Neither of us said anything.
“Drake, I’m so sorry I screamed. I never meant to… it’s just… I knew he was going to kill her, but I didn’t know it would be that terrible.” I took a breath. “And he gets away with it.”
I stopped for a second when I thought about the fact that the nurse had definitely seen Junior and by all accounts, it appeared like she survived the ordeal. Maybe she just never alerted the authorities that it was him? For all I knew, maybe Junior hunted her down and took care of her later so there wouldn’t be any witnesses? Not that that was a mystery I needed to solve but it did still make me wonder.
Drake’s hard gaze softened somewhat and his shoulders lowered slightly, “I know, mon chaton. You wouldn’t be you if you hadn’t tried to help. But he has to get away with it. It’s history now.”
He took me into his arms then and I realized I was shaking from the shock of the evening. Wrapped in the warmth of his embrace, I allowed myself to relax and the adrenaline petered out of my tired and emotionally spent body. He kissed my forehead and I melted against him. Leaning back, I looked up into his eyes and my chest swelled, but before I could say anything, we heard the baby utter a low, long, coughing sob. Both our heads jerked towards the stairs.
I knew I was ill-prepared for the scene that was up there, but what about the baby? If Junior had taken her in, what would have happened to her? It hardly seemed plausible to me that a man like that could have undergone a change of heart… Did the nurse come back? When she fled the scene, I doubted she was keen to return.
“Peyton, no!” said Drake, reading my thoughts even before I could make sense of them.
I realized I’d just put him in very serious danger because of my insistence on interfering, but the newest predicament now demanded our involvement.
“But Drake, what if we’re not ‘meddling with history’? What if we were here all along?”
My words gave him an expression of confusion. I carried on, realizing what I was saying as I said it. “Think about it. What if we rescued Alice? There’s no one else here to save her. The nurse is gone, Junior is gone, and Dorothy and the doctor are dead. If we don’t rescue that baby, no one else will. You said it before. History dictates what happened: the baby has to live.”
“We just have to trust that someone else will come to save it.”
“But what if we’re wrong? What if we’re the ones who have to save the baby?”
“Peyton, you’re not making any sense,” said Drake.
“That’s because you’re not listening to me!” I said in frustration. My brain was so foggy, I was having a difficult time explaining myself. “Listen. I’m saying maybe its part of history that we went back in time and scared Junior away before he could kill Alice. We have to save her this time because we saved her before! Don’t you see? It was us all along, Drake!”
Finally, he seemed to register what I was saying.
“But if you’re wrong, then we could be interfering with and possibly altering something that’s supposed to happen on it’s own.”
“Look at it this way, worst case scenario is: I’m wrong and we save the baby before the nurse comes back. Not only is it unlikely, but I’m sure she’d do the same thing we’re about to.”
“So your plan is to abduct a baby, Peyton? How do you plan to explain that to the cab driver?”
Another soft, rattling cry from the second floor again. I walked over to the door and looked out across the grounds. There was no sign of the nurse.
“Jill said her grandmother was abandoned at a hospital. Surely, the cab driver can’t object to us rescuing a baby.”
“So in your grand plan, we emerge from the forest holding a newborn infant and ask to be taken to the hospital? And this all works out seamlessly because, in your mind, it’s all happened before?”
Hearing him say it back to me didn’t exactly strengthen my argument; in fact, it seemed the opposite was true. I wondered if my thinking were completely ludicrous. But I didn’t see any other way. I nodded stubbornly. I was still shaking slightly from the events that just transpired, but I clung to this one hope. Maybe something good could still come out of tonight. Maybe we could help in some small way after all. Drake shook his head.
“Well, in that case, I suppose it’s time to go upstairs,” he said somberly. My heart sank to my stomach. Cold dread seeped into my fingers. I didn’t know what horrific scene awaited us at the top of the stairs, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. I tried to swallow but my mouth was too dry. I began to walk towards the stairs, following the sounds of Alice’s whimpers from the floor above.
