Chapter Twenty Five
The morning flew by quickly, and Carolyn stopped at a small diner in Bangor. She had made the trip here knowing that it was a place that had a larger social services network and that at the very least she would be able to get information and possibly some leads as to how to work the system to get William into Maine where it would be easier to help him.
The local social worker had agreed to meet her at the diner to discuss the general workings of children in social services in the state of Maine. She had told the woman that she was working on an article and was interested in finding out how a child is processed through the system. More specifically she was going to investigate if children were ever moved between states, and what it would take to get that done. Then when she met with Daniel they could plan a course of action to bring William home to his parents.
Carolyn looked up when the door opened and saw the social worker Ms. Dawson enter. She waved and smiled as she made her way over to the table where Carolyn sat. The waiter took their orders, and Carolyn took out her notepad and pencil and began the interview.
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The boy tossed restlessly in bed, his subconscious troubled by the images he saw in his head. He groaned, losing himself in his dreams.
He was lost, alone in a grey mist that surrounded him.
"Hello," he called out but no one answered.
He walked slowly, wanting to run but afraid to because of what he might run into, because of what he couldn't see. He was afraid. He wished he had someone with him, someone he could trust, and someone that would take care of him. He knew he was a big boy but at times like this it didn't help. Times like this he felt like the scared child he truly was.
"Mom? Dad?" Since it was a dream he called out to those he wanted most to be in his life, his parents. "Are you here?"
There was a stirring in the mist and for just a moment he thought he glimpsed red hair and blue eyes and felt comforted knowing that it must be his mother. A shadowy figure loomed in the background, a tall lanky man with dark hair, but he couldn't make out his features. The man emitted an aura of intensity, passion in all things that he loved, and he knew it was his father. He moved toward them, but they drifted around him, as elusive in this dream as they were in his life.
Out of sheer frustration, he stopped, and stomped his feet. And that's when he saw it, or rather him. A man who looked harmless, dark hair and eyes, average looks, a deceptively muscular build hidden underneath average clothes. He offered the boy a pleasant smile and William shuddered, feeling the evil beneath this man's apparent charm.
"Who are you?" he whispered to the man.
"Don't you know? I'm here to help you. I want to help you find your mom." He said in a pleasant voice and he offered the boy a cold smile.
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When the Captain appeared in the room he found the boy in a restless sleep, tossing and turning. William whispered words, and Daniel could feel that even in his dreams he was looking for his parents. Suddenly he stilled and drew in a breath, and whimpered.
It was all that Daniel could stand. Melissa and Jared hadn't been able to find out what or whom was troubling the boy while he was awake, but maybe he could find out in by entering William's dreams. He concentrated and willed himself into the boy's dreams, remaining invisible until he saw what was going on.
William froze in his tracks. He knew this wasn't really a man, and he took a deep breath, trying very hard not to be afraid. The man came over and knelt in front of him, and William could almost feel the evil pouring off of him.
"Don't you want to find your mother?" the man said softly.
William bit his lip. He did remember the lesson of not talking to strangers.
"You must want to find your mother. She's beautiful, you know."
"You know her?" William couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, and I'm sure she would remember me too. I want nothing more than to be with her, to show her how much I…love her," he said, and put his fingers under the boy's chin so that William looked into his eyes.
Captain Gregg appeared in the background of William's dream, as some of the grey mist that swirled around the two figures in the middle. He listened intently to the conversation that was going on, sensing the evil presence speaking to the child, and hid himself from that one so that he could listen.
"How can you love her?" William all but spat at him.
"I do, and I covet her. I have never met anyone like her, she was the one that got away." He reached up and touched William's hair, feeling the strands of dark auburn as he measured their color. "Your hair is not a bright as hers, nor quite as nice, probably because you are male."
"You're evil!" The boy shuddered and stepped away from him, his skin was crawling where the man touched him.
"But I mean you no harm, William. I don't harm little boys." The soft voice said with great sincerity, and somehow William believed him, but knew there were things he wasn't saying. He was sure the man did bad things to others.
Daniel concentrated, feeling this creature out, and realized that it was a demon talking to the child, a strong one that continued to grow in power every day. One that seemed fixated on William, but as a means to get to his mother, Dana Scully. Why would that be?
"Leave me alone! I don't want to talk to you!'' William screamed.
"But I want to talk to you, and I will talk to you whenever I want," the man said and stood up. He paused for a moment and spun around, looking into the mist as if he expected to see something, but nothing was there. He stared harder for a moment and then looked back at the boy.
"Leave me alone!" William screamed again and turned and wheeled off into the darkness, running as fast as his little legs would carry him.
"Until next time, little one," the evil one said as he watched the boy disappear into the mist. "I will reclaim what is mine, and what should have always been mine, and you will help me do it." He smiled a nasty, brittle smile and then disappeared.
Daniel waited just a few moments until he knew the other being had left the dream, and then he quietly called out to William.
"William, please stop running. It's me, Captain Gregg."
"Captain?" William stopped abruptly and spun around. "Captain? Where are you?" the child wailed.
