Call Me Sarah
Chapter Four
Sarah exited the gym and stepped out into the warm summer night air. A light breeze caressed her hair carrying with it the faint scent of honeysuckle. But Sarah paid no attention to her pleasant surroundings. Her mind was on only one thing.
Sarah smiled to herself as she looked around. She'd been asleep for a long time and now that she was finally awake - she was raring for some action. She walked across the nearly deserted parking lot resembling a sleek black panther on the prowl. She stopped when she noticed the black BMW and the people milling around it.
Jason Masters took another deep draught from his flask and passed it on to his buddy. "Man oh man, that was priceless!" he laughed. "I have played some pranks in my life but nothing compared to this!"
His two friends agreed heartily while downing the alcohol in Jason's flask. "No doubt about that. Do you know who did it?"
Sarah squatted behind the Beemer and listened with great interest to their conversation.
Jason's face cracked into a proud smirk. "Well, I ain't saying nothing, but Jan was bragging to me earlier about something she and Mimi had planned for Ghoul Girl."
{Ghoul Girl.} Sarah thought. {That's what that Phillip kid called me. I guess it's their lame idea of an insult.} Sarah rolled her eyes. {Oh Boohoo. They hurt my feelings.} She stifled her sarcastic laugh. {What f*cking morons.} She turned her attention back to their conversation.
One of Jason's friends was talking. "You know, I expected this of Spears, but Lockhart? That surprises me."
Jason laughed. "Well, Jan can be very.persuasive. I doubt Mimi had much of a choice."
{Great, now I have names.} Sarah thought. {Jan Spears and Mimi Lockhart. Well, I'll take care of them later. Right now, I want to party.}
Jason took another swig from the metallic flask and then promptly spit out the fiery liquid. He sputtered, shocked to see Chloe Lane coming up to him.
Sarah stopped in front of the three boys. She ignored the other two. She only had eyes for Jason. She stared at him unabashedly, a suggestive smile pulling at her lips.
Jason was momentarily taken aback by Chloe's uncharacteristic boldness but hid his confusion under his cocky attitude. "Well well well." He smirked insolently. "If it isn't Chloe Lane. I must say, I didn't expect to see so much of you after. well, seeing so much of you." His cronies laughed at his little joke.
He had expected to get a reaction out of Chloe, but not this reaction. She simply smiled and spoke in a husky whisper. "Well, if you play your cards right, then maybe you'll see a lot more."
Jason swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. He'd never told anyone this but ever since Chloe's unveiling at last year's LBD in that little red dress, he'd secretly desired her. She inhabited his dreams, but not even his wildest ones compared to this moment. His eyes raked over her figure with a will of their own, the slide pictures permanently burned in his memory. He cleared his throat and tried to maintain his cool.
"You serious?" he asked casually.
She smiled that little half-smirk of her. "Very." For effect she ran her wet tongue over her luscious, full lips. "But I don't do crowds" she turned her gaze to his friends, finally acknowledging their presence. "So maybe your friends can be.somewhere else?"
Jason snapped his head to the side, motioning for his buddies to leave. His friends immediately got the hint. "Hey, we're gone, man. We'll uh.catch up to ya later." And with a sly wink, they were both gone.
Jason's pulse began to race. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. For all his big talk and cocky manner, he was very much the virgin. He rubbed his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants legs. {C'mon Jase, play it cool. She wants you.}
He gifted her with a sexy grin. "So, what did you have in mind?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Her blue eyes flashed with danger and excitement. "Right now, I'm just looking for a little fun. I'm betting you know some fun places."
"I know a few." He replied coolly.
Sarah snaked up closer to him and placed her hand on his chest. "You show me yours," she whispered in his ear as her hand smoothly dropped to rest firmly on the crotch of his dress slacks, "And I'll show you mine."
Meanwhile, the stunned occupants of the gym were finally coming to life. Shocked murmurs and quiet exclamations echoed in the empty gym.
Belle spoke up from her position in Shawn's arms. "We gotta do something. We gotta help her." She turned her questioning blue eyes to her father.
