Chapter 10. Welcome to my Nightmare
Karen sat in the chair, rocking slightly, and clutching the shreds of bedding. Her eyes were hollow and red from tears. She listened with half an ear as Robert gave the officer taking notes the description of Sarah and Toby. She watched him hand a currant photo of the children over. She heard the pair of officers up in the bedroom rummaging though Sarah's room and another pair in the nursery going over what was left of the room.
"Has you daughter ever exhibited malice toward the boy?" The officer with the notebook asked.
Robert shook his head, "No, never."
Karen looked up, but didn't voice the words that were screaming in her head. 'Of course she did! She's always saying she hates the baby.' Instead she rocked a little harder.
The officer looked at Robert and pointed to the woman, "You might want to call her doctor."
Robert nodded.
The officers taking evidence in the baby's room came down stairs, grim expressions on their faces. They didn't come in to the parlor, but went out the front door to their vehicle. They didn't come back in, but just sat in their evidence gathering vehicle. The officers up in Sarah's room came down and called the note taking officer into the hall. Words were exchanged and they then also went outside.
The officer taking notes came into the parlor; in his hand was a diary. He looked at the parents with grimness. "Mr. Williams, I think you'd better read this." He handed the book to Robert and stood back.
Robert looked at the book, "That's Sarah's diary." He said opening a page and frowning. "This is the ramblings of a little girl."
"Sir, it appears your daughter was not very happy about your marriage or her little brother.."
Karen rose to her feet. "I won't listen to this!" She snapped. "Sarah loves Toby!"
Robert sighed, "She's been under a lot of stress…but to say she'd do something to harm Toby, no I don't believe that."
"Sir we often find it's a family member who….." The officer began to explain.
"Stop!" Screamed Karen, "That blood upstairs! That could be Sarah's or Toby's…."
"Actually, we don't know what that stuff is, but it's not human blood…" The officer said without thinking.
Robert grabbed Karen back as she lunged for the man. "My children are missing! Some strange man was here with my daughter and all you can do is suggest that she did something?"
"We're putting out more cars to look for the girl and the boy." The officer was moving back toward the door. He exited quickly.
"They aren't going to do anything," Karen moaned hopelessly. "Where are they, Robert?"
He placed his arm about her and guided her toward the stairs. "I don't know, dear. You should lay down and try to rest."
"My little boy is gone…" she whimpered brokenly, her steps faltering as he led her along. "My little boy is lost in the night… and where is Sarah?"
Robert looked at the old antique clock that Karen was so proud of; it was now just after one. The police had been there since they had arrived at ten thirty. He was glad Karen didn't look at the time; he knew she was already on edge and close to a collapse. "I'll call Dr. Stevens…" He whispered to her. "He'll send something for you to help…."
Karen moaned again. "The only thing that will help is having Sarah and Toby home again."
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Liam stood in the shadows, watching with wicked glee. The destruction of the glass spider could wait, right now the mortal woman was close to collapse and he wondered how far it would actually be in pushing her over the edge to madness. He observed the man leading her up the stairs and past the nursery to the master bedroom. The woman was still clutching the shreds of bedding as if they would act as an amulet or talisman. Liam knew it would do her no good. He watched the tenderness with which the man had used with her. He would not be so tender, he intended to be brutal.
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Karen begged Robert to go back down stairs and wait for news. She promised faithfully to close her eyes and rest the moment he'd left. Karen could not really rest, but she could not keep her eyes open either….
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Lima waited in the shadows, watching for the woman to succumb to sleep. Once she was in the state between dreams and waking she was easy prey. He stepped into the mundane plane from the dream plane. She moved and he smiled cruelly. "You know I'm here, don't you my dear?" He taunted her softly. "Sleep," He cooed softly, "Sleep."
Karen tired to fight, tried to come back to being awake. Something kept her trapped in that twilight state, something she could not fight. Her breathing eased and her eyes began to make soft movements.
Liam sat down brusquely on the bed; he placed his hand over the brow of the woman with strawberry blond hair. "I'm so glad you've finally come to join me, dear lady. I see you got my calling card." He mocked her even as she began to dream. "Come, come to me, Karen… come into my web of dreams." His voice took on huskiness, as if he were lusting after her. "Come Karen, we've much to do…" He brought his face down to hers, "Come to me." He commanded.
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Robert had put a call into Dr. Stevens, and was told the physician was out on an emergency call and he'd get back to them as soon as he could. Robert put the phone back on the cradle, he looked about the room looking for clues. Something the officers had not seen, or had not mentioned as important. On the floor of the foyer, near the little table that held the phone was a little piece of metal… one of Sarah's earrings… there had been a struggle! But who?
He opened the front door and motioned the officer over. "I found this under the phone table. It belongs to my daughter."
The officer gave him a blank look, "So?"
Robert the father now took a back seat to Robert the lawyer. "See here, young man, I'm an officer of the court! If I'm telling you there is evidence of a struggle here, you'd had damn well better listen and follow up!"
The younger man in uniform came to attention. "Your Robert Williams, the lawyer?"
