by P. D. Cacek
“The imposter. Kill it. It took Carly’s body.”
He stepped back, taking her with him, and shook his head.
“Mam! Mama!”
“It’s too late.”
“No, it’s not. We won’t tell anyone. Kill it.”
“No!”
Jessie turned and saw Carly’s mother holding the imposter and cuddling it…comforting it.
“That’s not Carly!” Jessie shouted, but when she tried to get back to the bed to show them her father grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the door. “No! Dad, that’s not Carly, you have to kill it. They signed the paper, you have to.”
Her father tightened his grip until she gasped in pain. “It’s too late, Jessica. It would be murder.”
Jessie blinked the tears away. “But it’s an imposter.”
“Don’t cry,” Mrs. Wingate said to the thing in her arms as she rocked it slowly back and forth. “Shh, shh, it’s okay. You’re okay. Shh.”
Jessie turned back to her father. “Dad, please!”
But he didn’t answer until he’d pulled her out of the room and into the hallway. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I…I was going to but I—”
“Don’t. I saw what you were doing.” He shoved her away from him then held up the filled syringe, pointing it toward the bedroom. “You did this. You could have stopped it. You should have called me the moment you knew Carly was dead. You let that thing steal Carly’s body while you…. God forgive you, Jessica.”
Jessie couldn’t move.
“I could have prevented this. I could have sent her to paradise with body and soul as one, but you….” He lowered his arm. “Go home, Jessica, you’ve done enough damage.”
“I heard….” Jessie turned and watched her sister creep toward them like a cat that knows a storm is coming. “Is it over?”
“Yes, Carly’s dead.” Their father looked at the syringe in his hand then threw it against the wall. The sudden stench of bleach made Jessie’s eyes water.
What happened? Jessie, what’s going on?
“Your sister’s going home, Abigail. Give her your car keys.”
“They’re in my purse. Downstairs.”
“Get the keys and go home, Jessica. Abigail, go back downstairs, I’ll explain in a moment.”
Jessie?
Go.
Jessie stared at their father as Abbie hurried away.
“Dad…please, I didn’t do anything.”
“That’s right, you didn’t do anything and now neither can I. May God forgive you because right now, I can’t.”
“Dad!”
He turned and walked away. “One body, one soul, Jessica. Go home.”
Her sister was standing at the bottom of the stairs, holding her car keys.
Jessie, what happened?
Carly died.
Then why didn’t Dad…. Oh, God, Jessie, no.
When her sister tried to hug her, Jessie pushed her away and grabbed the car keys.
Jessie, talk to me.
There’s nothing to talk about, Carly died and a Traveler took her body and it’s my fault! I could have stopped it, but I...I just wanted to say goodbye.
Her sister started to say something else as Jessie ran out of the house. This time she didn’t have the energy to sing, this time she just screamed.
STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!
There were only a few cars on the street when Jessie backed the Kia down the driveway – cars filled with people coming home from work or the store or whatever who didn’t know what had just happened in the Wingate house.
People who didn’t know a new Traveler had been born.
And she’d been the midwife.
There was more traffic when Jessie turned right instead of left onto Wadsworth, heading north instead of home, and kept just under the speed limit until she turned onto Route 128 toward the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. The bing bing bing of the fasten seat belt reminder kept her company as she accelerated into the unincorporated area.
There were few houses and even fewer streetlights along the stretch of road, but enough line-of-sight visibility for Jessie to see that there were no cops in the immediate vicinity. Yet. Every now and then, as Jessie blew through a traffic light or four-way-stop without so much as tapping the brake pedal, she’d see a bottle rocket or homemade firework go off in someone’s yard.
It wasn’t really dark enough yet for fireworks, the sky was still bright above the Front Range even if the ground was starting to get a little harder to see, but it was the same in her neighborhood. The Fourth of July was only a week and a half away, after all.
She was going to miss fireworks and hot dogs and Carly and going to a new U.C.U.A.-approved school in the fall and–
Jessie?
– –
Jessie, please, talk to me.
– –
What happened? What’s going on? Why is Dad so pissed?
Jessie concentrated on the road ahead.
The Foothill Highway was less than a mile ahead when she swerved the Kia onto an access road, kicking a rooster tail of dirt and gravel as the headlights sliced through the deepening shadows in front of her…only illuminating the giant cottonwood for a moment before Jessie slammed into it.
JESSICA FAITH PATHWAY
December 22, 2003 – June 22, 2021
* * *
Haverford, Pennsylvania / 7:36 p.m.
………………………………………………………beep………………………………………………………………
……………………………beep………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The orderly stepped back as her husband put his arm around her.
“He’s gone, Eva, he’s at peace.”
“Time of death, 19:36.”
CURTIS ALLAN STEINAR
September 14, 2001 – June 22, 2021
* * *
“No! Open your eyes. Open your eyes!”
Jessie opened her eyes.
Oh God, not again.