I nodded, but Drake shook his head. “No, you shouldn’t go up there. That isn’t something you should see.”
“You’re not going up there alone,” I said defiantly. I knew he was just trying to protect me, but the scene upstairs wouldn’t be any easier for Drake to see than me.
“Peyton, I don’t think you understand. Seeing death like that changes you. You shouldn’t have to live with those images.”
“I don’t think you understand,” I countered. “Where you go, I go. We’re in this together, Drake.”
He hesitated, but finally gave a resolute nod and we headed toward the stairs.
TWENTY-TWO
The bottom stair creaked beneath the weight of my foot but this time, I continued up the old wooden stairs. When I reached the first landing, I had to steady myself against the railing.
Drake touched my arm. “Mon chaton, are you okay? Are you sure you want to go up with me? I cannot stress it enough that the sight will not be pretty.” He took a deep breath. “I would prefer to go alone.”
I nodded resolutely but remained rooted in fear, clinging, white knuckled, to the railing. “I have to go. For Dorothy.”
“Then let me go first?” he suggested. I nodded. Taking my hand in his, he started up the second flight of stairs. With a shaky breath, I followed him.
When we made it to the doorway at the top of the stairs, my heart stopped. Lying face down in the middle of the hallway was the doctor. Blood pooled around him, and he did not move. His front arms were pinned beneath him, like he might have been on his knees and fallen forward when he died. I shuddered at the thought and pried my eyes away. The door at the end of the hall was cracked open, but it was too dark to see inside. Light from the moon illuminated the hallway, but the dim glow made the whole scene even spookier. We followed the sound of the whimpers.
As we passed the doctor’s body, I sandwiched myself as close to the wall as I could. Blood looked black in the dim of the night as it seeped out from beneath him onto the floor. I stepped over the sticky pool and concentrated on Drake’s hand, which he wrapped reassuringly around mine. I kept my gaze fixed on his back. Once we passed the doctor, I breathed a sigh of relief. That was quickly eclipsed by dread when I remembered the worst was yet to come. I shook my head and tried to rid my imagination of what awaited me in Dorothy’s room.
“Ma minette,” Drake started in a deep and concerned voice as soon as he opened the door to Dorothy’s room. He turned around to face me and took each of my upper arms between his large hands, forcing me to face him. “Please do not do this.”
I stared up into his beautiful face and slowly shook my head. “I have to.”
He just looked at me for a few more seconds before he released me and stepped aside. It was worse than any image I could have dreamed up. Dorothy’s body twisted awkwardly beneath her. Her eyes were still open, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her beautiful, porcelain face was no longer visible. A grotesque concoction of blood, skull fragments and hair was splayed on the floor. My hand instantly rose to my mouth and I tried to stop the rising bile from escaping. I was glad I hadn’t eaten all day. Lying on the floor next to Dorothy I spotted a bundle of blankets. The baby’s cries diminished to a soft hiccup. My heart broke for the tiny girl lying next to her lifeless mother, her blanket speckled black with her mother’s blood. Baby Alice.
Tears came to
my eyes and I was forced to back against the wall of the room just to steady myself. Drake moved mechanically. He swooped down and grabbed the baby before taking her over to the bed and unwrapping her many layers. Once the baby saw she was no longer alone, she cried with renewed fervor. Drake checked over her small, helpless body while I looked on in horror. All I could do was watch him, my eyes drifting uneasily from the body on the floor to Drake and the baby, then back again.
He was right. I shouldn’t have come into the room because I knew I’d never forget what I’d just seen.
Drake stripped the sheet from the bed and used it to re-swaddle Alice. He handed her to me and I numbly extended my arms to accept her.
“Are you okay, ma minette?” asked Drake. I tried to nod, but my eyes were fixed on the hideousness behind him. Even Alice’s thin wails took a moment to reach me. I felt like I was under water or vaguely remembering a dream.
