"Gene, you should have known better than to rack up a lunch tab like that! We're in debt enough as it is!" fifteen-year-old Jim Hawking berated his older partner as they walked home from the restaurant.
Twenty-four-year-old Gene Starwind snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "So what?" He stopped walking and bent over conspiratorially, continuing, "Eventually I'll make it big and pay everything off. You'll see, Mister Doubtful." He threw his head back, laughed, and resumed walking.
"Mister Realistic is more like it. How many times have you said that you'll make it big in the last few months? You still haven't, you know."
"Hey, I said I'll make it big and someday I will."
Jim sighed. "Sometimes there is just no getting through that thick skull of yours."
Melfina chuckled.
"Oh, so you think I'm funny too? Humph. I'll make it big and I'll keep the goods from both of you, so there."
"You know you won't," the twenty-three-year-old dark-haired woman smiled, shaking her head.
Gene's face softened. "Of course. I'd never keep anything from you, Mel," he said, looking at her with love in his eyes.
She blushed. He took her hand, and they began walking once again. Suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks.
"What is it, Mel?" Gene asked.
"I heard something…I think someone needs help."
"Where?" Jim put in.
"Not too far ahead…I think it's in one of those alleys on this side of the street."
The three sprinted down the boulevard a few hundred feet, but were stopped short when they heard an agonized cry for help echo out of the alleyway not too far in front of them. It was stifled, then silenced a second later.
"Come on!" Gene motioned them forward, drawing his caster pistol. They rushed into the alley to see two men in trench coats standing over a young girl tied to a chair and gagged. One of the men held a full syringe in his hand. The other grasped a pistol, but was holding it backwards, having used the butt of the gun to knock the girl out after her cry for help.
"Hold it right there, you two," Gene said, his expression grim as he pulled out his standard pistol from its holster on his right hip and pointed it at the second's head. A shot sounded. Glass shattered as a well-placed bullet broke the syringe into a million pieces, spraying the contents everywhere. Jim relaxed his shooting arm and recocked his own pistol.
The man who now held a broken syringe dropped the remains and held his hands up, weaponless. His partner dropped his own gun and did the same.
"We surrender," the first said.
"Good idea," Gene answered.
"Not!" the second leered as they both pounced on Gene and Jim as they bolted out of the alley.
Both of them were knocked to the ground by the force of the two men as they made their escape. Before they could react the two were on the street and out of sight. Jim got up first, rubbing the back of his head.
Melfina dashed to the girl's side and began untying the ropes that bound her to the chair. The girl's eyes fluttered as Melfina untied the last knot.
"I've…been…poisoned," she said weakly. Her head fell forward as she lapsed back into unconsciousness. Jim rushed forward and caught her as she fell from the chair.
"What did she say?" Gene asked after standing up.
"She said that she's been poisoned."
"We better get her to a hospital, then!"
"We can't, Gene—we don't have enough money for it, and who knows if she does," Jim said, indicating the girl in his arms with a motion of his head.
"Let's take her back to the ship, then. I can take care of her—I healed you, remember?" Melfina reminded Gene.
"Good point, Mel. Let's hurry, then."
"Wait." Melfina knelt down and picked up a few pieces of paper.
"What's that?" Gene asked.
"The two men dropped these as they escaped."
Gene took the papers and examined them for a moment. His eyes widened. "Whoa…these are their identification papers."
"No way," Jim said incredulously.
"Yes, way. Now we can try to locate those goons after the girl gets better."
"Speaking of, we better get to the Outlaw Star fast. Who knows what kind of poison they put in her!"
They dashed out of the alley after Gene scooped the girl up in his arms, since he was taller and stronger than his younger partner. The three ran as quickly as they could to their ship at its spacepad at the local spaceport. Once they were inside, Melfina took the girl and went to a different part of the ship. Gene and Jim waited in the cockpit, trying to work in the meantime.
Half an hour later Melfina entered the cockpit. Both guys stood up from where they were working. "Well?" Jim asked.
