Chapter Seven: Jon Foster
"So…warm…"
Confident arms encircled Leah and she felt herself snuggle up to them unabashedly. Her own two hands came up to rest gentle atop of the arms that held her so tightly. She smiled a little and closed her eyes as the man brought his mouth towards her ear. He nuzzled her hair aside gently and whispered something. Something sweet though Leah couldn't make it out. "Doesn't matter," she thought. It felt so good to just let go. To take this love and accept it.
"No. Can't accept it…"
Slowly she opened her eyes, the smile remaining on her face. "Can't accept it. Gotta turn away…"
She felt a single tear slip down her face, but her smile still stayed on. "Can't…can't…"
"Please…" she whispered and turned in the person's arms, bringing her lips closer to their own. "Can't…"
Their lips whispered something to her again but all she heard was static –
Leah whimpered softly as the soft, reverberating static brought her out of the sweet memory. She stared ahead of her to see Jon firing with gritted teeth at another Bender which had appeared out of thin air, or so it seemed. On instinct Leah felt herself draw closer to him. The hideous beast took more steps against the bullets but Leah averted her gaze downward. "That was…a memory…a happy memory. I think…"
"Damn thing!!" Jon groaned and reloaded the gun. The thing swiped at Jon and Jon jumped back in fear, yelping and just firing the newly reloaded gun. A bullet connected with the creature's head. Specks of blood flew forward, some dotting Jon and Jon winced. The thing crumpled to a pitiful heap and Jon kicked it once more for good measure. He then turned to face Leah.
"Hey…are you okay?"
Leah shook her head. "Yeah…" she said, forcing a little smile though there was absolutely nothing to smile about. Jon just nodded then forced a little smile of his own. "I can see you and that stick are going to be loads of help." Leah scowled and looked down at the chunky sized stick and shrugged. "Hey…Henry here didn't do too bad with one of those things back in the locker room." Jon shook his head in disbelief. "Henry? You named the stick?"
Leah sighed and stepped ahead of him, stepping past the fallen Bender. "It's a very long story…"
Jon eyed her then followed suit, holding up his hands, the gun as well, which was clutched in his right hand. "Whatever you say, but I suppose someone naming a stick isn't the oddest thing in these parts." Leah gave a slight scoff and smiled sardonically. "Are you kidding? You have people playing crucifixion from the ceiling. Naming a stick is suddenly looking very, very sane. Don't you think?"
Jon checked the gun and opened the side of his brown, suede coat and nodded. "I try not to think."
Leah eyed him suspiciously. "So don't tell me you carry all the items you find in your coat…?" Jon gave her a patronizing look. "Only my metal pipe and my chainsaw…"
Leah chuckled and shook her head, trying in vain to stop feeling so…good. "You're trapped in the ninth level of hell and you're laughing?" her mind scolded but at the same time, Leah didn't feel so guilty. She had almost lost her mind back in the poolroom from raw fear. So what if she felt good about having someone with her? Was that such a crime given the circumstance? "Piss off…" Leah mentally told the scolding voice and continued on. "Any idea where we're going?"
Jon walked up along side her, gun in one hand and shook his head. "Non…"
Leah paused and gave him a quixotic look. "'Non?' You speak French…?"
Jon looked into her eyes and nodded, giving her a solid answer of "yes." Leah stared at him for a long moment afraid to move for fear that it would disturb the fragile course of thinking her mind had fallen into. "The memory…"
She recalled the warmth of his arms, his lips pressed against her hair and whispering. "French, that's why I couldn't understand what he was saying…"
"Jon," she said softly, her eyes widening for a moment. Jon gave her an encouraging smile and walked on ahead. "Any idea how to get out of here?" he asked.
And then the memory was fuzzy once more. Leah closed her eyes and tried to concentrate but it wouldn't come back. She felt a pang of anger and frustration. "Why can't I remember this?!" At her sides, her hands clenched into tight fists and trembled ever so slightly. "Hey?" Jon interrupted and with that Leah allowed her shoulders to slump and gave in. "I…don't…" she trailed off then suddenly looked straight at him. "Wait! I remembered. In that room back there with the weird wall person, you know? I saw some sort of-" she struggled with her words, trying to form them through hand gestures. "I don't know! It looked like some sort of weird display. It had all these little chairs but two were missing. One spot had this weird sort of symbol and I can't remember it off the top of my head, but if I saw it I'd know!"
