Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: Nightmares are just bad dreams. Aren't they?
It had been one of those days that completely burn you out.
Not a cloud in the sky, the sun's rays seemed to beat down on the world.
Everyone had a thin layer of sweat coating their skin, cars crawled slowly
through the rush hour traffic. Every slight breeze of air was a gift from God.
Queues formed at Ice Cream stores, students slumped on the grass - studying
went out of the window. Moisture evaporated on contact with the ground, any
building without air conditioning abandoned.
And the intense heat had continued into the night. The breeze had picked up a
little, but the humidity lingered in the air.
--Somehow, the woman had fallen asleep. The sheets of her bed are twisted
around her, her hair matted with sweat. A man approaches slowly, his shadow
cast on to the back wall of the motel room by the moon from the window by her
bed. His arm moves upwards, the knife glittering in the moonlight. He jerks it
down, gashing into the flesh of the woman below him on the bed. She tries to
scream, but has no chance. Blood gushes on to the white sheets, the crimson
stain spreading across the bed, as the man hurriedly makes his way to leave
the room, closing the door gently and taking one last glance back. The number
7 on the door shines back at him in the light of the moon...--
Scully screamed.
She sat up in her bed, startled, sweat dripping from her forehead. She glanced
around, panicking, wondering where she was.
The motel room, she remembered. A dream. She sighed.
"Scully?" she heard Mulder's voice from behind the door between their two
rooms. "Scully?"
"I'm OK Mulder." she murmured.
"What happened? Can I come in?"
"OK."
Mulder entered, still fully clothed although the clock by her bed told her it was
after three in the morning.
"I just had a bad dream."
"Are you sure you're OK? That was one hell of a scream!"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Sure? OK. Just let me know if you need anything."
"OK, thanks Mulder."
Mulder headed to the door.
"Mulder - ?"
"Yeah?"
"What room am I in?" Scully asked, looking down at her bed.
"Seven. I'm next door in eight."
Scully looked at him, wondering whether she should tell him. No.
"OK. Goodnight Mulder."
Scully didn't sleep again that night, thoughts of knives, screams and the
number seven spreading through her mind like blood from a fresh wound.
To be continued…
---
"Nightmare #7" 2/6
Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: Scully's nightmare returns, in frightening detail...
"So what happened in the nightmare?"
"I," Scully hesitated. "I can't remember."
Mulder accepted that as an answer, shrugged, and began to unlock his car
door. It was cooler than the previous day, a breeze ruffled through the trees at
the end of the parking lot.
They were here on another of the FBI's teamwork training courses. Officially
they had to take the course every five years, but, with a lack of cases to give
them, Skinner had packed them away on the latest course being run by the
FBI. Scully didn't mind, she saw it as a break. Mulder, however, would much
rather have been sitting in his office, sifting through old letters from housewives
in Texas claiming Bigfoot was living in their attic and that they were *sure* they
had just seen Elvis in Wal-Mart. That was what a Jerry Springer appearance
did to your career.
"This is like a punishment, you know, Scully." he said as they drove away from
the motel. Scully, for some reason, felt relieved.
"I mean, they pull you away from your standard routine-" he began to roll up his
sleeve. She knew what was coming, and smiled. "-send you off to the other
side of the country, make you stack tables to make a 'teamwork mountain' and
then LAUGH when you fall off!"
He waved his arm in front of Scully's face so she could see the inch-long graze
he had gained from his adventure up (then down considerably faster) the
mound of office furniture.
"Mulder!" she laughed. "I can hardly see it!"
"It hurts!" Mulder put on his lonely-puppy face, expecting Scully's sympathy.
"Aww, would you like me to perform an autopsy?" she teased.
"OK, since you care so much about your dear partner who has saved your life
so many times, explain to me exactly why you LIKE these dumb conferences!"
"It's just a change, Mulder. From that hot office, a bit of fresh air, no worries
about making case reports on time, a bit of *fun*!"
"You call falling from Mount Mulder, the highest ever pile of desks and chairs in
FBI conference history, FUN?!"
"*I* didn't fall off it. We weren't actually meant to climb the tower Mulder."
"Yeah yeah."
Mulder snapped on the radio, gave it a dirty look when the music wasn't to his
taste, and twiddled with the frequency dial before snapping it off again.
"Couldn't they give us motel rooms nearer to the dumb conference anyhow?"
