Chapter 17 part 2

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William set the cup on the ground and The Advisor hunched down before him as the memory began to pull him away from the alley.  The scene took shape in his mind: flames spreading across the building, an ambulance nearby, and Jessica waiting for him.  He pushed it away and The Caretaker was at his side.

It would help him to see it, she said.

Show him, The Advisor said.

William sagged at the suggestion.  It had been a respite, dinner with an actual person.  Eating something other than bruised fruit and stale bread from trash cans.  He knew the memory would spoil it all.

But it wasn't a friendship.  William knew that the detective wanted to take him back to the mental hospital, back to Dr. Westen's pills and anger.  Even so, it had been a nice dinner.  He'd been able to pretend for a moment that he had a friend, another human to talk with.  Even if it was with a man who was supposed to lock him up.  All that would disappear, just as Jess had disappeared when he had told her about the voices.

And, he had no wish to live the memory again and was sure that the detective wouldn't either.

Show him, The Advisor said.

He turned away from the voices and reached a hand toward Bryan's eyes.  The man flinched away and William waited until he relaxed.  "Let me show you."  As he pressed his palm against Bryan's face, The Advisor reached out with both hands, one on William's eyes and the other on Bryan.

The memory took over.

 *

Flames tore at the entrance to the apartment building as William ran out with the man balanced on one shoulder.  A waiting firefighter cursed him and pulled them down the street, further away from the radiating heat of the huge fire.  EMTs eased the man from his shoulder and, as they carried him to a waiting ambulance, William closed the man's hand around the wristwatch.

He watched them drop the man onto a stretcher as one medic peeled off and started to check William for injuries.  "I'm fine.  No burns.  Help him."  The medic pressed an oxygen mask into his hand and hurried away.  

William leaned back against the gate of the ambulance and saw Jess feeling her way down the street.  He dropped the mask and hurried to her.  "Jess.  It's okay."  She pressed close against him, smudged her hands with soot as she checked and rechecked his face.  He reached his own hands up and rested them over her fingers.  "Jess.  I'm okay.  I'm okay."

Fire engine sirens wailed at them and faded away as another pump truck pulled up to the apartment building.  Fire chewed at the outside brick from broken windows across the structure.

"What were you doing?"

He pulled her in tight, closed his eyes as he held her.  When he looked out on the street, it was blanketed with a thin layer of fog, as always.  The voices hovered nearby.

Be careful, The Advisor said.

He nodded at the thin figure in the fog.  Jess turned up to William.  She'd lost her glasses somehow while he had been in the building.  He always liked her better without them.  "What?" she asked.

It is not safe to tell her, The Caretaker said.

"Just thinking."

The Advisor stepped closer.  Do not tell her.

"It's okay,” William said.

"It's not."  Jess must have thought he was speaking to her.  He was tired of being so careful around her.  "You keep doing things like this.  I don't care who you helped in there.  You can't keep doing this."

"Jess, I have to.  I need to," he said.

"Why?" 

He looked down at her.  She deserved to know.

The Hunter darted in close, nearly feline teeth bared.  No!

William knew she would understand.

Stop! The Hunter said.

It will not help, The Advisor said.

William pushed them aside, focused on Jess.  She deserved to know.  "Because they tell me to.  They help me do it."

William felt Jess tighten and push away.  "What do you mean?

Behind them, fire lit the night sky and the building began to crumble.

 *

William pulled his hand away from Bryan's eyes.  He watched as the detective shuddered when the contact broke, then as Bryan scrambled away and jerked to his feet.  “Holy shit,” Bryan said.  His voice was hoarse with his ragged breaths and he looked all around the alley, at everything except William.

"Fire."  William said.  "That's what I'm protecting her from.  I don't know much more.  They won't tell me."

The detective met his eyes, started to pace and William saw his hand move unconsciously to his watch.  "How?  I saw them by you.  Three of them."  His eyes searched around William, saw no voices outside the memory.  "That was me.  The fire at my building."

William didn't need to answer.  He watched the colors swirl in Bryan's outline, dark and muddy except for the wrist, which was clear.  A comforting memory held in place by the worn strap.

"You were there," Bryan said. 

William nodded, watched.

"You got me out.  Why not Claire?  Why didn't you save the baby?"  The muddied colors thrashed more quickly in and around Bryan.

William had kept that memory from Bryan's eyes.  The woman curled around the tiny body, both burnt and empty behind the door.  "They were gone."

The colors in Bryan’s outline jumped, predicted his movements…a hand that might go to the gun, wasted bullets fired from it.  William waited, The Hunter crouched at his side, but Bryan's hand faltered, fell down.

"Shit."  The detective hurried out of the alley.

William collected the thermos and foil wrappers as he stood.  His joints and muscles grated against his tired nerves.  "Thanks for dinner."

 *

(Author’s note:  Just a quick thanks to everyone for reading, for the comments and the votes!  I love getting to talk with you as you read the story and your support means so, so much to me and it helps other people discover Schism! Please check out my website for links and audio!  www.bruce-elgin.com  Talk to you all soon!)

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