Blair woke to Todd’s thrashing and immediately sense he was in trouble. Sweat was pouring off him and he was deathly pale, his breathing was labored and try as she might she couldn’t wake him. “Oh God! Todd wake up! Please, look at me.” He couldn’t hear her. If she couldn’t get him to wake, she feared he would have another heart attack. Blair observed Todd’s hands clasped rigidly in front of him and his arms hugged tightly to his body as if bound to his body. He was attempting to get loose but was unable. He was dreaming. There had to be some way to get him out of his nightmare. His eyes flashed open, focused on something only he could see.
Todd watched as the knife inched closer and his head was filled with his father’s and Peter’s laughter. Then came the voice over it all, menacing and deadly. “You should have heeded the ’Messenger,’ now you’ll be forever marked as mine.” The knife descended and the blade cut deep. Todd’s scream pierced through the air, sharp, and he ceased all movement.
The scream reverberated through the upstairs. Down the hall in the Key West suite, Cole and Starr pulled apart as they heard the anguished cry. “Oh my God, that’s my father!” Starr ran out of the room, followed closely by Cole. She burst into her parent’s room to find her mom frantically shaking Todd, trying to bring him around.. “Mom, what happened. Is it his heart?”
Blair looked over and saw the fear she felt, reflected in Starr’s eyes, she continued to try and get some sort of response from Todd. “I hope not Starr, he’s got a faint pulse. Starr. get on the phone, call 911, let them know we’re on the mountain, and then call Ray.” Blair pulled him into her arms, stroking his damp forehead and talking to him. “Todd, we’re getting help. Baby, don’t leave me, you’re safe. It’s going to be alright.”
Starr quickly dialed and began explaining the emergency. “Yes, he’s unconscious and unresponsive. He’s had a series of heart attacks in the last year, but I’m uncertain if he’s had one now. Please hurry!” Then to Blair, she said, “Mom they’re on their way. Is there anything we can do?”
Blair looked up tears in her eyes. “I don’t know, I tried to wake him, but couldn’t. He’s so pale, Starr and I can hardly tell that he’s breathing.” Even as she spoke, his body began to shake and felt colder to her. She grabbed the comforter and wrapped him in it, trying to keep his body temperature from dropping further.
“Mom, when you said his worst nightmare, please tell me he wasn’t dreaming of the tomb again?
“I think he was Starr,” She looked down at his still form, “and I know why.”
“Mom, why? Why now?"
“Your father’s been plagued by dreams since the day after the blackout.” Blair hugged him, whispering close to his ear. “Come on, baby, wake up for me,” and kissed his forehead. Both she and Starr prayed for some reaction, but none came. Continuing her thoughts, almost as a way to keep her own panic down, Blair said, “That’s when John told him that Mitch’s body was missing. Yesterday he found out that Mitch is still alive.”
She heard Starr’s gasp and felt her own heart lurch for the man in her arms. She couldn’t dwell on Mitch; Todd was her first concern. “Cole, will you go turn on the outside lights for the helicopter?” She turned her attention back to Todd. “Samuel, Tom, if any of you can hear me, please give me a sign. Squeeze my hand, anything.” She and Starr watched, hoping for any movement, to indicate Todd might be regaining consciousness. Blair laid him back on the bed and urged Starr to talk to him while she quickly dressed.
Starr sat down on the bed next to her dad and reached for his hand. Her eyes were filled with tears and her lips trembled. “Dad, come on now, you’re scaring us.” She took a moment to feel his pulse and agreed with her mom. It was alarmingly slow. Her father’s eyes were closed, but there was movement behind the lids that told her he was still dreaming. “I’ve got a little brother or sister on the way and you can’t leave that baby without a father. Don’t let Mitch take you from us again. You’re stronger than he is, you can’t quit now.” She squeezed his hand but got no reaction.
Blair wandered over and hugged her daughter. They heard the helicopter landing on the lawn, within minutes the EMTs had followed Cole upstairs and they began checking Todd.
“How long has he been like this?”
“It’s been about twenty minutes since he collapsed. I’ve been unable to wake him,” replied Blair.
