The Heart of Darkness

by Akane-Rei

PART SIX

Dawn's Early Light

"There was a touch of insanity in the proceeding."

Marlow in "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

Bright light, blinding him . . .

Voices . . .

"Multiple lacerations . . .head trauma . . . fractures in the . . ."

"Jesus! Must have been a doozy . . ."

Pain . . . God, the pain . . .

Finally, blessed darkness . . .

********************************

"Hello?" said a man as he answered the ringing phone.

"Mr. O'Connor?" said an authoritative voice in the other line.

"Yeah, that's me," he replied..

"I'm sorry to have to inform you that your son has been involved in an accident . . ."

He ceased to hear.

Oh, God, Michael, he thought.

He looked up and saw his wife staring at him with concern.

"Is there something wrong, Paddy?" she asked worriedly.

He tried to compose his face and failed.

"He's currently at Rockport Memorial Hospital right . . ."

His son . . .

"Paddy? Paddy, what's wrong? You're worrying me, Paddy . . ."

He took a deep steadying breath, hoping it would still the pounding he felt as blood rushed to his brain.

"Paddy?" the voice had an edge of panic this time.

He looked at his wife and took her in his arms while what the man on the phone was saying finally registered.

"The doctors are working on him right now . . ."

"Is he . . .is he . . ."

"They're not sure at this point, however . . ."

"We're going there right now," he finally said. He placed the phone back in its cradle and held his wife tighter.

"We're going to the hospital," he said as calmly as he could. "Michael needs us."

She looked at him, fear in her eyes.

"Oh God, oh God, no," she said repeatedly. "Not Michael. Not my baby." She started wheezing.

"We have to be strong," he said, his voice taking on a choking quality. "For Michael."

She looked at him, tears falling down on her face. She tried to stop them, but couldn't. Her breathing became ragged.

"Michael is alive," he said determinedly. "He has to be."

She stared at him, wanting to believe, to rely, to lean.

"He's alive," he said again. "And we will be strong."

Slowly she nodded.

He wiped her tears from her face. "We must go to the hospital," he said. "Michael will need us with him."

She took a deep breath. "We must tell Moira," she said, her voice shaking.

"We will tell her together," he said.

They held hands and headed towards their daughter's room.

*********************************

"It's way past midnight," said Jeanette.

"It is wiser to wait till the dawn," he said reasonably.

"I want to do it now," she said mutinously.

"Now will present complications," he said impatiently. "You know that."

"I hate waiting," she said, frustrated.

"You mustn't waste your energy on useless endeavors," he replied. "Patience, my host. Remember, it is easier to subdue six people than sixty people."

"By dawn all the guests will be gone," she said anticipatorily.

"And you have free rein to do as you please with those who are left," he said, "as long as you remember what I want out of this."

Her eyes gleamed.

************************************

Hadji opened his eyes slowly. He didn't know what it is that prompted him to wake up so early, but whatever it was, he could not help but feel a slight resentment at his disturbed slumber. The past week had been a series of interrupted sleep for one reason or the other. And last night . . . last night, he had found it harder to sleep than usual. First of all, nobody at the Quest household was granted an early night. Estella's surprise party had lasted for quite some time. Secondly, once he did escape to his bedroom and got ready for bed, his thoughts made it impossible for him to relax and reach that state of sleep. He had tossed and turned all through the night. His bed looked as if a war had been fought there.

Thinking of his restless night, he shrugged ruefully.

Perhaps a war had been fought here, he thought.

He couldn't remember having a more miserable time sleeping. Images of Jessie and Jonny and the possibilities of what they might have been doing in the garden had drove him to distraction. His dreams provided him with endless scenarios, all of which left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He thought of the look in Michael's face as he came back from the garden. He couldn't decide whether it was better to know or not know what happened. On one hand, to know what happened means he would not be tormented by uncertainty. It would, however, also mean having to have to accept it -- whatever it is. On the other hand, to not know what happened, however, left his imagination with a free rein. The only positive thing about not knowing is the possibility that perhaps nothing really ontoward happened

A glance at his window told him that dawn's rosy hues have just begun to color the dark sky.

