
Hilly, shriveled away, making it that much easier for Oloran’s surrogate -self to
rush in, take her place, claim and fuse with the little pane of glass, blunting
Sam’s power long enough to finish its first meal of fear, flesh and blood.  

Fortunately
for Sam, his mind shut down as the first wave of agony Hillys’ glass arm
inflicted on Nigel, knotted and scorched his entire nervous system. Had it not
been for his deafening scream that shook the whole house, Kit and Kathy would
have slept through the whole thing.

They burst
into his room to find him sitting up in his bed eyes glaring at nothing. Both
of his hands were flailing for a dying man that simply was not there.   

“Sam.” Kathy
yelled, “You’re just dreaming.”

His hands
dropped, then his head. A low grunt rolled up from deep within him. “He’s dead,
Oh God, he’s dead.” With that he jerked up his head and looked around the dimly
lit bedroom as they hunched over him. “What are you doing here? Did they break
through?” He said, struggling to regain his reality.

Kathy slid down
beside him. “No, the Mezzanine is solid. We’re safe…”

“Oloran,”
Sam said. “He broke through. He killed Hilly and Nigel. He took her body.” He
paused, “she’s with the others now. I couldn’t stop her, couldn’t save him.
This was for me. All for me.”

Kathy
glanced up at Kit. She smiled back, knowingly.

“Get dressed
Sam. I’ll cook up some eggs or something. You’re here now. You never left. You’re
safe, we all are.”

“Not all,”
Sam said glumly, “I couldn’t leave, couldn’t even move.”

She stood up,
“You can now, we’ll figure this out, okay.”

Sam nodded
and started to slide out of bed, “Oops,”

Kathy and
Kit blushed and smiled as they turned toward the door and left.

Later at
breakfast, as soft morning light draped a comforting haze over the breakfast
table, they sat huddled around the table eating and trying to come to grips with
this new wrinkle which was more like a gaping wound…

“You said
this was for you?” Kathy asked. “It clearly was. ‘Cause I didn’t see or feel a
thing last night and we’re linked right?”

“Kinda glad
I’m just a run of the mill changeling.” Kit added. Her expression and tone seemed
to indicate she was not about to let Sam phase her anytime soon.

Sam cradling
a mug of coffee in both hands was still obviously, shaken, but closely listening.
“Yeah, we’re linked, but that doesn’t mean they can’t touch your mind too. I, I
don’t think we can stop them. I dont’ know how.”

Kit looked
out the kitchen window, peering into the mist shrouded forest as if there was
an answer to be found there.

“Maybe you can
turn the tables on them.”

Sam glanced
over at Kit, a spark of hope twinkled in his eyes. “Smart kid, yeah that makes
sense. This war has two fronts, an outer one and an inner one.”

“You’re
going to invade their mind?” Kathy asked, “Can we do that?”

“We?”

“Yes Sam.
This our fight too, our world.” Kathy clasped Kit’s hand and looked straight at
her. “Right?”

The teenager
drew in a deep breath and turned toward the older woman. “Yes, yes, it is. So,
I guess that means.” She hesitated, “I need to get with the program.”

“What,” Sam
asked.

“You know,”
Kit replied, “I gotta die, a little, right?”

“It’s not
death.” Sam replied.

Kathy glanced
at Sam. He noticed, waiting for her to chime in. She didn’t.

“Kathy?”

She turned
toward him, wearing a weak smile. “I’m not really here Sam, neither are you.
Right now, this minute in this place you call the Mezzanine we are somewhere
else. Daddy was right,” she looked down.

“You really
believe that now?” He asked.

“It feels
that way, it, it, is that way. I see that now. Maybe we’re like angels or demons
or something like that, but we changed. We moved out of life, out of their world.
I died in the woods Sam. You didn’t bring me back. You woke me in that place,
made it, made me at home there.”

“But we can
leave when we want.”

“Can we Sam?
Really leave. We can’t stop being what we are now, can we Sam?”

He sat back
and wiped his mouth. “I don’t know that we can. I guess I can’t undo our
phasing. If you want to call that death, well maybe it is. I can’t say honestly
what it is?”

He looked
across the table at Kit, who looked more like a little girl than he had ever
seen her.

“Kit you are
a kid. It’s not fair for me to pressure you into doing something this drastic
now. Maybe when you grow, mature…”

She jumped
up. “If we don’t help you every way we can, they won’t let me grow up. They
will kill me, you and anyone else who tries to protect the unchanged of this
world. You know that Sam, way better than me! I want to do my part, if that means
giving up a part of myself my humanity, my life, so what, so be it!”

“Kit…” Sam’s
tone clearly indicated he was not convinced.

“You’re not
dead Sam, neither is Kathy, just dead to the world outside.” Kit continued, “besides,
do we even know what death is, really. If being like you and Kate gives me power
to fight Oloran then I want it, I need it.”

He got up and
asked her one simple question. “Are you sure?”

Kit walked
around the table, sidled up to him took his hand and nodded yes.