"I'm sorry Belle, but this is way beyond me. I only hope your mother can help."
As if on cue, both Marlena and Craig entered the gym. They both looked around the deserted building. "Where is everyone?" Marlena wondered aloud.
"Never mind that, where's Chloe?" Dr. Wesley asked the small group. "I got a call from Belle saying that something had happened to her?" he looked at Belle for the answer to his unspoken question.
John took over and began to explain to his wife and Dr. Wesley what had occurred. "Some kids tonight played a cruel prank on Chloe. They set up a.well, maybe it would be best if I just showed you." And moving over to the slide projector, he flicked it on.
Craig gasped in horror as he saw his stepdaughter's nearly naked body displayed on the large screen above him. He listened in horrified shock as John told him everything: the lab explosion, the camera in the shower, and finally the pornographic website that had been making money off of the pictures.
Craig finally tore his gaze from the sickening sight. "Do you know who did this?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes. The website was set up in Mimi Lockhart's name, but it looks like a girl named Jan Spears was the mastermind."
Craig whirled around to face them. "Mimi?" he asked, his eyes landing on Belle's. "But, we took her in, her and her family. We gave them a home when they didn't have one. How could she."
Belle grimaced, feeling somehow responsible for her friend's behavior. "I don't know, Dr. Wesley. I never would have thought her capable of this. I'm so sorry." She told him sincerely.
"It's not your fault, Belle." Craig reassured her.
"Unfortunately," John interrupted, "that's not the worst of it." He turned his attention to his wife. "The worst of it is the reason why I called you." He began slowly, trying to order his thoughts to make the most sense of the bizarre scene that they had all witnessed. "Chloe had a bad reaction to seeing the pictures. Understandably so."
"How did she react?" Marlena questioned as she mentally kicked into therapist-mode. She too wondered why Chloe wasn't in the gym.
"Basically, she didn't - react that is. She just.shutdown, for lack of a better description. It's like she went into a trance, her body was stiff as a board, her eyes unfocused, unblinking. They just stared right through us."
Marlena made mental notes of John's descriptions, several theories already coming to mind.
"She was like this for several minutes and everything we tried to bring her out of it failed. It's like we weren't even there. Then finally, she seemed to snap out of it and she seemed okay, but very different."
"Different how?"
Belle spoke up. "It was weird. She acted differently, talked differently; she even looked a little different, if that makes sense. She was like a completely different person." She trailed off quietly.
"In fact, she claimed to be someone else, someone named Sarah." John continued. "She wasn't here long when she just left, walked out those doors, not even ten minutes ago. We were all kind of in shock, by what had happened, we just watched her leave."
Marlena digested this information thoughtfully. {An alternate personality. Hmmm}
While the others had been relating the events to Marlena, Brady had simply paced the gym, his thoughts solely on Chloe. He could not believe that they had just let her leave like that, in her condition. He worried about her out there all alone in the state she was in. He wondered if "Sarah" would even know her way around town and envisioned her lost somewhere, frightened.
Brady snapped himself out of his thoughts. They needed to take action. He looked at the others in the gym - they were all debating about what to do, how to bring her personality back. He turned toward the exit.
"I'm going to find her." He scowled angrily when Marlena moved to bar his way. He was not in the mood to deal with his stepmother right now.
"Brady," she tried to explain, "alternate personalities are usually highly unstable, mentally and emotionally."
"Yeah and she's out there like that!" he yelled, barely controlled panic visible on his face.
Marlena placed a comforting hand on his tense shoulder. Brady was surprised to see the genuine concern in her eyes. "Just be careful, okay?" she said quietly, calmly. "We don't know her mental state - the slightest thing could set her off. If you find her (at Brady's determined look) okay, when you find her, don't push her. Just be calm, cool and notify me immediately. Okay?"
He nodded his understanding and left the building. Marlena turned to the others. "I'm going to contact the orphanage where Chloe lived."
Craig looked at her in question. "Why?"