"She's now sleeping in Aisha's old cabin. I think I got most of the poison out of her, and now am letting her immune system purify her the rest of the way."
"Did you find out anything about her?" Gene asked. For Mel to heal her, she would have to open her mind, otherwise the process would not work right. I think.
She shook her head. "She has some kind of wall in place around her mind, so I didn't get anything concrete. But I did catch some feelings from her. She seems to have once had many dreams for herself and someone else, but something happened to make those dreams impossible. Also, a feeling of loneliness seemed to be present everywhere in the open parts of her mind. …What really struck me, though, was the scarring from whatever just happened to her…it seems that she's now extremely wary, high-strung, and almost…scared."
"I wonder what it was… Did you find out how old she was?" Jim asked.
"Yes. She's about a year older than you are."
"Dreams…I wonder what happened to squash them?" Gene wondered aloud.
"I do too," Melfina agreed.
Four hours later Gilliam, the ship's computer, notified the threesome that the girl had woken up. Melfina walked over to the sleeping quarters of the ship and tentatively knocked on the girl's door. "Who is it?" her voice came muffled through the metal wall.
"It's Melfina," she replied.
There was a short pause. "Come in, then."
The door slid open when Melfina touched the control panel, and she walked inside, shutting the door after her. "How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Better, thank you." The girl scrutinized Melfina for a moment, then asked, "I hope you don't mind my prying, and you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to, but…are you an android?"
She nodded.
"I thought so. Thank you for answering. I have the feeling that you have a lot of questions to ask me, so go ahead."
"Well, I was wondering what your name was, at least."
"Elara."
"Elara…?"
"I'd rather not say my last name. I…I hope you're not offended, but I don't really know you all that well, you know, and I don't know if you would exploit me or not."
"I understand…I think."
"Thank you. If you don't mind my asking, who are the others with you?"
"Gene Starwind is the older one, the redhead, and Jim Hawking is only a year younger than you are."
"You were able to gather my age?"
"That was one thing that you let leak through, I must admit."
"I better work on that, then, although I don't think it is anything crucial."
"Maybe that was why it got through."
"Good point."
"Might I ask what happened?"
Elara took a deep breath and looked away from Melfina. "May I leave out a few details in order to not reveal my identity?"
"You don't even have to tell me, if you don't want to, Elara." Melfina looked at the girl, her expression open and guileless.
Elara – somewhat impulsively – decided that Melfina was one she could trust implicitly. "I'll tell you. I feel…I feel that you're safe. Besides, I…I don't really have anyone to talk to, and this is one thing I don't want to carry on my own." She took a deep breath, then blurted out in little more than a whisper, "I…I was raped."
Melfina gasped.
"Yeah, I know. Awful, isn't it?"
"That would explain…your feelings…"
"You were able to read those, weren't you." It was a statement, not a question.
She nodded.
"So, yeah. They both did."
"Both of them?"
Elara nodded, her face set impassively in stone.
Melfina sat down on the corner of the bed and took the girl's hand. "I am so sorry, Elara."
The gesture of kindness broke down the last of Elara's defenses, and she fell against the young woman's shoulder and sobbed. Melfina stroked her head, silently allowing her to cry. A few minutes later the tears subsided. "I'm sorry," Elara said as she wiped away the last tear and sniffled.
"Don't apologize. You needed that."
"Yeah, I guess I did. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"You know, Melfina…I've never felt this secure around anyone except for my brother."
"You have a brother?"
"Had."
"Oh…" she said as a hand went to her mouth.
"Yeah. He was killed when our ship was attacked by space pirates eight months ago."
"You were on it too?"
Elara nodded. "He forced me to get into an escape pod and leave him there. It was the hardest thing I've ever done."
Right then the door slid open. "Now, who exactly are you?" Gene demanded, his hands on his hips and a frown on his face.
Elara's eyes widened. She looked down, and without glancing up said, "Do whatever you want to me…I don't care. Nothing matters anymore, anyway."
Gene looked confused. "Huh?"