"I suppose we were late to sign up."
"We didn't sign up. We were signed up." He expressed the signed on the
second part.
"Whatever, Mulder."
"Well, the actual place is alright, I suppose, just a little too far away."
"Mm." Scully half-heartedly agreed.
She didn't like the motel.
It had been refurbished just a while ago, new carpets, paint, beds, everything.
A block of ten new cabin rooms had been built next to the existing block, the
car park extended, and a small convenience store built.
But she didn't like it. There was something about it, something lingering in the
back her mind. She had stayed in much worse accommodation, much worse.
But still, she would be glad when the week-long course was over and she could
return to her own bed.
"Mulder, maybe we should ask for a closer motel."
"Oh? I thought you liked it there?"
"Yes, but, you're right, it's quite a long way to travel every day to stack or,
ahem, unstack furniture." she grinned at Mulder again, staring ahead and
stifling a laugh.
"You'll never let me live this down will you Scully? Anyhow, we can ask for a
transfer if you like, but we may end up in some inner city crap hole."
"Inner city craphole? Aren't we being a tad stereotypical here?"
"Stereotypical? Long words, Scully!" he teased her back.
"I can do longer."
"Chloroflourocarbon."
"Antidisestablishmentterianism."
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!"
"That's not a word, cheat!"
Mulder grinned.
"Don't miss the turn off this morning Mulder."
"What's this, pick on Mulder's few flaws day?"
Scully's turn to grin.
The day passed with no major events, Mulder managed to get by without
making a fool of himself and without any major injury involving any furniture of
any kind whatsoever.
Scully congratulated him as they entered their separate motel rooms.
"Well done, Mulder."
"For?"
"Surviving Day 2."
"Thanks, Scully." He swung open the door.
Scully turned the keys again in her lock. And again. They jarred in the keyhole
and she had to force them back out.
"Dammit-" she said to herself, before jiggling the door handle to no avail.
"Problems, pardner?" Mulder stuck his head out of his doorway.
"Dumb door won't open. Nnnggh!" Scully pushed the door, exasperated.
"Here-" Mulder took the keys, slotted them into the lock, and the door opened
smoothly.
He grinned.
"Wha-?! But! Hmmm. Thanks."
"Any time." Mulder knew he had one over her now, no more digs at him for the
office tower incident.
Scully entered the room, noting how cold it was compared to the night before.
The walls were pink and cosy, a table stood at one end with a fresh vase of
flowers, placed on a little frilly thing of the variety that can be spotted at any
grandmother's house.
The room was so welcoming, yet so... uninviting. A thought flashed through her
mind.
I'm not supposed to be here.
Around eleven, Scully got into bed, somehow not looking forward to the night
ahead. She closed her eyes, hoping sleep would eventually find her. It did,
surprisingly quicker than she thought, she was asleep just over twenty minutes
later.
--Somehow, the woman had fallen asleep after the long day. The plain white
sheets of her bed are twisted around her, her dark brown hair matted with
sweat. A man, tall and quite muscular, approaches slowly, his shadow cast on
to the back wall of the motel room by the moon from the window by her bed. His
arm moves upwards, shaking as if nervous, the knife glittering in the moonlight.
He jerks it down towards the woman, gashing into the flesh of the woman below
him on the bed. She tries to scream, but has no chance. Blood pours from her
mouth, she feels herself choking. She looks up at the man. NO...! Blood gushes
on to the white sheets, the crimson stain spreading across the bed, spattering
on to the mirror opposite as the man hurriedly makes his way to leave the
room, closing the door gently and taking one last glance back. The number 7
on the door shines back at him in the light of the moon...--
Scully sat up, hurriedly, gripping a pillow to her mouth so as not to scream. She
felt the scream trapped in her mouth, like she was choking. She began to sob
quietly, mainly from shock, lowering the pillow and gasping for breath. It was
clearer this time, more detail. She wiped her eye, looking down at her night-
dress to confirm that it had been a dream (no blood...), glancing at the digital
clock. 3:02am. She glanced around the room nervously, shadows looming in all
directions, the moonlight streaming in from the window by her side. The motel
room was nearly silent. She heard a low mumble from the room next door,
realising Mulder was still watching TV. She listened again, to confirm it was
definitely from Mulder's room. It was. Should she call for him? Maybe that was
a bad idea, when she considered the kind of TV that tended to be shown in
motel rooms at 3 in the morning. She remembered he had been awake the
night before too. She cheered up slightly at the thought, although she couldn't
place why. Plus, she thought. She was a big girl now. She didn't need to be
comforted every time she had a bad dream. No, she thought, she'd just try to go
back to sleep.