She bit her lip in thought. "This isn't the first time that "Sarah" has come out. They must know something about her. Why she's here, what she wants, how to stop her."
Brady stood in the deserted lot searching for any sign of Chloe. He sighed heavily, his stomach twisted in worry. There was no one here. No one except.
Brady walked toward the two boys who were hanging out under a lamppost. They were so engrossed in their drunken conversation that they didn't even notice his stealthy approach.
The first boy laughed. "Oh man, Jason is SOOO gonna get some tonight."
The second boy joined in the laughter. "Yeah, but come on - Ghoul Girl?"
Brady's ears snapped up at the mention of that cruel nickname. {They are talking about Chloe.} he realized, feeling nauseous.
"Hey, a score's a score." The first guy replied. "Besides, you saw the slides. I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that ass myself." He whistled appreciatively.
Brady couldn't restrain his righteous anger any longer. He tackled the two boys, knocking one to the ground and grabbing the other before the boy even knew what had happened. Brady punched the punk savagely in the nose.
"The only thing you'll be getting tonight is a piece of my foot up your ass. Now where is she?" Brady asked, feeling dark anger wash over him. He hated to think of what might be happening to Chloe in her vulnerable state.
"Wh-where's who?" the boy stuttered, more terrified than he'd ever been in his entire life.
Brady pulled back his fist, preparing to ram it down the guy's throat. "I'm giving you one last chance to not lose teeth. Where is Chloe Lane? Ghoul Girl!"
"She's with Jason!" the boy cried, tears spilling out of his eyes.
"WHERE?!" Brady bellowed.
"I don't know. He probably took her to Look-Out Point - that's where he takes all the girls." The kid whimpered.
Brady dropped him to land in an undignified heap on the pavement. He ran to his van, ignoring the shooting pain from his legs that were still recovering from his earlier paralysis. Keying the ignition, he floored the vehicle out of the lot and in the direction of Look-Out Point.
"Hang on, Chloe. I'm coming."
Chapter Four
Sarah exited the gym and stepped out into the warm summer night air. A light breeze caressed her hair carrying with it the faint scent of honeysuckle. But Sarah paid no attention to her pleasant surroundings. Her mind was on only one thing.
Sarah smiled to herself as she looked around. She'd been asleep for a long time and now that she was finally awake - she was raring for some action. She walked across the nearly deserted parking lot resembling a sleek black panther on the prowl. She stopped when she noticed the black BMW and the people milling around it.
Jason Masters took another deep draught from his flask and passed it on to his buddy. "Man oh man, that was priceless!" he laughed. "I have played some pranks in my life but nothing compared to this!"
His two friends agreed heartily while downing the alcohol in Jason's flask. "No doubt about that. Do you know who did it?"
Sarah squatted behind the Beemer and listened with great interest to their conversation.
Jason's face cracked into a proud smirk. "Well, I ain't saying nothing, but Jan was bragging to me earlier about something she and Mimi had planned for Ghoul Girl."
{Ghoul Girl.} Sarah thought. {That's what that Phillip kid called me. I guess it's their lame idea of an insult.} Sarah rolled her eyes. {Oh Boohoo. They hurt my feelings.} She stifled her sarcastic laugh. {What f*cking morons.} She turned her attention back to their conversation.
One of Jason's friends was talking. "You know, I expected this of Spears, but Lockhart? That surprises me."
Jason laughed. "Well, Jan can be very.persuasive. I doubt Mimi had much of a choice."
{Great, now I have names.} Sarah thought. {Jan Spears and Mimi Lockhart. Well, I'll take care of them later. Right now, I want to party.}
Jason took another swig from the metallic flask and then promptly spit out the fiery liquid. He sputtered, shocked to see Chloe Lane coming up to him.
Sarah stopped in front of the three boys. She ignored the other two. She only had eyes for Jason. She stared at him unabashedly, a suggestive smile pulling at her lips.