"Here, lad, I'm right here." He appeared in front of the boy who hurled himself into his arms, tears streaming down his face.
"I'm scared, Captain. He wants to hurt me. He wants to hurt my Mom, but I don't even know who she is," he wailed.
Daniel held him tight in the security of his arms until the boy stopped crying.
"I'm sorry, "William sniffed, drawing away from the Captain.
"Don't be sorry, lad, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You stood up to a scary man, you were very brave." He rubbed the boy's back.
"I was?"
"You most certainly did. I am proud of you."
"Oh. Thanks." William put his small hand on the Captain's arm and squeezed. "You're really here?"
"Aye, I am."
"But it's a dream, isn't it?"
"Yes, but I can appear in dreams if I so wish."
"You can?" The boy's expression changed from fear to curiosity.
"Most certainly. How about if we leave this dream?"
"Yeah, this one kind of sucks," William agreed.
The Captain laughed. "All right then, time to wake up, lad." The Captain said. Then he did something he normally wouldn't do and not only left the dream he had entered, but shut it down as well.
William woke with a start and sat up, remembering the fear he felt from his dream, and looked frantically around the room.
"It's all right, lad, I'm right here," the Captain said, sitting next to William on his bed. He barely had enough time to assume corporeal status before the boy threw himself into his arms, seeking the comfort and security that the Captain could provide.
"Don't go," William murmured against his chest. "Don't leave me."
"I will be right here until you go to sleep again."
"I don't want to go to sleep."
"Not even if I promise you won't have any bad dreams."
"You can do that? Make sure I sleep without dreams?"
"I can do that."
"You're a powerful ghost aren't you?" William gave him that curious look again.
"Perhaps," the Captain agreed and gave the boy a fond smile.
"Why do you like me?" the boy asked.
"Why wouldn't I like you? You're a wonderful boy."
"Do you mean that?" William's face lit up at the complement.
"I most certainly do." He paused. "William, can I tell you a secret? Do you promise to keep it between us?"
"Sure, I can do that." William surprised the Captain and scrambled up onto his lap. "What is it?"
The Captain paused a moment as he looked into the blue eyes of Dana Scully that contained the curious expression of Fox Mulder. How could anyone ever believe that this child belonged to anyone else?
"I think you have to be in social services for a little while because the Van de Kamps gave you up to them, but I am working to get you transferred to Maine."
"Maine? That's a different state. Why there?" He furrowed his brow.
"Because that's where I live."
"You live there?" The boy laughed. "You can't live there, you can't live anywhere, you're a ghost."
The Captain chuckled, pleased with the child's quick wit. "I exist there, is that better?"
"Yes," William said with a happy smile.
"So, I exist there in a house that I built while I was alive. I would like to bring you closer to where I live."
"So that I can live with you?" William bounced up and down on his lap in excitement.
"William, shh! You don't want to wake anyone," but he chuckled softly. "Don't get too excited yet. I don't know if we can arrange that, but I believe anything is possible. First we have to get you closer to where I exist and that would be Maine. So do not be upset if they tell you they are sending you to another state, to Maine, all right? It means that I am trying to bring you closer to me."
"You would do that?"
"Of course. I want to make things better for you. I want to reunite you with your real parents."
The boy turned away, but Daniel caught his troubled expression.
"William, don't you want to be with your parents?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid," he said in a small voice.
"Afraid? Of your parents? Don't be."
"No, I'm afraid for them, especially Mom."
"Why?"
"I don't really know her or anything, but that thing wants to hurt her. I don't want to bring him to her."
"Child, do you trust me?"
William's worried blue eyes looked into the Captain's confident blue eyes, and he nodded.
"Then have faith. I will get you to Maine, and I will get you to your parents. And I will not let this evil thing hurt you or them. I promise." He paused and pushed a stray lock of auburn hair out of the child's face. "Do you believe me?"
William nodded.
"That's my lad," the Captain sighed as William gripped him in a bear hug. When he was finished he stood up and pulled back the blankets, indicating the boy should climb back into bed.
William scrambled back into bed and looked up at the Captain.
"One more thing, lad. I can alter my appearance. I realize you will know it is me if you see me in the physical world, but don't tell anyone else that I am a ghost, all right?"
"All right."
"I will look older and I will be with my wife, Carolyn."
"Your wife?" William's eyes grew wide. "But you're a ghost! Ghosts can't be married!"
"That is usually the case, but I am an exceptional spirit. Surely you are aware of that by now?" His blue eyes twinkled in mirth.
"Yeah, but…"
"We will discuss it later. Now it is time for you to go to sleep, is it not?" He gave him a stern look, a father's look from many years of practice with both Candy and Jonathan.
"I guess," William grumbled. "You promise I won't have any more bad dreams?"
"Not tonight, lad. I will stay here all night and watch over you. All right?"
"All right," William agreed and giving in to his fluttering eyelids, closed them at last.
The Captain gently touched the boy's forehead with two fingers and William drifted off into a restful, dreamless sleep. And as he promised, Daniel made sure his sleep wasn't interrupted the entire night.