He could see nothing but darkness, but he could hear them speaking clearly enough. He tried to raise his hand and reach to them through the blackness, but it was to no
avail. He succumbed to loss of consciousness again, but as he did a name rasped from between his parted lips,
"Rachel."
He was falling fast again, deeper and deeper he fell until he landed in a place that was oh so familiar to him. He had landed in his old house, where he and Lucille had first
lived with their children.
A thirteen year old Scott was sat at the enormous dining room table with nine year old Virgil. A lump caught in Jeff's throat as he thought of how young and innocent they
looked. Scott had his arms wrapped around his younger brother. Although Lucille had died six months ago, Virgil had taken the loss particularly hard. Jeff admired how his
oldest son had matured in a short space of time, Scott was now practically the man of the house and had been so much stronger than himself. The sobs coming from
Virgil tore at his soul with the same profoundity that they had fourteen years ago, when these events actually unfolded. Even now, in his dreams, he still did not know how
to cope and thus walked away from the scene. The living room had a much brighter atmosphere, Alan and Gordon, both seven and eight years old were playing pirates on
the couch which had become their make - shift pirate ship. Jeff's face broke a smile as he watched his youngest sons leap off the couch with the plastic swords he'd
bought them from the travelling fair the previous year, when their mother had been alive. Alan ran to him, his curly blonde hair hanging over his face,
"Daddy!"
Jeff wrapped his arms round his boy before silently leaving the room. He ventured up the wooden staircase of his mansion, past the crystal chandelier, a recent billionaire
he'd been exceptionally extravagant with his money. He had quickly realised the true value of money. His money hadn't been able to save his wife. Despite his fortune, his
children had lost their mother. Despite his money, he could do nothing to comfort them, he didn't know how. Lucille had always been the one to bandage their grazed
knees and wipe away their tears, frighten away the monsters from their closets... Jeff felt redundant without her. He peeked into John's room. His second eldest son,
just eleven years old was sat on his bed, desperately trying to get the toddler in his arms to calm down. The blonde little girl in his arms sobbed persistently, refusing
sweets, juice and cuddles from her older brother. Jeff felt a pang of guilt over this child. It wasn't his first pang of guilt and it certainly wouldn't be his last. The boys he
could handle without Lucille, but the toddler was different, she was a girl. Jeff felt out of his league.
"Dad," The blonde boy on the bed spoke, "Thank God you're here! I don't know what she wants, please help me."
A voice cried out in his head,
Just hold her, she's your daughter for Christ's sake, just hold her. You can correct years of unhappiness in one action. Hold your baby!"
Regardless of this, he turned and left the room, leaving his eleven year old son with a responsibility to great for him to handle. He missed his wife.
The darkness began to disintegrate around him and again the name emerged from his lips, a hoarse cough,
"Rachel."
He heard the voices of his adult sons around him again.
"Oh shit! Always that name!" Scott cried as he slapped the wall, "Rachel is gone, dead!" He left his hand on the wall and leaned his head against it, exasperated.
"Shhh!" Hissed Virgil, "He's waking up, do you want him to hear you?"
The boys crowded round their father's bedside.
"Alan, go and get Brains and tell him Dad's waking up."
Alan raced off and Jeff opened his eyes to see the concerned faces of four of his sons watching over him. He coughed.
"What happened?"
"You were dreaming again, Dad, another nightmare. You still have a pretty high fever too." Virgil spoke softly as he helped ease his father into a sitting position.
"Rachel," Jeff wheezed, "I was dreaming about Rachel."
"Dad, Rachel's dead,"
Jeff cut his son off,
"We don't know that, Virgil."
"We spent the best part of two years searching for her..."
A look from his father told him he was fighting a losing battle and he let the subject drop.
Brains entered the room, followed by Alan, who although 21 years old still retained his baby - boy good looks that Jeff remembered from his dream about their childhood, he
still had the same curly blonde hair and sky blue eyes that so many girls had swooned over whilst he was in high school.
"H h h h how are you f f f f f f f f feeling, M Mr. Tracy?"
They waited as another fit of coughing took its hold of Jeff, when he got his breath he answered, "Not too good, Brains, not too good."
