Disclaimer:  In first chapter.

Chapter 25

Everything spun around to her as she looked down at the grisly pictures of her former lover.  Reaching out with a trembling hand, she picked up one of the pictures, hoping this was some cruel joke being played upon her. 

Her glistening blue eyes absorbed every microscopic detail of the photo.  There was no denying it; it was without a doubt her Tommy.  A thin, white cotton sheet covered his body from the waist down as he laid upon the cold, stainless steel table.  The top half of his body was naked and bloated, almost unrecognizable to her eyes.  The skin of his upper body had a bluish-white tint to it and two holes that marred his chest.  There was no mistaken where the two holes came from—bullets. 

She could hear Jarod, Sam, and Sydney trying to talk to her, but their voices was some kind of unknown foreign language that she couldn’t comprehend as her eyes remained glued to the photograph in her hands.  Miss Parker let her eyes travel up his body and to his face.  Tommy’s once handsome face was now disfigured by one lone bullet hole in his forehead.  His brown eyes were wide open, still frozen in fear of knowing death was waiting upon his doorstep.  She hadn’t realized she’d been crying until a few lone tears dropped onto the picture.  Quickly swiping them away, she stood up, feeling an overwhelming sense to get out of the house, to get away from the ever present death that always seemed to surround her, threatening to suffocate the life out of her.  Dropping the picture, she ran past the three concerned men in the living room, hoping to escape the ever present grief that wrapped around her fragile heart.

XXXXXXX

Josh slowly made his way up the stairs, trying to remain ever so quiet.  Whenever a floorboard creaked underneath him, he would instantly freeze expecting at any moment to be met by Brad and his college cronies. 

Josh never actually met Brad, just seen him that one time back in September when he picked up his sister from school one day.  When Sarah got back from her date, they had a huge fight about him.  He just couldn’t believe how stupid his sister was when it came to him.  Seeing that Sarah wasn’t going to stop seeing Brad, Josh decided he would have to pull out the parent card.  He threatened to tell their parents about him if she didn’t.  When Sarah looked into his eyes, he thought she was telling the truth, but of course, Sarah didn’t.  Now, here he was risking his own ass to save hers.

His journey was halfway over when he reached the top of the steps.  He nervously pulled his hat down over his eyes even further as he made his way down the hallway.  Josh glanced back and forth between the closed doors, hoping no one would come out and draw unwanted attention to him. 

In the distance, he could just make out the ‘do not enter’ sign posted on the door.  He smiled to himself knowing he was just a hop, skip, and jump away from Sarah and Debbie.  When he reached the door he let out a huge sigh of relief.  Knocking on the door he whispered out softly, “Deb, it’s me, Josh.  Open up.”

From behind the door, he could hear feet shuffling.  A few seconds later, Debbie quickly waved him inside.  When he stepped inside he was shocked at what he saw.  Sarah looked like death warmed over.  Her dark hair was a tangled mess as she hovered over the toilet.  When she leaned back and looked up at Josh, her brown eyes had a glazed look to them.  Josh instantly went to her and knelt down beside her.  With one hand behind her head, he took the washcloth sitting on the sink and placed it on her forehead.

“Jesus Sarah, what the hell have you gotten yourself into now?” he whispered out worriedly.  This wasn’t good.  There was no way he could keep this from their parents.  His sister’s health was something he wouldn’t gamble with.  Even if she hated him for the rest of their lives after telling them, he knew it was the right thing to do.

Glancing back up at Debbie he asked, “What did happen tonight?”

As Debbie told him the details, Josh could feel his blood slowly boiling beneath his skin.  Looking down at the sweat sheen face of his sister he said in a threatening tone, “When I find Brad, I’m going to kill him.”

“Josh…”

“No Debbie!” he interjected harshly.  “I won’t stand by and let him get away with what he did to her.”  Just as Sarah knocked his hand away to throw up again, they heard a knock on the door.

Signaling Debbie to take over for him, Josh walked over to the door.  “Who is it?” he asked.

“Eli and Chris,” Eli replied back.

Once Josh opened the door, the two guys quickly stepped inside.  “Damn,” Eli muttered to himself as he looked down upon the haggard Sarah.  “She looks like hell.”

“I know, tell me about it,” Josh replied back.  Looking back at Chris he said, “We need to call for some help.  My sister is in worse shape than I thought she would be.  I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances with her.”

