All goes according to plan, my computer will come home by this coming Friday. So hopefully this is the last chapter I will have to post from this thing. We still have a couple more to go after this one, though.
This was going to be two separate chapters, one for Maddie and the other for Ben, but in the end I decided to combine them into one.
Enjoy.
"What do you think you're doing?" Maddie had just entered Ben's room, only to be floored by what she found.
"Helen say Ben may hear us." Ryn didn't even look up from where she was snuggled into Ben's side on the hospital bed. "Maybe Ben feel. He will know Ryn is here."
"Ah." The sight was already sending Maddie's blood boiling, but she forced herself to rein it in. This was a hospital, not somewhere to start an argument, as one-sided as it might be.
"I not stay." Ryn lifted her head only slightly to indicate the stool she'd singled out as her seat of choice when she first came to see Ben. "Maddie lay here later, Ben will know you are here, too."
Maddie answered only with a nod that she didn't know if Ryn even saw. She didn't trust her voice all that much around the mermaid at the moment. It would have been all too easy for another cruel remark about her behavior to come out. It would help no one to pick a fight now.
That didn't stop Maddie's urge to jerk Ryn out of that bed and away from Ben.
A tiny part of Maddie wanted to boot Ryn entirely from the room. Maddie had neither the power to do so, nor was she that stupid. Ryn would allow nobody, save perhaps one of the hospital doctors and even that was iffy, to kick her out. She'd be breaking doors down and physically moving people out of the way, probably violently, to get back in.
It had been made clear early on that Maddie herself was being allowed to visit. Helen had taken complete control of the situation, forcing Maddie to tolerate Ryn if she wanted to even see Ben.
In the days following Ben admittance to the hospital, he'd had a number of visitors. His parents had been among the first, along with his brother. Ted had immediately declared he'd pay any bill needed but didn't feel the need to be an overbearing. As soon as he knew Maddie was looking after his son, he'd said Ben was "in good hands" and left it at that.
The rest of Ben's family followed his example, though Elaine took a little convincing. She didn't take it well to hear her oldest son was in a coma. Elaine held her composure well, but Maddie knew just how shaky it was. No doubt bad memories of her accident were being forced to the surface every time she thought about Ben. There would be no peace for her until Ben rejoined the waking world.
Xander had been a bit of a surprise when he showed up. Not that he came to visit, that was a given, but Ryn not going berserk upon seeing her sister's killer. It had to be because Xander was such a close friend of Ben, Maddie could think of no other reason.
It was obvious Ryn didn't want to let Xander even enter. She'd stood guard over Ben, watching Xander with the iciest glare Maddie had ever seen. If Xander would have made a single wrong or threatening move, Ryn would have eviscerated the man on the spot without mercy, and there wouldn't have been a force on this earth that could have stopped her.
While Xander was indeed allowed into the room, Ryn didn't permit him to get within arm reach of the bedridden Ben. Ryn's reaction when he tried had been a threatening hiss, one that Xander knew better than to argue against.
Luckily, Xander came and went without incident, but Ryn eyes were going to be haunting the man's nightmares for a while, that's for sure.
There had been others, some local family friends, coworkers from the rescue center, but Maddie and Ryn were the only ones who came every day. Much to Maddie's annoyance, Ryn was always here before her. It had been weeks, and yet Ryn always beat her every single day. Sometimes Helen would be here too, but most days it would be just Ryn by herself. The older woman had to be dropping her off the moment visiting hours started. Maddie was unable to do the same, but came running the moment she could.
Maddie was mildly surprised Helen was allowing Ryn to roam around without supervision, but the mermaid really wasn't going far. She was glued to Ben's bedside come hell or high water.
Despite sharing the quiet hospital room alone with a comatose Ben, Maddie and Ryn rarely spoke to each other. Ryn would remain on her chair beside Ben while Maddie had her own chair on the opposite side. Thus far, Maddie and Ben's parents had been the only ones Ryn permitted to get this close to Ben without issuing some kind of threat. The doctors who routinely checked on Ben were allowed the same privilege, but Maddie could see how how Ryn's self-control was being pushed to do so.
Situated in her customary chair, Maddie pulled a book out from her bag. Maddie didn't want to talk to Ryn, but the silence in the room started to become maddening, fast. As a result, Maddie had taken to reading to the unconscious Ben. It was one of those cheesy romance novels you would find in a general store, the kind that she and Ben had poked fun at numerous times in the past.
