Who's the Real Todd?, Ch. 25

Todd walked out to the living room and sat down. Totally drained. He had gotten Jack to face the truth but that was just the first step of many they were going to be taking. He didn't remember that much about Rex Balsom except that he had come to Llanview something of a con artist. He'd have to talk to Blair to find out what to expect from the guy. Tea hadn't sounded optimistic. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked at his daughter.

"You did good Dad. He knows what he did. I can't believe the bullying resulted in this. Poor Shane. Dad just how serious if this for Jack?" asked Starr as she sat next to him.

"Starr, this is bad. Jack didn't set out to hurt when he started all this but he let it escalate and when he had a chance to stop he didn't. He and his friends lured someone into a trap they set up to humiliate and possibly harm. They didn't stop to consider all the ramifications.  They did it to get even.  Now a woman has been killed. They are responsible. He needs to own up to his part in this if he's going to ever be able to face himself in the future. We need to be prepared for the possibility he could go to prison." Todd wearily rubbed his forehead. Once again his body was crying out for rest. He looked at the clock and realized that Ray would be arriving in a little over an hour. "Starr, I need to lie down. I'll be upstairs."

Starr watched her father ascend the stairs. He was so worried for Jack and he was blaming himself. She felt her own tears track down her cheeks as she wept for both of them.

Todd tried to rest but it was useless. He realized the events of the morning had once more emphasized just how cursed he was. Todd sent his thoughts inward and went looking for Samuel. Samuel had been able to take the edge off so many times recently and he needed that part of him that he had patterned after his old friend He was just about to knock on Samuel's door when a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked around to find Pete standing there.

"You don't need Samuel right now. You need to come with me."  Pete had roused his curiosity so he followed him. They entered a gym and in the middle was a boxing ring. " This is your chance, Todd. Something you been waiting for a long time. Are you game? Just you and me Todd."

Todd nodded. They climbed into the ring.

"Bare knuckles Todd, let's get it on," said Pete. They began circling each other, "So I'm the demon you thought you had to contain. That one hurt Todd, after all I've done for you." Pete feinted and then telegraphed his first shot with his right only to follow with a full left-handed blow that connected with Todd's jaw. Todd's head snapped back at the contact. "Why on earth would you put that label on me, you hated labels. Monster, Animal, less than a man, do any of them ring a bell. You said you deserved them but deep down you hated every label, well I've got one that fits you to a tee. Coward. You've sat back all these years letting me take the blame." Pete took a quick move to his left and then feinted right and sent a blow into Todd's ribs. Todd backed away, Pete had already gotten in two shots, it was time to change the rules of the game.

"I'll concede that truth to you, Pete. I have unburdened myself at your expense. But you're no Prince. You prey on women, you delight in making them fear you, because, in reality, you're afraid of them. You fear they'll make you feel and if that happens you'll be vulnerable. Now, who's the coward." Pete growled and rushed towards him and Todd whipped his foot around and connected with Pete's face.

Pete staggered back, he had rushed right into that one. "Okay you got one off whoop have you got anything else. Come on enough with the dancing lets get this party on." Pete moved in and started sending punches rapid fire. They were both landing blows but neither seemed able to get the advantage.

After pummeling themselves almost senseless Todd finally held up a hand. "This is getting us nowhere, answer me something. What did you hope to accomplish when you brought me here?"

Pete leaned back against the ropes and chuckled. " Well, you tell me. Did you really want to talk when you came here or did you want to hit something? Admit it. You were mad and you were frustrated. Didn't you just get through telling your son you wanted to kill the man who took all those years from you, I know you, Todd, you've been holding in your anger for a while and it's obvious you can't take out your frustrations the usual way. Besides this gave me a chance to get some of my own back. So tell me, did you get any satisfaction taking me on because I got to tell you it felt pretty damn good to lay some of those hits on you."

Todd was shocked in more ways than one. He had never known Pete to chuckle. It was a little unnerving to think his dangerous alter could actually think anything was humorous. But what really shocked him was the fact that Pete had known exactly what he had needed after all. It had felt good to lash out, to go at Pete with everything he had. It didn't solve the problem they were faced with but he no longer felt the urge to smash a mirror or all the glassware in the house. "You're a bastard, Pete."

"I know but you love me anyway. Gah, I can't believe I just said that I'm spending way too much time around you. Get out of here before I heave." Pete left muttering to himself in disgust.

Todd started laughing, Pete had never seemed so approachable. He made his way back and realized that he could hear a conversation going on. Who was talking? "Damn I forgot about Ray"

He decided to listen in and take it easy, obviously, Samuel had taken over while he and Pete were having their discussion. Samuel and Ray had just begun discussing the facility. Todd felt the cold chill seep to his bones, Samuel wasn't any happier reliving this any more than he was but they needed to do this.

Ray looked at his friend and said: "Start anytime you're ready Samuel."

Ray waited for Samuel to begin, his thoughts roaming back to when he first arrived. He had been expecting Todd or Samuel to open the door so was surprised when Blair opened it. She had looked really upset and pulled him aside long enough to give him a quick rundown on what had occurred. When he didn't see Todd he got worried. This was just the sort of thing that could bring Todd crashing right back down into his depression. Blair told him that Todd had disappeared an hour earlier saying he needed to lay down.