She lay awake for a while, glancing around her room every now and then,
twitching at any minor noise. At about 4, she heard Mulder's TV stop. A few
minutes after, she fell asleep, sleeping until her alarm beeped her awake the
next morning.
--
"Mornin' Scully! Good night?"
"Suppose. I couldn't sleep for a while."
"Oh? How come?"
"Oh, uh, I heard your TV on."
"What?"
"Your TV, it, um, kept me awake."
"I wasn't watching TV."
"I heard you Mulder, don't deny it."
"Honestly, I was not!"
"I've seen your video collection, Mulder."
"So? Have you seen the crap they show way out here? Info-mercials for toilet
brushes and soap!"
He flicked to the TV pages of a newspaper on the breakfast table they had sat
down at.
Scully glanced down, he was right. Some old film ended at midnight, then there
was just junk until dawn.
"Hmm. Is there a VCR in there?"
"No." he grinned.
"OK, I'll let you off. Sure you NEVER turned the TV on?"
"Not after about 12.30."
"OK. I must have heard been something else."
For some reason, she doubted Mulder. But why would he lie to her? She felt
strange and was actually glad to set off for their teamwork conference and get
away from the motel.
Something was wrong with her room. Something had happened there. She felt
sure of it, but kept dismissing the thought every time it entered her head. Just a
dream, she reassured herself.
But inside, she doubted even herself.
To be Continued...
-------
"Nightmare #7" 3/6
Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: Scully finds evidence that her nightmare may be more real than she
realised...
--Somehow, the woman had fallen asleep after the long day. The plain white
sheets of her bed are twisted around her, her dark brown hair matted with
sweat. A man, tall and quite muscular, but with a worried and nervous
expression upon his face, approaches slowly, his shadow cast on to the back
wall of the motel room by the moon from the window by her bed. His arm moves
upwards, shaking nervously, the blade of the knife glittering in the moonlight.
He hesitates, drawing the knife downwards a few inches, before retreating it
back upwards. He grits his teeth together, and jerks it down towards the
woman, gashing into the chest of the woman below him on the bed. She tries to
scream, but has no chance. Blood pours from her mouth and chest, she feels
herself choking. She looks up at the man. NO...! She tries to scream at him,
tries so hard, but only blood splutters from her mouth. Blood gushes on to the
white sheets, the crimson stain spreading across the bed, spattering on to the
circular mirror opposite as the man hurriedly makes his way to leave the room,
closing the door gently and taking one last glance back. The number 7 on the
door shines back at him in the light of the moon...--
"No!" Scully sniffed as she was startled awake for the third night in a row. She
had to scream, had to release the fear inside, but held it back, biting her lip
until it bled slightly. A tear rolled down her cheek. It had been so real. This time
there had been more detail. She glanced around her motel room. There was no
circular mirror opposite her, no blood stains on the bed. But sure enough, there
was the window beside her, the door opposite. The door where the number 7
would be glittering in the moonlight. She shook her head as if to get rid of the
thought and lay back down. In the silence, Mulder's TV murmured quietly from
next door. What is he doing? She got up slowly, attempting not to make any
noise. She knew the door between their rooms would be unlocked. She quietly
went to the door, the TV noise from his room growing louder as she
approached. She grabbed the doorhandle, pushing it down slowly to open the
door a crack. The TV was louder now. She looked in.
Mulder was lying asleep, facing away from her, on his side. The room was only
lit by them crack of moonlight from between the curtains on his window. She
glanced at the other side of the room. The TV was off.
The noise had stopped.
"Mulder?" she whispered. He didn't reply. Was he pretending? But how could
he have turned off the TV so quickly? Her TV had no remote control, she
doubted Mulder's had either. She gently closed the door, crossed the room,
and got into bed.
The TV noise restarted.
Scully woke up about eight, later than usual, to the sound of Mulder's voice
from his room.
"Scully? Wakey-wakey! Conference time!"
"Mulder?" she sat up.
