The Mind’s Eye
Page 31
Carl looked at him confused, "Your little episode on the sofa. That was real?"
He just nodded, "My head felt like it was going to explode. Felt like it anyway."
"Please don't take this the wrong way, I have a hard time believing that your headache came on at just the right time."
*****
Nicole held Paul's hand as he slept. Simone had also fallen asleep as she sat in the corner of the room, a police guard standing beside her and another outside the room. Nicole had no more tears to shed; she was all cried out. She released her hold, stood, carefully pulled the sheet down to reveal the large dressing across Paul's stomach. She knew he had been slashed, but until then, she didn't comprehend the severity of the injury. Her concern disappeared, replaced with rage at the person who attempted to kill him. She felt something new grow inside her, something she had never felt before. Teeth clenched, she stood over the bed watching over Paul. The pulse pounded in her temples, her fists tight, she had a new mission. Katy was dead, but the skinny man was still alive and on the run. And she knew exactly how to find him.
She excused herself and left the room, walked to the end of the hall, entered the bathroom, locked the door, turned off the light then sat on the toilet seat. Closing her eyes, she cleared her mind of anything except the skinny man with the hairless arms. Her mind went blank, thinking about nothing other than the goal at hand. The darkness in her mind slowly began to swirl with bright light, spinning, circling around her head, the darkness giving way to greens and browns and blues. The images in her mind began to form; stones emerged from the ground in rows, some covered in the shade by the trees above, others brightly lit by the sun. The stones eventually formed, and she knew where she was. Two men sat on the ground facing each other. One man she recognized, the other she didn't.
Nicole focused on the skinny man and entered his thoughts.
*****
"I'm telling you, it's like every single image, every experience is being ripped from your mind and examined. Memories I've long forgotten are replayed in my head, all at the same time." He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as a new headache stuck him again like a bullet to the brain. With his eyes closed tightly, he rolled onto the grass, moaning.
Carl had seen Will in that same position on the couch at Sam's house. He immediately became suspicious of his behavior, assuming he was faking. He leaned back, huffed, having no time for Will's theatrics. "You managed to fake your way out of your dad's house. I don't believe a thing you're doing so give it a rest."
Will continued to hold his head, eyes shut tightly against the day's bright sun. He looked deep inside his thoughts and felt someone else mauling around his skull. He could see long forgotten memories being opened like a book and played out then another chapter began, more memories unfolding, the memories playing over one another, pain, excruciating pain drilling holes in his mind. He attempted to close one memory, but more memories opened faster than he could close. He was sparing with a ghost in his own mind. For the first time, he felt as if he was truly going mad. Fighting for control over his mind, he anticipated where the ghost in his head would go and fought for control. He closed some of the memories, more than were being opened, he was finally beginning to take back his mind. He raced from image to image, shutting down the memories but the ghost in his head began to work faster to unlock long forgotten times.
Memories played out, one over the other, blending, meshing together, all sense of time had long disappeared, he was old, then young, his mother alive one moment, dead the next then alive again. Doors closing and opening, he tried to keep them shut, but the ghost had the key to unlock everything in his mind.
From his fight earlier in the day, Will learnt a few tactics, instead of fighting the memories, he turned to find the ghost. Anticipating where the next door would open, he hid behind the memory hoping it would be the next one. He worked his way towards the ghost, figuring out the pattern, where would the next door open?
Nicole kicked back, her head snapping like a bobblehead on a car's dash. She felt Will grab the memory she was about to open and slammed it shut. He then pushed hard, and Nicole lost control, allowing Will to swing the door into her mind. Intense pain cut through her head. For the first time, she knew the type of pain she was causing Will when she was in his head.
Will ran through her memories, attempting to find his way around. He was new here, never having done this before. He didn't know where to turn, what to do, where to go or how to properly do what she was doing to him. Fumbling his way about, he grabbed at whatever he could, not knowing Nicole had recovered and was right behind him. As he found one of Nicole's doors, he took hold, opened the memory wide and saw the person who was attacking him. She was not what he anticipated. Will wasn't sure what he would find, but this woman was certainly not it. He paused for only a moment to remember her face so that he could find her and make her pay for what she was doing to him. In that brief moment, Nicole saw him hesitate, and she pushed hard, knocking Will from her door making him lose his balance. Seeing him off balance, he was in her mind, she had the power and wanted to make him pay. She used all of her energy and attacked him with fury and vengeance. Will felt something, some force wrap around his entire body. He thought he was only screaming in agony in his own mind, but Carl jumped back as Will let out a high-pitched yell.