Melfina's eyes narrowed. She stood up, ushered Gene out of the room and shut the door behind her. "What did you think you were doing?" she demanded of him. The steely expression appeared so alien on her usually soft face.
Gene looked at her, surprised and bewildered. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you understand that she just went through a very traumatic time in her life? Your bursting into the room probably startled her out of her wits, and the fact that you're a man…" she trailed off, not wanting to reveal what had happened to Elara. If they're to know, Elara should tell them herself.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he exclaimed.
Melfina looked down at the floor. Gene tilted her chin up with his right hand and looked into her eyes. "What happened?"
"Well…I think she should be the one to tell you, but, since you asked…well, those two men that tried to poison her…well, they raped her."
Gene's eyes opened wide as he gasped. "Why those sick assholes…they did that, to her? Both of them?"
She nodded. "I'm afraid so."
His eyes retained their shocked expression. "I really shouldn't have burst in there like that, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'll go in and apologize, then."
"Wait, Gene," she said, restraining him with a hand on his shoulder. "Let her recuperate first. We can go in later, ok?"
"All right." The two of them walked off, changing the subject to the Outlaw Star's repairs.
Two hours later Jim asked Gilliam if Elara was awake.
"No, she's not," the computer replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, Gilliam, we just had dinner, and I thought that she would like one of us to bring some up for her. But, since she's asleep, I'll just drop off a tray in her room. Do you think it will wake her up?"
"She's sleeping soundly, so, if you're quiet, I doubt it."
"Thanks." Jim walked into the ship's galley, where Melfina was cleaning up. "Where's Gene?"
"He's touching up some repairs on the left arm. I think he'll be done shortly."
"Good." He walked over to where the leftovers sat in dishes and scooped some rice and meat up onto a plate.
"What are you doing, Jim?"
"I thought that I would put some food in Elara's room, so that when she wakes up it'll be there ready for her."
"Good idea."
"Mel, are we going to go back to the shop tonight, or are we going to stay on the ship?"
She gasped. "I don't know…I didn't think about that."
"I mean…we can't exactly move her, can we?"
"No. I'll stay here tonight, then. You and Gene can go back to the shop to sleep."
"What? Leave you here all alone?"
"What's this about leaving someone here all alone?" Gene asked as he walked into the galley.
"Jim and I were talking about where we're going to stay tonight: here or back at the shop. We can't move Elara, you know."
"I never thought of that. We'll stay here, of course. We'll all just take our usual rooms. No big deal."
"That's nice of you, Gene. How are the repairs coming?" Jim asked.
"The left arm looks good. I'm going to go to the cockpit to test it. Mel, do you want to help me?"
"Sure." The two walked off deep in discussion. Jim picked up the loaded tray and walked toward Elara's room. He tried to slide the door open as quietly as he possibly could, then tiptoed over to the side of her bed as the door slowly slid shut. She was lying on her side, facing away from him. Jim set the tray down on the nightstand and began to tiptoe back out when he heard a sniffle. He glanced back at the girl's sleeping form to see her sides shaking slightly. Concerned, he moved over toward her, and ever so slowly reached out to pat her on the shoulder in a comforting way. As soon as he made contact, she flinched violently away from his touch.
He backed away a few paces.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to." Elara rolled over and sat up to face the young man. He saw her shed tears shining on her cheeks in the faint light from the hallway. He also noted that she kept the sheets held tightly around her, as if to protect herself.
Jim took a deep breath. "What's wrong?"
She glanced away from him. Can I trust him? Now that my entire family is dead and gone, there is no one I can turn to. It would be nice to have an actual friend after all of this time… Gah, what am I thinking? But he looks so… so… gentle…
"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," he said, moving toward the door.
"No—wait," she said. He stopped moving and glanced back at her. "I'll tell you. Just don't be so defensive, okay?"
"Okay," he replied with a slightly sheepish look.
"It's a long story. Do you have to do anything anytime soon?"
"No."
"Will you promise me something? Promise me that you won't exploit me or anything after I tell you who I am."