Jon looked at her strangely then shrugged. "Remembering things isn't exactly your area of expertise, is it?"
"Huh?" she asked, suddenly captivated. How had he known? Suddenly the image of the little boy came back to her. "You forgot me…" his voice echoed within her mind. "Hey…hey wait! Jon!" she called out, jogging up to him and reaching out to grab his arm. He turned before she could do so and looked at her questioningly. Leah felt herself hesitate then plunged forward with her question. "Have you seen a little boy running around here?"
Jon tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. "I think so. He has short blonde hair and blue eyes…? You've seen him too?"
Leah nodded.
"Yeah, before that…that thing attacked me. Then he was just…gone. Like he had never been there."
"Yeah I know about him. I've been trying to find him. It's why I'm here," Jon confessed, turning away. Leah couldn't read his expression but she probed further. "Are you his father?"
Jon shook his head. "I don't know. I just…I just know he's important."
Leah watched him in silence for a moment. There had been something in the tone of his voice that hadn't sounded entirely honest. After a moment had passed she asked her final question. "Do you remember me…?"
There was a long air of silence before Jon finally answered. "No," he said simply then turned to face her. His emotion was unreadable to her and Leah suspected that was the way he'd wanted it. "What about you Leah? Why are you here?"
The question stung Leah in her heart and brought up a fresh wave of frustration. "I don't know…I…wish I did. I don't think I've done anything wrong or anything to deserve being here, but I don't know. I … can't remember," she confessed, averting her eyes away from him and putting her fingers to her temple, as though trying to remember. "I got in a bad car accident and from there I couldn't remember anything, save my name and age. I can't even remember WHY I was driving so late." Jon watched her and his silence urged her to continue. "I survived the crash…I think, but then there was this little girl and I followed her. I thought she'd lead me to help of some sort, but she led me here…" she explained, not bothering to detain the small note of bitterness in her voice.
"No she didn't, you came into this God forsaken town yourself," her mind shot back. Leah ignored it. "So you're looking for a little girl," Jon said posing his words as more of a statement rather than a question. "Is she your daughter…?" he asked, turning her earlier question she had asked him back on her. The question struck Leah in an odd way. She had never honestly considered that. Was she her daughter? Had she had someone in the driver's seat beside her? "I just CAN'T REMEMBER!" her mind screamed. Leah closed her eyes once more and gave a weary sigh. "I …can't remember. I suppose she could be and I wouldn't even know right now."
"Well that…sucks…"
Leah looked up at Jon, into his eyes and found she was smiling. "Yeah…yeah it does suck." Jon gave her a reassuring smile and began to walk further ahead. Leah felt her smile melt from her mouth and bothersome thoughts pervade her mind. "What if…she is my daughter? How could I have forgotten…?"
"Come on!" Jon called from up ahead and Leah snapped out of her gloom ridden thoughts and nodded, jogging ahead to catch up with him in the long hallway that lead to another area of cubicle-like classrooms. Leah glanced over and something caught her eye. She mentally cursed herself for missing it before, though upon closer inspection it didn't exactly look accessible. In the middle of the large room, to the left of the hall and embraced by darkness, was what appeared to be a fairly small library encaged by wire mesh. Inside Leah could see bookshelves filled with dark, grimy books. The wire mesh fell over the library like a blanket with only a single, stained brown door bearing entrance. Leah ran over, jogging down metal stairs and called to Jon. "Hey! Get over here!" Her feet stopped once she reached the bottom and her mouth opened slightly in confusion.
"What the …" Jon's voice trailed off, following her gaze as he stepped up beside her. The pair stared at the floor of the library. Beneath the bookshelves was wire fencing for floor and below that was nothing. A black abyss opened its mouth, posing as the floor of the library. Leah pressed against the wire mesh and tried to get a better look down. It went forever and Leah imagined that it was probably endless. Inside the library were chains dangling from the wire ceiling like sick ornaments. They were dead still and Leah thanked God for that.
