Chapter 72: The Lion's Den

Originally posted on: Sun Jul 12, 2009 6:01 pm

"My Lord, please?" Walter begged.

"It's okay, Walter." I reached out my hand and touched Amy on the shoulder and suddenly she was whole again and she sat up and wrapped her arms around my neck and wept.

"It's okay, Amy," I whispered softly, cradling her against my chest and stroking her hair and back. "It's all gone now. That was a long, long time ago and the pain is long gone."

Walter had gone back to his wolf shape and tears flowed past his muzzle as he gently licked her hand.

Amy noticed the soft touch of his tongue and turned to see him nuzzling at her and weeping at her pain. "It's okay, Walter," she said softly. "It doesn't hurt any more."

"I'm sorry, Amy," I said, "but I think the reason you haven't been able to be with Rebecca was because your mind associated her with the pain from when the car hit you. I don't know exactly why, but for some reason if you stopped time it wasn't real, so there was no pain and you could be with her. But the other night, when she showed up in the dream for real, the pain came back, didn't it?"

"Yes," she said, laying her head on my shoulder and petting Walter at the same time.

"Now, do you know why the pain is gone?"

"Because it was a long time ago?" she asked.

"Yes, because it was a long time ago," I said. I pushed her away enough to stand up and then held her hand as I continued. "It was a very long time ago, over twelve years, and in that time, while you've been hiding here from the pain, you have grown up, and this is what you look like now."

An image of Amy as I had seen her in the video of the Sandman wheeling her out of the hospital took shape before us. Only here I had edited out the image of him. You couldn't see a lot of detail because the sheet covered most of her body. Lack of exercise and a diet designed to prevent her from getting fat had kept her build slight and gaunt, her cheekbones were prominent but you could still see the resemblance to the little girl next to me. They had kept her hair short to make it easier to manage but not in that institutional buzz-cut some do. No, someone had taken the time to cut it so that it framed her face and accented her features and maintained the promise of the beauty she would be when she woke up.

In the dream, Amy moved forward in wonder. "Is that really me?" she asked.

"Yes, that's really you. If you look closely you can just see the scar on your chin, but all in all, I'd say you grew up into a really pretty girl, don't you think?"

"Where am I?"

"Well, you see, that's the problem. This picture was taken in the hospital where you live. But..." I faded the image of the Sandman in, once more pushing her bed toward the waiting ambulance.

Instantly she shrieked and pulled back, hiding behind my leg. "It's him! Jimmy, it's him, the bad man!"

"Yes, Amy, that's the bad man, the man who hurt the girls, the man who hurt Angela."

"Is he going to hurt me, Jimmy? Is that where he's taking me, somewhere to hurt me?"

"No, Amy. He's not going to hurt you, that's not why he took you. You know why he took you, don't you? He took you because he wanted to hurt someone else, someone he couldn't get to. He took you so that that someone would come to him, and you know who I'm talking about don't you."

She began crying again, sobbing against my pants leg and then beating her fists on my waist, "He's got Becky!" she bawled. "He's going to hurt my sister, he took me so she would come to save me and now he's going to hurt her."

"Yes, Amy, he took you so she would come, and he is going to hurt her."

Her crying got louder and I let it continue for a moment before I went on.

"Do you want me to save her, Amy? Because I think I can, with your help. Will you help me, Amy?"

"Yes! Oh Jimmy, please don't let him hurt Becky. I'll do anything," she cried through the tears. "Anything, Jimmy, just don't let him hurt Becky."

I found it interesting that ever since we had met she had referred to her sister as Rebecca, but that since I had forced her to relive the accident, taken her back to that earlier time, she referred to her as Becky. I wondered if that was the same time Rebecca had stopped liking the name. Time to worry about that after I saved her.

"Anything?" I pushed.

"Yes! Anything, Jimmy, I'll do anything."

"You're sure?" I asked again.

"Yes, Jimmy! Anything! Just please save her!"

