AUTHOR'S NOTE: THANKS JACKIE FOR BEING MY BETA AND THANKS EVERYONE FOR ALL THE REVIEWS.
OH! And Katherine to answer your question there are nineteen children living at the house or mansion all 14 Black Files, Will, Peter, Adam, Debbie and Chris. And For everyone that's wondering Alley makes her escape next chapter.
CHAPTER 36
THE TRUTH ABOUT WILLIAM
May 29, 2003
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond International Airport
8:45am
"William, will you please stop pacing!" Charles said to his grandson.
"Sorry." Will mumbled.
"Your parent's plane will be here shortly. So just sit down and chill out." Charles commanded. Will obeyed as he sat next to his grandfather. Peter climbed onto his eldest brother's lap.
"You think Momma's gonna be bigger?" Peter asked Will.
"Yeah." Will replied, his mind some where else. Peter, Alex and the other two boy's watched their older brother with interest.
"What?" Will asked feeling four pairs of eyes on him.
"We were going to ask you the same thing." Aaron replied.
"It's nothing." Will told them.
"Really than why have you been such a nervous wreck today?" Andros asked.
"I'm not nervous, I'm just... I don't know." Will said confused.
"It's called anxious. You're ready to see your parents after them being gone for a week. You are also concerned for your mother's health." Charles told Will.
"You been takin' lessons from Pop-Pop, Grandpa Charles?" Alex asked him.
"No." Charles told her.
"Mom really shouldn't be flying right now that's all. She's in her first trimester, and all of th' baby books warn against it. Not to mention she's gone out of the country." Will said defending himself.
"William Aiden Russell, listen to me. Your mother is fine. The twins are fine. Your father is fine. So just relax." Charles told him.
"God, I can see why those two left for a week." Charles mumbled under his breath.
"We heard that." Peter said.
"Good." Charles told the boy. "Wait a minute. Will you've been reading baby books?" He asked looking at the boy.
"Only a few." Will replied. The other children snickered.
"More like a few dozen." Aaron said.
"You and your father, I swear." Charles said.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Will asked.
"It means that..."
"Momma! Daddy!" Came a chorus of squeals from the four youngest children.
"How's my princess?" Jarod asked, lifting his daughter into his arms.
"I'm fine, Daddy." Alex replied, giggling as her father tickled her sides.
"And how are my boys?" Morgan asked.
"We're fine too Momma, we missed you though." Peter said speaking for he and his brothers.
"You all weren't too much for your grandfather and the others were you?" Morgan asked her children.
"They were perfect angels." Charles said.
"So what'd ya bring us?"
"Aaron Daniel Oz Kole Russell, what makes you think your father and I brought any of you anything back?"
"Uh, 'cause you like to shop." Andros replied.
"That was a rhetorical question, Andy." Morgan told her son. "Boys, why don't you go with your father to get the bags? I'm exhausted."
A short while later the eight of them headed out to the van. Morgan fell asleep in the back, as did Alex who was resting her head on her mother's lap. Will sat in the front passenger seat, constantly checking on his mother in the rearview mirror.
"Your mother is fine. She's just tired Will, that's all." Jarod said from beside Morgan, after noticing his son's behavior. "You have no need to worry."
"I know." Will whispered to himself. "Except I was told the same thing about Alley. I'm not letting my guard down this time."
Charles, who over heard the boy, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What happen to your sister wasn't your fault William. I hope that one day you realize that.'
"So do I Grandpa." Will said softly. "So do I."
When the group arrived home, shortly after one, their family greeted them.
"So how was your trip?" Emily asked. She and Morgan were in Jarod and Morgan's room. Emily was helping her unpack.
"Wonderful." Morgan replied. "Except for the fact that your brother treated me as though I were an invalid the whole time."
"He must be taking lessons from Will. Did you know that your son has been reading baby book after baby book? Morgan, your poor boy is going to be a nervous wreck before the twins even get here."