If Ben really hated them, and Maddie knew he did every bit as much as she did, he was just going to have to wake up and tell her to stop reading, now wouldn't he?
Reading out loud helped filled the vocal void in the room and kept Maddie distracted from Ryn. Occasionally, Maddie would catch the mermaid listening to her with rapt attention, even though there had to be a number of words she didn't understand. Ryn never did ask for Maddie about anything she read, something she would have done before all this.
Before Ryn nearly got Ben killed, before she wrecked Ben and Maddie's relationship, before everything.
Maddie had finished the last chapter of the book she started days ago and was in the middle of pulling another out when she saw Ryn watching her again. The mermaid had vacated the bed at some point and retaken her seat but was currently resting her head on Ben's arm, her eyes on Maddie.
Ryn expression was blank, mostly devoid of emotion as it often was, but there was something there. Something in Ryn's countenance that Maddie couldn't possibly identify. It wasn't the first time Maddie saw it, but she forcibly ignored it as she had been doing thus far.
Ryn face was one thing, the touching thing was still grating on Maddie's nerves. Ben wasn't her boyfriend, and she should have learned enough about personal space by now to know she needed to keep her hands off of him. Something Ryn adamantly refused to comprehend.
Every second of every day she had some part of her body connected to his. Whether it was holding his hand, her hand on his arm, their arms brushing. Ryn always made sure some part of her was touching him.
Maddie wanted to tell the mermaid off and make her stop, but she lacked the high ground here. Ben wasn't her boyfriend either.
"How's he doing?" Helen must have only just now returned to the hospital, Maddie had been here for hours and this was the first she was seeing of the older woman. "Any change?"
"No." Ryn answered before Maddie could even get her mouth open. "Ben still sleeping."
"Well, don't worry." Helen sent Ryn a reassuring smile, one that the mermaid didn't even look at, and rested a hand on her back. "I'm sure he'll come to any day now. We just need to be patient."
"Patient, yes, I know this." Ryn nodded, taking Ben's hand in both of hers. The sight of which made Maddie's eyebrow twitch, but she said nothing.
"Seeing as how you two have things in hand here, I'm going to pop out and see if there's anything in the snack machines." Helen moved to leave in the room before pausing. "You two want anything?"
"No." Ryn refused.
"I think I'll tag along." Maddie bookmarked her page and rose from her chair.
Helen shot her a suspicious look before walking out the door, Maddie hot on her heels.
"Okay, that's it." Maddie waited until they were in the hallway, and a fair distance from Ben's room, to confront Helen. "You've been sidestepping for days now, talk."
"About what?" Helen deflected, just like she did before Ben and Maddie became aware of her partial mermaid heritage.
"You found him." Maddie stepped directly in front of Helen to head her off. "But you wont tell me what happened, and nobody else will either. I'm guessing that's your doing, too."
"Might be." Helen shrugged and attempted to walk around Maddie but she merely stepped to block her way. Maddie had enough of the evasive crap, and wasn't going to walk away without a straight answer.
"What happened?" Maddie was demanding now, temper flaring.
"You really want to know?" Helen sighed. "Some things you can't unknow."
"I'll be the judge of that, now start talking."
Helen waited, obviously for Maddie to back off, but that wasn't going to be happening. "His place was wrecked, but the door was locked from the inside. You do the math."
"What, you're saying he did this to himself?" Maddie was skeptical. Ben wasn't really the self-harming type as far as Maddie knew. "That's crazy!"
"Is it?" Helen's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You want to know what's really crazy?"
"Wh..."
"You see that back there?" Helen pointed over her shoulder at the way they came. "That's your fault, and you can't even see it."
"How is that my..."
"Ryn at least has an excuse." Helen took a menacing step forward. Her glare wasn't quite up to the same level as Ryn's but Helen's one eighth mermaid genetics were showing through. "She doesn't know or even understand what her song can do. What's yours?"
"Excu..." Maddie was trying, but Helen wasn't allowing her more than a few words in.
"You." Helen jabbed a finger in Maddie's chest. "Abandoned him. The song made him suffer, tearing his mind apart while he struggled to resist. When Ben needed you most, you turned your back on him. Out of what? Anger? Petty jealousy?"
"I... I..." Maddie stuttered, unable to speak.