Jason was momentarily taken aback by Chloe's uncharacteristic boldness but hid his confusion under his cocky attitude. "Well well well." He smirked insolently. "If it isn't Chloe Lane. I must say, I didn't expect to see so much of you after. well, seeing so much of you." His cronies laughed at his little joke.
He had expected to get a reaction out of Chloe, but not this reaction. She simply smiled and spoke in a husky whisper. "Well, if you play your cards right, then maybe you'll see a lot more."
Jason swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. He'd never told anyone this but ever since Chloe's unveiling at last year's LBD in that little red dress, he'd secretly desired her. She inhabited his dreams, but not even his wildest ones compared to this moment. His eyes raked over her figure with a will of their own, the slide pictures permanently burned in his memory. He cleared his throat and tried to maintain his cool.
"You serious?" he asked casually.
She smiled that little half-smirk of her. "Very." For effect she ran her wet tongue over her luscious, full lips. "But I don't do crowds" she turned her gaze to his friends, finally acknowledging their presence. "So maybe your friends can be.somewhere else?"
Jason snapped his head to the side, motioning for his buddies to leave. His friends immediately got the hint. "Hey, we're gone, man. We'll uh.catch up to ya later." And with a sly wink, they were both gone.
Jason's pulse began to race. He couldn't believe that this was actually happening. For all his big talk and cocky manner, he was very much the virgin. He rubbed his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants legs. {C'mon Jase, play it cool. She wants you.}
He gifted her with a sexy grin. "So, what did you have in mind?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Her blue eyes flashed with danger and excitement. "Right now, I'm just looking for a little fun. I'm betting you know some fun places."
"I know a few." He replied coolly.
Sarah snaked up closer to him and placed her hand on his chest. "You show me yours," she whispered in his ear as her hand smoothly dropped to rest firmly on the crotch of his dress slacks, "And I'll show you mine."
Meanwhile, the stunned occupants of the gym were finally coming to life. Shocked murmurs and quiet exclamations echoed in the empty gym.
Belle spoke up from her position in Shawn's arms. "We gotta do something. We gotta help her." She turned her questioning blue eyes to her father.
"I'm sorry Belle, but this is way beyond me. I only hope your mother can help."
As if on cue, both Marlena and Craig entered the gym. They both looked around the deserted building. "Where is everyone?" Marlena wondered aloud.
"Never mind that, where's Chloe?" Dr. Wesley asked the small group. "I got a call from Belle saying that something had happened to her?" he looked at Belle for the answer to his unspoken question.
John took over and began to explain to his wife and Dr. Wesley what had occurred. "Some kids tonight played a cruel prank on Chloe. They set up a.well, maybe it would be best if I just showed you." And moving over to the slide projector, he flicked it on.
Craig gasped in horror as he saw his stepdaughter's nearly naked body displayed on the large screen above him. He listened in horrified shock as John told him everything: the lab explosion, the camera in the shower, and finally the pornographic website that had been making money off of the pictures.
Craig finally tore his gaze from the sickening sight. "Do you know who did this?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"Yes. The website was set up in Mimi Lockhart's name, but it looks like a girl named Jan Spears was the mastermind."
Craig whirled around to face them. "Mimi?" he asked, his eyes landing on Belle's. "But, we took her in, her and her family. We gave them a home when they didn't have one. How could she."
Belle grimaced, feeling somehow responsible for her friend's behavior. "I don't know, Dr. Wesley. I never would have thought her capable of this. I'm so sorry." She told him sincerely.
"It's not your fault, Belle." Craig reassured her.
"Unfortunately," John interrupted, "that's not the worst of it." He turned his attention to his wife. "The worst of it is the reason why I called you." He began slowly, trying to order his thoughts to make the most sense of the bizarre scene that they had all witnessed. "Chloe had a bad reaction to seeing the pictures. Understandably so."
"How did she react?" Marlena questioned as she mentally kicked into therapist-mode. She too wondered why Chloe wasn't in the gym.
"Basically, she didn't - react that is. She just.shutdown, for lack of a better description. It's like she went into a trance, her body was stiff as a board, her eyes unfocused, unblinking. They just stared right through us."