Mulder popped his head through the doorway.
"Hi Sleepy. You OK?"
"Um, yeah. Actually, I don't feel too good." This was a lie, and she hated lying
to him, but she had made up her mind that she needed to know about her motel
room. Something had happened here, she decided, and she wanted to know
what.
"I think I'll give today a miss."
"You sure? I can't teamwork by myself."
"Sorry, Mulder. I'd prefer to rest, then we can go build the best desk tower
tomorrow."
"OK, sure. Anything I can get for you?"
"No, thankyou. I'll be OK just resting."
"OK, well, I'll guess I'll see you tonight. I'll call you later?"
"Yeah, OK, thanks."
He smiled, and disappeared round the door. About thirty minutes later she
heard him go out to the car.
She got up, dressed and watched, and picked up her cell phone. She dialled
the local taxi firm number on the list by her motel room phone, and ten minutes
later she was leaving her room, locking her door, the number 7 glittering in the
sun.
"Morning." the driver said. A small identification card, laminated but frayed
round the edges, identified him as one Michael Mian.
"Hi." Scully replied politely. The driver lit up a cigarette, contrary to the "No
Smoking" sign by his card. "Where to?"
"Um, the local library please."
"What d'ya consider to be local, ma'am?"
"Um, in town maybe?"
The driver let out a strange sound which Scully assumed to be a laugh.
"We don't have no library in Kingsville, ma'am. Nearest one's like thirty miles
away, in Gillis."
"Then, that's where we'll go."
"Sure, whatever." The driver set off. Scully felt sure they had taken an
alternative route, as they passed a sign labelled "Gillis: 8 miles" by a main
road.
Eventually they arrived in Gillis, Scully paid the high fare, $21, and eyed the
driver suspiciously, and before she had hardly closed the door, he screeched
away.
Scully walked down the main street of Gillis. It was fairly modern, a large music
store seemed the main feature, but she spotted the public library further down
the street and entered. It was quite large, with two floors. She was met by a
desk at which a girl, about eighteen or nineteen, sat chewing gum.
Scully approached the desk. The girl twiddled her hair. A sign on her desk
informed Scully that her name was "Darlene O'Twain, Library assistant
(trainee)".
"Can I help you?" she said in a strong Texas accent.
"Sure, I assume you keep newspaper articles."
"I'm sure we do. What year?"
Scully realised that she had no idea.
"Um, say, the last five years?"
"Sure, upstairs, turn left, head for the shelf labelled 1990-present. They're not
like, actually, nooosepapers, they're like, on, um, film..."
"Microfilm?"
"Sure, yeah, hypofilm."
"Thanks."
"Sure." she continued chewing and twirling her hair.
Scully headed upstairs. Here, she discovered rows and rows of books, with a
row of tables in the centre. She was alone except for two students who sat
opposite each other at a table, reading books and scribbling notes,
occasionally reaching for a handful of M&M's from the bag in the middle without
looking up from their books.
She turned left and headed for the back wall, where there were three rows of
Microfilm cartridges. She picked up a handful from the 1990-present section,
and headed for one of the dormant microfilm readers.
Here she spent most of the morning and the best part of the afternoon scanning
through old editions of the local newspaper, ascertaining that not much ever
really happened in Gillis and its surrounding towns. The occasional robbery
seemed to be the biggest event she uncovered in the first reel. In 1992, an old
woman had had her bag of groceries stolen, shortly after this event there had
been a fire in Greg's Cafe. She continued scanning through the pages. In 1994,
someone had been killed in a car crash in a small village called Anderton,
about four miles away, when some teenagers had been playing around in their
parents' car in the middle of the night. The victim had been quite a prominent
character in the area, once he had even been the mayor. This story occupied
the front pages for a few weeks before, like all news stories, fading away and
been gradually relegated off the front page, through the paper until it vanished
completely.
Around 4pm, she had entered the 1996 reels. On July 27th, 1996, she froze the
screen. Her heart seemed to miss a beat.
The front page of the 'Gillis, Kingsville & Anderton Observer' was completely
filled by one story. capital, block letters spelled out her nightmare.
"BRUTAL KILLING IN ROOM 7" a smaller sub-heading beneath read "Woman
found knifed in motel room".
She skipped to the next page, discovering the story occupied the entire first
half of the paper. On page 2, she read the full horrifying details, staring wide-
eyed at the screen.