"Why would I do that?"
"You'll know when I tell you my full name. It's…Elara Alcyone."
Jim's eyes opened wide in shock as he gasped. "You're Elara Alcyone? The president of Alcyone Enterprises?"
"One and the same."
"Wow…so, how did you end up getting poisoned by those two damn goons if you're so powerful?"
"Like I said, it's a long story. About a week ago I was en route to this planet for a board meeting with my company's local branch when pirates attacked my ship. I'm glad I took my personal ship, because it's a grappler ship."
"So is the Outlaw Star," Jim interrupted.
Elara glanced around the cabin. "Are we on the ship right now?"
"Yeah. Go on." He sat down on the corner of the bed and waited for her to begin.
"Oh, sorry. Anyway, I was able to get away and land safely, but my ship was damaged enough that repairs would take about three and a half to four weeks. I went to my board meeting, which took up most of the day after I landed—which was about five days ago, I think. I decided that, since I haven't had any sort of vacation in about a year, I would stay here and sightsee for part of the time, and work from here the rest. I was having a quiet dinner the day before yesterday in a beautiful park not too far from here, watching a glorious sunset, when those two dorks showed up and kidnapped me.
"When they grabbed me, they knocked me out, so I couldn't resist them. They took me to a scrubby, rundown hotel somewhere downtown and…when I woke up…they…" she trailed off, unable to continue.
"What did they do?"
Tears welled up in her eyes. "Raped me."
"What?!?"
"Yes…they both did."
"Why?"
"Well, since they thought they were going to be able to kill me, they told me their whole plan afterwards…since they gave me the first dose of poison immediately," she told him as she blinked her tears away.
"What? Why would they want to kill you?"
Elara took a deep breath. "The vice president of my company, Ivan Stinson, was going to become the president of the company after my brother died, and I would simply be left with the ownership of it."
"You had a brother? He died? How? And why would he become president?"
She glanced at him with one eyebrow raised. "Quite the listener, aren't you?"
Jim looked away sheepishly. "Sorry about all the questions. If you don't feel like answering them, I'll understand."
"You're the rather inquisitive type, aren't you?"
He nodded.
"Well, I honestly don't mind. It's funny," she said after a pause, glancing up at the ceiling. "I've never talked like this to anyone besides my brother, and ever since he died I've been a closed-up ball of emotion…"
"I have one more question for you…why are you willing to tell me all this, then?"
Elara looked directly at him. "I'm not sure. You just have an…open, trusting look about you. I feel…safe…and I haven't felt that way in months."
His cheeks turned slightly pink, and he had to turn away from her gaze. "So…where were we?"
"Oh, yeah. Well, eight months ago my brother, Nathan, and I were returning to Inura, the planet where my company's headquarters is located, when space pirates attacked our ship. They were able to damage our engines to the point where we had no escape. As they boarded my brother forced me into an escape pod so that I could get away. As the pod left the ship I saw my brother, through the window, gunned down by two pirates who had followed us.
"I landed safely and headed immediately to headquarters. There I let the staff know what happened, and my brother's secretary handed me a slip of paper. It was a note that he had left—instructions for me. He said that in his will he left the company and the presidency of it to me."
"If you don't mind my asking, why to someone as young as you? You were fifteen then, right?"
She nodded. "For some reason I am rather adept at business management, and aided my brother a lot in the office before he…died. Stinson didn't like the note, but kept his anger hidden, since I had usurped his supposedly guaranteed position. It wouldn't surprise me if he had been the one to send the pirates after us, but that's just a theory of mine. Anyway, I took over the company, and ran it almost as well as my brother had. My staff, to say the least, was quite impressed with me. All except for Stinson. If I had thought things through, I would have fired him as soon as I took over. I guess I was too unsure of my position to do anything that drastic back then or something.