"W wwell I took a look at your chest x -ray and b b blood samples and it seems you have quite a b b bad case of pneumonia. I I I I'm afraid it d d d d doesn't look too
gggggood."
"What can you do for him, Brains?" John said, his fair face lined with worry.
"W w w ell I ccccan ttttake him tttto the ssssick bbbay and ggive him some ininintravenous antibiotics and ffffluids, bbbut mmostly we'll jjust have to wwwwwwait this out."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
A young oriental man bowed to the tall, bald Malaysian man in front off him. The Hood smiled and said,
"The time is near, Ling, bring Sadie to me and we shall implement the plan."
The young man muttered, "As you wish, Sir." and scurried away. He rushed down the corridors of the Malaysian temple until he reached a little room in the east wing. He
knocked on the door before letting himself in, A young blonde girl of about fifteen or sixteen lay on top of her bed listening to music. The young man coughed to get her
attention.
"Oh, hi Ling. Whassup bro?"
"Mr. Hood requests an audience with you, Miss Sadie."
"Uncie Hood? Is it time?" She sprang to her feet excitedly and it was impossible not to notice how painfully thin the child was, almost emaciated. If it weren't for the dark
rings around her dull hazel eyes and her pasty complexion she would have been considered to be quite an attractive girl.
"I believe so, Miss."
"Yes!" She punched the air with a jump and tore off down the corridors until she reached The Hood's main chamber. She skidded to a halt in front of him and he smiled
down at her, she was tiny, barely over 5 foot. She stood panting in front of him, struggling to get her breath back but trying to make it seem effortless, she did not want her
Uncle Hood to perceive her as weak.
"Sadie, its the time you've been waiting for, soon enough you will be able to prove yourself to me. Part one of the plan I discussed with you is being implemented today.
When my men return I will let you know what I want you to do for me. Now you can repay me for the past few years of kindness I've shown you. I trust you remember your
time on the street before you came here and how I rescued you from a life of self degradation?"
Sadie nodded enthusiastically, although she shuddered a little as she remembered her year of living on the streets, the things she'd had to resort to in order to feed herself.
"Well once you've proved yourself you can have a permenant home here as a member of my team. Your patience for this opportunity has paid off and you will know soon
enough what you have to do to prove your loyalty to me."
"I AM loyal to you though, you're the only person who's ever given a damn about me!" She exclaimed.
"Well then, Sadie my dear, it shouldn't be too hard for you to do as I ask and prove your loyalty then, should it?"
"No. I'll do whatever you ask of me and revel in it!" She laughed. The Hood nodded at her and smiled and she knew that was her hint to leave. She skipped back to her
room feeling elated. She had a vague idea of what was coming and she was going to enjoy helping Uncle Hood execute his revenge.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
In Tracy Island's infirmary, Jeff drifted in and out of consciousness, and slipped to and from dreams and nightmares.
He was looking down at his small ten year old daughter who was crying and clinging to his waist.
"You can cry all you want Rachel, but you're going to boarding school and that's final. I just can't cope with six children on my own. Maybe if your mother was here things
would be different, but she's not. I've got Alan heading to Astronaut School, he's going to need a lot of help, Gordon swimming in the Olympics, all these things take time
and I still have a business to run too. Come on, you're a big girl now, I need you to understand..."
The girl took a step back and looked at him, he could see the hatred through her moist eyes and tear - stained face.
Did my baby girl start hating me this early on?' he thought.
"Fine! Abandon me! It's not like I'm not used to it! I just can't match up to your precious boys!" Rachel turned on her heel and ran to her room.
"Rachel..." Jeff called after her, "Its not like that and you know it! Don't make me ground you, young lady!"
"Ground me all you want, it's not like I have any friends I can go see anyways!"
Those final words struck a chord with Jeff, he'd been too busy to notice his baby girl was lonely. He awoke with a grown and the ever - so - familiar feeling of guilt washed
over him again. He'd felt the same way every day for the past four years, ever since she disappeared. He sighed. It was too late to feel guilty now. There was nothing he
could do to make things better. With tears pricking his eyes he rolled over and fell back to sleep.