The X-Files: Tyvenas
Chapter Two-New York
I went to bed that night early and dreamed again. I didn't understand what was happening. This time, I felt the dream was real.
I was standing near my bed. I could see myself sleeping in it. I looked and saw Elizabeth standing by the window. There was a terrace that over looked the busy New York street.
Elizabeth was calling me toward her. I began walking toward her. She led me out onto the terrace. She leaned over and it looked like she was going to fall. I lunged for her and ended up sailing over the railing myself, only to grab onto the railing. I woke up abruptly.
I looked down at the street. Car headlights shone brightly and horns went off. My feet were dangling 11 stories above the ground. I screamed for help.
AGENT MULDER.
I heard Scully screaming. I woke up abruptly and fled from my room. I stood out in the hall and banged on the door to their room, which was next to me.
"SCULLY! ELIZABETH!" I shouted.
No reply.
Finally, I began using my shoulder as a battering ram. After several tries, the door burst open. I saw Elizabeth lying in bed, but Scully wasn't. I heard her screams coming from the terrace. I lunged onto the terrace. She was hanging there, her feet dangling eleven stories above the ground.
"Scully!" I shouted.
"Mulder help! Pull me up!" she cried.
I grabbed a hold of her wrists and began pulling.
I finally pulled her up. She clung to me as I sank to my knees and held her. She pressed her face into my chest and sobbed. I yelled for Elizabeth.
After a few moments, Elizabeth appeared.
"Oh my God! What happened?" Elizabeth cried.
"Didn't you hear her screaming?" I demanded, glaring at Elizabeth.
"No! Honestly! I was in a deep sleep," Elizabeth said, looking pale.
"What happened Scully?" I asked.
It took Scully a good twenty minutes to calm down before she told me what happened.
"I dreamed…Elizabeth led me out onto the terrace…she made it look like she was leaning over and when I lunged to help her, I fell over the railing," Scully said, closing her eyes and pressing her face deeper into my chest.
Elizabeth went even paler.
"It was like she was luring me out there,"
I looked up at Elizabeth.
She was shaking her head slowly.
"How-how could I? I was asleep!" Elizabeth stammered. "That's impossible!"
"Unless you have some strange power you never told us?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Scully and I got to our feet and Scully still didn't leave my side.
"N-no…no power!" Elizabeth said, looking terrified, which made me suspicious.
If she didn't have a power, she should be angry that we're accusing her…instead, she's terrified?
I knew Scully was thinking along the same lines. But we didn't want to do anything right now that might cause Elizabeth to suspect that we know anything. It might trigger her to do something rash and possibly violent.
"Okay…okay. Let's just all get some sleep," I suggested.
Elizabeth still looked upset.
"Listen, why don't you sleep in my room, Scully? Give you some time to calm down," I suggested.
"Good idea," Scully said, as she eyed Elizabeth suspiciously before she went back into the room and began packing her things.
I stood in front of Elizabeth.
"I know that was impossible if you were sleeping…maybe the stress of the job is getting to Scully. Don't worry. She'll be okay," I said, smiling reassuringly.
I wanted Elizabeth to know and think that everything was cool and calm. This way, if she really was up to something evil…or dastardly, when the time came, we would have a heads up and find a way to put an end to it.
Elizabeth nodded and offered me a faint smile before walking back into the room. On one hand I felt bad for leaving Elizabeth alone in the room…but if what Scully said was true, and I know Scully would never lie, then Elizabeth really was dangerous and we did a bad thing by trying to protect her.
But what I wanted to know, is why now? Why didn't she show her true colors before? And why didn't the clone act the same way?
We left the room and I stood in front of the door to my room. I opened it up. Scully was rubbing her arm. The door opened and we entered. I closed the door behind me and locked it, also sliding the chain across it as well as added security.
"Mulder, it totally felt like Elizabeth wanted to hurt me," Scully said, dropping her luggage on the floor near the dresser and she began pacing the room.
"Why would she want to hurt you?" I asked, sitting on the bed closest to the bathroom.
Scully ran a hand through her windblown light auburn hair and stopped pacing. Her face drained of all color.
