2012
The car turned off the bumpy dirt road and traveled for another half an hour or so, causing Harry to switch into four wheel drive before finally coming to a stop.
There it was.
Dorothea sat beside him, looking out the window at the building where it had all started. Over time, the weather and elements had gotten to the clay structure. The remaining windows were now all completely broken and part of the roof had caved in. The metal figures and statues had fallen over and were now covered in dust.
Seventeen years…
Dorothea almost in a dream reached and pulled the door handle and yanked it open. Somewhere off in the distance a crow cried and then the air went still.
Harry took his sunglasses off, getting a horrible sense of unease before taking the keys and shoving them in his front pocket. The last time he had been here Dorothea and him had run out hearing horrible noises. Both had escaped and walked into the lone desert just as the sun began coming up.
Now here they were again.
Both slowly got out, slamming the car doors behind them. Harry honestly didn't see Dorothea's point in returning, but thinking back on his dream he knew Dorothea's mind wouldn't be put to rest until they came back. Taking a deep breath he joined her at her side.
She rubbed her arms.
"I never told you…shortly after the miscarriage a year before everything happened, something happened, I haven't thought about it in years, but on the way over and I remembered…"
She said not taking her eyes off the building. Harry looked at her.
"What was it?"
"Swann…raped me."
"What?"
Harry looked at her in disbelief. Dorothea glanced at him before nodding, pushing some of her hair back.
"I told you after I lost the baby we started to grow apart, but that wasn't the entire story. He came back after being gone for a few months, we were both still grieving and needed each other more than anything at that time but I don't think it had fully hit him that something so horrible had happened to us and he couldn't stop it. Looking back, I knew it was just his mind snapping…reality really setting it. It's funny, while it was happening I started thinking maybe he was trying in his own way for another baby…maybe it was his way to control things, to hold me close and protect me…his way of trying to make things right."
"Jesus Dorothea…"
"I forgave him, which I know to anyone else sounds crazy but I understood he had lost the baby just as much as I had. He wasn't the same after that happened. I think that's when he started getting scared, started thinking we were really cursed, started feeling terrified that something would happen to me as it did with the baby. You should have seen how he changed overnight. He aged ten years, he became on edge, so scared. I needed him so badly, but he thought of himself as a monster after what he did. I tried to tell him it was a mistake, that things like this happened and we just needed to love each other and move on but he wouldn't forgive himself. That's when we grew apart, he wouldn't touch me like he used to. He would keep me locked away in our house for months on end while he worked. He buried himself in it and could no longer show his affection or love like he used to. I think he saw him as this beautiful piece of glass that he didn't want to see broken. I knew he loved me, but he couldn't show it. I guess all that time alone I grew to resent him, I kept trying to convince myself I didn't marry him for love…that I did it because I was grateful to him for saving my life and giving me everything. I thought if I said it enough I would start believing him. I think that's the real reason I said that to you the first day we met…even though the real truth was I hired you was because I was scared for him and loved him so much…"
Harry sighed.
"Dorothea…"
Dorothea looked at the house.
"I remember after it happened how he told me if I had gotten pregnant from the rape to get an abortion. He was so ashamed over what he did and said he didn't want a child that was conceived during something so ugly. Funny thing was, while he was gone I was hoping I was pregnant, I kept telling myself maybe another baby help things. That I needed that…we both did. But it never happened…we made love rarely after that and of course Sapphire came later…"
Harry rubbed Dorothea's shoulders.
"You two went through hell, he loved you Dorothea…but I honestly don't think he would of wanted you to go through this all over again."
Dorothea glanced at him before looking at the building. Walking ahead, she entered through the doorway. Watching her, Harry shook his head.
"Wonderful…"
In Los Angeles…
Sapphire laid out by Amy's pool in her bikini and sunglasses. It was a beautiful warm afternoon and she had just began dozing off.
"Gerrrr! I hate him sometimes!"
Sapphire cracked open one eye and saw Amy on her cell phone beside her, laying out on her towel.
"What is it?"
"My dad, he said I can't go to Larry's beach house this weekend. God he's such a dick sometimes! Dads suck!"
Amy's then eyes dropped when she looked at Sapphire.
"Oh…sorry."
Sapphire shrugged.
"It's okay…"
"No, that was stupid of me. I guess my dad is right, I act like a brat sometimes who doesn't think…"
Sapphire smiled.
"Amy really it's okay. You know I don't care."
"Does your mom talk about him?"
"Who?"
"You're dad."