"Okay," I said. "Then there is a chance. I think I know where he may have taken her. I think he took her to where he is hiding you, and that means you can take me to her."

"But I can't take you to her," she said. "She's not asleep."

"I know, she's been drugged and she's unconscious, sort of like you only different. You're not really asleep either. But you can still take me to her, because she is with you. Remember, that's why he took her. So if you take me to where you are, then I can find her."

"But I don't know where I am," she said. "That's why I'm here."

That was a very interesting statement. Was it possible that one reason she had been in a coma for so long was that in running away from the trauma of her accident, somehow her consciousness had gotten lost? I couldn't help but wonder what Bob would make of that idea. Again, something to think about some other time...

"No, that's only part of why you're here, and you don't actually need to know where you are, all you need to do, is wake up."

"No! No, Jimmy, I can't wake up, it will hurt, it will hurt bad! Jimmy I..."

"Shh, Shh!" I said, putting my finger first to my lips and then to hers. "You said you would do anything, remember? Look at the picture again. Look at your body. Do you see any bandages? Any bruises?"

"No," she said meekly.

"That's because the doctors fixed it all and you healed. Even your leg is better."

"And it doesn't hurt?"

"I promise. All of that faded away a long time ago. But, remember you haven't had any exercise in twelve years, so your muscles may hurt when you try to move, so don't try to move much when you wake up, okay? In fact, it's really important that you not do anything to let him know you are awake until I tell you it's okay, okay?"

"Why?"

"I'll explain as we go, are you ready to go find yourself?"

"I'm scared," she said, holding my hand tightly.

"I know, but I will be with you."

"As will I," Walter said, standing before us in human form once more.

"You will?" she asked, looking up at the mountain of muscle standing before her encased in skin-tight black leather.

"Yes, little one. I will stay with you no matter what." He turned to face me, "If that is alright with you, my Lord?"

"Of course, Walter, I was counting on you to stay with her, she may need your strength before we're through."

"Okay," Amy said.

"Then here we go," I said and suddenly there was a door before us. I held her hand tightly, Walter stood behind her with his hands on her little shoulders. I opened the door into darkness and quickly took us through, feeling Amy tense beside me as the door swung shut behind us. It was dark. Not that stranded in a cave at midnight dark, but rather the black they use on television to show you outer space. You know: pitch black but with indirect lighting.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yes," she whispered in her 'I'm a brave little girl' voice.

"Okay, watch this." Suddenly there was a new light in the darkness, only this light emanated from a single strand of silver, fine as a hair but shining so brightly in the darkness that it looked a hundred times thicker than it actually was.

"Wow!" Amy said. "What's that? Where does it go?"

"Look down, little one," Walter instructed.

Amy looked down and saw the thin line going right into her belly button and she jumped a little. Then, when she saw the line jumped with her, she tried to turn and look behind her to see if it kept going.

"No silly, it doesn't come out your back," I said with a chuckle. "As for where it goes; that is a very special line, it connects you to your body." I was making up the symbolism as I went but all I needed for it to be real was for her to believe it. The silver thread was something I had read about somewhere long ago, either in a comic book a science fiction story where they were talking about astral projection. It didn't matter if it was true; all that mattered was that she believe it.

"It does?" she asked. "But how does it know?"

"It doesn't have to know, it just does, it's been there all along but you just never knew where to look for it. Otherwise you might have found yourself years ago. Touch it."

She tentatively reached out her hand and was surprised that she could feel it tug gently on her tummy when she pushed on the silver strand.

"Pull on it," I instructed. "Just wrap your hand around it and give it a big tug."

When she did, she gave a little shriek and jerked her hand back like it on fire.

"What's the matter?" I asked with a laugh.

"I felt it! When I pulled on it, it pulled on my tummy!"

"Of course it did. You want to see something really weird?" I asked. "Grab a hold and give it a big tug!"

