Chapter 17
The lights came back up slowly. They were in the manor now. The first thing Piper and Leo realized was that something had changed—they were no longer transparent.
Then they saw Chris. He was sitting on the floor at a kid's table. Despite looking like his adult self, he appeared to be child-like. He was drawing a picture and coloring it in with crayons.
A banner hung on the wall that read, "Happy 5th Birthday Chris."
Piper and Leo approached him.
"Chris?" Piper said.
Chris stopped coloring a moment and looked at his parents. "Hi Mom. Hi Dad." He then went back to coloring.
They both looked at each other, worried. Piper and Leo bent down to Chris' level.
"Chris, why are we here?" Piper asked.
"This was before things started getting bad," Chris answered, continuing his coloring. "We were all happy."
Sounds of laughter came from the kitchen. Piper and Leo could see future versions of themselves huddled around five year old Chris. Seven year old Wyatt brought Chris a present. They were all smiling and laughing.
Piper stared at the scene for a moment. It all looked so normal. So perfect. She could understand why Chris wanted to come here.
Then she looked at adult Chris, who was still coloring. "Sweetie, you need to wake up now."
"I don't want to," he told her. "I like it here."
Leo said, "But, son, you're okay now. Your mom and aunts rescued you. No one is going to hurt you anymore. I promise."
Chris stopped coloring and looked at his father, frowning. "You promised me I would be okay before, Dad. Remember? You promised me, but I wasn't okay."
Tears welled up in Leo's eyes, the guilt washing over him. "I know and I'm sorry."
Chris looked at his father for another moment, and then went back to his coloring.
Piper had tears in her eyes as well. She took Chris' face in her hands and lifted his head so he would look into her eyes.
"Chris," she said, "have I ever broken a promise to you?"
"No," he said, softening.
"Well, I promise you, if you wake up, you'll be safe. No one is going to hurt you ever again. I won't let them."
"You can't stop it!" Chris cried, becoming emotional. "Dad can't stop it! There's always going to be pain and hurt and it never stops!"
"Then we'll help you get through it," Leo said. "You won't have to go through it alone."
Piper added, "We'll be there with you. But you need to come back to us so we can help you. You can't stay stuck here. You need to move past this. There might be pain, but there are also some wonderful things out there too that you'll miss out on if you don't wake up. Please, honey, come back to us."
Chris was teary eyed now. "You'll help me?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes," Piper said, hugging her son.
Leo embraced them both, saying, "We both will."
They all closed their eyes.
When they opened them, they were back in Piper's bedroom. Piper and Leo continued holding their son, who was openly crying now.
Piper was rocking him back and forth, telling him he was going to be okay now.