The images moved fast. 

The two of them were in Mary's room.  He began to squeeze Westen's hand.  Red and black swirls of energy were set loose, dropped, sank through the floor and disappeared.

Then Westen was alone with Mary, she checked her restraints and ran a hand down Mary's face.  "You were a bad girl today, Mary.  You shouldn't have kicked me," Westen said.  She moved her hand under the sheets, down past Mary's stomach, where she moved the hospital gown up.  She pushed her fingers inside so hard that Mary's body moved up and her head jerked in an unconscious nod.  "You'll be a good girl now, yes?"

The memory changed again.  Now Susan was in bed.

The red hair was the same, but she was much younger, a girl not even in her teens.  A man looked down on her from his seat on the edge of her bed.  "You were a bad girl today, Susan."  He slid his right hand under the sheet and the memory began to darken.

William could feel her fight against it, trying to suppress the images and experiences she didn't want to remember.  He let it grow darker, but not fade out.  She needed to know what she was repeating.

"That's a good girl."  A woman's voice.  There was a woman at the head of the bed.  She had the same hair as Susan.  Susan's mother held her daughter's arms down.

"Hush.  Quiet now," her mother said as William let the memory go black.  He wanted to help her remember, not relive the trauma. 

He brought her back to the hospital and again, Dr. Westen was in Mary's room as William came in the door.  The voices stood around the bed.  The Caretaker stood by Susan.  She ran a hand through the doctor's arm.  Red and black swirled through it in the fog.  Help her.

William took her hand as Westen stood.  "I have to help you," he said to her.

He began to squeeze her hand.

*

As William rested his hand over Westen's eyes, Bryan checked Jess for burns.  He wiped sweat from his face and looked quickly around.  The windows were still burning, though the curtains had been consumed.  Flame was starting to eat along the ceiling and walls.  The flashpoint for the room had to be close.

He saw William drop his hand away from Westen.  She dropped to the floor, shaking and holding her broken hand.  William reached out and stroked her hair.

"William?  Burning building.  Hello?"

His friend nodded back and rolled quickly to his knees to pick up Westen, who was unconscious.  Bryan helped Jess up to a crouch and waited as William stared at the walls, probably through them.

"The apartment next door.  Out the windows there."  William nodded toward the apartment the maintenance man had run from.

"Lead the way," Bryan said.

William stood and ducked through the still burning doorway, Westen tight against him.  Bryan followed and they ran to the open door down the hall.  The smoke was still thick inside the other apartment, but it was dark inside.  The fire hadn't spread here yet.

Still guiding Jess, Bryan shut the door.  He pulled her down below the worst of the smoke and looked around.  There were no curtains and though the streetlights outside weren't as bright as the fire, his eyes adjusted.  The apartment was empty except for a ladder on the floor by the wall nearest to Jessica's apartment.  The vent above it was off.  The maintenance man had been spying on them through there.

How often had he been watching Jess that way?

Bryan looked to William.  "How did he do it?  Is he like you?"

William turned away from the windows.  "Bryan?  Burning building.  Hello?"

Bryan choked more than laughed.  "Shut up.  Open a window."

"Hands are a little full."

One hand on Jessica's back, Bryan stood.  As he pulled away, she reached out, grabbed his arm.  "Bryan."

"It's all right.  There's a ladder here.  I'm going to get it."

She stood with him.  "No.  Bryan.  He's sick.  The things he says he sees..."  She stopped.

Through the smoke, Bryan saw William turn away.

Bryan held Jessica's hand, pulled her toward the ladder.  "No, Jess."  He stopped.  What could he tell her, that he'd seen the voices, that he'd felt them and what they could do?  "Jess, compared to him, we're all blind."

He grabbed the ladder and moved her hand up to his shoulder.  "Follow me."  He walked to the window, felt Jessica's hands on his back the whole way.  "Step back."  He waited for her hand to pull away, and then he shoved the end of the ladder through the window.

Glass shattered out onto the street and down to the floor.  Bryan swept the window frame with the ladder to clear away any shards, then slid the foot of the ladder down to the sidewalk.  Smoke poured out the opening and the room began to clear.  But behind them, the noise of the fire sounded even louder.

"I think the window was unlocked," William said next to him.

Outside, the pajama wearing EMT ran up.  Behind her were Meyers and Hayes.

Bryan motioned to William.  Together they passed Westen out to the people below.

Hayes took Westen in his arms and hurried her away with the EMT at his side.  Bryan spoke to Meyers as he pulled Jess to the ladder.  "It's the maintenance man.  Your FBI friend was right."

"Where is he?" Meyers asked.

"Still in the basement, I think."  Bryan picked Jess up and pointed her feet down the window.  "Just put your feet down, the ladder's right there."  He held her until she found a foothold.  Meyers reached up from below to guide her down.

When she was down, Bryan turned to William.  "Do you know?  Is there a back door to the basement?"

He waited as William stared through the smoke, eyes scanning something.  "Yes.  He's heading there."

"We'll go around outside.  Come on."  Bryan swung his legs out the window onto the ladder.  Inside the room, William didn't move.

"No," William said.  "I'll get him.  Stay with Jess.  The other one is here."

Bryan could only watch as William turned and walked into the smoke.  The room lit up suddenly and William was silhouetted in the fire from the hallway.  Then he was gone.

"That was him?"  Meyers reached up to help Bryan down. 

"Yeah."  Bryan climbed down and put an arm around Jessica's shoulders.  "Come on."  He led the way across the street to a crowd of people as sirens echoed down the street.

*

(Author’s note:  They got out of the fire.  They’re safe, right?  Right?  Check out chapter 41 to find out just how much trouble William, Bryan and Jess are now in.  And…please tell your friends about Schism, leave a review on Amazon and purchase a copy if you can.  Signed copies are available!  PM me for details!  Thank you for the votes and comments!)