First Meeting

Ben carried Ciara into the cabin; he placed her down so he could make the bed. When it was ready, he picked her up and gently laid her down.

He found a washcloth and started washing her face. He gently washed the dried blood off.

While Ciara was still out, he walked around the cabin, picking up loose boards and other things that were on the floor.

Ben checked on Ciara and found she needed something to keep her warm. He searched for blankets and found one in the chest near the bed.

He covered her up and paced back and forth. He found a lighter on the floor and picked it up.

He held the lit lighter in his hand just as Ciara woke up.

" Oh, my God!"

" I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

" You're Ben Weston."

" That's right."

" The necktie killer."

" And you're Ciara Brady. You've grown up a lot since the last time I saw you."

" You stay away from me."

Ben slowly walked toward her; she tried to move but yelled out in pain.

" Oh, my God."

Ben slowly lit the lantern that was on the nightstand.

" These boarded-up windows don't give away that much light."

" Yeah, I think that's the idea."

" Glad you're awake. You were passed out for a pretty long time."

" Where am I? How did I get here?"

" Calm down."

" Yeah, like that's going to happen!"

" I know you're afraid."

" I'm stuck in a creepy cabin with a serial killer. Yeah, I'm scared." Ciara said as she tried to move off the bed.

" Okay, hey. I'm sorry. But I'm pretty damn sure that your leg is broken. You might want to keep from moving it."

" What are you gonna do to me?"

" What I'm trying to do is help you."

" Oh, right."

" You don't believe me?"

" You didn't get sentenced to a mental hospital for helping people."

" If I wanted you dead, I would've left you on the side of the road."

" The side of the road?"

" You wiped out on your motorcycle."

" Oh, my God, I took that curve way too fast. I wasn't even looking at the road. I was thinking about them."

" Who's them?"

Ciara flashed back to seeing Tripp and Claire together.

" I found you a few feet away from your bike. You must've been pretty upset to hit a curve at that speed. You're lucky you weren't killed."

" I don't want to talk about it."

" I get that. For the last couple of years, all I've had is shrinks telling me to open up about my feelings. No fun. But glad that's over now."

" So you broke out again?"

" Mm. No, not this time. I walked out the front door a free man."

" No. That's not possible. You murdered four innocent people."

" Three. Turns out Will wasn't dead."

" Yeah, but you wanted him dead. No, there's no way they would have let you go. You'll always be crazy."

" I'm not crazy. Not anymore."

" Um, excuse me. I was an intern at a mental hospital, okay? And no doctor in their right mind would ever, ever set you free."

Ben walked over to his bag and pulled out a set of papers. He walked back to the bed and handed them to her.

"What's that?"

" My release papers, intern. Check them out. It's official."

Ciara took them from him and started looking through them. Ben sat on the end of the bed and waited.

" No. No, this can't be right."

Ben chuckled and said, " That's exactly what everybody else said, including your mother. She sent Dr. Evans to evaluate me so that the DA could file a brief saying that I was faking it and making it up. It didn't work. She couldn't find a single reason to keep me in that place."

" Other than the fact that three people are dead, and you did it."

" I know. I did the worst thing a person could do. And I have to live with that for the rest of my life. But I wasn't in my right mind back then."

" And you are now?"

" Yes. Don't worry, Ciara. You don't have a thing to fear from me. I promise."

" If I really don't have anything to fear from you, and if you really wanted to help me, how come you didn't call an ambulance? Why am I in this crap cabin instead of a hospital? I mean. If my leg is broken, I need a doctor."

" I don't have a cell phone. I tried yours, but it's dead."

" Well, okay, so you could have put me in your car and taken me."

" What car? I tried to carry you. You're a little heavy. It was okay. I just... I got lost. And then I realized I had to get you inside before the night came, and I remembered this cabin."

" In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, you find your way to this place?"

" I've been here before. I didn't want to have to come back, but there was nowhere else. Just brings back bad memories."

" So, does anyone know that you're out here?"

" Chad. He's the one who dumped me in the middle of nowhere. Thank God it happened to have been close to this place."

" So, you've already been to Salem?"

" Yeah, but I didn't get to stay very long."

" What? You're upset they didn't throw a parade in your honor?"

Ben just smiled and said, " I was found fit to return to society. Society just didn't want any part of me."

" You know, I don't even get why you went to Salem. Everybody there knows what you did."

Ben grabbed a chair and sat next to the bed.

" I know what I did. I have to live with it the rest of my life."

" So what happened? How did you get... you know, sane?"

" Sami Brady. When everybody was trying to help Will regain his memory, she forced me to act out when I was trying to..."

" That's when it hit me. I realized what I had done, that I'd actually killed people. So I went back to Salem to do anything I possibly could to try and make up for taking three innocent women's lives."

" Oh, yeah?"

" You don't have to believe it. It's the truth."

" So, is that why you're helping me now?"

" No, I also know what to do."

" How?"

" My dad used to beat on my mom and my sister. I know how to tape up ribs and splint broken bones."

" Oh, God."

" Then, after Jordan and I took off, she finished up her physical therapy training."

" While you two were on the run?"

" Girl's amazing. She taught me even more."

Ciara started to shiver.

" You need another blanket. I'll see what I can find. You're in good hands."

Ciara looked around the cabin and said, " Yeah. I'm great."

Ben found another blanket and placed it over her.

" Okay, my leg is really starting to kill me right now. You say you know a lot, but I need a doctor."

" We'll, I would've taken you to one last night, but you were in really bad shape. I wasn't gonna leave you on the side of the road, unconscious."

" Yeah, well, I'm wide awake right now. Can't you please just go check into town and bring a doctor back? Please?"

" Ciara, I'm sorry. But I can't do that."