"LOCAL WOMAN KILLED IN MOTEL MURDER"
Local Shopkeeper Betty Robinson was found dead in her motel room
yesterday. The horrific killing came to light when motel manager Charles LeBay
notified authorities after discovering her bleeding body in room seven of the
Kingsville Motor Lodge Motel yesterday. Mrs Robinson, known locally for her
friendliness as the owner of a local bakery, was stabbed repeatedly in the chest
and and face by a sharp instrument. Local police called the Federal Bureau of
Investigation as soon as it had been confirmed that foul play was involved. FBI
Agent Richard O'Keif told the Observer this morning, "This is a horrific crime,
never in my career have I been so shocked at such a merciless killing." It is
believed that Mrs Robinson was staying at the motel while her home was being
fumigated after the recent cockroach scare. Mr Robinson was out of town, and
it is not known if he is aware of his wife's death."
Scully leaned back in her chair. She pressed the button to skip to the next day's
paper. Again, most of the paper was filled with details of Betty Robinson's
murder.
"EIGHT STAB WOUNDS: HUSBAND IS SUSPECT"
A hand clamped down on Scully's shoulder.
"I need a word." said the voice from behind her.
-------
"Nightmare #7" 4/6
Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: R
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: Scully gets a good hard look at the murderer in her nightmare,
and can't believe who she sees looking back...
Note: Character dies (in dream)
Scully jumped.
"Scuse me, ma'am?" it was Darlene.
"Yes?" Scully swallowed.
"We're about to close up, now. I'm afraid you'll have to come back tomorrow."
"Right, of course." She glanced at her watch. It was nearly five. She put the
microfilm case back up on the shelf and left the library.
She called a taxi, and once more was met by the same driver, apparently the
only taxi driver working today.
"Hey again."
"Hi." Scully answered.
"Have fun at the library?" he assumed this was hilarious and made that strange
laughing noise for several seconds.
"I was doing some research."
"Research, huh? What about?"
"About a murder that happened here. I'm an FBI agent." she realised that the
driver could be more use than he seemed.
"An FBI agent? I thought you were like some door-to-door salesman. The
Robinson murder, right?"
"Yes, that's right." she reminded herself that not many murders happened here,
that case was bound to be remembered by the locals.
"Sad, that was. Betty Robinson, everyone loved her. She baked stuff, cakes
and the like, you know."
Scully nodded politely.
"Husband did it, so they thought. They had your people up here. He moved
away, oh say a year before the murder. Betty got herself a new loverboy," he
sounded quite sorry for Mrs Robinson, "She moved into the motel for a few
days when her apartment was getting de-roached back in the summer of 96.
Husband, Darious was his name, no-one liked him much. I would agree with
them. Not a nice guy. Rumours were out he used to hit old Betty, he did. But
then when he found out about Betty and her new guy, he came back. He
checked into the motel room next to her one night. There was a door between
their rooms. He came through in the dead of night and killed her, so they said.
Then he went and killed himself."
"He did?" Scully hadn't read this far into the newspapers yet.
"Don't you know all this, you being an FBI agent?"
"Yes, partly, I'm not actually on the case."
"Right. Well, you see, he left all his stuff in the motel room and just vanished.
They searched and searched for months, but they assumed he just went and
killed himself out back somewhere. They never found his body."
Scully sat for a moment. The cab had reached the motel.
"You're staying in that very motel, ma'am. Did you know that?"
"I do now."
"What room you in?"
"Erm, room 7."
"Better you than me. That's where it all happened, that night. Course, I don't
wanna scare you, that was like three years ago. They pulled that room apart,
redecorated it, fixed it all up, made it nice. Still, hardly anyone ever stays in
room 7 anymore. Just those who don't know. Sad story. Twenty-four bucks
please."
"Twenty-four? It's gone up."
"You had in-flight entertainment." he grinned.
Scully handed him a twenty and a five.
"Do I get to keep the change?"
"No."
"Agent Scully?"
"How did you know my name?"
"Just watch your back." The car sped off before she was able to respond. She
turned slowly, to see Mulder standing outside his door.
"Uh-oh." she remembered she was supposed to be sick.
"Uh-hi!" she said, as she walked towards him.
"Hi. I thought you were sick?"
"Yes, well, I was. But now I'm not."
