Chapter 11

An Alpha Version That means Ray casts those girls aside. (Right or wrong, like bath water)

There must have been something in the food. Then again, if this was true, when did I eat anything and where now was the Diner.

Just as if he knew something was not right at the town and Castle, he recognized that his running away was not what was proper either. What to do? The old woman said to sleep on it, was that literal or could I do that here. If one did not work, I could always try the other. He assumed the 'it' was what was to happen to the 'Preserve', then again maybe the town, or the Castle or... , Hell now he became more confused.

I was reluctant to go back, certainly not to go to the Castle, but the draw of the 'Preserve' was overwhelming. He had to go there, nothing else was working. However, how to go there and avoid anyone else.

That night he had a fitful sleep. He saw the face of the old woman in his dreams, she was laughing at him.

"For an intelligent man, a problem solver at that, you certainly have little imagination. How would one go someplace, yet not physically go there?" she asked.

"In a dream" I answered.

"And what do you do when you sleep?"

"A Dream?"

"My, my, you just sleep on things a little and find more clues, do you not?"

"So I should dream about the 'Preserve'?"

"Not exactly dear man, but about that which troubles you in it."

Now I know how that person in Shakespeare felt when trying to understand Miranda! This was not easy.

Sleep did come finally. So did, what must have been a dream, but no real direction to follow. Pain, frustration, angst, all seemed to contribute to an overall sense of dread and urgency. Still no hint of what to do to make anything better.

If anything resembled anything, it was that the faces I was seeing where, as if Leslie and Daphne were there with me, or at least, seemed to be there.

It was that way the next three nights. Each time that feeling of dread was there, accompanied by panic or a distraught feeling. Those faces became shapes, then bodies, finally on the fourth night changing back and forth between the girls and seemingly lifeless blobs.

There was only one possible interpretation. "You are the 'aliens', Leslie and Daphne are you?"

There seemed to be a change in the atmosphere. What once felt like terror and dread became peace and calm, almost providing a sense of relief that abounded.

"Thank you" was all I could say. "I will be there shortly, I thought."

Now it was not going back to a gaggle of girls, merely because I was still in love with them all and could not get them out of my mind, it was now more than that.