PART TWO
BEGINNINGS
June
Chapter Seventeen
Haverford, Pennsylvania / 7:37 p.m.
“Dr. Groundling!”
“Jesus….”
“Someone get them out of here!”
Eva couldn’t seem to catch her breath as someone, her husband or the orderly, tried to pull her out of the room.
“Mrs. Steinar, Mr. Steinar, please come with me.”
“Turn the ventilator back on! Turn everything back!”
“What are his vitals?”
Eva jerked free and walked toward the bed. “Mrs. Steinar—”
“Leave her alone.”
“Body temp…98.3.”
“Remove the cooling packs and get a warming blanket in here stat!”
“Heart rate?”
“65. 83. 98…102. Holding steady at 102 b.p.m.”
“Okay. Call Code Blue, let’s make sure it stays that way. Curtis? Curtis…can you hear me? Open your eyes. Come on, that’s it. Open your eyes. That’s right, open….”
The voices stopped and suddenly only the sounds of rhythmic, measured breaths from the respirator and mechanical beeps filled the narrow white room. Eva stopped walking when she reached the bed.
“Cancel Code Blue. Call T Code.”
A different voice echoed down the hall outside the room. “Terminate Code Blue. Code T to room 213. Repeat. Code T to room 213.”
Dr. Groundling looked up at Eva and took a deep breath. “Mrs. St
einar….”
Eva shook her head. “I told you he’d wake up, didn’t I?”
“Mrs. Steinar, listen to me, this isn’t your son.”
Eva brushed a damp lock away from Curtis’s forehead and smiled. “Of course it is.”
* * *
7:43 p.m.
It was so cold Jessie thought she was back under the ice and everything that had happened…everything that she had said and done…including the tree she ran into…were just parts of some horrible near-death nightmare and when she woke up everything would be back to normal and Carly would be okay and alive and—
“It’s too late.”
“No, it’s not. We won’t tell anyone. Kill it.”
“No!”
“You did this, it’s your fault. You let that thing steal Carly’s body while you defiled it.”
“Heart rate’s climbing, doctor.”
“Push 6mg of….”
Jessie fell asleep.
* * *
10:06 p.m.
“Can you open your eyes?”
Jessie remembered the last time and only opened her eyes a crack. The voice beyond the glare chuckled and the light went away.
“I know,” the voice said, “but I have to check your eyes. I promise I’ll be quick. Open wide, please?”
Jessie cranked her eyelids up and tried not to squint as the beam of light blinded first one eye and then the other.
“Both pupils reactive to light.” The light blinked off and Jessie watched the purple/yellow blobs bob and weave in front of a woman’s face. Just like the last time. “I’m Dr. Groundling and I’ve been taking care of you. Do you know where you are?”
Jessie raised an eyebrow.
“Right, I just told you I was your doctor, so, silly question. Pretty obvious you’re in a hospital, huh?”
Jessie raised the other eyebrow.
“Okay. Do you remember anything?”
She remembered everything: the sound like a bomb when the car hit the tree, the feel of the windshield shattering around her as she went through it, the pain, the taste of blood in her mouth, the cold swallowing her, the last words her father said to her.
Everything…she remembered everything.
Jessie licked her lips and nodded.
“That’s good,” the doctor said. “Now can you follow my finger with your eyes without moving your head?”
Jessie followed the finger from left to right and back again. The doctor smiled.
“You are doing great.”
Where’s my dad and sister? she asked, tried to ask, would have asked if she’d been able to a make a sound.
What the hell?
It took a few seconds for Jessie to work up enough saliva to swallow – God, her mouth was dry – and when she did it hurt like hell! Something was wrong, even getting up close and overly familiar with supposed safety glass shouldn’t have made her throat hurt like that.
Trying to clear her throat, she discovered almost instantly, was a bad idea. It felt like there was something stuck in it, but when Jessie tried to raise her hand to find out what it was, the doctor took her hand and held it.
“Listen to me and stay calm. You were having trouble breathing so we had to perform a tracheotomy.”
The cold Jessie felt earlier came back.
“You’re still connected to a respirator, but now that you’re awake why don’t we see if you can breathe on your own? Do you want to try?”
Jessie’s eyes went wide all by themselves. The doctor patted her hand.
“I know, it sounds scary, but I’ll be right here monitoring you and if there’s a problem I’ll reconnect you. So, thumbs up or down?”
Jessie nodded, forgetting about the tube in her throat until she felt it scrape against her skin. Her stomach quivered. Oh God. I’m going to puke through a hole in my neck.
“Are you okay?”
Jessie put up her thumb.
“Okay, I’ll disconnect you now.”
Jessie looked around the room, searching for her father. She knew he would never forgive her for what she’d done, but he wouldn’t just abandon her.
“May God forgive you because right now, I can’t.”
Would he?
No. He was probably out in the hall with Abbie, waiting until the doctor disconnected her.
“Ready?”