"Unless…" her voice trailed off.
"Unless what?" I prompted gently.
"Unless it's a territory thing," Scully whispered.
"A territory thing? Now you're starting to sound like me!" I said, surprised, but secretly pleased.
"Elizabeth really is the alpha female right? She said though that she's not evil…what if Elizabeth wanted to get rid of me to get closer to you?" Scully said, as she stopped pacing and faced me.
I looked at her.
"Riiiight," I said slowly. "Now you're starting to scare me."
"No! Seriously! Think about it! We both know she's got a huge crush on you! Getting rid of me would most certainly bring her closer to you! Only I think she has some sort of power that she hasn't told us about yet!"
Actually, I had already wondered the same thing.
"You're right Scully. But why wouldn't she hurt you earlier? She certainly had plenty of time and opportunity," I said, tilting my head.
"I don't know. That I haven't figured out yet," Scully said, as she continued pacing.
"Maybe she didn't want to act too soon because it would look suspicious?" I offered.
Scully nodded.
"Exactly,"
Scully then turned sympathetic and sat on the bed opposite me.
"Listen, I know how much you care for Elizabeth and I bet you feel like she betrayed you somehow," Scully said gently and softly.
I didn't reply.
"But Elizabeth is dangerous. Suppose she did get out? She could very well destroy anyone in her path," Scully continued.
I felt tears forming in my eyes. I was hurt and angry. But Scully was right. Elizabeth was dangerous. She had to be dealt with.
"I know," I said, quietly. "But we can't do anything yet because it would make her suspicious that we're onto her. We have to take our time."
Scully nodded.
"Anyway, which bed do you want?" I asked, grinning.
"That one," Scully said, pointing to the one I was sitting on. "I'm not going anywhere near that terrace for a looong time."
I smiled and got up.
Scully pulled down the covers and climbed in. I pulled down the covers of the other bed.
"I'm telling you right now, if you snore, I'm smacking you with a pillow," Scully replied.
I grinned. "Suppose you hear…a 'bodily' function noise during the night?"
"Then I'm corking your pie hole and I'm not talking about your mouth," Scully grinned.
I chuckled and we climbed in. I reached up and turned off the light.
About 2 minutes later, I pretended to snore. The next thing I knew, I felt something smack me right in the face.
I jumped a mile and ended up falling out of bed, tangled in the sheets. The light was turned on. Scully was laughing. I climbed back into bed and tossed the pillow back at her.
"Good night, Scully," I said, softly.
"'Night Mulder," she replied.
We turned off the light and I curled up in bed, pulling the covers up over my shoulders. I faced the terrace and lay awake for a few moments thinking about when I went onto the terrace and found Scully hanging off the railing dangling above the street. Suppose I had somehow accidentally let go? Or she had slipped? Then what? I would've lost someone I cared a lot more than life.
I couldn't bear the thought of losing her.
I finally closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
AGENT SCULLY.
THE NEXT MORNING.
I awoke around seven o'clock. Mulder was still asleep next to me in the other bed. I yawned and sat up. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood up.
"Hey…wake up," I said, prodding him.
He moaned but didn't stir.
He covered his head with his pillow.
"Come on…up," I said, prodding him again.
Still no movement, just a protest.
"Scully it's too early…can't we sleep for another hour?" he asked, groggily, his voice muffled from underneath the pillow.
"No. The earlier we get there the faster we can find out more about Elizabeth," I replied.
I showered and changed into a light tan suit. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Some of the shorter strands had come loose and hung down against my chin. I tucked them behind my ear.
Mulder still hadn't gotten up. Feeling annoyed but amused, I grabbed my pillow and began beating him with it. After one smack, he jumped right up.
"I'm up!" he said.
He had been sleeping on his stomach. When he sat up, his normally fluffy dark brown hair was even fluffier and it was standing on end.
I burst out laughing.
"You should see yourself," I laughed.
Mulder stood in front of the mirror. He jumped.
"Gah!" he said. "I look like I stuck my finger in an electrical socket!"
"Go shower," I said, still laughing.