"So where did you go?"
"Nowhere."
"I just saw you get out of a taxi."
"I just went, into the town, that's all. Forget it, Mulder."
"Today we played a game in a maze of furniture. I had to wear a blindfold, and
be guided round by instructions from my partner. Unfortunately, I didn't have a
partner."
"Oh. Sorry, Mulder."
"It's OK. You should have said you wanted to skip class, I would have
accompanied you."
"Whatever. And I really did feel sick up until lunchtime." At lunchtime, she
realised, she was hunched over a microfilm machine.
--
That night, Scully dreamed again. It was the same, but very, very different.
--Somehow, the woman had fallen asleep after the long day. The plain white
sheets of her bed are twisted around her, her dark red hair matted with sweat.
A man, tall and quite muscular, but with a worried and nervous expression upon
his face, approaches slowly, his shadow cast on to the back wall of the motel
room by the moon from the window by her bed. His arm moves upwards,
shaking nervously, the blade of the knife glittering in the moonlight. He
hesitates, drawing the knife downwards a few inches, before retreating it back
upwards. He grits his teeth together. The woman awakes, stares up at the man.
No-! Her blue eyes are open wide in shock, sleep a million miles away. She
reaches her hand to the table nearby, feeling around for something. Her gun. It
drops on the floor. "Mulder-!" The man jerks the knife down towards Scully,
gashing into her chest as she lay helplessly below him on the bed. She tries to
scream, but has no chance. Blood pours from her mouth and chest, she feels
herself choking. She looks up at the him. NO... not him! She tries to scream at
him, tries so hard, but only blood splutters from her mouth. Blood gushes on to
the white sheets, the crimson stain spreading across the bed, spattering on to
the circular mirror opposite as the man hurriedly makes his way to leave the
room, closing the door gently. Fox William Mulder takes one last glance back.
The number 7 on the door shines back at him in the light of the moon...--
-------
"Nightmare #7" 5/6
Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: Some people want their dreams to come true. Scully's has, and it just
may kill her...
"NO!" Scully screamed out loud. This was wrong. She cried loudly, tears
flooding down uncontrollably. She knew it was just a bad dream, her worst
nightmare in fact, just her imagination gone wild after hours reading murder
stories. She glanced hurriedly round the room, to her clock which again read
3:02.
Mulder burst into her room, wearing a T-shirt and shorts.
"Scully? Scully, what happened?"
Scully swallowed, unable to speak for a few minutes.
"I..I just…had a nightmare…"
"What? You screamed…"
"Mulder…" she put her arms around him.
"This is why you stayed here yesterday, isn't it? You keep having the same
dream, don't you?"
"Yes, but it was… different tonight…"
"What happens, Scully?"
"There..there's a woman, in this room, and a man, he..he kills her. Stabs her.
Blood, everywhere…"
Mulder looked distressed.
"But tonight…"Scully cried loudly. "You…killed me…"
"What?! Scully, I…"
"I know, it's ridiculous…"
"I would never harm you, ever, Scully."
She rested her head on his shoulder.
"You gonna be OK Scully? Tomorrow, we'll get check out and drive back
home…"
"No… I, I need to go back to the library…"
"The library?"
"That's where I went yesterday. There was a murder here, Mulder, in this room,
on July 26th 1996. Three years ago."
"Three years ago tomorrow."
"What?" he was right, she realised. That date was tomorrow.
"I'm coming with you."
Scully reluctantly agreed.
They talked quietly for a while, then Mulder returned to his room.
She needed to go to the library, find out more about what happened. But she
realised that that meant another night in this motel. In room 7.
Scully drifted asleep to the sound of Mulder's TV in the room next door.
----
Mulder and Scully sat side by side at the microfilm reader in Gillis Public
Library. Mulder made notes on a small pad. They had gathered enough details
to gain a detailed, but grim picture of exactly what had happened three years
earlier to the day in Scully's motel room.
Mrs Betty Robinson had moved out of the Roseville Apartment Block while it
was being fumigated. She had checked into the motel at about four, according
to the manager. She was handed the keys to room number seven. At about
four-thirty, her husband (although the manager hadn't realised) checked into
room eight. That night, her husband, a guy named Darious, had gone through
the interjoining door and stabbed her eight times, killing her within seconds.