"'Feed blood to the name of your savior so that he may taste your sins.'"
"What!?" Leah asked disgustedly, looking to Jon for an answer. Jon shrugged and pointed. "Says that here on the door." Leah examined the door and read the words to her self then glanced down. Beneath the inscription was a dirtied, iron plaque that wasn't at all attractive. However it was blank. Leah ran her finger over the edge and winced. "Ow! Damnit!!"
"What?" Jon asked. Leah held her finger out, which bore a small cut from the sharp edge of the plaque. "Just a cut. I'm fine," she muttered, readying to raise her finger to her mouth to clean off the blood. She paused as the words' meaning dawned on her. "'Feed blood to the name-' a name. A name is suppose to be written here in … blood?" she questioned, looking unsurely to the plaque. Jon eyed her then the plaque. "…Okay…assuming that's right, what's the name?"
"I don't know," Leah confessed. It could've been anything. "How about 'Xellotath'? That's nice and evil sounding," Jon suggested. Leah shot him a stern look and muttered, searching her brain for anything.
"Agramon…" a nameless voice whispered within the confines of her skull.
"Yes! Yes! That name!"
"Agramon…" she whispered and began to write the name with her finger. "Agramon?" Jon asked, watching her write the name. "Who's that?"
"No idea but I saw it on that weird display back there."
As Leah finished the blood began to ripple and squirm, as though it were alive. The sight sent waves of ice across Leah's skin and it made her stomach turn. Then with a soft "click," the door was unlocked. Leah exchanged a short glance with Jon before grasping the handle and slowly turned it to push open the door.
With slow deliberate steps Leah stepped into the library. The books appeared normal all dulled different colors. They wore a fine coat of dust and Leah's eyes just browsed the spines of the books. Hear ears picked up the sounds of Jon's footsteps across the wire metal flooring. Then she spotted what was amiss.
"The titles on all of these books are scratched off," Jon observed.
"Yeah," she muttered, running a finger over a book's spine. Sure enough, the small letters that had been printed upon its spine were missing, having appeared to have been erased or scratched away.
"Weird…" Jon said softly, loud enough for Leah to pick it up. Leah just allowed her eyes to run along the rows of books, all of who bore the same marks where their spine titles would be. "Yeah, no kidding," she said softly in response. "No I mean, I found something," Jon corrected and Leah turned around to see him holding a book. "Check this out, it's some sort of … I don't know, a diary think. Come look for your self," he said, holding the opened book out to her. Leah approached and gingerly took the book, setting the stick down. Its appearance was fairly old and the pages were a slight vanilla color. Oddly enough, as old as the book was, it smelled of roses or some other flower. Leah breathed it in and felt her nerves calm, it was very familiar to her. Her eyes searched the writing and she found that the entry only covered half of the page, scrawled in blank ink. It looked as though it had been written in a hurry. Leah read aloud.
"The town is changing. It's becoming … something else. I'm not safe here. Not now. He had to die. He HAD TO! He was changing with the town! I didn't even know him anymore. Everything he used to believe in, all gone. He wasn't thinking right. He had to die. I had to kill him. And now I need to leave. I'll come back of course. This town will call me back, just like it will call her back one-day. This town feeds off secrets and sins, I should know. Every human being bears a secret, like some sort of scar one tries to hide beneath their clothes. Some secrets are just darker than others are. I can see those secrets and this town feeds off them. It will change but it will not die. The true essence of this town will never be vanquished. It will bring those back who try and escape. I know this … no I feel this. I have to go now. I must hurry."
Leah stared at the entry, somehow feeling moved. Her eyes stared at the very last word and she said nothing. Jon, who had been looking at the entry over her shoulder, stirred her from her silence. "Is that all of it? That's it?" Leah shook her head and turned the pages. Oddly, they were all blank. Her hands turned the pages back looking for entries that would've been written prior to the first she had read, but none were to be found. "I guess that's it. Doesn't make much sense though. Who makes an entry in the middle of a journal and just stops?"
"Some crackpot living in this town?"