Sunrise, he thought. He had always loved watching the sun rise.

Then he felt it: the reason he woke up so early despite his late night.

That nagging feeling of impending . . . doom?

He stretched his senses to search for the source.

He gasped.

It is here, he thought.

He jumped out of be and looked around him.

Sweat broke in his forehead as waited apprehensively for something . . . something he did not know what.

This is not good, he thought.

He took the few steps which headed for the doorway out when he stopped. Something was holding him back. An invisible force is preventing him from making a move.

I must warn the others, he thought.

It was his last one before he was blinded by a bright ball of light that seem to have appeared out of nowhere. It surrounded him, enveloped him.

He knew nothing else.

*******************************

Deep within the earth, two creatures waited for a . . . delivery.

"We've got him," said Jeanette.

"Indeed we do," he said. He watched as the sphere appeared before their eyes. It glowed brightly as it remained suspended on the air, holding its captive.

Jeanette looked at the unconscious form of Hadji as he lay inside the sphere. She didn't know what he wanted from this boy, but it doesn't matter. What she cared about was the others.

"Now can I--" she said.

He turned off her consciousness.

He had been doing that a lot lately. Her insistence on continually using her primitive form of communication has slowly been irritating him. It's not that he didn't appreciate her contribution to his endeavor. He did. He really did. But now is the time for him to get a little of what he wanted. And this strong Wielder will fit perfectly to his newly formed plans.

Because he never expected to encounter one such as him in this vastly primitive planet, his billions of years of planning did not take into account this new factor. His detection of the Wielder's aura served to alter his . . . designs of revenge a little bit. To be more precise, the discovery of a strong Wielder can only serve to hasten his schemes. Revenge will be his sooner than he had first thought.

He looked at his captive speculatively. Perhaps there was a way to get what both he and Jeanette wanted at the same time.

A new idea began forming in his mind.

*******************************

Jessie was falling.

She didn't know where she was, but wherever she was, it was dark. So dark, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. At least she assumed it was in front of her face. Ever since being in the dark, she had felt separated from her body. Perhaps it was because she couldn't see it. She wasn't even sure if her feet touched the ground. But that didn't matter. What mattered was Hadji's voice calling desperately at her to help him. And she couldn't do anything.

She had been walking in the dark for quite some time when she heard Hadji's voice call to her. She tried to follow the sound of his voice, but for some reason, no matter how much she ran, she stayed at the same spot. It's as if she wasn't moving at all.

So she ran faster and Hadji's voice became fainter and fainter. She felt helpless and frustrated at her inability to do anything, at the futileness of her actions.

A heavy weight settled in her heart. Hadji's voice has disappeared.

And again she was left alone in the darkness. Alone. She stayed that way for a long time. Despair was welling up inside her. She didn't understand what was going on. She couldn't do anything. The darkness was penetrating her being, invading her soul. The darkness stayed with her wherever she looked. She curled up in a ball of misery.

She was like that for a while when she felt a touch brush her shoulder. She looked around, half-expecting to confront something or someone, but the darkness remained. Again she felt the touch.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

"Jessie," a familiar voice said.

"Michael?" she asked softly.

"Don't cry, Jessie," he implored gently.

"Michael, where are you?" she asked, looking around.

"I'm with you," he said. "I'm always with you."

She smiled in the dark.

"Michael, what's happening?" she questioned. "Where am I?"

She felt warmth wrap around her.

"Remember Jessie," he said. "You're stronger than this."

"What do you mean?" she inquired.

"Remember that you're stronger than this," he repeated. "Don't let the despair overwhelm you."

"But I don't understand what's going on," she said, frustrated. "I don't even know why I feel this way."

"This isn't you, Jessie," he said. "Remember that."

His voice started to disappear.

"Remember . . ."

"NO!" she exclaimed. "Don't leave me here!"

