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A slight tugging on my consciousness dragged me out of a heavy slumber. I sat up groggily and glanced at the clock. It was noon! I examined the nagging feeling that had awoken me and when I realised the cause I quickly started shaking the soundly sleeping Broots beside me.

"Broots! Wake up! Debbie's coming."

"Wha...? What?" Broots opened his eyes with difficulty. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Sleepyhead, that your daughter is about a block away and will be here any minute!"

Broots leapt out of bed so quickly that he nearly ended up on the floor.

"Quick!" He gasped. "We've got to get dressed!"

I grinned. "My thoughts exactly." I grabbed the clothes I had borrowed from Broots the previous evening and started to make a dash for Debbie's room to get changed. I paused at the door and looked back for a second. Broots was racing around the room trying to find his clothes. I caught his eye and we both burst into laughter. It was as if we were teenagers about to get busted by our parents.

Then my eyes widened. "Hurry! She's nearly here!"

We were both still laughing as I raced off to change in Debbie's room. I threw off my borrowed PJs and hurriedly put on the jeans and shirt I had worn the previous night. When I emerged, Broots was just answering the door and receiving an enthusiastic hug from his daughter.

Her eyes brightened further when she saw I was still there.

"Hi, Melinda!" She said happily, then turned to her father. "Daddy, I was thinking we should all go to the zoo after lunch. Can we, please?"

Her pleading eyes and enthusiastic face were hard to resist.

Broots replied, "Well, have you done all your homework?"

"Yes! We all did it together yesterday afternoon!" Debbie replied, obviously very relieved that they had, so now there was no impediment to her afternoon plans.

"What do you think?" Broots asked me.

"I think it sounds like a brilliant idea. I've never been to a zoo before."

"Really?" Debbie's eyes widened with surprise. A million questions surfaced in her mind but she just said, "Well, you're sure to love it!"

So off we went to the zoo after lunch. And as Debbie had predicted, I enjoyed myself immensely. The animals were so beautiful and the zoo itself was an open-plan design that simulated the animals' natural habitats as much as possible. I soaked up the peaceful atmosphere and the sunlight as if I was a plant that had been kept locked away in a dark room.

Debbie and I were gazing at the giraffes whilst waiting for Broots to return with some drinks when we struck up a conversation with an elderly woman who was also admiring the grace of the long-necked animals.

"You have a lovely family, my dear." She remarked to me after a while.

I stared at her in shock but before I could reply she continued. "Such a sweet husband. I saw the way he dotes on you both. And your daughter is just beautiful. You're very lucky."

"Thank you." I replied softly. I didn't want to spoil the appealing picture she had painted of us. A family. Something I had never known. I blinked back tears. Debbie just took my hand and smiled up at me. I smiled back.

We stayed at the zoo right up until closing time and then Broots took us out to dinner. The restaurant wasn't too fancy as none of us were really dressed for anywhere special. Just a good old-fashioned family restaurant. And it seemed we were all keen to pretend for the moment that we were just that - a family. And 'pretending' didn't seem such a dangerous thing to me right now - it just felt good.

After dinner, we went bowling - another first for me. I couldn't stop laughing - I was hopeless! Broots - who was pretty damn good at bowling - kept telling me it was just a matter of practice and using the right technique. He tried to show me and we were both reminded of those old movies with the guy trying to teach a girl how to bowl and that just made us both giggle more.

Debbie, however, was not sharing our mirth. Bowl after bowl, her ball usually ended up in the gutter - just like mine - but instead of laughing, she was getting despondent and frustrated.

Our laughter quietened when we realised she was upset.

"It's okay, honey. Don't worry about it." Broots reassured her.

"Hey, at least you're beating me!" I told her cheerfully.

"Yeah, but this is your first time - and I'm not beating you by much." She replied miserably as she stepped up to bowl her second ball.

"Maybe we should have gotten those inflatable thingies in the gutters like I've seen on the TV commercials." I remarked to Broots quietly.