"Anyway, those two thugs who kidnapped me told me that they had been hired by Stinson to kill me. I knew they were drunk because I had smelled the liquor on their breath when…yeah. They were told to poison me if they decided to…play…with me, to make it look like I died from shock. Then they would leave me in the street for someone to find me, and everyone would assume that some bum had randomly raped me. The only catch was that the poison took two doses to work. One dose immediately afterward, and the other twelve hours later. You found me right before they were going to give me the second dose."
Jim sat there in stunned silence for a moment. "Elara, I am so sorry," he said when he could find his voice. "Melfina said that when she healed you, you had some sort of wall around your mind. Is Stinson the cause of that?"
The young woman sighed. "Yeah. The death of my parents, and then my brother, really hit me hard. I am only sixteen, and a lot has happened in those few years. I feel like I should be forty or something."
"You certainly look sixteen."
Elara chuckled. "Thanks. You know, I haven't talked to anyone my age ever since before Nathan died."
"Really? You mean you don't really have any friends?"
"Not anymore. I just don't have time, what with the company and all."
"You know, I haven't talked to anyone my own age in a while, either. I mean, I have Gene and Mel, but…"
"It's not the same. I know—trust me, I know."
"Besides, Gene isn't always the most responsible guy in the world. I tend to end up with all the nitty-gritty work around here, like bills and paperwork and stuff."
"You too? I hate being stuck with that kind of thing!"
"Ditto. Hey, why don't you eat something?"
Elara glanced over at the tray of food. "Now that you mention it, I am rather hungry."
Jim glanced up at the ceiling. "Gilliam, you better get your sensors checked. Elara wasn't sleeping."
"Well, then, isn't one entitled to one mistake?" the computer replied, offended.
"Who are you talking to?" she asked around a mouthful of bread.
"Oh, the ship's computer. Its name is Gilliam."
"Hey, Gilliam," she said.
"Greetings, Elara," it replied.
"You know, it's kind of strange, talking to a computer who is so formal."
"Well, pardon me for being the way I am."
She chuckled. "Your ship's computer has quite an attitude, Jim."
"Yeah, but it's pretty helpful, especially when I'm stuck with paperwork or if we're in flight." Jim yawned.
"You should go to bed. Don't stay up on account of me," Elara said.
"But I still have so much work to do."
"Oh, for crying out loud, go to sleep and do it in the morning."
Jim laughed. "Yes, ma'am."
"That's a good boy," she returned, smiling.
Jim left the cabin and shut the door behind him with a cheerful expression. As he walked to his own cabin he passed Gene in the hall. "Hey, what's the smile for?" he asked.
"Oh, no reason," he replied as he kept walking. A moment later he arrived at his cabin and walked inside.
Gene remained in the hall, standing and looking at Jim's door as he scratched his head in puzzlement. "Now what was that all about?" He shrugged and resumed walking. "Gilliam?"
"Yes, Gene?"
"Do you know why Jim was so perky all of a sudden?"
"Well, I don't know if I would say perky, but he did seem happier than normal."
"Cut the cheek, Gilliam. Seriously, do you know why?"
"Well, he was in Elara's room talking for a while—"
"He was in her room? What for?"
"I believe he brought her a tray of food, and they ended up talking for a while—and insulting me a bit, I might add."
"That's odd," Gene said, stroking his chin and furrowing his forehead.
"I know. I don't know why they would insult a computer."
"Gilliam, I wasn't saying that was odd."
"Well, how rude."
Lost in his thoughts, Gene did not reply and headed over to his own cabin to sleep on what he had just discovered.
* * *
Jim woke up early the next morning, as was usual, and walked over to the galley to find Melfina making coffee. "Good morning, Jim. Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, thanks," Jim replied as he grabbed a mug. Melfina poured him a freshly brewed cup and he sipped at it gratefully. "Have you checked on Elara yet?"
"Gilliam said that she was asleep, and he triple checked it to make sure. Why did he do that?"
Jim chuckled. "Because I gave him a hard time last night about being wrong."
"What?"
"Oh, when I brought the food up to her last night, he told me that she was asleep. When I walked in to put the tray on the nightstand, she was crying softly, so I knew that she wasn't asleep."