"Ryn unknowingly led him to the cliff, but when he fell and reached out for you, you let him fall." Helen had no trouble walking past Maddie this time. She was too stunned to even consider stopping her.
"What the... how did we get back to my place?" Ben scaned the room with his eyes and, yes it was indeed his home.
"Ah." Xander let out a happy sigh, taking a seat at Ben's kitchen table. "Home sweet home, eh?"
"Not really." Ben deadpanned. "You promised me answers."
"Finally found your way here." Ben whirled around at the voice to find Decker sitting on his couch. "Was starting to wonder if you'd ever show up."
Ben took an involuntary step back, remembering clearly what happened the last time he'd seen his fellow biologist.
"No need to freak out." Xander reassured from behind Ben. "You're safe here, or at least safer than out there. Notice anything... different?"
Other than Decker looking human, no there wasn't anything all that...
"Ryn stopped singing." Ben eyes went wide in alarm. The last two times that happened, Ryn was right on top of him preparing to corner her prey.
"You can't hear her while in here." Decker explained, rising from the couch to join Xander at the kitchen table. "It's not going to last long, though. Your mind is wearing down, this won't remain a haven for long."
At Ben's confused look, Xander and Decker shared a look.
"He hasn't figured it out yet, has he?" Decker pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Nope." Xander shook his head.
"You got this, Xander?"
"Sure." Xander propped his elbows up on the table, giving Ben his full attention. "Alright, Ben. Think for a moment, everything here is off, some things are physically impossible. Right?"
"You can say that again." Ben agreed, leaning against the table.
"That's because it isn't real."
"That's..."
"Ah ah." Xander silenced Ben with a raised finger. "Stop, shut up, and think. What's the last thing you remember before waking up in wacko land?"
"It's..." Ben had been trying to do just that for heavens know how long, and only ever got a headache for his troubles. There was something about this place, something Ben couldn't put his finger on, that stilled the pain in his skull. "I... I was here."
"Yes." Xander sounded hopeful. "Good, think harder. What happened here?"
"I was... whoa!" Ben was putting the mental puzzle together when he saw the third person sitting at the table between Xander and Decker.
It was Ben, or at least a hallucination of some kind. Ben couldn't figure out how else there could be two Bens at once.
While Ben noticed the newcomer, Other-Ben was oblivious to the conversation happening right in front of him. He sat there calmly swallowing spoonfuls of cereal completely ignoring the other three.
"Ha!" Xander applauded in excitement. "Now we're talking!"
"Okay." Ben pointed at Other-Ben with both hands. "Who the hell is this?"
"It's you." Decker took over next. "Or rather, you before you got stuck here. This is the last memory you possess that can be seen clearly. It's taken you this long just to bring enough fragments of your psyche together to form it."
Ben didn't get the chance to ask Decker to clarify what he meant by that.
Other-Ben sat up in his chair some, his hands coming up to grip either side of his head. Decker and Xander jumped to their feet and rushed around opposite sides of the table. Without a word, both men seized Ben by the arm and jerked him away from Other-Ben.
The second they did, Other-Ben's fists came down hard against the wood. Ben wasn't sure if the crack sound he heard was the wood splintering or Other-Ben's finger-bones. Other-Ben began taking deep breaths, the sound not unlike someone attempting to keep calm.
"This part isn't going to be pretty." Xander grimaced.
"Shut up." Other-Ben groaned low, voice almost begging. He repeated the words again and again but Ben couldn't see who he was talking to. He didn't seem aware of the other three men.
It was then that Ben saw her.
While Ben watched, Ryn appeared and leaned over Other-Ben's shoulder. She was either murmuring something in his ear or rubbing her cheek against him but Ben couldn't tell which. Other-Ben reacted be sweeping an arm at her, revealing Ryn as nothing more than an illusion.
"You're not real!" Ben swiped the cereal bowl off the table and hurled in the direction the false Ryn had been. The ceramic sailed through the air to explode into pieces against the cabinet.
"Ben." Ryn's disembodied voice echoed around the room in a breathy, almost seductive whisper. "I want you. Only you."
"SHUT UP!" Other-Ben was roaring at the top of his lungs. He grabbed more pieces from the table and threw them in every direction Ryn's voice seemed to come from. Which was all but everywhere.
