Colours In Blackness - A New Life

by Tammy Dunning

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

   

   

  I stop screaming long enough to hear someone calling me. They sound so far away. I call out to them, yelling, “I'm over here! Please help me! I'm stuck in the blackness.”

  The voice is in front of me, softly speaking, “Laura, reach out and take my hand. I will pull you out, just take my hand.”

  I reach out blindly towards where the voice is coming from. My hand is flailing in front of me. “I can't find you. Where are you? Help me.” I'm panicking, so scared.

  “Laura, it's me, Tara. I need you to calm down, take a deep breath, concentrate hard and then try again. Reach out and find my hand.” Her voice is so calm.

  I try really hard to calm down. I close my eyes, and breathe deeply. When I feel relaxed, I reach forward and feel a hand. I intertwine my fingers with the ones in front of me, then feel a hard tug then the hand let go.

  I gasp, and wake up back in my body, again. Gasping for air, and totally confused. I look around the room, looking for Tara. She was the one who came and pulled me out, so where is she? “Tara? Where are you?”

  I feel so alone. Out of nowhere, Jessy appears, standing beside my bed holding my hand, wearing his favorite dark blue sweater. “Laura, I'm here, but I can't stay long. You're ok. We're going to get you out of here, we promise. Laden is going to come see you in a little while. You have to pretend that you are groggy; like you're drugged. Trust me. Tara is here with you in spirit. She's going to be coming and going, so if you need to get a message to us, just talk when nobody is around you. Hopefully Tara will be here to hear you. I have to go, before I weaken and enable someone to maybe see me.” Jessy kisses my forehead, and in a streak of dark blue, he's gone.

  I look around and I shudder. I realize where I am. Mabel predicted correctly; I'm in the glass room beside hers. I don't want to be here. I'm so scared.

  A nurse comes walking into the room with a smile on her face, and an ice pack in her hand. “Welcome back, Laura. You were out for a few days. I'll put this ice on your eyes, dear.” The nurse fluffs my pillows, and places the ice pack over my eyes. “Now you rest up. You've had a rather traumatic few days.”

  I feel a needle go into my shoulder, and before I can flinch away, she pulls the needle out. I'm drifting into a sleep, but I don't want to sleep. My lids slam shut.

  I awaken, still groggy from the shot that the nurse gave me. How long was I sleeping? It's dark in here. There's enough light where I can still see, but it must be the middle of the night.

  I try to sit up, but I'm so weak that I just can't. I want to go, just get up and walk out of here. My legs won't work right, they feel numb almost. I have an IV in my arm, connected by a long tube that leads into two bags of fluid. One bag is big, with clear fluid in it. The second bag is much smaller, with a pinkish coloured fluid.

  If I remember correctly, Jessy was here, and he told me to just talk when nobody is around, and maybe Tara will be here in spirit, and she'll hear me.

  Hoping she's here, I speak as loud as I can, which is just a whisper. “Tara, are you here with me? I've never felt more alone. My legs are numb, and my thoughts are foggy. I'm so tired. Why am I here? When is someone going to come and get me? You pulled me from the blackness when I was lost, but I'm not lost now, so it'll be easy. Please.” My exhaustion takes over, and I drift off to sleep again.

  People are talking around me, like as if I'm not here. I pretend that I'm still sleeping, and listen in as best I can.

  One man says, “So, how strong do you think her ability is?”

  I think I hear Doc Turner's voice say, “She's strong, but she is still discovering. She will be a powerful Seer, once she fully develops her skills.”

  Another man's voice breaks in, “But is she the one we're looking for? Will she be able to do both, go back in time and ahead in time? Will she have the ability to, for instance, find an assassin, and be able to physically be there strongly enough to kill him, whether it's in the past or the future?”

  Doc Turner replies, “Well, I don't know yet. I thought for sure that Mabel Whitson had that ability, but her anger is so prevalent, that I can't take her off of her medication long enough to test her. She's dangerous to the people around her, but I just don't know if she can project. I'm not sure if we'll ever know. As for Laura, I don't know.”

  The first man's voice rings out again, “When will this girl be ready for brainwave testing? We would like to have something to report back to him. Something positive… hopefully.”

  Doc Turner picks up my hand, and holds it gently. “Her name is Laura. Please be so kind as to using her name when referring to her." Doc pauses for a second. "I will test her tonight. We will stop the medication now, and test her in a few hours. If you would like to come back later, I should have a full diagnosis for you then.”

  Man number one replies, “You'd better.”

  I hear rustling of clothing, then it's just Doc Turner in the room with me. I can hear him moving around.

  “Ok Laura, you can open your eyes for me, dear. I know that you're awake. I'm going to stop the drugs that make you so groggy.” Doc Turner pauses, and lets out a big sigh, “I don't want this for you Laura, for any of you kids. You need to know that I had no choice. I had to inject them when they were born.”

  I open my eyes, and look at the Doc. His eyes are filled with sadness, a look that I have never seen him wear before. I speak softly, “Who made you do this?”

  Doc looks up at me and smiles, “I knew you were awake. Oh Laura, you know I can't tell you that. It’s for your own safety.”

  “How did I get here?” I need some answers.

  Doc Turner holds my hand again, and explains, “You fell into a vision, but you weren't coming out of it. I told you to take the medication that I gave you, but you didn't, and your vision overtook you, same as Mabel's vision overtook her. You were screaming, and screaming, but wouldn't wake up. Nurse Lorraine heard you, and called us up to help. We had to bring you here to the hospital wing. We drugged you into an unconscious state when we realized that we couldn't stop your screaming. To stop your panic, and to prevent your eyes from blinding, we had no choice but to drug you.”

  “I'm awake now, so why can't you let me go back to my own room?” I really want to go back to Laden's arms.