He grabbed a fresh suit and tie and headed into the bathroom. I heard the water going shortly.
He emerged about ten minutes later fully dressed and dried hair which, was smoothed back.
"Do you think Elizabeth's up?" I asked.
"Why don't we call her to find out?" Mulder asked as he went over to the phone and dialed the room next door.
We heard the phone ringing through the wall.
Then, we heard it stop.
"Liz? Are you up?" Mulder asked.
A pause then:
"Okay. No problem. We'll meet you downstairs. We're gonna check out," Mulder said.
He hung up the phone.
"She's up. She's gonna shower and then meet us downstairs," Mulder said.
I nodded.
We packed everything again.
Mulder and I headed down to the lobby with our luggage. We checked out.
I glanced at my watch. It was eight twenty three. Finally, Elizabeth emerged from the elevator and began walking toward us.
I felt a cold sensation trickle down my spine.
"Hey…are you okay now Scully?" Elizabeth asked, concerned.
"Yeah. I'm sorry," I apologized.
Elizabeth beamed.
"Let's get going!" Mulder said as we headed out of the lobby and out to the Taurus.
I figured that it was best not to let Elizabeth know we had a bad feeling about her and that we were onto her until we were absolutely sure.
We dumped our luggage into the trunk and then climbed into the car. Elizabeth was sitting in the backseat. This time, I was driving and Mulder was in the passenger seat.
We still had about three more hours to go.
WASHINGTON, MAINE.
THREE HOURS LATER.
Maine was beautiful. The scenery was just breath taking. Elizabeth told us the direction to the house. When we pulled up in front of it, Elizabeth shoved open her door and climbed out of the car. She closed the door and hurried up the front steps. The house was a two story Victorian. There were vines and shrubs hugging the house. It looked like it had been abandoned for years.
Mulder and I exchanged looks again before pushing open our doors and we climbed out then closed them.
We followed Elizabeth up the front steps. She pulled out a key from her pocket and put it in the lock.
The door opened immediately. She entered the house. Mulder and I cautiously followed her.
The inside of the house was dusty, moldy and it smelled of mothballs and Old English wood cleaner.
The furniture was covered in white sheets. The floorboards creaked under our feet. Elizabeth led us into the kitchen.
"There's some soda and stuff here. It's still good," she replied.
She pulled open the fridge. I grabbed Mulder's arm as I got a brief glance into the fridge. There were strange objects in glass jars inside and some had red water filled in them. Mulder quickly followed my gaze. He got the same glimpse before Elizabeth closed the fridge.
"Dang…must've spoiled. Well, we could go into town for fresh food?" Elizabeth suggested.
I quickly recovered.
"Sure. Why don't you and I head into town? Let Mulder check the place out?"
"Sure!" Elizabeth said, brightly.
She and I left the house.
AGENT MULDER.
Scully and Elizabeth left the house. That gave me more of a chance to check out what was really in the fridge, and I would be able to snoop around for a bit before they came back.
I headed over to the fridge and took a deep breath before I opened it.
I opened it.
The glass jars were still there. I crouched down and examined one closely.
It looked like a human liver. My eyes roamed over the rest of the jars.
Some had what looked like eyeballs; fingers and one that looked suspiciously like a heart.
Hmm…I thought. Why on earth would she have these things in the refrigerator? Unless she was storing them for food or something.
I quickly closed the fridge, feeling that we indeed made a huge mistake in saving Elizabeth. Maybe we helped her to achieve what she really wanted.
Until I was positively sure, I decided to snoop around the house.
I checked the rooms. There was nothing unusual in them. Then, a door in the kitchen felt like it was calling me. The basement.
Clearing my throat, I grabbed the door handle and turned it.
I groped for the light and switched it on. There were steps leading down. I pulled out my flashlight and switched it on before I began slowly making my way down the stairs.
I reached the bottom and moved the flashlight around the basement.
Then, my flashlight beam came across three figures sitting in chairs. They were tied and duct tape was across their mouths. They were dead though. Their throats had been torn out. Dark stains were on the floor beneath their chairs. It was the Meadow's family.