"So you're saying I need to have a talk with my son?"
"The sooner the better. No one else can get through to him. Maybe you can. Believe me, we all tried. There's nothing we have said or done that has convinced Will that everything will be fine."
"Jarod and I will talk to him after dinner." Morgan said.
"Good. So, what'd ya bring me back?" Emily asked. Morgan tossed her a bag. Emily opened it.
"I think that it's still a bit to cool for this." Emily said, holding up a blue bikini.
"Yeah, but I figure that if you and Nicky started dating, then that little number sure will help." Morgan said. Emily blushed. "What? I'm pregnant not blind. Nicky has been eyeing you since the day he got here. I wish you two would get together already. I swear that the sexual tension between you two is going to drive me mad."
Emily threw a pillow at Morgan.
"Please. It's not as though you or Jarod were any better. You spent years chasing after him, before you even realized that you were in love with him."
"Yes, but you forgot one thing." Morgan said.
"What's that?"
"I finally caught him." She said grinning.
That night after dinner Jarod and Morgan took their eldest son aside.
"So I hear you've become Mr. Baby Expert." Morgan said.
"I guess so." Will replied.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jarod asked his son.
"No." Will said.
"Too bad." Morgan told him. "William, baby, you need to talk to us. Take it from someone who kept her feelings bottled up inside, it is not good for you."
Will mumbled something in response."
"What was that?" Jarod asked.
"I'm scared." Will said again.
"Of what, sweetheart?" His mother asked.
"The twins." He replied.
"Why?" She asked him.
"I won't always be able to protect them. I might fail. Like I did with Alley."
"You may have heard this a thousand times, and maybe you'll have to hear it a thousand times more for you to get it. It is not your fault Alley died. You were seven years old. In all honestly is a miracle you survived the Centre alone for as long as you did." Jarod told him.
"I know but..."
"There are no buts, William. You have got to let it go. It's getting you up inside. You must stop hating you self." Jarod finished.
"That's the thing," Will began. "It's not me I hate, it's her."
The boy's eyes began to well with tears.
"She left me alone. Didn't she know that I'm lost without her? She was my other half. I'm not complete without her. I can't function without her. I don't even know how I survived!" He cried.
"But you did, Will, and that's what's important."
"Dad, you don't understand! We were all each other had. We promised to never leave each other. But she left me. She gave up, and left me alone in that place. And I had no one!" He yelled tears now streamed down his face. His parents held him.
"I was all alone." Will repeated. "She left me all alone."
"Baby, I'm so sorry." Morgan said, holding her son. The three stayed that way for a long time. Finally, Will fell asleep. Jarod picked up his son and carried him to his room. While Will slept, Jarod decided that it was time to learn more about his eldest son. Jarod grabbed a collection of Will's DSA's. Jarod then took them to his and Morgan room and began to watch.
FOR CENTRE USE ONLY
PHOENIX
JANUARY 17, 2000
A nine-year-old William is hanging from the ceiling by his hands. He is wearing nothing but a pair of Centre standard issued pants. He is tired.
"Do I need to ask you again?" Raines wheezes. "I have all day."
Will's body rotates and along his back ten long slashes are visible. There is blood seeping from the cuts. Will shows no sign of giving in to Raines.
"You can make this easy or hard, Phoenix." Raines warns. "Cooperate and this will all end now. Continue with this foolishness and you will spend the next few months of your life very uncomfortable."
"My name is William, not Phoenix." Will says and spits in Raines' face. Raines smacks the boy sending him crashing into the wall.
"Your decision." Raines hisses walking away. As he goes to exit the room he motions towards a sweeper. The sweeper walks towards Will unfurling a whip as he does. The sweeper then begins to whip the boy. Every time the whip makes contact with Will's back, he bites back a scream. Even as his back comes to resemble a Jackson Pollock painting, Will refuses to cry out or even shed a tear. In fact it is the sweeper who sheds the first tear.