“Mr. Manning, can you hear me?” The EMT flashed a light into Todd’s eyes. “His pupils are responsive, get on the phone with Llanview hospital, and tell them to prepare for vitals.” He proceeded to take a blood pressure reading and after listening to Todd’s heart, put leads on his chest to get a readout. “ER, I’ve sent you the readings, the patient has been unresponsive to stimuli and BP is 85 over 50. Pulse is thready. The patient appears to be in shock, but uncertain of the cause.”
Down in the ER, Larry Wolek prepared to read the info coming in. Larry frowned when he saw Todd’s BP and even more alarmed when the reading came in. “You say the patient is unresponsive? What happened before your arrival?”
The EMT turned back to Blair. “Can you give us an idea of the event leading up to this?”
Blair heard Larry’s voice over the speaker and felt relief that he was in the ER. “ My husband was sleeping and then had what appeared to be a bad nightmare, but I was unable to wake him from it. Then he screamed and has been in the state that you now see him.”
The EMT relayed the story to the ER and waited for further instructions.
Todd’s low heartbeat and pulse were a cause for alarm. “Start an IV of Ringer’s Lactate and bring him in immediately.”
“What’s going on, isn’t there something you can do, to make him come out of this state.” Blair was scared, Todd showed no indications that he was waking and now Larry was ordering him brought into the hospital. The EMTs lifted Todd onto a stretcher and carried him down to the waiting helicopter. Blair was allowed to ride to the hospital with them. Cole and Starr said they would watch the boys. Blair looked over at Starr. “Did you call Ray?”
Starr was flustered and dismayed. “I’m sorry. I was so worried, I forgot.”
Blair smiled ruefully, “I understand, but please call him and have him meet me at the hospital. I think your father will need him when he wakes up.” She waved and the helicopter took off for the hospital. She sat there, looking at Todd hooked up to oxygen and the emergency equipment. She couldn’t stop watching the heart monitor. The indicator line seemed so slow and irregular. She wanted to make it speed up and show her the usual spikes and smooth lines but instead, she watched it waver and dip, and then she would see two spikes close together, even her untrained eye knew that wasn’t good. Wanting something, anything to get through to Todd, her hands found her stomach and rubbed as if seeking strength from the new life. She reached and laid Todd’s hand to rest there underneath her hand, hoping the baby would give a kick, even though she knew it still was too early.
As the helicopter left, Cole wrapped his arms around Starr and held her close. “He’s going to be alright. Your father is strong. Starr, what did you mean when you said something about a tomb?”
Starr took Cole’s hand and led him back inside. “I’ll tell you, but first I have to call Ray.” They sat down on the couch by the dying fire. After talking to Ray and explaining the events. She hung up and curled into Cole’s arms.
“Starr, I know what Hesser and Kipling did to your dad. But what is Mitch’s connection to everything? What’s this about a tomb?”
Starr shivered, “I don’t know the complete story. Mom and Dad never told me everything that went on, but I do know that when my father arrived back in town over a year ago, he was trapped inside his head and Samuel was in charge. Samuel told us the only way Todd could get his foothold again was for him to face something. Dad’s Alter, Samuel, felt drawn to my grandfather’s tomb. Mom and I were worried because of his heart, and we followed him to the tomb that night. It seemed to be taking forever and when we saw my Aunt Vicki enter the tomb, we followed. We found Samuel passed out on the floor having had a heart attack and Aunt Vicki said my father was back. Whatever he faced in that tomb was so horrific, it caused a heart attack. The nightmares that followed for my father were debilitating and he only managed to finally find some peace after starting his therapy with Ray.”
“So, you know about the nightmares, not what’s in them. Why is Mitch involved?” Cole carefully reached and slid a lock of Starr’s hair off her face and put it behind her ear.
“Whatever happened in that tomb, happened because of Mitch. I remember my mother thinking that Mitch had trapped my father there, but when she went to free him there was no sign. Although he won’t tell me, I think that Mitch really did trap him there and later removed him, beating him and slicing his face before leaving him dying on the road.”
“But where could Mitch have trapped him in the mausoleum. I mean the door is open for family access right?”
