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Part Four: The Ghost of Christmas Future
"You're not real." He hated the way his voice sounded - unsure and scared. "You're not here." He wasn't sure if it was a good sign that Anubis had no response. It had to be a good thing that he was dead and haunting Jack, because that meant he was in no shape to attack Earth again. Not that Jack was exactly in the mood to be haunted by Anubis. Not that Jack was ever exactly in the mood to be haunted by Anubis. Not that Jack was ever exactly in the mood to be anythinged by Anubis.
The silent robed figure only raised his arm and pointed. Jack made no moves to get up. "No, really, if it's all the same to you, I'm just going to stay in, you know? I haven't really gotten a lot of sleep tonight."
Anubis hovered closer, reaching toward Jack with hands covered in sores and puss and blisters.
Jack leapt out of bed, yanking his blankets out of Anubis' reach. "Fine, fine. I'll go. But for the love of God, please don't touch anything! Cause then I'll have to burn it to get rid of yucky Anubis cooties."
Anubis turned and silently led Jack down the hall. Jack followed at a distance, not convinced he couldn't catch whatever disgusting thing it was that Anubis was suffering from. Anubis stopped short when the hallway disappeared into an unfamiliar room.
There was something distinctive about the non-distinct gray paint and white speckled tile floor. He was in a hospital of some sort. He'd seen enough of them to know. He took a few steps down the hall, confirming his idea when he caught sight of a group of men and women in scrubs, pouring plastic cups of what appeared to be fruit punch. Another couple of women were doling pills into little white cups that were placed on a cart next to the fruit punch.
Jack turned back to Anubis. "What the hell is this?" He didn't expect an answer; he wasn't disappointed.
He followed the group of staff as they pushed the cart towards a large, drab room. People were spread throughout the room, watching TV, talking to one another, talking to themselves. Jack looked back at Anubis. "This is a psych hospital, isn't it?" The cloaked face revealed nothing.
"Hey there, sweetie!" A heavy-set older nurse caught Jack's attention as she took a cup of juice and some pills and made her way to the far side of the room. "Here you go, darling." She offered the two containers to someone who was entirely hidden by the armchair they were sitting in.
Jack checked with Anubis, expecting some sort of indication as to what he was meant to do. He received nothing, so he approached the chair slowly. There was a woman there, her feet resting on the seat, her knees tucked under her chin, her arms wrapped tightly around her calves. She was shaking her dull blonde head slowly, giving Jack the impression that it took more energy than she had to respond to the nurse.
The nurse leaned down, placing the two cups on the window sill, and looked the woman in the eye. "I know you're very upset, but you need to take your medicine." The woman defiantly tucked her chin away in response. The nurse tried again. "If you don't take your pills, you won't be able to have any visitors today."
The woman looked up then, her skin a dull gray, making her blue eyes stand out even more than normal. "Jack's coming?"
"Sam?" Jack's voice came in unison with another and Jack quickly turned to see another familiar face, with considerably more gray hair. "Daniel?" Come to think of it, Daniel had never had any gray hair, so it was a little disturbing. Though not nearly as disturbing as seeing Carter helpless and weak as a kitten.
Daniel smiled gently at the nurse. "Sam, honey, you know Jack's not coming today."
Carter slowly tore her eyes away from the nurse to face Daniel. "Jack never comes to visit." Her voice sounded so hurt, so broken, that Jack wouldn't have recognized it if he hadn't been looking right at her. "If Jack knew where I was, he would take me home." She ignored the nurse who had picked up the pills and offered them again. "Does Jack know where I am, Daniel?"
Daniel crouched down beside her, taking her hands in his. But his gaze fell on the nurse. "How long has she been like this?"
The nurse shrugged. "A lot of them get worse during the holidays."
Daniel smiled sadly at Carter. "Sam, honey, you know why Jack doesn't come to see you."
"Because he doesn't know where I am. He'd come if he knew. I know he would. He wouldn't leave me. Will you tell him, Daniel?"
"Sam, why don't you take your medicine? Then we can talk about Jack."
Carter thrust her hand out, purposely knocking the pills and juice from the nurse's hand. "I don't want my medicine! I want Jack!" She curled even further into herself, sobbing.
Daniel mouthed 'sorry' at the nurse who was futilely flicking at the wet spot on her uniform. He reached for Carter's hands again, cradling them in his own as he gently rubbed his thumbs over her skin. "Sam, look at me." Carter eventually did as she was told. "Tell me why Jack doesn't come to visit."
Carter looked down, obviously ashamed.