Sapphire sat up slightly, taking her sunglasses and folding them in her hands.
"Sometimes…"
"My parents said he was pretty famous, I saw photos on the internet. Pretty cool huh?"
"Yeah, I looked into some of it before. At one point he was called the most famous illusionist of all time. I guess nobody could figure out how he did his tricks he was that good. I've seen some clips online, and there's a ton of photos of him in the house. I guess my mom had a hard time after he died…that's why Harry was a big part of my life."
"Why doesn't your mom marry him? He's so cool."
Sapphire shrugged.
"I asked her, but she said their better being friends."
Amy looked down at her hands before glancing at Sapphire.
"Does your mom ever talk about how…your dad died?"
Sapphire looked at her.
"Not really…I started watching a clip on YouTube, there was footage…"
"Yeah, I saw it…"
"Yeah, but my mom came in and freaked out. This was a few years back. I never saw her get so upset. She slammed by laptop down and said it was disgusting somebody had filmed what happened and started yelling at me…and you know my mom, she never gets mad at me."
Amy nodded.
"It was an accident, at least that's all I know. I guess the illusion failed and those swords fell on him in front of everyone. My mother and Harry were in the audience…"
"Shit…"
"I kinda wish I knew him…but this happened when my mom was pregnant with me."
"I'm sure he was real cool."
Sapphire smiled.
Just then Amy's mother came out on the back porch wearing her lime green high heels.
"Girls! I ordered pizza let's go!"
Amy rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Come on, we'll watch a DVD…oh! I need to show you Larry on my facebook…this sucks I can't go to his place!"
Sapphire smiled as Amy got her towel and ran ahead of her. Sapphire stood up, stretching her legs before grabbing her stuff. Glancing at the water, Sapphire began to focus…something she had been working on lately.
Just then she bounced her sunglasses in her hands before throwing them towards the pool. Her eyes narrowing, the sunglasses stopped midair just an inch away from the water and floated.
Sapphire stared it and smiled before making them pull back in her mind. The sunglasses floated back to her and landed perfectly in her hand. Smiling she shrugged and walked back to the house.
It was something that was happening to her, something strange that she couldn't explain. It slowly began to happen a few years ago, just when she began hitting puberty. It was something at first she was scared up. It began with headaches, and slight chest pain.
At first she thought it was nothing, she was a perfectly healthy young girl who had everything to be happy about. Time slowly past and she began to notice whenever she focused long enough things could happen.
Once or twice laying in bed when she thought hard enough she could slowly raise her body up from the bed. The first time she did this she was terrified and dropped down onto the mattress scared.
It was the summer Harry was visiting and the next day he had taken her out to the movies and then for ice cream. While the two were sitting, eating their dripping cones she was tempted to tell him about what happened. She knew he was into weird stuff and might be able to help her. She didn't dare tell her mother since she knew how protective she was and how she would worry.
Instead she didn't say anything, she decided to just wait and see what would happen.
She decided to try it again the next night. She laid on the bed, shutting her eyes and putting all her thoughts to rest.
She focused and thought she heard whispers, that's when her body began to rise.
It was amazing.
She wanted to tell her friends but decided this was her secret. She had done research and looked up different types of names and people who could do certain things she could do. Some were just stories, others were fakes. She read up on everything she could, wondering if she was alone.
That's when she thought of her father…
She began to notice lately if she focused she could make things happen. Lift things slightly, move in the air for a few seconds, and control different things. She had tried so much for the last year to look up and find anyone who was for real doing the things she could do.
Instead, all she found were stories. There were real cases of people who could read people's thoughts, move things, and have mind control. But the more and more she thought about it she began to have flashes of Stephen King's Carrie and become worried.
She started getting a better grip on this focus.
If she thought hard enough she could make things happen. For the last couple of months it was small things. She practiced late at night, moving objects and making herself lift. But if she tried too hard her chest and head would start happening. Twice she pushed herself too hard she got bad nosebleeds.
She knew she had to be careful.
If it got out of control she could hurt herself or somebody else.
The dreams began to come, as did the nightmares. Strange dreams of the desert, of this crumbling house with strange paintings on the walls. Dreams of pouring blood, of screams and cries.
She would often wake up, her heart pounding in her chest.
She wondered about her father, and wondered if he was the reason she was like this.
Sapphire so badly wanted to ask her mother so many questions. Instead she kept it to herself, still wondering as the power grew…
In the desert…
Dorothea walked through the musty dim lit hallways where dust seemed to float everywhere. Many of walls were sunken in and worn over time. The ground had at least two inches of dirt and grit on it, and barb wire, trash, and bird's nests were scattered everywhere.