On the grass, Will held his head; his breathing was so rapid, Carl wondered if he was dying. He turned Will over, his eyes were closed, but under his eyelids, it looked like snakes swimming beneath them. Carl had heard of REM sleep, but this was beyond any normal eye movement he had ever seen. Will was unconscious, panting, covered in sweat.
Carl grabbed his phone laying on the grass, swiped up and called 911. Inside Will's mind, Nicole fought for control. She had pushed back into Will's mind. She knew what she was doing, she wanted revenge, not only for Paul but for the girls he killed. Opening the doors, Nicole has seen not only how they were killed but what he did to them afterwards. She felt their fear and pain. It was too much for her; she wanted to make him pay for what he had done to them, and her.
She ripped at anything she could find; more memories sprang up, she saw Sam at his mother's house, making love to her with Will in the next room. She had a moment of sympathy for the boy but cast it aside and kept tearing at Will's mind. More and more, the visual life of Will played out in different times all at once. Will was seeing scenes of his entire life being played out all at the same time. He couldn't focus on any one and Nicole didn't take the time to see the mayhem she was causing. She just kept opening doors, letting the memories loose and running to the next.
Will forced his eyes shut but the flood of images couldn't be stopped.
Images overlaid upon one another, it was like trying to focus on one song as thousands played at once. Memories that he had forgotten, painful ones, ones that he buried long ago, were now being replayed with full clarity. There was no way to stop seeing what was going on inside his head. The pressure, the pain, was too much. Will relented, gave up, hoping the ghost would taste victory and stop. Instead, memories sprang up and flooded his mind until there were just too many to take.
Will rolled around on the grass, his screams had drawn the attention of other visitors to the graveyard. There was now a crowd gathering behind Carl as he attempted to restrain Will before he hurt himself.
Inside, Will had lost the ability to fight back. He dropped to his knees, called out to the ghost and begged for the torment to stop before he went insane.
He still couldn't find the woman who was attacking him, but he heard her voice in his head, "Stop? Stop? Did you stop when those girls asked you to stop? Did you? Why should I?" With that, Nicole blindly reached forward and pulled on as many doors as possible; flooding Will with memories he had long forgotten. Images of himself as a young baby, being held by his mother. Images that normally could never be remembered, Nicole ripped them from his mind and displayed them as if they were occurring at that moment.
/> Will looked up at his mother, he couldn't recall her this young; she was changing his diaper. How could those memories still be locked away, to be opened and seen again? Nicole opened another door from the past, Will was being breastfed, held by his smiling mother. Unable to comprehend what he was seeing, he collapsed on the grass, his arms falling softly to his side. His breathing slowed, slowed until it stopped. His chest no longer rose and fell. All eye movement stopped.
Carl searched for a pulse in the neck; he wasn't sure where to feel, he had seen them doing this on television all the time. He fumbled about, fingers resting all over the side of his neck. He felt nothing, then tilted Will's head back to give a few rescue breaths, and as he did, the eyelids opened. Both of Will's eyes had ruptured, they were blood red. Carl stopped what he was doing and placed his hands on either side of Will's head and carefully turned his head, so he could face him. There were no pupils, everything in the eyes were gone. His eyes had filled with blood unable to see anything anymore.
Nicole opened her eyes; it was done. He was dead; she tore apart every last remnant of what Will was before she stopped. She wanted to make sure he paid. In the darkness, she reached for the light switch. Looking in the mirror, she saw the toll the fight had taken. The person looking back at her in the mirror wasn't the same person that entered that bathroom only a few minutes earlier. That person was tired, bags under her eyes, she had aged, the fight had changed her.
Splashing water on her face did little to repair the fatigue. Wiping the water from her eyes, she noticed her hair was severely in need of a haircut. It was getting longer than she had it for the past few years but thought it was time for a change. She pulled her hair back into a small ponytail, took in a deep breath and stepped into the hall. Simone stood outside Paul's room with a look of concern and relief. Nicole slowly approached her with a broad smile.
They both entered Paul's room where she noticed a strange younger woman standing over him. The stranger turned to face them as the door closed. Nicole recognized her immediately from the picture Paul kept in his pocket. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying; she took in a deep breath then ran to embrace Nicole. She wrapped both her arms around the younger woman and squeezed hard. The younger woman responded in kind.
"My dad's told me all about you."
Nicole pulled back, looked into Paul's daughter's eyes then hugged her again.
Nicole looked down to see Paul beaming.
Despite everything she had done, Nicole had no regrets.
About the Author
After graduating as a paramedic in 1983 from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, Perry Prete moved to Windsor, Ontario, and then Brockville, Ontario, where he now continues to work full-time as a paramedic for the county.
He continues to write and operate a pre-hospital medical supply company. With over thirty years of experience as a field paramedic, he draws on his career to bring realism to the calls depicted in his writing.
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