"She was crying?"
"Yeah." He proceeded to relate the entire story to Melfina.
"Oh, wow. I had no idea it was that bad."
"Yeah."
"Elara just woke up," Gilliam broke in.
"Thanks," Jim replied. "Mel, will you take up a cup for her? I'll bet she's a coffee drinker if she's the president of a company."
She laughed. "You're probably right, Jim."
"I'm going to go get a head start on some work."
"I'll bring you breakfast, then. Or at least another cup of coffee."
"Thanks, Mel."
Jim left the galley as Melfina poured another mug and placed it on a tray along with a breakfast roll, just in case Elara was hungry. She picked up the tray and walked over to her room, where she knocked on the door. "Come in," Elara called out.
Melfina opened the door and was surprised to see Elara up and rummaging through the drawers in the small dresser. "What are you looking for?"
"Oh, I felt like a snoop, but I kind of need some whole clothes."
She looked her over and noticed that a badly ripped shirt and torn shorts barely covered up the girl. "I can get you some of mine, if you want me to."
Elara glanced over at her. "If you could, that would be great." Reaching into a drawer, she pulled out an article of clothing. "Before you leave, though, I would greatly appreciate it if you told me who wore this. I've never come across this style before."
Melfina laughed. "That's because it belongs to a Ctarl-Ctarl."
"What?"
"I'll explain later, or you can ask Jim to explain. I'll go get you some clothes."
She returned a few minutes later with a new blouse and shorts. Elara changed quickly. "Ah, now I feel much better—like I'm whole again."
"I'm going to go down to the galley to make breakfast. Do you feel up to coming down later?"
"Mel, I don't know what you did for me, but I feel wonderful. Thanks for everything," she said gratefully. "Can I at least help you with the meal? I want to feel like I've done something for you, you know, as a tiny bit of repayment."
"Elara, don't worry about it. I was happy to help," Melfina said, blushing slightly. "But yes, of course you can help. Did Jim mention that Gene isn't always the most responsible guy around?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Yes…"
"Goes for meals as well."
"I see," she said, smiling. The two young women walked down to the galley to prepare the meal. Twenty minutes later they had made a spread of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and another pot of coffee.
"You're a wonderful cook, Mel," Elara said after they had set the food on the table.
"You're not so bad yourself," she replied. "Watch—now that food is out, Gene will come stumbling in here in whatever he wore to bed."
"The smell of food wake him up?"
"Of course."
Elara laughed. "Where's Jim?"
"He's in the room at the end of the hallway with all of the cabins working on the bills and paperwork and such. Do you want to bring him some breakfast and another cup of coffee?"
"Sure." Elara loaded the items onto a tray and took it to where Jim was working away on his laptop. He looked up at her in surprise when she entered. "Elara? What are you doing up?"
"Helping Mel with breakfast," she told him nonchalantly. "What are you working on?" she asked as she set the tray down on the table and walked over to stand behind him.
"Calculating repair expenses, food expenses, and rent expenses, and seeing how much we are in debt, and how much more we need to borrow in order to pay these expenses. They just keep piling up and up."
"Why is it taking you so long?"
"I have to figure in interest and cost, and inventory everything. That's actually what takes me the longest."
"What program are you using?"
"Uh…Business Deluxe software, I think."
"Here, let me try something." Jim stood up and let Elara sit down. She brought up a window that he had never seen before and typed something in. Another window came up, with a detailed list of a previous inventory. She highlighted the items and copied them over to Jim's current window—the one he had been working on when she arrived. Then she looked up current costs and did the same thing, then typed in a command.
Jim's eyes opened wide in surprise when a perfectly detailed list popped up on his window, with everything matched correctly: item, cost, amount, and location. "How…how did you do that?"
Elara laughed. "I used my shortcut."
"What?"
She pointed to the lower right-hand corner of the screen. There he saw text that read "Copyright Alcyone Enterprises." "I made this program myself two years ago," she said. "I made up the shortcut, and I'm the only one who knows that it exists. Here, let me show you how to do it."