“No,” Sarah croaked out.  “Don’t call…for any help…I’m fine.”

“Sarah, your brother’s right,” Debbie chimed in as she tucked a few strands of Sarah’s hair behind her ears.  “Brad gave you a drug tonight, hoping to make you feel…less hostile when he tried to take advantage of you tonight while in his bedroom.”

Sarah glared at Debbie as she pushed her hands away.  Struggling to standup she said, “You’re both lying.  Brad wouldn’t…do such a thing.”  Standing up on wobbly legs, Sarah swayed as she held her head in her hands.  “He loves me,” she whispered out to no one is particular.

“Whoa there,” said Eli as he rushed to her side to keep her from falling. 

“Get off of me,” Sarah snapped as she wriggled her arm from Eli’s gasp.  “If I wanted your help I would’ve asked.”

“Sarah, you need to calm down and stop being a little brat,” Josh commented with a tinge of anger in his voice.  “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re all here risking our own butts trying to help you.”

“Who said I needed your help.  I was doing perfectly fine without it,” Sarah hissed out.

“Oh yeah, sure you were,” Josh replied back sarcastically.  “If Debbie hadn’t found you when she did, you would’ve been…been…”  Josh didn’t finish his sentence as all of a sudden an intense, throbbing pain entered his brain.  Grimacing, he grabbed his head as he fell to his knees.  He could hear Debbie and Eli’s voices, but they faded out to the constant whisperings in his mind. 

Their words were jumbled together, not making any sense to him as he closed his eyes trying to ward off the pain.  He never had a migraine so intense like this one was at the very moment.  Kneeling back up, he opened his eyes as he began to massage his temples, hoping to somehow ease the throbbing ache behind his eyes.

Just when it felt that the pain had subsided, another jolt came crashing through.  This one was worse as Josh fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.  Tears streamed down his face as white, searing pain went through his head.  He felt that at any moment his head was going to explode.

The voices that were once whispering before now came at him in full force.  He tried to focus, but nothing was making any sense to him.  Just when he thought he was going to pass out, he finally heard a soft, feminine voice.  At first, he thought it was his mother talking to him, but as he listened more closely he knew it wasn’t her.  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something oddly familiar about the woman’s voice.

Feeling a sense of comfort wash over him, he was finally able to listen to the woman’s voice.  What he heard chilled him to the bone.

“He’s coming…he’s coming…run, save yourself,” the woman’s voice kept repeating with a sense of urgency.  Then, just as fast as it came she was gone along with the throbbing pain.

Slowly easing himself off the floor, Josh leaned his head back against the wall, trying to gain back some composure.  Rubbing his temples, he looked around the room.  All eyes were on him except for Sarah, who was still lying on the floor, massaging her temples also.  He wondered, did Sarah hear them too?  When she looked up at him, she seemed to have the same questioning thoughts running through her mind also.

“Man, are you two okay?  I…I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said a surprised Eli.  “I mean, I’ve heard about twins sharing thoughts and feelings, but man, I’ve never had a front row seat to the real thing.”

Easing himself back up, Josh told everyone he was fine.  It was nothing to worry about.  Grabbing his phone from his pocket he told Chris, “I know you’re against me calling the police, but I have too.  We’re way over our heads as it is.”  Not caring if Chris agreed with him or not, Josh dialed 911.  As Josh talked to the operator on the other end, someone began banging on the bathroom door, demanding to be let in.  Everyone looked at each other with fearful eyes as they realized who was on the other side of the door—Brad.

XXXXXX

Not having the strength to go very far, Miss Parker plopped down on the porch steps as memories from her past came crashing down upon her.  She couldn’t understand why Tommy was dead here also.  It just wasn’t fair.  If she married Jarod, then how could Tommy still die at the hands of the Centre, which meant only one thing, somewhere along the lines, Tommy’s path crossed with hers, but when?

Miss Parker was broken from her thoughts when she heard the door behind her open.  She didn’t have to turn around to know who it was—Jarod.  He remained silent as he walked along the wooden porch.  When he came upon her, he wrapped his coat around her shoulders as he sat down beside her.

“Here, drink this,” he said as she offered her a cup of coffee.

Sighing, she took the ceramic mug from his hands.  Bringing the cup up to her face, she took a deep breath from the coffee, letting the warm aroma fill her senses.  Sipping the coffee, Jarod and her remained in a companionable silence as a light fog began to envelope the yard.

