Thank you again to everybody who reviewed! (Thanks to Catherine for that tip with the check box!)  Ooh and I'm on a favourites list. (If I could, I'd probably be cartwheeling around the room but the rooms too small and I can't cart wheel!)

None of the characters or places belong to me, someone else owns them, I ain't making any money out of this!

In my Mind

By Happy Camper

Chapter Four

Broots sat with his head leaning in his hand.  He was staring at a small burn mark on the desk, where Miss Parker had long ago dropped a cigarette butt.  He chewed his lip, deep in thought.  Sydney had neglected to tell him anything.  The usual story, I'm looking into it or I'll get back to you.

                Miss Parker had not woken up yet.  He had gone down to the Centre infirmary in the hopes that they would let him see her again.  No use, they just turned him away.  He wondered if Jarod was helping Sydney. Of course he is, Broots thought to himself, and if Jarod was helping surely he would find a cure for whatever was wrong with Miss Parker.

Broots was also worried about Sydney.  After he had found that security footage of Raines taking the little girl away he was worried that Sydney might ask Raines about it.  If just looking at Raines was scary…what would happen if Sydney confronted him about it?  Broots shook this thought from his head and went back to staring at that burn mark and worrying about Miss Parker.  It seemed like all he did these days was worry.

*****

                A couple of miles away, in a cheap hotel not far from the Centre, Jarod lay on the cheap hotel bed, staring at the peeling paint on the ceiling.  There were no books he could read, noone he could become.  Jarod had hit a wall in his search for a cure to whatever this was.  The only reason it will leave her, he thought is if she's dead…or if there is someone more powerful to go to.  He wasn't sure how long she could stay like this without causing permanent damage.  George had been okay for over a week with this thing in him (controlling him?), maybe Miss Parker would be okay if they could get this thing out of her.

                Jarod didn't know how powerful Miss Parker's abilitites were…how could he find someone more powerful than her if he didn't know, and if he did, could he sacrifice another for her?  Unless he sacrificed the dead…if Miss Parker was dying, this thing would just jump to the nearest living psychic, wouldn't it?  Jarod jumped up and ran to get his phone; he had to call Sydney.

*****

                Raines collapsed into the chair behind his desk, resting the handle of the oxygen tank against the metal leg of the table.  He was in a foul mood as usual and one of his computer technicians had just told him that he'd found someone looking through materials related to one of Raines' projects.  He had an idea of which project before he even opened the paper folder containing the technician's report.  Someone had seen the footage of him bringing the girl out of the Centre.  This made him angry…someone had been snooping around and now he would have to explain. 

Raines had always been quite proud of the level to which he could resist some of the subject's mind control.  Raines had even managed to, on the odd occasion, resist a subject who had not been injected with the psychic inhibitor that he himself had developed.

That a subject had manipulated him to such a degree was the most embarassing thing that had ever happened to him.  He had known what he was doing of course, but the part of him that would usually stop him from doing something like that seemed not to care.  At the time he didn't feel that it was important that after so long the girl was not only moving but also using her mental powers on him.  It had almost felt nice; who cared if he didn't want her to leave, who cared that one of the docters studying her had found abnormal brain patterns and who cared that she had control instead of him?  Raines could never let this get out; he had a reputation to uphold.

*****

"Sydney, I have to see her."

"Jarod, they won't let me or Broots see her, do you have any idea of what kind of security she's under?"

"I know but I have an idea…."

"Jarod?  Do you know how we can help her?"

"Kinda…look, this thing stays in a person until it kills them, unless it either finds someone more powerful to live in by chance or it gains control and goes looking for someone more powerful to live in."

"Jarod", began Sydney, "How did you find all this out?"

"It doesn't matter…. so the only way we can get this thing out of Miss Parker is if it gets a better offer."

"Jarod, do you mean we'd have to sacrifice another person if we want Miss Parker back?"

"Yes…but, just answer me something…the little girl, is she brain dead?"

"Yes."

"Then we don't need to sacrifice the living."

To be continued….