Marlena made mental notes of John's descriptions, several theories already coming to mind.
"She was like this for several minutes and everything we tried to bring her out of it failed. It's like we weren't even there. Then finally, she seemed to snap out of it and she seemed okay, but very different."
"Different how?"
Belle spoke up. "It was weird. She acted differently, talked differently; she even looked a little different, if that makes sense. She was like a completely different person." She trailed off quietly.
"In fact, she claimed to be someone else, someone named Sarah." John continued. "She wasn't here long when she just left, walked out those doors, not even ten minutes ago. We were all kind of in shock, by what had happened, we just watched her leave."
Marlena digested this information thoughtfully. {An alternate personality. Hmmm}
While the others had been relating the events to Marlena, Brady had simply paced the gym, his thoughts solely on Chloe. He could not believe that they had just let her leave like that, in her condition. He worried about her out there all alone in the state she was in. He wondered if "Sarah" would even know her way around town and envisioned her lost somewhere, frightened.
Brady snapped himself out of his thoughts. They needed to take action. He looked at the others in the gym - they were all debating about what to do, how to bring her personality back. He turned toward the exit.
"I'm going to find her." He scowled angrily when Marlena moved to bar his way. He was not in the mood to deal with his stepmother right now.
"Brady," she tried to explain, "alternate personalities are usually highly unstable, mentally and emotionally."
"Yeah and she's out there like that!" he yelled, barely controlled panic visible on his face.
Marlena placed a comforting hand on his tense shoulder. Brady was surprised to see the genuine concern in her eyes. "Just be careful, okay?" she said quietly, calmly. "We don't know her mental state - the slightest thing could set her off. If you find her (at Brady's determined look) okay, when you find her, don't push her. Just be calm, cool and notify me immediately. Okay?"
He nodded his understanding and left the building. Marlena turned to the others. "I'm going to contact the orphanage where Chloe lived."
Craig looked at her in question. "Why?"
She bit her lip in thought. "This isn't the first time that "Sarah" has come out. They must know something about her. Why she's here, what she wants, how to stop her."
Brady stood in the deserted lot searching for any sign of Chloe. He sighed heavily, his stomach twisted in worry. There was no one here. No one except.
Brady walked toward the two boys who were hanging out under a lamppost. They were so engrossed in their drunken conversation that they didn't even notice his stealthy approach.
The first boy laughed. "Oh man, Jason is SOOO gonna get some tonight."
The second boy joined in the laughter. "Yeah, but come on - Ghoul Girl?"
Brady's ears snapped up at the mention of that cruel nickname. {They are talking about Chloe.} he realized, feeling nauseous.
"Hey, a score's a score." The first guy replied. "Besides, you saw the slides. I wouldn't mind getting a piece of that ass myself." He whistled appreciatively.
Brady couldn't restrain his righteous anger any longer. He tackled the two boys, knocking one to the ground and grabbing the other before the boy even knew what had happened. Brady punched the punk savagely in the nose.
"The only thing you'll be getting tonight is a piece of my foot up your ass. Now where is she?" Brady asked, feeling dark anger wash over him. He hated to think of what might be happening to Chloe in her vulnerable state.
"Wh-where's who?" the boy stuttered, more terrified than he'd ever been in his entire life.
Brady pulled back his fist, preparing to ram it down the guy's throat. "I'm giving you one last chance to not lose teeth. Where is Chloe Lane? Ghoul Girl!"
"She's with Jason!" the boy cried, tears spilling out of his eyes.
"WHERE?!" Brady bellowed.
"I don't know. He probably took her to Look-Out Point - that's where he takes all the girls." The kid whimpered.
Brady dropped him to land in an undignified heap on the pavement. He ran to his van, ignoring the shooting pain from his legs that were still recovering from his earlier paralysis. Keying the ignition, he floored the vehicle out of the lot and in the direction of Look-Out Point.
"Hang on, Chloe. I'm coming."