There had been no answer when he knocked so he checked and the door wasn't locked. On entering, he had seen Todd laying on the bed. He seemed to be asleep but when Ray had attempted to rouse him there had been no response. After several tries, Ray had started to go find Blair when he was stopped.

"Don't go, Ray. My apologies, I was not aware you had arrived. It was remiss of Todd not to give me a warning what he was up to but I'm pretty sure he meant to be here to greet you." Samuel sat up on the edge of the bed and offered Ray the chair sitting beside it. "I'm presuming you talked to Blair before coming up here. Forgive me, but we're all a little shell-shocked at the moment especially Todd, this whole thing has hit him hard. I had expected a visit from him but it appears one of my brothers waylaid him and they had a more physical chat so to speak. So here we are, you want to hear some more of the gory details of our stay at the Facility. Surprisingly I can understand Todd's reluctance to talk of this as I too feel uncomfortable. I wish I had never drawn those pictures but now the cat is out of the bag and there's no turning back.  Make yourself comfortable, Ray."

Ray settled into the chair and gave his attention to Samuel. Samuel had asked for a moment and Ray waited patiently he knew that this was going to be difficult.

Samuel had been ready to start when he sensed that Todd had returned He paused to quickly ascertain what Todd had been up to, "My god Todd what happened?"

Todd was sitting in a chair looking at him covered in bruises. Todd laughed, "You should see the other guy." off in the distance, a bark of laughter echoed around them. " Go ahead, Samuel. You need to tell what you remember and I need to hear it. Then we can hear my part. There has to be something in these memories we can use to trap Kipling and Hesser. Go on."

Samuel took a deep breath and started in. "You are aware that after  Lawrence slashed Todd's face I took over. The subsequent ride to the emergency room and the treatment I was given there is essentially a blur. The injuries were too extensive and basically, I drifted in and out of consciousness. I was covered in bandages when they sent me to the facility. I remember jarring awake in the ambulance after we hit some pothole or something. Hurting all over and unable to move I just wanted to pass out again, but the pain was such, that every jerk of the vehicle just ripped through me and kept me conscious. We arrived and the doctors realized that I was awake and gave me something to knock me out."

"The next time I awoke I was being wheeled down a corridor and into a room. I thought it strange as it wasn't a patient's room but more like a laboratory. They moved me in and began hooking me up to all this machinery. I tried to talk but to no avail.  All I could do was lay there.  Then the doctor in the picture came into view and started talking to me. I couldn't quite understand him, my one ear was swollen shut from the trauma and my other had been worthless for years. He leaned closer and spoke saying 'Think of your Sister' I thought that was the most unusual request but no sooner did he say Sister and suddenly my mind was full of images of Vicki. I didn't even know who she was but every image felt like I should. Then something changed, the images began shifting I felt like I could reach out and touch the woman in the image but even as she became three dimensional something started slicing through her...." Samuel's voice was getting weaker and he had begun sweating. "As I watched that slicing, a pain started in my head. It began slowly but the more I watched the sharper the pain, I couldn't stop watching. I wanted to close my eyes to stop watching but my eyes felt like they were being held open against my will. I wasn't in control. The machine that I was hooked up to was doing it. It was slicing the memory from my mind, thin slice by thin slice .....thin slices of my brain.....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh." Samuel screamed and collapsed back on the bed clutching his head.

Ray had been watching closely from the moment Samuel had started sweating, but he wasn't prepared for the agony he heard in the scream or for the result as he watched Samuel barely holding onto consciousness.

Todd had collapsed right along with Samuel as the pain coursed through the nerve endings in his brain. He was paralyzed until Samuel could fight through the pain.

Blair had come running at Samuel's scream followed by Starr and Jack. They watched as Samuel writhed on the bed in obvious pain, helpless to do anything. Ray sat on the bed talking steadily efficiently. "Samuel, listen to me, follow my voice, come on concentrate on my voice nothing else. There's nothing there, just silence and my voice, no pain just numbness, that's it numbness no pain." Samuel stopped writhing and lay quietly rubbing his head. Blair ran and got a cold cloth and brought it to Ray who carefully touched Samuel's shoulder. "Samuel, there's a cold cloth here do you want it?"

Samuel opened his eyes and looked at Ray. "It doesn't help Ray.  It's never helped. This hasn't happened for so long I thought it was gone. The doctors at Philadelphia General were baffled and unable to find a cause and now I know why. This is something they did to me at the facility to keep me from remembering. God! This is the worst one since 2003. Todd is incapacitated for the time being and I'm not in much better shape. This is going no farther today. By the way, Thanks, you better stay close if we try this again, It helped to concentrate on your voice."

"You rest my friend, you're right this goes no farther. Not until we can figure out how to buffer the problem." Ray gave Samuel a pat on the shoulder and stood up. "We'll talk later."

Starr and Jack came to their dad and helped him get more comfortable on the bed. His barely audible "Thanks" the only sound as he drifted to sleep. Jack looked at his sister and said " Tell me about him." she nodded and they headed to her room to talk.

Blair walked Ray out and they made arrangements to talk. She locked up and headed up to Todd's room to watch over him and make sure his rest remained uninterrupted,