  Doc Turner drops his head and sighs again. “I can't let you go now. They know you're here. They know of your ability. I just have to prove to them that you're talents are not as strong as they need them to be, and that they never will be. The brainwave test that we're going to give you, once all of your mental awareness comes back, will prove to them that you're not what they want. Then maybe you can go back to your room.”

  “Doc, what if I can do what they want me to do? What will happen then?” I'm scared. I don't want anyone to take me away.

  “Can you do what they need you to do? Has your ability matured that quickly? That's never happened before.” Doc looks at me, almost afraid of what my answer might be.

  I say to him, "I can. At least, I have. That's what got me here. I was looking for... someone. I went back in time. I got stuck in the blackness, on my way to my body. Do you suppose I was lost?"

  Doc walks a few steps from my bed, and runs his hand over the few strands of hair he has left on his head. “I won't let them take you away. I promise. We'll figure something out.”

  Doc leaves the room without another word. It's so quiet that it's almost deafening. Tears start streaming down my face. I don't want anyone to steal me away. What am I going to do? A brainwave test cannot be tricked or faked, can it?

  “Tara… Tara are you here?” A feeling like someone is watching me flows through the room. I know its Tara; I remember the feeling from when she did it once before. “I'm scared.”

  Suddenly, I see a blur of blue and white. Standing beside my bed is Jessy and Todd. They had been holding each other’s hand. “Why were you two holding hands?”

  “Don't you remember, Laura? When we tr
avelled together, I had to hold your hand, so I could bring you along.” Jessy is smiling hugely. “I'm going to bring you into a time freeze with us, so that we can stay with you longer, with less risk of being seen.”

  Jessy and Todd, hold hands again, with a grimace from Todd. Jessy holds my hand. A feeling of whirling lasts a few seconds, and the world seems to stop.

  Jessy says, “Laden has been a real help. He's been keeping tabs on you, like what medicine they're giving you, etc. Tara keeps coming and taking your chart, so that when Laden's off shift, and can't get here, he can still read it, and explain all the medical mumble jumble to us. Then Tara brings it back. I bet you didn't know that she could do that, put things back where she gets them from, I mean.”

  Todd reaches out and touches my leg. “Tara was listening in when Doc Turner was just talking to you, and she told us what he said. So Laden is going to try to be there when you go for that brainwave test tonight. Hopefully, they'll let him stay with you. We're hoping that with him there, you'll feel calmer.” Todd sighs. “He really is a nice guy.” Just saying that must be hard for Todd. Todd thinks of Laden as his competition. He's changed somehow.

  “I'd like him there.” Suddenly, I remember. Laden was in a car wreck! “Is Laden ok? The car accident… I was there. Does he remember me being there?”

  “He's fine Laura. A few cuts on his otherwise perfect face, but he's ok.” Todd still seems a little jealous. “But yeah, he remembers you being there. He told us that you helped him. And you'll be happy to know that the kid that was in the backseat, and Ginger, are ok too.”

  “Tell Laden... tell him, I miss him.” I can't tell Jessy or Todd to tell Laden that I love him. So I guess saying that I miss him will have to do.

  Jessy looks around, and nervously says, “Laura we have to go. The nurse will see us if we don't leave soon, because I'm getting real tired, and time is starting to tick again; slowly, but it's ticking. I can't hold it back much longer.”

  “Take me with you, please! Don't leave me here.” I am begging.

  “I can't. I'm not strong enough to take two people right now, and I don't know if I could even if I were fully rested. I'll be back as soon as I can.” Jessy kisses my forehead, and moves aside without letting go of Todd, or me.

  Todd leans in and kisses my lips with a soft kiss. “Stay strong. I'll... we'll get you out of here.”

  In a split second, Jessy releases my hand, and a streak of blue and white disappears. I am alone again.

  Through the glass wall, I can see a nurse coming to my door. She's carrying a tray of food. “Hello, I'm Karen. I've been caring for you while you've been asleep, so-to-speak. Are you hungry, because I brought you a hamburger, fries and a pop? You must be famished; IV fluids aren't very filling.” She smiles.

  Karen is very tall, and very thin. Her hair is short, and deep red. She smiles a lot, but doesn't show her teeth when she does.

  She sets the food down on my table, and swings it over in front of me, then pushes the button on the bed so that it sits me up. She adjusts the pillows behind my back so that I don't fall over, then picks up the TV remote, and starts flipping through channels.

  I hadn't even realized that a TV was in here. “Do you know who those men are that were here earlier?” I have to take a chance and ask her. Maybe she'll know.

  “I'm not sure, Honey. They only come when a new patient comes to the ‘Restricted’ area of the hospital. I'm not sure what they're looking for but they must see something in you that they like. I overheard the one guy say that he thinks Mr. Stratler will be pleased with this one, meaning you, I suppose. I've never seen a Mr. Stratler.” Karen tells me everything that she knows, while she flips through channels on the TV. I'm sort of surprised that she's being so candid.

  “My arms won't let my hands hold the burger. Why can't I move? Am I being drugged?” The burger smells so good. Pretty soon I'm just going to try to fall face down onto it, so I can take a bite.

  “Oh, here, let me help you.” Karen holds up the burger for me to take my first bite. “Yeah, they're giving you something so you can't leave. It's for everyone's safety. If Mabel hadn't been immobilized, she could have caused a lot of damage. We just have to make sure you’re not dangerous to yourself, or others. So until then, I'll be here to help you. If it were up to me, it would be different, but it's not.”

  “You're not afraid of me?” My words are barely understandable, because I'm talking with a mouth full of french fries.

  “Nah... I'm not scared.” Karen smiles big, and puts the straw up to my mouth so I can wash down my fries.