She started running towards the sound of his voice but a ringing in her ears distracted her concentration.

That's when she fell . . . and kept falling.

THUMP!!

Jessie opened her eyes and found herself at the foot of her bed.

Some dream, she thought.

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the ringing sound when she noticed the phone in her dresser.

"Jessie," she said to herself, "you could be a little slow sometimes."

She groggily got to her feet and reached for her private phone line.

"Hello?" she said raspily, her voice rough with sleep.

"Jessie?" said a girl's voice on the other end of the line.

She yawned. "Who's this?" she asked.

"It's me, Moira," the girl answered.

Moira? Michael's sister? What the heck is she doing calling at --

She glanced at the clock near her phone. It's six-thirty in the morning.

--Six thirty in the morning?

"Moira," she said. She yawned again. "What's up?"

She heard her take a deep breath. "I thought you'd want to know," she began, "I mean, I know you and Michael were going out and all and . . . I thought you'd want to know . . ."

Jessie's heart began to pound faster. A feeling of deep foreboding spread throughout her consciousness.

"Michael was in an . . . accident last night," Moira continued, her voice trembling.

Jessie felt her chest constrict.

Michael, she thought. Oh, Michael.

"I . . .I don't know who else to talk to," said Moira. Her voice had a more halting quality now. "No one else knows Michael like you do in school. I . . . I . . . wanted to talk to someone who . . . cared for him . . ."

NO! Life could not be this unfair. Michael had so much to do, so much to offer . . .

"He can't be dead!" whispered Jessie, almost to herself.

"NO!" Moira said. "They don't know yet. They're still with him. The doctors, I mean."

Jessie took a deep breath.

He's alive, she thought to herself. He's alive. He's not dead. Not dead.

"What hospital are you in?" she asked in a calm voice.

"Rockport Memorial," she replied.

"I'm going there as soon as I can," said Jessie.

"Thanks," said Moira.

"And Moira?" said Jessie.

Pause.

"You're my friend, too," she said. "Hang in there, 'kay? Michael's not ready to leave us yet."

She felt more than heard Moira's sigh of relief.

"I'll be waiting," she replied.

Jessie place the phone back in its cradle and closed her eyes. Her legs felt like jelly and she had to lean against the dresser to maintain her standing position.

She thought about her dream.

"Michael," she said. "Don't you dare leave us."

*******************************

He looked at the boy and sighed with impatience. Forcibly sharing a Wielder's personhood without his consent can be a little . . . difficult. He had be trying for the last hour to take control of the Wielder's form, but couldn't. Despite the fact that the Wielder had no proper training to utilize his skills, his inborn defenses were quite formidable. In another time and place, the ancient being might have been suitably impressed. But this is now and he was far from admiring. He was, what humans would call, justifiably frustrated.

He will have to wait for the Wielder to regain his consciousness.

Then, he will persuade him to come to his terms. One way or the other.

********************************

Jonny glanced at the wall in his bedroom. He had heard a soft thump coming from the other side of the wall and had been debating whether he should go see what was going on. Normally, he wouldn't have thought anything of just going over there and asking Jess what the noise was. Now was a different matter. He had spent the whole night wondering about the consequences of last night's actions. One of the reasons he had heard anything coming from Jessie's room at all was the fact that he had been awake to hear them in the first place. He had not slept. He had ceased to even try after a half hour of tossing and turning in his bed while calling himself every kind of idiot.

And he was every kind of idiot to care for someone who refuses to care for him in return. Whenever he thought back to the party, he didn't know whether to just hit his head in the wall out of sheer frustration -- towards himself or Jessie, he had yet to figure out -- or grin foolishly at the remembrance of having kissed Jessie.

He heard movements going on in the other side of the wall.

Why would Jessie be awake at this hour? he thought to himself.

He heard her open the door to her room.

He listened to her footsteps as they walked past his own room. He sighed with disappointment at that. Then he heard them stop. If his calculations were correct, she would be in front of Hadji's bedroom door at this point.

