Chapter 07 – Saying Goodbye

As they lay in the grass Roland and Sharon could scarcely make out someone familiar trudging down the hill. It was Jake with Oy at his hills. Jake was only there for a few seconds before he made his way back up to the hotel. In the lobby of the inn Eddie and Susannah were waiting for him. "They're okay. Lets go to the room." As it turns out there was one room available. Room 1919, on the nineteenth floor. The hotel was eerily quiet. It seems every one of its patrons had gone outside to explore the gunshots. As they entered the elevator Susannah could see the first flashes of red and blue lights from the police cars pulling into the hotel parking lot.

Up in the room Jake told Suze and Eddie that he had used the touch to see what happened. Jake told them that Roland shot some low men and that there were probably more in the hotel. In fact he knew there were more. He could feel them. Anyway, Roland and Sharon had to wait out the commotion. "Wait a minute! Lets just go get them. We have things to do!" Eddie demanded.

"Eddie honey, we'd only draw attention to them." Susannah grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"So…"

"So, we wait." Jake finished, staring out the window.

Roland and Sharon crawled further back into the thick grass in order to increase their cover. What they needed was a plan. Luckily the mob had begun to disperse when they realized there was nothing to see. Still, Roland and Sharon had to wait for the police and the rest of the bystanders to leave.

"Roland what do we do now?" The weight of the day had begun to catch up with Sharon. The anxiety had left her but she looked exhausted. Roland found it difficult to meet her eyes. He kept thinking about not being able to save her at the coffee house. "Roland…?"

"Cry your pardon. My mind was elsewhere." Roland responded, still reluctant to look at Sharon, still not fully there with her.

"Roland, I don't know what happened to me back there… at the bookstore. I remember feeling an evil energy coming from that book. I don't know why I was compelled to touch it. Part of me was repulsed, but another part…"

"Was excited." Roland was finally able to give Sharon his undivided attention. He heard the pain and fear in her voice. He reluctantly met her gaze with his own.

"How…?" Sharon was shocked and confused. She was trying to piece together the morning's events to make some sort of sense out of what was going on.

"Because I have known the effect of glamour." Roland noticed Sharon examining her hands and realized that she looked a little pale. "Don't bother yourself with details. What happened this morning was not your fault. Dwelling on the past won't get us any closer to the tower."

Sharon winced and looked up at Roland with doe's eyes. In that moment Roland would swear that he was looking at Susan. Roland sometimes forgot how harsh he could be yet he did not know how to be any other way. The years had hardened him, yet his heart ached.

"Su… Sharon…" Roland had never been good with words and could not think of anything to say, so he said the only thing he could. "Cry your pardon." Roland lowered his head in a makeshift bow.

Sharon recognized the gesture for what it was and she was moved. "Roland." Sharon lightly touched his hand. Roland looked up. "Roland, you're right. Lets see if the coast is clear."

Roland and Sharon snuck back toward the parking lot for another peek at the crowd. The parking lot was practically deserted. Apparently the police wrote the incident off as a practical joke and the horde of onlookers lost interest shortly after that. Of course it was impossible to tell exactly how much time had gone by, time had grown soft. Roland touched Sharon's arm and smiled. Words were not necessary. Sharon returned his smile and they headed toward the hotel together.

Inside, they bypassed the registration desk and went straight for the elevators. Roland seemed to know which room they would get, Sharon didn't bother asking how. In the elevator Sharon picked strands of grass out of her hair and started braiding it. The same way Susan used to, Roland thought. As they approached room 1919 Eddie opened the door and let them in. "It's about time!" Eddie exclaimed. Roland recounted what happened and inquired about what the others had found out.

"There are definitely more low men here and we think they will strike sometime tomorrow during the book convention." Jake stated.

"There will be a lot of famous authors here, maybe it has something to do with one of them." Eddie added. "Do you think it has something to do with that Richard Ivan Freeburg guy?"

"Its not him." Roland responded disinterestedly. He was trying to make sense of it all.

"Stephen King." Sharon resounded. Her face had lost some of its color.

"What?" Everyone inquired almost collectively.

"I'm sure of it. We are here to save him. Stephen King is somehow connected to the Dark Tower." Sharon told of the books she had seen when they left the bookstore earlier including the change of title and author.