He whispered back. "They tend to be more for children's parties and for absolute beginners - not very cool at all."

"Oh, okay."

This time as Debbie hurled her pinkish-coloured ball down the lane with something that did not in the least resemble enthusiasm, I reached out with my senses and gave the ball a gentle nudge towards the centre, away from that cursed gutter.

It wobbled its way down the lane. I felt hope and excitement build in both Debbie and Broots as the ball got closer and closer to the pins. It struck slightly off-centre and one by one the pins tumbled until not a one was left standing.

"A spare!" Debbie shrieked in delight. "Daddy, did you see that? I got a spare!"

"That's great, sweetie! Well done!" Broots replied enthusiastically as Debbie cheerfully watched the little Congratulations animation on the scoreboard and did a little dance of glee.

"What?" I asked innocently as I felt Broots' eyes on me. I looked at him. He had a small smile on his face and an eyebrow raised in a way that spookily reminded me of Miss Parker. "What?"

He just kept smiling - it was obvious he was well aware of what I had done. "You're a very sweet person, you know that?"

I blushed and grinned back.

Debbie played a lot better after that - without my aid - due to the boost in her confidence. In between bowls, she happily told me more about what she and her friends had gotten up to that weekend. I couldn't get enough of hearing about her life - such normal, every day things to her but to me they were like something from a fantasy. A childhood that seemed like science-fiction compared to my own.

Later that night, we returned to their home. Debbie and I curled up on the couch, watched TV and chatted some more. Broots spent a while doing some work on his computer and then joined us later on, bringing with him steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

"You're staying again tonight, aren't you." Debbie said to me in a deliberately off-hand way. She spoke as if it had already been decided - and in a way it had been, by her.

I nearly choked on my hot chocolate. Not because of the directness of her words but because of the directness of her thoughts. She was hoping that her father and myself had had sex! - and that if it hadn't happened already then it would tonight. She wanted this to be the case because then it would mean Broots and I were a couple and he wouldn't be lonely any more. Besides she liked me.

Broots patted me on the back until my coughs subsided. "You're more than welcome, of course." He said softly.

"Okay." I whispered and the three of us smiled at each other.

That night I slept in Broots' bed again. He was going to insist that he would sleep on the lounge but I indicated - without telling him exactly what I had perceived from Debbie - that she would be fine about us sharing a bed. It was important to me that Debbie, that sweet selfless girl, would not disappointed - waking up to discover that her father had slept alone on the lounge thereby spoiling all her plans.

A few hours later, I awoke with a start. Broots stirred slightly but did not wake. I had been dreaming about Jarod - a disturbing, dark dream that lingered in my mind. I managed to slip out of bed without disturbing Broots. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and get a drink of water. As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, flashes of the dream resurfaced - my mind seemingly unable to release the dark images even under the cold harshness of the bathroom's fluorescent light.

Jarod is holding me close. I bury my head in his chest relishing the warmth and strength of his arms. "He will protect me." I tell myself. "He will keep me safe." He moves away slightly, bringing his face towards mine. He kisses me with a fierce intensity that scares me.

With his hands on my shoulders, Jarod abruptly pushes me away from him roughly and backhands me across the face, knocking me to the floor. I touch my stinging cheek with a shaking hand and look up at him with tears in my eyes. "Why?" I ask.

"You killed our child!" He snarls in a mix of fury and anguish. "Our baby died because of you." His eyes - those beautiful young-old eyes - now look at me filled with hate and disgust.

"Jarod, no!" I plead. "It wasn't my fault! It was The Centre... they hurt me."

"And you let them." He sneers with contempt. "You could have fought back... with all your powers, you should have at least tried."

"I couldn't, Jarod. I couldn't!" I sob over and over. As he turns his back on me and begins to leave, I beg, "Jarod, please, you have to believe me - you are all I have!"

He stops but does not turn to face me. With his back to me and in a voice so cold it feels like it could freeze my heart he says, "And as far as I'm concerned, you no longer exist."