What the heck was going on here?!

He got up his bed and walked to his door, listening for her movements against the wooden frame.

He heard her try to knock softly on the door and call out Hadji's name.

White-hot jealousy spread throughout him.

What did she need to see Hadji for in the crack of dawn? What did she need to see Hadji for that excluded him? Was she and Hadji . . . No, ofcourse not. Otherwise he would have known by now. Hadji would have said something to him while he had been baring his soul about his feelings for Jessie. The two of them couldn't be . . . There must be a rational explanation behind Jessie's action.

And he was just the person to find out.

He opened the door to his room.



********************************

He looked at the images in the wall. They were together and Jeanette, he was sure, would have a fit if that fact penetrated her consciousness. Fortunately, he had her in . . . 'shutdown' mode right now. He really didn't want to have to deal with hysterics right now. He stared at the two conversing figures in the wall.

They are the weakness, he thought. They will join us.

*********************************

"I'm not getting any answer," Jessie said perplexed. Hadji was one of the lightest sleepers she knew. Even in slumber, she always thought he seemed to still be conscious.

"What do you mean?" asked Jonny.

Jessie had been more than surprised to see Jonny that early in the morning. He had come up behind her in the shadows and surprised her by his appearance. She had thought she had been the only one awake, especially after last night.

"I mean he's not answering my knock," said Jessie.

She tested the lock in the door and found it open. She turned the knob.

"Hadji," she said softly.

She opened the door widely and stared at the immaculate room. Everything seems to be in order except for the unmade bed. The covers were strewn all over the floor.

"This isn't like Hadji," she heard Jonny say behind her. She glanced at him and saw him staring at the covers.

"I know," said Jessie.

She saw Jonny look at her.

"What did you want with him, anyway?" he asked.

"I . . ." began Jessie, "I wanted to tell him about Michael."

She saw Jonny tense up at the mention of her boyfriend's -- she winced -- name. Just thinking about Michael brings up all sort of guilt over her treatment of him. She knew how he felt about her and, in the beginning, had thought she felt the same way. The passage of time, however, taught her differently. In truth, she had thought of him more like a big brother now. And she didn't know how to tell him. Now she didn't know whether she'd be able to tell him.

Her new dilemma opened her eyes to what Hadji must have felt at the conservatory. She now had a new insight to that whole fiasco and can't help but admire the way her friend had tackled the situation -- head on.

"What about Michael?" Jonny gritted through his teeth.

Jessie stared at Jonny, debating on what to say.

"Well?" persisted Jonny.

She took a deep breath.

"He's in the hospital," she said quietly.

She saw Jonny's eyes widen with surprise and remorse.

"Geez, Jess," he said. He approached her and put his arms around her. "What happened?"

Jessie shrugged off him and faced him. She saw the look of hurt that crossed his face, but decided to ignore it. She will not be weak in front of him!

"I . . . I don't know," she whispered. "Moira just called and I wanted to know if Hadji wanted to go with me to the hospital." She looked back at Hadji's bed. "And now Hadji's gone."

The feeling of foreboding she felt when she talked to Moira on the phone returned tenfold. There's something . . . something not right here and she didn't know what. All she knew was that two of the most important people in her life are in . . . danger in one way or the other.

"We better tell our fathers that Hadji is missing," she said.

Jonny looked at her with understanding and confirmed her fears.

"I think he's missing, too," he said. "There's something wrong here, Jess, and we're going to get to the bottom of it."

They started heading toward the corridor when a bright light blinded them and that was the last thing they saw before losing consciousness.

*********************************

"I wanted to be the one to bring them here!" shouted Jeanette in her mind as she communicated with her . . . friend.

"It's done," he said. "They will be at our hands in no time."

She stomped her foot in a fit of pique.

"I want to be the one to --" she began.

"You will," he replied.

A bright sphere began to materialize in front of them.

"They're here," she said.

"Now it begins," he said.

**************************************************************************** **************************************************************************** ****

Revised December 29, 2001