This is where events became unclear. He seemed to have left by the main door
to room 7, and then gone into his room next door. But why hadn't he gone
through the door in between the two rooms? Mulder drew two big question
marks on his pad.
Next morning, the maid had gone to clean the rooms when she discovered
Darious had left all his belongings in room 8 (more black question marks), and
that the bloody cadaver of Mrs Robinson lay in the bed of room seven. Charles
LeBay, manager, reported the scene to local police that morning.
The husband was never found, but presumed dead by suicide.
The motel closed for about a year and a half due to lack of business, but
reopened in early 1998 when people slowly started staying there again, as the
Kingsville Motor Lodge Motel.
Mulder offered to swap rooms with Scully, although she declined. This whole
thing seemed unreal. She was scared, yes, but what of? A nightmare? She
didn't know what to think.
These were the thoughts that ran through her brain as she lay down in bed that
night. She was determined to stay awake, but she was so tired. She had been
up a good portion of the last few nights, and had stared at a monitor for two
days, her eyes were sore.
Eyes…sore…must…stay…awake! Scully blinked her eyes open, glancing at
the clock. Just after midnight. Awake… Dana… not… sleeeeeeppppppp….
Somehow, Scully had fallen asleep after the long day, and her mixture of fear
and confusion. The plain white sheets of her bed are twisted around her, her
red hair matted with sweat. A man, tall and quite muscular, but with a worried
and nervous expression upon his face, approaches slowly, his shadow cast on
to the back wall of the motel room by the moon from the window by her bed.
The shadow shivers, jittering around, trying to escape. Scully's eyes open,
sensing the movement in the room. "Mulder…" His arm moves upwards,
shaking nervously, the blade of the knife glittering in the moonlight. His mouth
moves, trying to speak, but failing. A mumble escapes. Scully tries so hard to
wake up. Then realises. She is awake.
Mulder, above her, hesitates, drawing the knife downwards a few inches,
before retreating it back upwards. He grits his teeth together. Scully looks up in
terror and sadness, at Mulder's face, his shaky breathing, not seeing the face
of the partner she had come to know after six years, but the face of a monster.
But it was Mulder, alright, but there was someone else there, a face she
recognised somehow, like when you meet the relative of someone you met
years ago. Her blue eyes are open wide in shock, sleep a million miles away.
She reaches her hand to the table nearby, feeling around for something. Her
gun. It drops on the floor. "Mulder- It's ME!!" She struggles in her bed, trying to
escape the sheets that cling to her like guards restraining a prisoner.
"MULDER!! PUT DOWN THE KNIFE!! YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU ARE!" The
words sprung into Scully's mouth from somewhere in the past. She realised. It
was Mulder's body, his face, but there was something else, taking over him,
controlling him. Then his face flickers. She sees Fox Mulder, his mouth open in
a silent scream, and another face, evil, lip curled like a snarling dragon ready
to spout flames. Two faces. Then they re-mould into one. He jerks the knife
down towards Scully, but she hits it with her elbow, temporarily knocking him off
track. "M..Mulder! STOP!" She screams at him to no avail. He shuffles slightly,
lifting the knife above his shoulder into killing position once more. Scully tries to
move her hand, but it too is twisted in the sheets. Her other hand flails around
uselessly. He lowers the knife, and once again she sees the face divide in two.
As if in slow motion, the knife lowers down to Scully, making contact with her
skin. A gash of searing pan in her arm. Then-
BLAM! BLAMBLAMBLAM!
Things in the room seemed to speed up at that point. Scully looked down at her
arm, a cut about three inches long bled on to her bed, a crimson stain like the
one in her dreams. What had she heard, that noise cracking through her brain.
Gunshots. She looked up at Mulder. The knife dropped from his hand, four
open wounds in his chest.
"Sc…Scully…" he stutters, before slowly keeling leftwards down to the floor.
---------------
"Nightmare #7" 6/6
Author: Chris Adams
Feedback: chris_adams031@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Category: X
Dist: Yes please, e-mail me to let me know.
Spoilers: None
Summary: In the shocking conclusion to Seventh Sense, Scully's living
nightmare finally comes to an end. For now...
He fell to the floor, dead.
But there he stood, in front of her.
Two bodies. One alive, one dead.