Jack stepped forward, reaching for Daniel, forgetting momentarily that he wasn't really there. "What have you done to her? If I knew about this, I'd be here with her!" His hands passed through Daniel uselessly.
"Come on, Sam, stick with me. Why isn't Jack here?"
Unperturbed by his last fruitless attempt, Jack swung at Daniel. "Jack is here, damn you!"
Carter's chin trembled as she responded. "I don't know. Where is he?"
Daniel shook his head, nodding at the nurse who had gathered a couple of orderlies to force the medicine on Carter. "Why did you get sick, Sam?"
Carter frowned. "Jack's not here because I'm sick." Jack's heart broke at the tears that formed in her eyes.
Daniel surged forward, wrapping Carter tightly in his arms. "No, no, Sam, no that's not it. It's not your fault."
Carter tensed suddenly, pulling away from Daniel's embrace. She looked over her shoulder, not at the hospital staff who were about to force medication on her, but at an empty corridor. She turned back to Daniel and whispered. "They're listening. And you know it always upsets them when you have flowers on your shirt."
Daniel stood up, smoothing out his striped shirt and stepping back as the orderlies took hold of Carter's arms long enough for the nurse to inject her with something that made her sleep almost instantly.
Before she closed her eyes, she whispered something that made the hairs stand up on the back of Jack's neck. "Jack came back for me."
He ran his fingers lightly against Carter's hair as she slept and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. "It's probably better this way. You guys were meant to be together. He never should have left you behind."
Jack swung again in fury. "I didn't leave her, damn you!" He turned to Anubis, trying to grab hold of the amorphous form. "What the hell are you doing to her? Why does she think I would ever leave her like this?"
Anubis gave no answer and Jack turned back to find they were in another room. It was the same hospital, he could tell from the horrible shade of the walls. He saw Carter, struggling against the restraints that held her in her bed. Even in the dimly lit room, he noticed a change from the woman he'd just seen. The woman before him looked more like the Carter he knew, despite even duller skin and an emaciated figure. Her eyes were brighter and she smiled maniacally.
He watched as her movements stilled for a moment and then suddenly, one of her hands was free. She grinned harder as she reached over to unhook her other hand and her feet. Her bare feet didn't make a sound as she scampered across the room. Jack's eyes widened as she worked the object she kept concealed in her palm against the doorknob.
A moment later and Jack was racing down the hall behind her.
"What are you doing, Carter?" He glanced at Anubis. "Aren't they going to stop her? Don't they have alarms or something?" There was an answering silence from the door as she pushed her way through it and darted out into the snow.
He knew there was nothing he could do to protect her, but he seemed to be the only soul who noticed her. He followed right with her, as they'd run a hundred times. His mind shouted at him all things he should be worried about - her bare feet getting frostbitten, her freezing to death in only thin scrubs, her recent escape from a mental hospital, the condition that had landed her restrained and out of touch with reality in the mental hospital in the first place.
And then he realized where they were. A graveyard. A cold, dark, dismal graveyard - not that he really knew of any other kind - that was half buried under a foot of snow.
A storm was picking up, blanketing everything with a fresh coating of snow, dropping ice on Carter's face as she turned her face to the sky. "I'm here!"
Jack looked at her, breathless at the sight of her bright smile despite the circumstances.
Her smile faltered and she dropped to her knees, leaning forward to brush the snow off the gravestone in front of her. "Where are you, Jack?"
He dropped to his knees beside her, physically hurting when he saw the tears he couldn't wipe away. "I'm right here, Sam. Always."
She looked him in the eye as though she could see him and he felt a chill run through him. She smiled. "Always."
He wasn't prepared for the way she slumped over, coming to rest with a quiet thud against the gravestone. He wasn't prepared for the crimson stain that spread out from her wrists into the snow.
He turned to Anubis, more hatred coursing through his veins than he'd ever felt before. "Why are you showing me this? She would never do this! Never! Why would she ever do something like this?"
The only response he received, which was more than he'd honestly expected, was a pointed finger.
Jack turned to look, trying to block out the image of Carter sprawled in the snow before him. And then he saw it, why she'd lost her grip on sanity, why he never went to visit her, why Daniel had been so patient with her, why she'd chosen that spot to end her life. Her head laid heavily on the hard stone, her arms stretched out as if to hold it - the name carved out in the granite: Jonathan O'Neill.
Jack turned back to Anubis, numb from either the cold or the pain, and shrugged. "At least they spelled it right."
Anubis stepped forward then, his shadow blinding Jack in the darkness.
And then Jack was alone.