The baby’s cries sounded less desperate. I looked down at the bundle in my arms and saw the baby girl for the first time. Her pale skin was translucent white. I detected small, blue veins beneath her paper thin skin. Her head was crowned with a downy layer of blond hair. Her eyes were big and blue and wide, staring up at me in silent fascination. She was only one or two days old, and her delicate features were so miniature, she looked almost like a rare doll. She was not yet to the phase when babies become “cute,” but to me, Alice was beautiful. My chest stirred when I thought she’d never know the murdered woman lying on the floor. But I felt slightly reassured that she’d never remember the horror of this moment either. I envied Alice because Drake was right. What I saw was an image I could never forget.
***
I followed Drake numbly out of the small doctor’s room, feeling more fatigue than I’d ever felt in my life. I kept my eyes firmly riveted on the baby. The second time we passed the doctor’s body, I wasn’t quite as rattled. My nerves were fried and I ignored the grotesque scene in a state of temporary apathy. All I cared about now was getting Alice to safety.
Drake and I didn’t speak when we descended the stairs. I suddenly became terrified at the thought of Junior returning to finish the job. After the baby quieted, however, the house was completely silent. The stairs creaked below us as we made our way sluggishly toward the wide open door. Outside, dawn was breaking and the gray night surrendered to a softer, lighter blue. A few birds chirped as a shiny layer of frozen dew sparkled over the greenery.
We made our way across the front yard, our shoes leaving footprints in the frost. My ears and fingers ached in the cold, but I barely noticed. Maybe an alien force was propelling me forward, but I felt like I was outside my body, watching myself drift along the crisp, white grass behind Drake’s silent figure. When we finally reached the main road, my shoulders deflated. I couldn’t see the cab anywhere. My legs ached and my arms were sore from holding Alice.
She was so small, so easy to cradle in my arms. Drake gave me a worried glance. He held out his hands and offered to take Alice. I gratefully handed him the warm bundle. She was light, but at this point, I didn’t trust my legs to carry me, let alone, an infant.
“Where is the cab driver?” I asked. I couldn’t keep the exhaustion from my voice.
“He’s about a mile down, we walked quite far. That’s a good thing, I don’t think it would have helped us if he heard the gunshots.” My brain turned to ice at that thought; the baby was suspicious enough. Coupled with the gunshots, we could wind up in prison before we ever managed to get Alice to safety. Drake showed no concern, however, so I tried to push the worry from my mind.
Finally, after what felt like weeks of walking, I caught sight of the cab—a small speck on the side of the dirt road. Seeing the cab was still there created some warmth inside me that spread into my shocked limbs. With our destination in sight, I quickened my pace. My body had other ideas, however, and no sooner did I start to hurry before I was doubled over, struggling to keep myself from hyperventilating.
“I think I need to sit down,” I said to Drake’s worried face between choking gasps. He nodded, raising his eyebrows and looking concerned. He shifted the baby to one arm and took my elbow with the other. We made it to the shoulder of the road. Drake sat beside me, his face a composed expression of care and concern. Slowly, my breathing returned to normal, but my eyelids felt so heavy, and my limbs were numb and lifeless. Something was wrong.
“I think you’re in shock,” said Drake in a deep voice. I nodded because he was right. I felt so much worse than anything I’d ever experienced. Shock would have been a welcome relief to the pain and concrete heaviness in my body. Drake’s chocolate eyes met mine, and the anxiety carved lines into his forehead. My heart melted. That coupled with the sleeping baby now snuggled in his manly arms were just about enough to slay me. Even with exhaustion anchoring my limbs, I still fought the urge to lean into him. I trained my attention on baby Alice instead. I was a little worried if I kept looking at Drake, I might start to hyperventilate again.
The baby began to whimper and I took a moment to adjust the blanket around the soft, delicate skin on her head. She almost glowed in the early morning light. The sky turned white and the road appeared to stretch on endlessly. I breathed slowly and pushed myself up from the ground. My legs cramped in protest as I watched Drake struggle to stand beside me. He looked the way I felt. His head hung lower than normal and his face lacked its usual color. Thick stubble darkened his cheeks and gray bags hung beneath his red-rimmed eyes.