"Please Phoenix. He won't let me stop until you give in." The sweeper begs the boy.
"My name is William and I will never give that ghoul the satisfaction of giving in." Will says, in between lashings.
Jarod ejected the DSA.
"Destroy it." Morgan said, from behind Jarod. He obliged.
"Do you want to watch another?" Jarod asked
"They can't be any worse than that one." Morgan told him. Jarod inserted the next DSA, as Morgan sat down next to him.
FOR CENTRE USE ONLY
PHOENIX & GEMINI
JANUARY 21, 1999
Will, eight and Chris, eleven are sitting next to each other, heads bent over a set of papers has they hold a heated argument.
"Will, why didn't you do as he said?" Chris asks. "I mean it's just changing your name that's all"
"Two reasons. The first: Will is what Alley called me. The second, Gemini, is that if we keep givin' into them then they're going believe that they can control us." Will tells him.
"But they do!" Chris protests.
"Only because we let them."
"You keep doing this and they're going to kill you."
"They can't kill me."
"Why not, Will? If you keep retaliating others will too. It will lead to a revolt. Raines won't stand for that type of behavior."
"Raines already killed Alley, he can't kill me. He needs me. With Alley dead and Jarod gone I'm the best pretender they have, not to mention I'm the only pyrokinetic they have. The most they can do to me is transfer me to another facility."
"They could reeducate you." Chris tells Will.
"No they can't."
"Why not?" Chris asks.
"That my friend I can not tell you." Will says slyly, motioning to the cameras.
The screen goes black
Jarod inserted another DSA.
FOR CENTRE USE ONLY
WILLIAM & ALYSSA
May 1, 1996
The two five year olds are laying on a cot side by side facing each other.
"Will, I had a dream last night." Alley tells him.
"About what?" He asks her.
"Five babies being born. A set of twins and a set of triplets." She tells him.
"I had that dream too. I think that in the dream we knew them, or would know them. I'm not entirely sure." Will says furrowing his brow in confusion.
"I wonder who they are?" Alley says.
"Alley they're probably not even real." Will tells her.
"I think that they are Will."
Jarod put in another DSA.
FOR CENTRE USE ONLY
WILLIAM & ALYSSA
June 17, 1998
"Hey." Alley says weakly. She is lying on a bed in the infirmary. She is pale and beads of sweet stand out on her forehead.
"Hey." Will replies, squeezing her hand. It is obvious that he has been crying. His eyes are red. "You're going to be okay you know."
"Will..." Alley begins.
"No, Alley, listen to me. They are going to find a cure. I'll find a cure. I promise you."
"Will, I'm dying." She tells him. A tear falls down her brother's cheek. Alley reaches up and wipes it away.
"You are not dying, Alyssa. We're suppose to die together 'member. You're going to get better, Alley, I know it. You just have to have faith that you are."
"I love you, big brother. Don't be sad when I'm gone."
"Alley, you can't leave me. Stay with me. Please don't leave me alone!"
"Will, I'll never leave you alone. We'll always be together, not even death can change that."
"Alley..."
"Will, when you find them, tell Momma and Daddy that I love them"
"Alley..." Will is openly crying now.
"Promise me." Alley says, trying not to cry.
"I promise, but I don't need to because you're going to tell them yourself." Will manages to choke out.
"Will 'member that dream we had when we were five?"
'Yeah, Alley, I remember."
"The triplets are our brothers and sister. Will, can you tell them that I love em too."
"Of course I can."
"I love you too, Will."
"And I love you, Alley."
"I'm so tired, Will." Alley says and closes her eyes. She does not open them again. Not even after Will begs her for the next fifteen minutes to.
"Open your eyes Alley. Come on open them. Wake up please."
It finally sinks in that his sister is dead. Will runs from the room in a blind rage, tears streaming down his face, and fire in his hands looking for someone to blame.
"I think that we've seen enough for today." Morgan said and closed the case.
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