Quentin sat in his hard wooden chair as he looked at the others in silence.
"Go on, tell us a bit about yourself." Dr. Feld prodded the first man.
The man introduces himself as Eric Hammond. He looked to be in his early 40s. He told everyone he had a wife named Julie and a 14 year old son, Todd.
The next man was the older gentleman who'd spoken before and looked to be in his late 50s. He was married with no children and was retired. His name was Thomas Hoffin.
The third was a rather stern looking woman who immediately reminded Quentin of his sister Judith. She was, not surprisingly, never married and had no children. Her name was Jane Marsh.
Next was the man sitting next to Quentin. He looked to be about the same age as he with blonde hair and green eyes. He was just recently married and Quentin could tell they were still in the newlywed stage where they just couldn't get enough of each other. His name was John Summers.
Quentin was next… 'What am I going to say?' he thought to himself, settling on giving them a censored version of the truth… if he had to.
He noticed everyone was staring at him and spoke up quickly. "I'm uh… David Towne, I'm from America and am new to England."
Quentin stopped, not wanting to say any more. However everyone still looked at him expectantly and Feld attempted to probe a bit deeper.
"So… do you have a wife Mr. Towne? Children?"
Quentin's mind started to slip back into the past and his face clouded over. When he answered his voice was odd… flat. "I had a wife, daughter and son. They're dead."
Quentin surprised himself, telling them his daughter was dead… though it wasn't true. When he said it, he got an odd sensation and even felt guilty about it.
'Damn Feld… why did he have to know about their lives anyway?'
"Oh," Feld replied, seeming embarrassed for hitting a touchy subject so soon. "I'm terribly sorry, I had no idea."
"Oh really. Well how did your perception that worked so wonderfully to choose us miss that little detail?" Quentin said rather bitterly. He knew he was being rude, but thinking about the past always seemed to upset him and besides that… he simply didn't care what Dr. Feld thought of him or his manners.
Quentin turned away from Feld and he found himself looking into the deep amber eyes of the red head, they were filled with sympathy. She was fascinating to him… there was something about her, something unusual, that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
She offered him a small smile and asked him, "What do you do for a living?"
Oh, but she was a sweet thing… he found himself smiling back at her in return.
"I'm a writer."
"How interesting." She replied.
There was an attraction, Quentin was sure of it.
The next man went; he was in his 30s and had chestnut brown hair and brown eyes. He was a lawyer and obviously well off. He had a wife, son and daughter. Quentin envied him… this man before him had all the things he had lost, and quite an attitude to top it all off. Quentin could tell that he wasn't going to get along very well with the man. His name was Gregory Pitt.
Next and last was the redhead Quentin had enjoyed eyeing most of the night. Her name was Sofia Elaina, she was unmarried and had no children. She was a home nurse for an elderly man in London.
Dr. Feld smiled after she finished. "So now that we've all introduced ourselves I think it's time we get to business. We're here to delve into the human mind… the supernatural… and unlock the secrets that both guard so closely. We're going to enter the unknown."
~
Quentin walked along the foggy and somewhat abandoned streets alone, pondering over what happened at Dr. Feld's less than an hour ago. Something was tugging at his mind, teasing him. There was something now quite right about his whole thing… but he couldn't put his finger on what.
He didn't trust Feld.
Quentin reached up and pulled his coat closed tighter, feeling a chill. As his long coat danced in the breeze behind him as he walked.
He thought suddenly of the red head… Sofia. Her image suddenly was flashing into his mind.
He wanted to get to know her better. She was different somehow, different from others and different from himself.
He could sense it, something he'd always had a knack for but a sense that had gotten stronger after he was cursed, among other things… things he didn't want to think about right now.
In 1897 he knew that Laura was no longer the same after her return from Egypt, he could feel it as soon as he saw her that terrible day standing in the drawing room of Collinwood.
A dead woman.
Dead. Ashes. Gone.
But there she was, looking just as she had before, giving Quentin a smugly amused look at his horrified expression. He remembered how much she angered him. Even now, all these years later he could feel his anger rising at the thought of her, and took a deep breath to try and calm himself down.
His thoughts returned to his problem at hand. He needed to stay alert; he couldn't let his guard down around Feld… or any of the others for that matter.
He reached his apartment at last, it was getting late and he was hungry. However he didn't feel like going out tonight… alone… so he scrounged around the small apartment until he found something halfway edible.
Sitting down on the couch he relaxed and chewed on a piece of leftover chicken from the night before as he sipped on a full glass of brandy.
~
She stood before him suddenly and out of nowhere.
A small girl, around the age of 7 or 8. A beautiful little creature with auburn hair and bright blue eyes… where had he seen those eyes before?
Where? Where? Where?
The girl stared at Quentin sadly.
"You left me." She accused. Her voice the echo of loneliness.
Quentin blinked, bewildered and confused. He knew this little girl somehow…. A thought started to take form in his mind.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
But she didn't answer.
She didn't hear him.
She was already gone.
To Be Continued...