Leah briefly thought back to the note she'd found accompanied with the stick, Henry. "Crackpots…" she whispered and looked over to Jon, then back to the book. Leah went to close it until something slipped out and fluttered to the floor. She kneeled down and looked at the object that had fallen, still holding the diary in one hand. On the floor was what appeared to be a small note. "Something…" she said and picked up the note, reading aloud once more. "Turn around," she said softly, reading the thick, black penned letters. Leah stood up and turned to look at the bookshelf she had just been browsing. Wedged in a space between two books was a small figure that had not been there before. Leah stepped closer and examined it, grimacing. The figure appeared to be crudely molded of clay but even with the piss-poor mold job, Leah could make out a body with no face. Sprouting from its chest was another body that looked like a human being screaming in pain. Coming forth from the second body, hung a third lifelessly with its arms hanging down. All three were combined into one body. Leah gingerly picked it up and examined it further. Etched into its back was a symbol and Leah immediately made a connection. "I've seen this…in that classroom," she said aloud. "The one with that weird pyramid display."
"Ohhh I get it," Jon said, gently taking the piece from her hand. Leah removed her small backpack and placed the book they'd found inside of it. "Someone's cute idea of a puzzle. Well that's just peachy," he said sarcastically and handed her back the figure. Leah eyed it once more then shuddered and placed it into her backpack as well. "Guess I know where we're heading. I hope this doesn't become a pattern. This back and forth trekking bullshit," Jon muttered. Leah nodded and led the way, grabbing the stick once more before she left. It took them only a couple of minutes to reach the classroom again. Once there, Leah removed her backpack again and retrieved the small figure. She set it into the spot on the display with the odd symbol, being rewarded with a perfect fit and a small click. A little tune began to play that sounded like a bizarre cross between a child's lullaby and a funeral hymn. From the top, the empty space opened and a chair rose up. The chair was more throne-like and weirder yet it was tarnished in a dark brown substance that Leah suspected was blood. On the throne sat a key. Once the music stopped and the chair had revealed itself fully, Leah plucked the key up. She eyed it but nothing weird came of it. It appeared to be a normal, brass key. "I think I know where this key works…"
"How in the hell would you know that? It could work anywhere," Jon said, looking a bit disbelieving. Leah turned around and looked into his eyes. "Look, just call it a guess then! If I'm wrong, I'm wrong and he can come back here and waste our time searching this stupid place. I just – " she took a deep breath in, calming herself down. "I just have a feeling…humor me, alright?"
Jon heaved a sigh and nodded, making a motion for her to lead the way. "So just where is this hunch of your leading us?"
"I'm not sure, but when I came in here I saw these big sets of doors kinda by the office."
"The lunchroom?" Jon asked curiously. Leah stopped and turned on him. "Care to enlighten me on how you know what room that was?" Jon shrugged lightly. "I saw an old map back in that classroom." Leah stared at him for a long moment then didn't try to hide the venom in her voice. "And you didn't think for a moment, 'Hey! That might be useful!'" Jon held up his hand and smirked, a gesture that made Leah feel all the surlier with him. "Hey, relax. A lot of it was unreadable and besides, most of the hallways in this place are blocked off. I've already looked." Leah didn't respond and her look of annoyance to Jon didn't soften but she left it alone. For now, they had a destination and a goal. If the key didn't work where she suspected then she decided she would badger him about going back for the map. For time being, Leah just did as Jon suggested and led the way back towards the entrance where the lunchroom doors awaited. All the while, with each step, Leah couldn't help but feel more and more sick. The sound of the sirens she'd heard before passing out haunted her memories and suddenly she wasn't so sure that she wanted to know what was behind those doors, but all the same, her feet carried her and Jon closer to their destination.
A/N: Sorry this chapter was so darn long. That's part of the reason it took me so long to post (apologize for that too). Thanks as always to those of you who continue to R&R.I really, really appreciate it. Thanks Justin for your review, I'm enjoying your story as well at the moment. I'm realizing that this story is sounding a bit like SH1 but keep reading. I promise it will take a very different road soon. Also for some really strange reason that's pissing me off, FF.net won't allow me to post this chapter with the link to the wall fairy picture, so to see it just click my pen name and the link should be on there. Take care.