The thick smell of earth and musk filled the cloudy dusty air. Sunlight poured through the open cracks and holes in the walls and ceilings.
Dorothea slowly walked down the hallways with Harry behind her.
Seventeen years ago a monster had chased them through these very same hallways. Seventeen years ago they had both looked into the face of the devil.
Thirty years ago Dorothea had been a scared little girl huddled to the ground. Thirty years ago she had met a nineteen year old boy with beautiful blue eyes and shoulder length hair.
Thirty years ago…it all began.
Dorothea ran her hands against the gritty walls before seeing the opening. She stopped and looked.
The room…
The room where she first met Swann.
"You're going to be okay…"
She remembered him saying, his face just an inch away from hers. His hands holding her scared little face.
She walked over looking through the crumbling opening in the wall. Nix's hanger was no longer there. Instead it was just a turned over table and some broken clay pots. Half of the wall was caved in showing the desert. The wind gently blew, letting sand howl in.
She felt goose bumps travel down her arms.
She looked at where she had been huddled before as a child, crying in her dirty sundress.
"This was where we killed him."
She said out loud. Harry walked behind her and sighed looking in.
"I know…Swann told me."
Harry looked at the broken window that Swann and himself had crawled through seventeen years before. He remembered Swann saying these same exact words to him.
Dorothea didn't bother stepping down into the room, instead she just looked in rubbing her arms.
"I was twelve when they kidnapped me. I was right over there when Swann came in. I'll never forget when I saw him coming through this opening with his gun…he looked so scared. He was just nineteen, but him and the others came to save me."
"You shot him didn't you?"
Dorothea slowly nodded.
"Nix was hanging on this thing on the wall, he snuck up on Swann and got inside his head like he did with you. Quaid and Jennifer came in and that's when the shooting started. I took Swann's gun he had dropped and shot him straight through the back. Quaid and Jennifer got him and that's when Swann binded him."
"Binded him?"
"It was something he had read up on. To keep Nix dead. I'll never forget how it was all over within a couple of minutes. We all stood around his body and I couldn't help it…I just started crying and Swann put his arm around me and told everyone we were going to bury him so deep…nobody could find him."
Harry sighed shaking his head.
"He took you then?"
Dorothea slowly nodded looking at the room.
"Yeah…"
"Come on…"
Dorothea slowly nodded looking at the room one last time before traveling down the hallway.
"It seems so strange to be back…I can't explain it."
Harry followed her to the last room. The room where it had ended.
Dorothea stood in the doorway before turning and looking at Harry.
"Do…you mind if I'm alone for a few minutes. Could you wait outside?"
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Is he in there?"
Dorothea blocked his view, her eyes pleading.
"Please, just a few minutes."
Harry looked at her eyes unsure before slowly nodding.
"Fine, but just a few minutes. Then we're going okay?"
Dorothea nodded watching Harry turn and walk down the halls. Once he was out of sight she took a deep breath and slowly went down the three wooden steps.
Nix's followers caked bodies were no longer there. Just an empty room with sunlight pouring through the ceiling.
"Wait…you don't still feel something for this bitch do you?"
She heard Nix's voice say. She remembered Swann's hurt pain filled eyes as he looked at her.
"Yes…"
"WILL! YOU! EVER! LEARN!"
Dorothea snapped her eyes shut. This memory was too painful.
She understood why Philip looked at her with such pain and loss in his eyes. The morning before the sword accident she had told him she was pregnant. Thinking back on this, she knew the sense of loss and hurt in his eyes knowing his second chance at life with her was now gone.
She walked into the room.
She expected to see his skeleton, laying with dust nearly covering all of it.
Instead there was nothing.
She could feel him everywhere.
"Swann?"
She said out loud, feeling the wind pick up. Closing her eyes she smelled the faint scent of cologne. A smell she used to find so comforting. A smell that had slowly began to drift away from her pillows and his clothes.
The wind picked up more when she felt a smooth hand touch her shoulder.
Dorothea stiffened.
"Swann?"
Opening her eyes, she felt her heart begin to pound when gentle hands turned her. Drawing in a quick breath, Dorothea felt everything go completely still. A gentle breeze blew against her as goose bumps shot up and down her arms like pinpricks.
Slowly turning Dorothea froze completely as her eyes widened.
"You…came back."
A voice softly whispered as the wind continued to scream outside.