On the floor at the foot of her bead, lay a body, bleeding from his back and
chest, only the top of his body in view. Tall, muscular, but certainly not Fox
Mulder. He stood, above the body, breathing shallowly, no blood apparent.
Scully cried, but ignored the tears.
"Mulder…what happened?"
At this point she realised her motel room door was open. Mulder turned. A
silhouette stood in the moonlit square of her doorway, his gun-wielding hand
lowering.
"It's over." The man said. He stepped into the room, swallowing, taking a look
at the body crumpled on the floor, before looking away in disgust.
"Oh my god…" Scully began.
"In 1996, my brother killed his wife. Then I killed him." Michael Mian, local taxi-
driver, stepped further into the room, as he talked.
"And when he did, he went to the ice machine, got ice, came back to his room,
and watched TV and drank a beer. That's the part that disgusted me. Then I
killed him."
Mulder sat down and hugged Scully tightly. He swallowed. A tear rolled down
his cheek, as did one down Scully's.
"I…I can't remember…the…" he began.
"It's OK."
"I stabbed him with the same knife he killed Betty with. I felt so damn sorry for
that woman, he beat her, and disrespected her. And I saw him buying the knife
the day he came back, and I swore I wouldn't let him go ahead with it. But I was
too late. I knocked him out with a vase, you know. Put him in the car, drove him
out to nowhere, and stabbed him. Threw the body of a cliff thirty miles away."
He sounded half-upset, half-angry.
"As he came to, just before I stuck that knife into his sorry body, he swore he'd
come back, get me or anyone else he damn could. But I guess he couldn't get
me. Do you believe in ghosts, agents?"
They didn't reply.
"I don't. But I do believe in strong emotions. When an event happens, with a
strong emotion involved - a first kiss, a sad death, a murder - that emotion
lingers. Trapped in the four walls where it first was experienced. For ever. He,
Darious, my brother, couldn't get me. So it tried to get you. Today was their
tenth wedding anniversary. Third anniversary of their deaths."
"But, I don't understand…"
"Like I said, I don't believe in ghosts. And an emotion can't kill someone. I'm
afraid, Agent Mulder, that's where you came into things."
"The other day…I can't…"
"Remember? You didn't go to your teamwork conference, I'm, afraid. You went
to Donaldson's Hardware store and purchased that there knife. Same store,
same kind of knife, that I followed Darious into three years back." He pointed to
the blood-tipped knife on the floor. "But it wasn't your fault. It was Darious's.
You did nothing wrong. He used your body."
Scully looked down at the floor, realising that the body of Michael's brother was
no longer there. A lingering emotion…
"But now it's over. I'm sorry it got this far. I knew I couldn't hurt you, Agent
Mulder, or I would never…"
Mulder nodded, understanding the sentence before it was completed.
Scully realised that the motel manager had approached the door of her room,
probably awakened by the gunshots.
"What the hell…?" he asked.
"Nothing. Don't ask."
"Are you OK, ma'am, you look like you're bleeding."
"Sure, I just need some stitches, that's all."
Mulder, Scully and the manager left the room, the manager asking questions
about Scully's arm and insurance policies. Scully's arm was wrapped tightly in
a bed sheet, blood already staining it. She would be OK, she realised, it wasn't
that deep a wound.
Michael Mian looked round the room, at the blood stain on the bed, and the
knife on the floor.
He scooped it up, wiped it on the bed, and carried it outside, planning to get rid
of it in the same manner that he had gotten rid of his brother three years
earlier. He had loved Betty, his brother's wife, he realised for the first time.
More than his brother ever had, ever would have.
He wiped a tear from his eye, glanced at his watch - 3:11am - and closed the
motel room door gently. The number seven glittered back at him in the light of
the moon.
In room eight, the TV noise filled the room.
The End
Author's note: Credit for the names of Michael Mian, Betty Robinson, Darious
and Richard O'Keif goes to TC of Ryan's Message board - thanks.
These events are not based on any true events, I hope that's clear. The
lingering emotion theory, however, is a real theory that I read about
somewhere, I suppose that's one of the things that inspired me to write this
story. Other inspirations are Stephen King's "Christine" - the tale a of a car
gone awry (the name of LeBay may seem familiar to fans!), and of course the
wonderful characters of Chris Carter, the creator of it all. Thanks for reading.
Chris Adams, August 1999
ICQ: 21807359
Y! Messenger: chris_adams031