When Other-Ben ran out of ammunition, he threw the kitchen stools. Soon after this, Ryn's image started appearing in every reflective surface in sight. Other-Ben broke the first mirror in sight with a single punch, the pieces of glass slicing into his flesh.
Other-Ben didn't stop there, every piece of glass in the house followed. Ben could see, while Xander and Decker hurried him out of the way of his twin's rampage, the terribly bleeding lacerations covering Other-Ben's hands. He was leaving blood stains everywhere.
Other-Ben ended where he began, at the kitchen table. He clutched his head in his hands, the blood beginning to soak into his hair and skin.
Ben could have sworn he felt it when Other-Ben slammed his own head down into the table.
"Can't torment me... if I can't hear you." Other-Ben laughed, smashing his head against the surface of the table a second time. Rising on shaky legs, he took off in a sprint, ramming his head into the wall. Recovering from the blow, he did it again and again until he could stand no longer. He stumbled a few steps before collapsing into unconsciousness on the floor.
Ben was well passed disturbed at this point.
"Your mind fought so hard against the influence of Ryn's song, it induced a psychotic break." Decker was solem as he stepped around the destruction.
"Why... couldn't I remember any of this before?"
"Think of your memories like these glass shards." Decker picked up a few pieces of the shattered glassware. While he spoke he moved the pieces about for Ben to see them fit each other. "You've been trying to shove the pieces together to get the image instead of putting like with like. The shards have been cutting your fingers. Fingers being a metaphor for your head, of course."
"Okay, so I'm having a really bad dream." Ben's skepticism was being stretched to the limit, but even he couldn't deny what Decker and Xander were showing him, along with everything else he'd seen already. "But why am I seeing you two, and why is Ryn out for my blood?"
"I'm like your best friend." Xander actually sounded offended. "You're damn right I'd be here to back you up."
"I can only theorize I am here because nobody save the two of us have been affected by the mermaid's song." Decker explained. "Your mind conjured me as a kindred spirit. Feelings about the real Aldon Decker be damned."
"That doesn't explain Maddie and Ryn."
"Got me there." Xander shrugged. "If you don't know, we won't know, either. We're tied to your subconscious, but with your head so screwed up, not even we can say for sure."
If Ryn's song was what put him here, it made sense for it to take her appearance inside the nightmare. Perhaps this was why she looked partially transformed and was completely feral. It wasn't actually her, rather a twisted and distorted memory of the real Ryn.
"But why do you two keep randomly appearing and disappearing?"
"Because we're not real, duh." Xander no longer had the stool to sit on, so he leaned against the far side of the kitchen table instead. "Everything you see, every person, is a creation of your mind. The only thing real here is you."
"Ryn seemed plenty real to me." Ben shivered, recalling Ryn's previous attack.
"Well, creation of your mind or not, you can be killed or hurt. Nothing else can, at least not by us." Decker added.
"See, watch this." With no further preamble, Xander pulled his fist back and slugged Decker as hard as he possibly could in the jaw. Decker's head moved from the strike, but when he turned back, there wasn't a mark on him. Not even a tiny bruise.
"That's..."
"Still unconvinced?" Xander picked up a piece of glass and stabbed himself in the hand. Ben was already lurching forward to stop him on reflex, but when Xander moved, it was revealed he had no injury. Despite Ben watching the edge pierce his flesh.
"When you shot Ryn earlier..."
"Exactly." Xander nodded. "I can't actually hurt her, and she couldn't hurt me. Best I could do was stun and knock her back. Not even my knife would have done much. Forced her to let go of my car, but nothing more."
"So what now? I just wait until Ryn finally runs me down?"
"The fact that Ryn's singing hasn't reduced you to a gibbering wreck blindly seeking her out is a good sign. It means you still have a chance." Decker looked to Ben. "The song's influence hasn't broken your will yet."
"There is only one way you can escape this place and go home." Xander reached for something beneath the table. He pulled out his father's old hunting rifle, the same weapon that mortally wounded Donna. "You have to kill Ryn."
Not quite sure on this one, for the life of me I couldn't get it to go how I wanted. Perfection is impossible so I always get as close as I can, but this one just wouldn't work for me. Maybe I'm just overthinking it.
Next chapter will be our finale, the chapter I've been wanting to do since I started Jaws of Madness. I finally worked my way here. Depending on how it goes, I may have a final epilogue chapter after it but we'll see.