She looked at me dubiously but did as I ask, and when she finally yanked the line she almost fell over as it jerked her forward. Again her hand jerked back. "How is that possible?" she asked. "If I pull on it, it should be pulling on my body, not me."

"It is," I said with a smile. "You are your body so if you try to pull your body toward you, aren't you also pulling you toward your body?"

"Huh? That doesn't make any sense," she said, confused by the logic and unable to take it to the next step.

I laughed, "Don't worry about it, all that matters is that you can use this string to guide yourself, actually pull yourself forward on the search. Now, all you need to do is follow the silver string and it will lead you back to yourself, and hopefully, lead me to Rebecca."

She started walking forward and asked, "Is it very far? How do I know if I'm going the right way?"

"Just walk toward the string," I said. "As for how far it is, the string is about twelve years long, because that's how long you've been gone. But you can make it shorter if you want."

"I can?"

"Yep. All you have to do is want to find yourself, just close your eyes and picture yourself lying on the bed. Go on, close your eyes."

"But that's silly, how will picturing myself make the string shorter?"

"I don't know how it works, sweetie, I just know that it does."

"But..." she began.

"Amy," I interrupted her. "Don't you trust me?"

"Yes," she said.

"Then close your eyes."

She gave one of those classic, 'I'm only doing this to humor you' little girl huffs and closed here eyes. "Okay fine, my eyes are closed."

"Are you thinking of you? You have to concentrate. Remember it's been a long time since you saw yourself so concentrate on the picture I showed you. You're lying on the bed with your eyes closed and your hair all brushed out pretty. Now, take hold of the string and pull really hard."

"This is silly."

"Amy..."

"Fine, but it's still silly."

Silly or not she took hold of the string and pulled hard, only this time she wasn't jerked forward as she had been before."

"See, I told you it was a silly idea."

"Was it?" I asked. Before us was a doorway; a rectangle of light hanging in the darkness, and the silver thread from Amy's navel disappeared into the light beyond where...

"Open your eyes."

She opened her eyes and gasped, "Is that me?"

"Yes Amy, that's you, all grown up. Sort of like Sleeping Beauty, just lying there waiting for someone to wake you up so you can live happily ever after."

"Does that mean you're my Prince Charming?"

"No, in your case the one you've been waiting for is you."

"That's weird," she said, looking at me skeptically.

What could I say, she was right. "I know, but it's still true."

Her voice faded to an awed whisper and she swallowed hard before asking, "What do I do now?"

"Now you wait here, can you do that for me?"

"You're leaving?" she asked, alarmed.

Walter stepped close behind her, once more placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't be afraid, Amy, Walter will stay with you, okay? I just need to see if I can find you now so that I can come and get you both. I have to be very careful or he will know I'm coming and that would be bad. Okay, I'll be right back."

I stepped through the door and immediately I could feel the line between my dream self and my body snap into place. A lot had changed since I'd done this the first time with Angela. That time I had been in constant danger of 'waking up' and losing the connection. This time was better; I could see both places at once with no effort. The problem was I couldn't focus on just one scene.

"Looks like I'm driving," Jamie said.

"Can you feel the line?" I asked.

"No, you're going to have to guide me."

"Great, just what I need; one more thing to concentrate on. Keep it simple, sis, nothing fancy. You just need to get us there, preferably without attracting any undo attention."

"What, no power-slides? God, you are so taking the fun out of this."

"Yeah, whatever, just try not to get us pulled over, okay?"

The problem was I had no idea how far away I was and therefore no idea whether it would be better to take the freeway or surface streets. This was something Wheels hadn't covered in his classes, go figure. I left it up to Jamie to figure out and went back to see what I could discover about wherever it was Amy was being kept.