"On a hunch I signed us up to volunteer at the convention tomorrow. It was the only way I could think of to give us access without drawing too much attention to ourselves." Jake mentioned. Eddie ruffled his hair and gave him a 'thumbs up'. The group discussed their game plan for the next day and decided to get some sleep. Eddie and Susannah took one of the twin beds while Roland insisted that Sharon take the other. Jake and Roland slept on the floor. This time Roland had no trouble falling asleep, his mind and body were both exhausted.

The next day everyone was up by dawn going over their plan, getting ready. The previous night Sharon had washed her white blouse in the sink, trying to get rid of the blood and grass stains the best she could. It was no use though. She woke up early and went to the hotel gift shop to buy a new shirt. At least she looked presentable now, not too disheveled for a book convention volunteer. As for the others… Well, Sharon just hoped they wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves. She washed their clothes along with her own, but still the gunslingers stood out. They didn't quite fit in. Well no time to worry about that now. It was time to focus on the plan. Be on the lookout for low men, agents of the crimson king. Roland and Sharon agreed to hand out nametags that way they could keep an eye on everyone that came in. Eddie and Susannah signed up to be Mr. King's personal assistants for the day. No one was going to get by them. And Jake was on reconnaissance. His job was to tie up any loose ends. Unfortunately for this mission Oy would have to stay in Sharon's car. He would just draw too much attention to the group and that was not what they needed. They could not leave him in the room because if things went down the way Roland expected them to, they would have to make a fast get away.

The plan went as follows: Whenever Roland spotted one of the low men he would have Sharon escort them to where Eddie and Suze were waiting to quietly dispose of them. At least that was what was supposed to happen. Roland knew that few things go as smoothly as planned and this plan went just about as wrong as a plan can go. Everything happened within the blink of an eye. A group of about twenty low men entered all at once. They carried guns of their own and made no effort to conceal them. They headed straight for the author Stephen King, who would have been an easy mark if not for the gunslingers waiting for them. Susannah and Eddie opened fire before the low men had a chance. Roland took out eight from the back. Sharon had jumped over the table and kicked a gun out of one guy's hand who had a clear shot at Mr. King. Roland shot another one. Sharon ducked instinctively as a bullet whizzed past her head. Unfortunately another bullet ripped through her chest. Roland easily killed the one who shot Sharon. Jake took out two from his hiding spot under a distant table and Susannah and Eddie took out the rest.

Most of the patrons of the book convention had scattered like birds as soon as the shooting started. A few remained hiding under tables frozen with terror and incomprehension. Roland went to Sharon's side and the others followed. One look at the wound in Sharon's chest told them that she did not have much time left. Oy came up to the group, seemingly out of nowhere. Apparently he had found a way out of the car. Oy went over to Sharon and began licking her face. Sharon opened her eyes. She groaned in pain and Roland kneeled beside her.

"My bag…" Sharon was wearing a shoulder bag and bade the gunslinger open it. The bag was empty, save for a single rose. It was the same pink wild rose that had been in Sharon's apartment. As Roland held the rose Sharon began to speak. "A week to the day before you arrived I saw this rose growing out of the sidewalk. It was so beautiful, I had never seen another rose like it. I had to take it home." Tears had welled up in Jakes eyes. Sharon's words were labored but she pressed onward. "As you can see it hasn't wilted at all even though it had been without water for the last couple days. I know now that it was this rose that brought you here and this rose that will take you back."

Roland gently put a finger to Sharon's lips to silence her. He did not want her to waist any undue energy. Yet Sharon struggled to speak before it was to late. When Roland removed his finger Sharon smiled and spoke with wisdom beyond her years. "Roland, in all my lives I have loved only you. Though I may die a thousand deaths, I have never blamed you for my fate."

Roland felt tears sting his own eyes. He grabbed Susan's hand (for he was sure it was Susan who spoke to him just now) and said the goodbye he never had the chance to utter all those years ago in Mejis. "Susan, I… Thank you." He bent forward and kissed Susan's forehead, whispered that he loved her too, and watched her close her eyes for the last time.

Oy whined and buried his head in his paw. Tears were streaming down Jakes face. Eddie had his arm around Susannah and they were both looking at Roland with grave expressions.

They had protected the Tower, they had protected the White, but another innocent person had died for their quest. His quest. Roland turned toward his ka-tet. They gathered around the rose and just as the local police were approaching the Rose Petal Inn for the second time in two days, the gunslingers were on their way back to their own world.

The End