After some time, Miss Parker put down her cup of coffee.  Feeling a slight chill in the air, she pulled Jarod’s coat more tightly around her shoulders.  Letting out a sigh, she turned her gaze over to Jarod.  “So, what did Sam and Sydney think about the little drama that unfolded in the living room?”

Locking eyes with her he answered honestly, “They’re worried about you.”  He paused an added, “And, so am I.”  Tearing his gaze away hers, he looked out across the lawn.  “How do you know that man in those pictures?  I’ve never once heard you mention his name before.”

Running a weary hand through her hair she replied back, “Jarod, it’s a long story.”

“I’ve got all night to listen.”  Looking down at his hands, she watched as he absently played with the wedding band on his finger.  “Did…did you date him?” he asked almost fearfully.

“Jarod, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she sighed.

He glanced over at her.  “Try me.”

The last thing she wanted to do was to tell Jarod about her ‘other life’, but if she wanted Jarod to understand where she was coming from she knew she would have to tell him.  Letting out a deep breath, she finally told Jarod about her life at the Centre and her little chat she had with Sydney at the football game.

After she was finally done, she held her breath as she looked over at Jarod with dreadful eyes.  She couldn’t understand why she was nervous about Jarod’s reaction to her story, but she was.  She watched with observant eyes as Jarod remained silent, pondering every word she said.  Finally, after some time a wry smile appeared on his lips.

“What’s so funny?” she asked with slight annoyance.

“This…Centre life you talk about, it sounds like it would make a good television show.”

Miss Parker was now beyond annoyed.  Bolting up from her seat she looked down at him with frustrated tear filled eyes.  “Fine, don’t take it serious then.”  With that, she turned on her heels as she stomped up the stairs.

“Parker, wait,” Jarod yelled as he got up to chase after her.  Catching her hand, he stopped her before she walked back into the house.  “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said.  I was trying to lighten the mood and it came out all wrong.”

Miss Parker tried to fight back the onslaught of tears that threatened to fall, but she lost the battle when she felt Jarod’s fingers under her chin, lifting her gaze up to his.  “Jarod,” she whispered out, “Am…I going crazy?”

Jarod tilted his head slightly to the side as he gave her a sympathetic look.  She didn’t fight him back as he pulled her into his arms, trying his best to shield her from the pain.  Resting his head on top of hers, he answered softly, “No, you’re not going crazy.   I want you to never think that, no matter how crazy life gets, don’t ever think you’re going nuts.”  He paused for a moment, kissing the top of her head.  “Even if we still get a…divorce,” he choked out, “Never forget that I’ll always be here for you.”  Pulling slightly back, he held her tear stained face in his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears.  “No matter what.” 

“Thank you…Jarod,” she breathed out as she placed a hand on top of Jarod’s.  What happened next took her slightly by surprise as Jarod leaned down and brushed his lips against hers.  It was a sweet, gentle kiss that was chaste in nature.  When he pulled back, Miss Parker let out a slight sound of protest as she absentmindedly followed his mouth.

Opening up her eyes, Jarod looked just as surprised as she was.  He was about to say something, but Miss Parker stopped him by pressing one of her fingers against his lips, silencing him.  “No talking,” she chided softly.  Nodding his head in a trance like state, she removed her finger. 

They were just about to kiss again when all a sudden the voices in her head began to chatter loudly.  Pulling away from Jarod, she grabbed her face, trying to shake the annoying voices from her mind.  Doing this only seemed to make it worse as the decibel level in her ears became more louder.

As Jarod steered her to one of the rocking chairs to sit, all the voices seemed too quieted down, except for one.  A voice she recognized anywhere, her mother’s. 

“Children need help.  Hurry before it’s too late,” Catherine’s voice rang insistently through her mind.  When the voices subsided, she glanced up at a concerned Jarod.  Squeezing his hands she said with alarm, “Josh, Sarah, or both are in grave danger.  We have to find them.”  No sooner had she uttered the words did they hear Sam rip open the door, running towards them.

“Sam, what’s wrong?” Jarod asked with dread.

“We have to go.  The Winchester police just radioed to dispatch saying they were called to a domestic disturbance at one of the frat houses up near the college.  I don’t know all the details, but somehow our children are involved,” Sam answered with unease.  Without another word, Jarod and Miss Parker drove off to Winchester College, hoping that Sarah and Josh were alright.