The journey into the past wasn’t kind to either of us, but my stomach knotted at the thought it would soon be coming to an end. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, not yet. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Drake mostly.
As we approached the cab, I saw the driver inside with his head resting against his seat, and his eyes closed. I could only hope he slept through the chaos of the last two hours. Had he heard anything? What about Junior’s car speeding past him in the opposite direction? Worry immobilized me and my head throbbed in response.
He had his coat wrapped tightly around him and I made a mental note to give him every last bill we had. This man had singlehandedly allowed our entire mission over the last twelve hours to become possible. I looked down at Alice again, growing a little wary about how our explanation would fly. How could we explain the baby?
Luckily for us, when Drake knocked on the driver’s window, he started up the car without question. Maybe my coat was large enough to conceal my midsection and the driver just thought the baby was mine. I learned very quickly that he hadn’t fully realized that we added a third member to our party yet. As soon as we entered the car, he whipped around in his seat. For the first time, I looked at our driver. He was a slender man, with thinning, dirty blond hair. His watery eyes were a light blue and his yellowish cheeks sunk slightly beneath his prominent cheekbones. His face stared at us in an expression of confusion and shock.
“Okay, whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Where did that baby come from?” he demanded, eyes wide.
“Please don’t ask us any questions,” Drake started but the man shook his head.
“I’ve indulged you two all night, but this is way too much. If the police question me, I’m not going to jail. I have a family!” he huffed angrily.
My eyes widened and I turned to Drake. His expression was thoughtful. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick bundle of bills. Silently, he handed the wad to the driver.
“Take us to the nearest hospital please,” Drake said.
The driver’s eyes grew wider and he cocked his head to the side as if considering the pros and cons of accepting it. He exhaled a long, slow breath and his mouth became a perfect “O.” Finally, he concluded the bribe was worth his cooperation and extended his hand with a resigned whistle. After accepting the bills, he turned in his seat and put the car into gear. Even though he cast us an exasperated glance before turning the car around, he was polite enough to keep his thoughts to himself.
I leaned in to Drake and whispered in his ear, “W
asn’t that the most suspicious thing you could do?”
Drake shrugged. “I am not concerned. I asked him to take us to the hospital which doesn’t seem so conspicuous.” The more I thought about it, the less it continued to bother me. Even if the driver reported us to the police, we’d be long gone before they could find us. At the thought of returning to the present day, my stomach ached and churned.
The car responded the same way: it choked and wheezed for a few moments before finally rolling away. Alice’s eyes were closed and she leaned against the warmth of my chest.
I glanced over at Drake and noticed his thumb and forefinger pinched the bridge of his nose. I’d rarely seen Drake look so tired. The only other time was after he battled a powerful demon.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“No, I’m very tired.”
“Drake, do you think it affects us? Being here, I mean? Maybe I’m being overly dramatic, but I feel like I’m, I don’t know… dying.”
“Oui, ma minette. I feel it too. Although, like Lovie and Christopher warned, it is affecting you more than me. The sooner we return, the better you will feel.”
Drake confirmed my suspicions but that only made our upcoming goodbye weigh even heavier on my mind. I stared at his tired face, so handsome despite the unflattering white light and his obvious exhaustion. His eyes met mine and the soft, chocolate brown irises seemed to warm when he looked at me. My heart began to beat faster. I stared at him longingly, trying but failing to stop the moment from passing so fast. I wasn’t sure but it looked like he was trying to do the same.
The car bumped and banged along, I held my hand to Alice’s cheek to make sure she was okay. Knowing next to nothing about infants, her silence worried me. I was sure this level of excitement and chaos were not normal or maybe even tolerable for a baby. I hoped she didn’t get hurt when she fell with Dorothy. I worried, What if I’d gotten it wrong? What if we weren’t supposed to take her to the hospital? Maybe my presence interfered with all kinds of history. Was there a chance we’d be returning to a different future? As I gazed maternally at Alice’s waxy complexion, my anxiety paralyzed me. What if we’d made a huge mistake?
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