"That's right," Robert handed him the earring. "My ex wife gave those earrings to Sarah…She values them like they were gold… she would never be carless with it."
The uniformed officer grabbed his walkie talkie off his shoulder. "This is Rogers at the Williams house; we've found something… an earring… a gift from the girl's mother…"
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Karen was surrounded by dark mist, and there seemed no direction. Just a voice calling to her, a voice she had to follow. She looked ahead of her and saw a man, a very handsome man dressed in long flowing robes of black and gray waiting for her. He held out a welcoming hand to her. When she placed one of her own hands in it he raised it up to press his lips to it. She looked down and was embarrassed as she had no garment on.
"Be not ashamed," the man said darkly. "The naked soul is a thing of beauty, and a thing to be feared." He pulled her close, "Why be ashamed when it was this very naked state that won you a place with the man you married?"
Karen opened her mouth to protest but could not speak. Instead she tried to cover herself with her free hand.
Liam removed the black robe he wore and placed it over her. "Never let it be said I was not a gentleman." He teased. Once she was covered he addressed her. "You Karen Williams are going to help me with a little problem I have. You see, in order to achieve my goal, I must separate your beloved stepdaughter from the man who seeks her as his own… In your dreams and your memories are the keys I need."
"I won't hurt Sarah." Karen found her missing voice. "She's my daughter." She backed away fearfully from the man whose eyes were like fires in hell. "What ever it is you want you can't use me!"
Amused Liam laughed softly, "I assure you Mrs. Williams, if I wanted to I could have my wicked way with you and no one would be able to stop me. But then… it would be just one more reason for Sarah to hate you… she already thinks of you as a…whore." He closed his eyes and pulled the information from her mind. "More, she sees you as…competition."
Karen looked wounded, "That's not true."
He didn't bother trying to move closer, he merely stood still. "Ah but it is ture… Sarah blames you for the ills she's suffered. And why not, you took her Daddy away…." He moved his arm and a vision sprung up in the mist. "How happy they were, Father and Daughter…" It was images of Robert and Sarah, only they were wrong. They were behaving in a manner that was not at all as they would behave. Robert was cuddling the girl, but not the way he always did, it was more intimate. "How the girl loved him…" Liam purred. "She devoted herself to him when her mother left… taking her mother's place…." He waved his arm and the image drew closer. "His little…princess…."
Karen started to shudder. 'This is not right', she told herself. 'This is not the way it was or is… God help me.'
"See how the girl hates you." He showed her a vision of Sarah pouting and being a brat. "She how she hates and resents the boy," Sarah was standing over the crib crying out. "I hate you." Liam whispered at Karen's ear. "She wishes you were both dead…and she could have daddy all to herself again."
Karen felt the blood race to her head, 'This is not real' she told herself.
"She's so like her mother, is she not?" Liam tugged on the insecurity of being a second wife. "So beautiful, so very beautiful… and so willing…" He changed the images and began to weave the nightmare.
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Sarah came running in, drenched from the storm, her costume dress saturated clung to her. She merrily went up the stairs calling out. "I'm home."
Robert came walking slowly out of his bedroom, a pipe in his lips and a smile. "I see the storm caught you."
Sarah looked over her shoulder at him, "I'm drenched to the bone! I'll have to get out of this and hang it up." She turned her back to him and removed the wet gown.
Robert walked past her to her bathroom and brought out a towel, "Come here, I'll dry you off." Sarah walked toward him; her bra was so wet it didn't hide her breasts from his view. He began to dry her off, first her shoulders and arms. Slowly, gently and methodically, giving her a tender smile he moved closer, and began to apply the towel to her breasts. His hands moved with skill, skill Karen herself was well aware of. He leaned closer and kissed his daughter, but it was not a fatherly kiss. It was a hungry kiss.
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"Stop!" Karen begged, "This is not real! Robert would never touch his daughter that way."
Liam whispered in her ear. "Are you so sure? Look at how she touches him… "
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The girl in the dream was standing before the man with the towel, naked and pleading. She began to unbutton his shirt and kiss his chest and beg him to touch her, to love her.
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"No!" Karen screamed. "It's not real!"
Liam caressed her ear, "But it could be, and that's what you fear. You fear the girl taking your husband… "
"No!" moaned Karen.
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The man in the dream was kissing the girl, pushing her beautiful ripe young body down to the bed. "Daddy loves you." He murmured.
"I love you Daddy." The girl in the dream crooned back.
"My special girl," He began to touch the girl in ways he only touched Karen.
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The nightmare darkened, and Karen in her horror watched as the man took the girl by force and became her lover.
Karen crumpled to the floor of the place Liam was holding her captive, with every fiber of being she screamed. "Sarah!!!!"
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Robert and the officer heard the scream, rushed up the stairs and found Karen in a near catatonic state.
They didn't see the figure in the shadows. Nor did they see the anger on his face. How could a mere mortal thwart him?
Robert called for an ambulance and then sat with his wife. "We'll find them, I promise."
'Not if I can help it.' Liam sought passage back into the dream plane.