The door slams behind him and...

And then I had woken up.

My reflection in the mirror stared back at me, its face pale and smooth with the reddish tumble of curls made even wilder from sleep. Under the fluorescent light, the green of my eyes seemed to glow eerily. You no longer exist, whispered a fragment of the dream. What did it all mean? It didn't have to mean anything - it was just a dream. But something about the dream nagged at me. I knew it was not a memory resurfacing. I knew that I had never spoken to Jarod, never met him.

I struggled to make sense of my feelings about this dream. It was about the baby. The baby which The Centre had planned to create. Had planned to create by using Jarod and me. But the child had never existed - I had been released before they could carry out their plans.

The child had never existed. Sure, occasionally - during the darkest times - I had fantasised about escaping The Centre with Jarod and the baby. Escaping and making a life for ourselves away from the evilness of The Centre. However, that was just a fantasy - the child did not exist and Jarod, well he didn't even know me. He didn't even know I existed.

You no longer exist, whispered the dream again and tears fell down my cheeks softly. Would Jarod have cared about what happened to me? I remembered asking Sydney. Would he care? Would he care about me?

I stumbled towards the bedroom and the light from the bathroom illuminated the red notebooks, full of newspaper clippings about Jarod's exploits, on a small table by the wall. Would Jarod care about me? Without thinking, I reached out a hand to touch those books. At the same time, I opened up my perceptions completely, willing the long remembered light of Jarod's spirit to drown away the darkness.

With those five books clutched in my arms, I fell to the floor overwhelmed and locked in the visions that flooded my mind. I could do nothing but lie there and experience. The visions came in flashes, some more detailed than others.

"I was taken from my family. Since I escaped I've spent every moment searching for them."

FLASH

"How did we end up like this?"

"Like what, Jarod?" Miss Parker asks wearily.

"Alone... searching. It's ironic because we both want the same things. Someone to care about... someone to care about us. Do you think we'll ever find that kind of love in our lives, Miss Parker?"

FLASH

There is a heartbreaking look of longing on Jarod's face as someone says to him: "You know what? You're gonna make a great father someday."

FLASH

"How could someone abandon a child, Sydney?"

FLASH

The next thing I knew, the notebooks were being torn from my grasp and the loss of connection was like being doused with cold water. Broots was leaning over me, holding me in his arms and his face was deathly pale. He was very angry - I had never seen him angry before and the shock of this unexpected emotion washed over me making me whimper.

His voice was stern - the voice of a parent disobeyed by a foolish child. "It was too soon. You knew that. Sydney told you that. I told you that. Yet you still had to go do it." Then his anger vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "Please don't do that again, or anything like it. Not unless, you have Sydney there to guide you, to make sure it's safe. Don't scare me like that again." He held me close to him and his fingers played across the ringlets in my hair. "Promise me you'll be sensible about this."

"I'm sorry, Broots." I murmured, rambling. "I never meant to do anything to upset you. You've been wonderful to me. I don't know how I would have gotten through this without you."

"Shh.. It's okay." He soothed. "Let's just get some sleep now. I'm sure tomorrow is going to be a big day."

Tomorrow. Monday. Back to work at The Centre. God, I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about that until now. I couldn't help but have butterflies in my stomach at the thought of finally working on my abilities with Sydney after all these years. Then my thoughts turned to Miss Parker - how would she react to me now that she had had the weekend to absorb Friday's revelations? For that matter, how would things between Broots and myself be once we got back to work?

I was a little shaken from the visions inspired by Jarod's notebooks and from the dream that haunted me still but I pulled myself together as Broots led me back to bed. I had to be strong. Friday had seen me totally lose control and if I was to survive long enough to do what had to be done I would have to regain that control. What did it matter if Miss Parker couldn't handle the truth? She would not betray my secret - I knew her well enough to know that much. The fact was that, in the end, I would not be able to let my feelings for any of them stand in the way of where I was headed. Not even Broots.


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