Melfina walked into the room thirty minutes later to find Jim seated at the computer with Elara leaning over his shoulder, showing him different shortcut techniques that she had placed within the program to make things even easier to inventory and organize. She smiled to herself. They both need a friend so badly—Jim one his own age, and Elara one who will see her for who she is and not as a company leader. I hope this works for both of them.
Elara looked up from the screen. "Did Gene come like you said he would?"
"He sure did." She walked over to stand behind them. "What are you two working on?"
"What I usually work on," Jim said without looking up from the screen, his fingers flying over the keys.
"I'm going to go clean up breakfast, then Gene and I are heading back to the warehouse. Will you meet us there for lunch?"
"Sure."
Melfina left the room.
Jim glanced over at Elara. "So…what are your plans now?"
"Plans?"
"Yeah…well, now that you're feeling better and all, won't you want to get back to your ship and wait for it to get repaired and such?"
She looked startled. "I…I guess I haven't really thought about it much…"
"If you'd like, I'm sure it would be okay if you stayed with us until your ship was repaired. How long will that be, anyway?"
"I think about another two weeks or so."
"That long? Sheesh! How much damage did that other ship cause?"
"A lot."
"Gosh, it must have. Hey, as soon as we finish up here, why don't I take you to our warehouse and show you where we really live."
"Sounds good, Jim."
He turned back to the screen and began typing again, with Elara still leaning over his shoulder.
That night the nightmares began. Elara tossed and turned as she relived the horrible night in that rundown hotel. At the point in the memory-dream where the men began stripping her, she shrieked aloud in terror.
Her cry woke Jim, whose cabin was next door. He dashed over to her room and rushed inside to see what was the matter. "Elara? Are you all right?" he whispered loudly.
She continued to toss and turn without responding to his words. She must be asleep—I guess she's having a nightmare. What should I do? Should I wake her up? Deciding to end her bad dream, Jim reached out and gently shook her shoulders. "Elara! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"
Rather than waking up, Elara struggled against his grasp. "No…stop…please… don't…" she moaned as she tried to get away from him. Resolutely Jim held on to her shoulders in the hopes that eventually she would awaken. Suddenly the teenager stiffened, and her eyes blinked open.
Glancing up, Elara stared at Jim wide-eyed in fear. A single tear cascaded down her cheek as she held the bed sheet over herself. Like a cornered mouse she slid back from him until she hit the wall. As soon as she felt the cold metal on her back, she gasped in fright. "Stay away…" she demanded weakly.
Surprised at her actions, he reached out a hand to her. He thought it would be a good thing to do, but he could not have been more wrong. Before he had even made contact she jerked herself as far away as she could from his touch, though the wall behind her made the distance increase a mere few inches.
She's afraid of me, isn't she? Her nightmare must have been caused by what those cursed men did to her! Or was the nightmare not a dream, but a memory? He winced at the thought of her reliving that wretched night over and over again. "Elara—it's me, Jim. I won't hurt you," he told her, withdrawing his hand and moving back away from the bed.
The girl stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. "J-Jim?" she stuttered.
"Yes. I'll never hurt you, Elara," he stated honestly, taking a cautious move back toward the bed.
His simple reply brought fresh moisture to her eyes. "Really?" she asked in a timid voice.
He nodded in reply as he sat down on the edge of her bed. "Really." For the first time he noticed the state she was in. Elara was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and breathing rapidly, her face pale and drawn.
The sixteen-year-old startled him by collapsing into his arms and sobbing. He could not utter a word for a moment. Her heart was pounding so quickly that Jim could feel it through the light material of her nightshirt. Gently he cradled her and allowed the tears to fall without saying a word. A few minutes later she had calmed down enough to fall back asleep. Carefully he laid her back down on her bed and pulled the sheets back over her.
Before closing the door behind him, Jim took one last look in at her peacefully sleeping form. Startled by the emotions the image spawned in him, he turned away with a jerk and shut the door without a backward glance.