Jessie lifted her thumb higher and closed her eyes as the doctor reached for the tube.
“Now, this might feel a little funny.”
The tube wiggled – don’t puke, don’t puke – and Jessie heard a soft hiss and opened her eyes.
“Okay, can you take a deep breath?”
Jessie did and felt the air come in through her neck. Oh God.
“Good, that’s great,” the doctor said and wiggled the tube again. Please stop it, please stop it, please stop it. “Fantastic, considering all that body’s been through. How do you feel? Light-headed?” No. “Nauseous?” Jessie raised her thumb. “We’ll get you something to settle your stomach. It’s been through a bit too. Let’s see how you do and if there aren’t any problems, I’ll schedule decannulation surgery to remove the tracheotomy tube and close the incision. It may take a few weeks to heal and your throat will still be a bit sore, but that will go away. Can I ask you a few questions?”
Jessie had a few of her own, like if her dad and sister were there, but when she opened her mouth nothing came out.
“Hold that thought,” Dr. Groundhog – no, it wasn’t Groundhog…it was Groundling – said and Jessie watched her pick up a folded gauze pad from the tray next to the bed.
“On the count of three I want you to take a deep breath, I mean really deep and hold it while I place this against the end of the tracheotomy tube. Then when I tell you to, I want you to exhale as hard as you can, okay? One. Two. Three. Big breath.”
Jessie pulled air into her lungs via her neck. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.
“And exhale.”
Jessie grabbed the thin hospital blanket and felt the air whoosh out of her mouth. She would never take breathing for granted again.
“See how easy that was? Now, can you tell me your name?”
“Jezzzzz.” Oh God that hurts!
“That bad, huh?”
Jessie nodded.
“Nurse, can I have the numbing spray, please? Thank you. Okay, open up. This might not taste very good, and your tongue might be a little sluggish, but it will help with the pain. Ready?”
Jessie opened her mouth and almost gagged as the fine mist coated the back of her throat. It didn’t taste any better than it had after her other accident.
“Now swallow.”
She did and the doctor was right. Her tongue felt like it belonged to someone else.
“Better?”
Jessie shrugged and both the doctor and nurse laughed.
“Okay, can you tell me your name?”
“Dezzika.” The tracheotomy must have really done a job on her vocal cords, her voice sounded low and scratchy. “Gzz…Jzzzaaaka.”
Dr. Groundling’s smile tightened.
“Jessica?” the doctor repeated and Jessie nodded. “Jessica what?”
Jessie took a deep breath – God, she loved breathing – and concentrated. “D…Jah…Jezzzeeka fah…faytha pat…way. Jezz-i-ca Fffat-tha Paff…Pa-tha-way. Pathway.” Whew.
“Jessica Faith Pathway, is that right?” Jessie nodded. “Did you get that, nurse?”
“Yes.”
“Mmm my f-fader n sssder?”
The doctor turned back to Jessie. “What?”
“Mmmeye fadder n sssser.”
“Your father and sister? You want your father and sister?”
Jessie took another deep breath and nodded.
&nb
sp; The doctor’s smile flattened a bit, but she nodded as she took something else off the tray.
“I’ll have someone find out, but right now I think you need to rest.” It was a syringe, much smaller than the one her father had smashed against the wall. “We’ll talk later, okay…Jessica?”
Jessie raised her thumb as the rest of her body went weightless and began to float away.
* * *
Broomfield, Colorado / 8:06 p.m.
“Are you ready, Mr. Pathway?”
It was so ingrained in his own image of himself that Jess almost corrected the woman, not Mr., Reverend Pathway. He was standing in a hospital room about to look at his daughter’s mangled body and some part of his brain was concerned about titles.
Dear God, what did that say about him?
“Mr. Pathway?”
Jess nodded and took a deep breath that he tried to hold as the doctor pulled back the sheet covering her face. It was no use, it escaped in a sound he’d never heard before, let alone made. The only thing he recognized on her was her hair. They must have washed it because there wasn’t any blood in it.
She looked like a broken doll with some of the pieces missing.
“Oh, my God.”
His legs buckled and if the doctor hadn’t caught him he would have fallen on top of her.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Pathway,” the doctor said and put the sheet back over her. “I’m so very sorry.”
Jess got his feet back under him and stepped away from the gurney. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t known what to expect; he’d already spoken with the police officers who’d been first on the scene.
“Do you know if your daughter had taken anything? Was she depressed about something?”
“Yes, she was depressed, her friend had just died and I…I….”
I blamed her.
The police estimated Jessica had been going close to 80 mph when she hit the tree. There was nothing left of the car. They were very sorry, so very sorry.
“If it’s any consolation, Mr. Pathway, it’s more than likely that she died instantly upon impact. There wouldn’t have been any pain.”
“Thank you. Her body….” Jess realized he was staring at the floor at his feet and not the gurney. “Is there any chance…. My daughter was a True Born.”