Chapter 10
"Oracle? Are you there?" Helena asked over her comms, as she stood on the rooftop. "Oracle?"
Barbara paused for a moment, not wanting to respond to the call, but a sense of duty over-road her emotions. "I copy, Huntress, go ahead."
Helena paced the ledge dangerously, still reeling from the adrenaline coursing through her system. "I need you to do a background check," she explained as she balanced, almost daring herself to step over, to the 10 story drop.
Barbara typed on her keyboard and after a moment said, "Okay. Delphi's up."
Helena continued, "I need you to do a complete background check on…" she stopped in mid-sentence and jumped down from the ledge, surprised to see that she wasn't alone. She switched off her transceiver.
"A background check on who?" Barbara repeated. "Huntress?" No response. "Huntress, do you copy?" Barbara ripped the headset from her head and slammed it on the desk. Dammit, Helena!
"What are you doing here?" Helena snarled as she approached the woman before her.
"I come up here every day," Dr. Saramen responded, smiling at Helena. "It's the one place I can look over the entire city and no one disturbs me." Helena opened her mouth to speak but realized she didn't have anything to say. Dr. Saramen smiled warmly. "You don't have to say anything, Helena," she spoke softly, calmly. Helena felt it to be strangely soothing. She reached out for Helena's hand and carefully examined her knuckles, then looked her dead in the eyes. "So, just as one hand begins to heal, you insist on damaging the other?" her voice was hypnotic. "Helena," she sighed, "The anger management sessions are going to go on well into your 80's if you keep this up."
Helena pulled her hand way, but slowly. She wanted to yank it away, she felt the urge the moment Dr. Saramen touched her, yet she was unable to her. There was something in her voice… in her eyes… "Why were you there?" Helena broke her silence.
"Why was I where, Helena?"
I wish she would stop saying my name like that, Helena thought, almost forgetting what she wanted to say. She shook the fuzziness from her head. "I saw you. When my mom died, you were standing by the knife," she said, a dead stare into Dr. Saramen's eyes. "Why were you there?" she asked with mild threat.
The doctor smiled again, and started to walk away. "It was just a dream, Helena," she said as she turned her back. Helena spun her back around.
"NO!" she demanded, "I SAW you there, I could feel it." She wasn't feeling as confident any longer. She'd beaten Dr. Saramen up and trashed her office less than 20 minutes earlier yet she could barely remember why she had felt such anger. "You were there," she continued, feeling even more unsure of herself. It's the eyes…
"Helena," she began, "I'm here to help you. It was just a dream." She reached for Helena's hand and escorted her over to the ledge and they both sat down. "Tell me about this dream," she said calmly, curious.
Helena looked over at the doctor, still holding her hand and gently tracing the wounds from her incident earlier that morning. Helena watched her actions yet it didn't register just what was happening. She felt hypnotized, almost… mesmerized. What is happening to me? She wanted to know. "I was there when my mom died," she said sadly. "When she was killed."
Helena paused and took a deep, cleansing breath. "We were just out for a walk one evening and a man ran up to her and stabbed her. I didn't even know what was happening until she collapsed on the ground and I saw the knife, covered in blood." Helena tried to shake the memory from her mind for years but couldn't. It was a part of her and she knew it would plague her for a lifetime.
"Helena?" Dr. Saramen spoke, "Is this what you dreamed or what actually happened?"
She paused for a moment. "This happened," she explained, a touch confused at the question. She pulled the keychain out of her pocket and held it tightly in her hand for comfort.
"I want you to tell me about the dream, Helena. Not what happened when you were sixteen." She stressed her point. "Tell me about the dream you had today."
Helena thought for a moment. "It was like the others, I saw my mom die," she said.
"Are you sure?" the doctor prodded, "You said I was there."
"Yes," Helena mentioned.
"Is there anything else that's different?" she continued. Helena thought for a few moments and started to flashback on her nightmare before she woke up screaming and reaching for…
"Barbara!" Helena snapped to attention. Her eyes were saucers as she turned to face Dr. Saramen. "Barbara was there!" she said with a sense of panic. Helena jumped up and stood in front of the woman. "Why was Barbara there?" she wondered, her urgency obvious. She looked at the doctor desperately, hoping she would have an answer.
Dr. Saramen didn't respond to the question. Instead, she instructed Helena to follow her gut instincts. Suddenly she had a feeling Barbara was in trouble. She turned on her comms and out of listening distance from the doctor, said, "Oracle? Do you copy?" she paused. "Oracle, it's Huntress, can you hear me?" There was no response. She tried for several minutes but to no avail. Helena took off running and jumped to the next roof over, and made her way across the city, leaving Dr. Saramen stare in awe as the Huntress sailed from roof to roof, in search of her friend.