I quickly discovered that one thing hadn't changed. I was still tied to the person I was using as an anchor, in this case Amy. I could move around her without obstruction but if I tried to move more than a few feet from her physical body my 'presence' if you will, began to fade, and with it, the link that I was following to find her. The two places at once thing I had sort of gotten used to but this time it was three. Depending on where I placed my focus I was with Jamie in the car, Amy's body wherever the Sandman was hiding them, and at the same, in a long dark space with Amy, looking out a doorway at her body. Trust me, it felt even weirder than it sounds. I think the third point may have been what was keeping me from focusing well on any one place, but there wasn't anything I could do about that right at the moment. I had no idea what would happen to Amy if I left her and I really didn't want to find out.

"I think we should take the freeway," I told Jamie.

"Really?" she asked. "Why?"

"Feels like we're a long ways away. The pull is from the northeast; we've changed directions several times already but the pull hasn't changed much, so I'm guessing it's like moving a string that's tied to a fixed point on the other end. The longer the string the less the angle changes when you move your end."

"Northeast?" she said. "Jimmy, he's been keeping a really close watch on Rebecca all this time, do you think he's actually set up somewhere close to her apartment?"

"Jeez, that makes total sense!" I answered. "And the pull is from that general direction."

"Okay then," she said. "Let's start with that and see where it gets us. I'm going to jump on the 105 and then take the 110 north."

"Are you sure that's the right way?" I asked.

"Yeah, I memorized the freeway map Rod left in the glove box while you were off playing hide an seek with Amy."

"Oh."

As we moved east on the 105 I could feel the pull shifting and by the time we made the transition onto the 110 it was almost due north. I couldn't judge the distance but at least we were headed in the right direction. Traffic in LA isn't much better at night than it is during the day, but all things considered we made pretty good time. I did my best to just stay in the background and not interfere with Jamie's driving.

As we drew nearer I shifted my focus to Amy's room. Wherever he was, he wasn't wasting any money on details; except for her bed and the other medical equipment, the room was empty. The only light was from a single lamp aimed at her body. The door was across from her bed and there didn't appear to be any windows. The floor was impossible to make out as the light seemed to fall only on Amy's body, leaving the rest of the room in deep shadow. Had I been there in person I'm sure I could have figured out what I was standing on but ... I didn't think it really mattered whether it was carpet, tile, or even hardwood; it was just a floor as far as I was concerned.

Suddenly the pull changed.

"What just happened? Where are we?" I asked, shifting my focus back to the car.

"We just passed the I-10 and the freeway veered to the right. Why?"

I tried to remember if the pull had changed before this but I couldn't remember sensing anything. If it had moved it was a very gradual change. This was different: we were getting close.

"I think we're getting close, the pull changed. I think it may have been moving all along but it was a gradual shift so I didn't notice it. Now it's back to being almost straight ahead again."

"Okay, try to focus on it, see if it stays dead ahead or if it wanders again," she said. "The freeway takes another turn not far ahead. The next shift should give us a pretty good idea."

"It's moving to the left the farther we go, still mostly ahead but maybe eleven o'clock instead of twelve."

"Then it's either east of the freeway and farther away or it's on the west side and we're getting close. Let me know if it hits ten o'clock."

"Almost there now and ... whoa! We just passed it; already past nine and still moving, we need to get off the freeway."

"Right, I'll just hang a quick left across those other four lanes and we'll go cross-country," she said sarcastically. "Oops, my bad! Forgot about that silly concrete barrier in the middle. Maybe it's time to check out that Thomas Guide."

I knew where the sarcasm was coming from so I let it go. We exited at Orange Grove and headed north; pulling over at the first opportunity and consulting the Thomas Guide for this area. As soon as we turned off and headed north the pull had shifted back toward eleven, but once we started moving again it started moving down again. Somewhere to the left...

I concentrated on the image of the map in my head.

"Take a left on Madeline." As soon as she did the pull shifted all the way to two. "Farther north but still a little west," I told her.

Madeline ended at Arroyo and as we swung right the pull, which had been slowly moving toward three, shifted all the way back to ten again. "We're getting close, real close."

"I know," she said. "I can feel the pull now."

"You can?"