Starr thought, and then began to cry softly.
“Starr, what’s wrong?”
“Cole, don’t you see. There’s only one place Mitch could have hidden my father in that place. He must have put my father in one of the crypts and the most accessible was my late grandfather’s coffin, who had just died.” The horrible realization came to her. “Oh my God, Mitch buried my father alive.”
***
Todd found himself wandering through an unfamiliar location. There were no walls just gray everywhere he looked, and the silence was deafening. Something wasn’t right. “Hello? Tom, Samuel, Ms. Perkins?” There was no answer. He didn’t feel dead, just cold. The chill seeped clear to his bones. What was going on? He suddenly looked at his hand, for one moment he had the strangest feeling it had been touched. The utter lack of any tangible objects was disconcerting, and why was it so frigid? He started walking, not entirely sure where he was going, but he needed to find a way. He continued walking, wrapping his arms closer about his body in an effort to warm up. He saw something in the distance. His steps slowed as he made out a figure ahead of him, but he suddenly didn’t want to go any farther.
He was unable to stop his forward momentum and instead came to a halt directly in front of the man. The air was freezing and he wanted to turn his eyes away. “You’re dead. What is this place?”
The man raised his head and grinned. “My son, give your father a hug.” He reached out and grabbed at Todd’s arms.
Suddenly, the stench was overwhelming. Todd could hardly breathe and he struggled to break his father’s hold. Even as he fought, he watched the skin begin to fall away from his father’s body, rotten pieces of meat dropping to the floor. “No, this isn’t happening, this is a dream, I need to wake up.”
His father began to cackle, and Todd saw his lower jaw separate from his face, and one side hang like a hinge. “Wake up? Why, son? There is no waking up. This is your home, don’t you remember? You died alongside me. Take a look at yourself.”
The rattling laughter that issued from his throat was abhorrent, and Todd looked down at his arms, or what was left of them...
“Noooooooooooooo!” Todd woke up screaming, protecting his arms by covering them with his hands. Larry and Ray quickly grabbed them to keep him from pulling out his IV. They held him as he tried to get free. It was clear he didn’t know where he was.
Larry said, “Todd, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself, you need to calm down.” The monitors beeped, alarms sounded, and the heart line was skipping. Todd’s heart was racing.
Ray looked over at Blair who was watching, as if in shock. “Blair, talk to him, let him hear your voice.”
Blair moved quickly to Todd’s side. “Todd, it’s Blair, you’re all right,” he continued fighting against the grip of Ray and Larry, “Stop! Listen to me.”
The image in his mind’s eye wouldn’t fade and he began moaning. “No! Not real. I’m not dead. I’m alive.” He clenched his eyes shut, trying desperately to lose the image. Then, he felt her hand touch his shoulder. “Blair?” He refused to open his eyes, he was so afraid of what he would see.
Blair moved closer, her hand cradled his scarred cheek, he calmed and Ray moved out of the way to let Blair have full access to Todd. “It’s me, Todd, you’re safe, it’s over,” he turned his face into her hand breathing slower.
“Blair, he wouldn’t let go. He said I was dead” he broke down sobbing quietly.
Larry shook his head at the nurse, and she put the sedative down. Todd’s stats were coming back to normal and Larry really didn’t want to accidentally send him back into his nightmare. “Todd, open your eyes. It’s Larry, you’re in the hospital. I need to check your pupils. You’ve had a bad reaction to the sleeping pills I prescribed.”
Larry’s words penetrated and Todd suddenly felt an absurd urge to laugh. Bad sleeping pills, are you kidding me? He shivered again as that final image of his father faded and then couldn’t help the sarcastic response. “You think?” Todd said, slowly opening his eyes and looking around, searching for the person he really wanted to see. He flinched at Larry’s light. Ray couldn’t help but crack a smile. After everything Todd had just been through, he still managed to be snarky.
Todd’s eyes rested on Blair and he reached with his now freed hand to take hers. She saw through his attempt to make light of what had happened, seeing the pain very evident in his eyes. She gripped his hand and squeezed, letting him know she understood.
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