by Jill Cooper
A pair of scissors in his back holds a note down and I don’t even touch it. Instead, I retreat into the hall and shut the office door tightly. Everything is ruined. Everything is wrong.
What am I going to do?
I turn around, a sigh lodged in my throat and see the floor is covered in white roses. The casket is wide open.
Someone’s been here. Someone knows my secret.
“Did you really think you could fool me?” Cassidy, a dangerous, angry Cassidy, comes out of nowhere and seizes me by the throat.
I gag and grab her hand, but it’s too late. She throws me across the room and I collide with a row of chairs. We tumble like dominos.
“Cassidy, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing.” She kicks me under the jaw and I go flying onto my back, but I raise my hand to freeze time and her with it.
Somehow, she’s able to resist. She kicks my hand away and grabs me by the neck again. I groan and reach for her as the front door latches open. No, they can’t come in. They can’t see what is about to happen.
“The plan…” I whisper out hoarsely.
Cassidy’s jaws grind together. “This was always the plan, Crane. It was always the plan.” She sticks the baton against my stomach.
She couldn’t have lied, could she? I couldn’t have been deceived like that. We were on the same side, I know we were!
I holler in pain as a child’s scream echoes around me. “Lara!” Molly shrieks, her cry piercing my ears. Through the wall of people charging toward me and Cassidy, Molly’s small hand reaches and grabs me.
Molly, no!
The bridge opens up around us. My vision spins into the dark and with a crackle, Molly and I are gone.
As if we never really existed in the first place.
Chapter Thirty-One
I hit the cold, hard floor. My nose smashes into the linoleum and blood flows out of my nostrils. Hands grab the back of my shoulders and lift me up. My legs wobble and I have no time to think, let alone breathe. I glower directly into Cameron Kincaid's eyes.
He snarls, and the evil glint in his eyes almost makes me glance away. "Did you really think, dear Lara, that you could outsmart us?"
I glance a Cassidy and I'm disheartened to see she's only staring at me. Her arms are crossed against her chest and she shifts her weight from leg to leg. There is a satisfied smile on her face and I can't believe she had fooled me so royally.
She’s not on my side. Maybe she never was.
I help Molly stand and put a protective arm around her shoulders. Her eyes are wide--I can see the fear in her little face. "Send her back. She's just a kid."
Cameron smiles. He goes down on bended knee in front of Molly "I don't think so. I've seen the future and I know what she is."
“Don’t talk to her!” Protectively, I cover her ears with my hands.
Molly squeals with fear and burrows her face into my middle and her arms wrap around me tightly. I cling to her, hugging her closely. "Leave her alone. She’s just a kid."
He laughs. “Hardly. Maybe now, but in a few years…” Cameron makes a motion as if he's going to hurt Molly. I attempt to jerk her way, but the orderlies behind me prevent me from moving toward. There's no escape.
Cameron motions for another orderly, the big one who had hurt me the last time I’d been here, to step forward, which he does without batting an eyelid, but another one gives Cameron a disapproving glance. "Maybe she's right. Maybe we shouldn't be —."
Cameron snapped his fingers at the man. "Jeffrey, why don't you return to your station? And we can talk about this disobedience another time."
Cassidy takes Molly from me. I try to hold on to her, but Cassidy grunts and rips her away. My little sister stretches her arms to me and her fingers wiggle out of pure desperation. "Lara!"
"Don't worry. I'll take good care of you." Cassidy puts her hands on Molly’s shoulders and I note the look of confusion passing over Molly's face.
“Don’t hurt me. Please!”
As Cassidy guides her away, Molly glances over her shoulder at me, fear in her wide eyes and her lower lip beginning to tremble.
I shrug the orderly off me and charge forward. My sister is afraid and I can’t stand another minute of it. I try to travel in time, or freeze the space around us, but space and time only wobble, and I’m thrown backward.
“There’s no time travel here, Lara. Here, we exist outside of time. In a pocket; a small hole built by you. It can’t be frozen, it can’t be manipulated. It’s the perfect prison, built just for you.” Cameron grabs my arms and won't let me go any further.
"There's a special place in hell just for you, Rex."
Cameron laughs. "I wondered how long it would take you to use my real name."
My eyebrows rise. "So how do you do it? How did you manage to survive after I folded all the timelines into one?"
He grins. "That part was easy. In my timeline, I learned all the time travel secrets I needed to turn myself and others into time travelers. There, you never escaped the box, but as you, the other Lara, started pulling the timelines into one another, our systems detected something strange. The world started to disappear, and while everyone was busy running around like chickens without their heads, I jumped into your world. I learned what you had done to the original Rex."
Cameron's voice rises with venom. "It took me some time to plan my revenge, for all of the Rexes, for all the Xavier Daniels you managed to kill. You cast yourself as the hero, but really, you’re a mass murderer. You killed multiple versions of yourself and everyone else. Entire planets. Entire realities."
I take a deep shaking breath. "That's not what it was about. That's not what I did –."
Cameron laughs, but there's malice and a hint of sadness in his voice. "Tell yourself what you want. But I'm doing the world a favor by ridding it of you. But first, what's wrong with having a little fun?" Cameron snapped his fingers and my cell—the one I've been in before—opens.
The orderlies surround me and drag me into my cage. They're rough about it and I’m thrust to the floor. I stumble to my knees, glaring up as Cameron grins at me.
In the other cages, surrounding me, are different versions of my family and friends, but my family and friends, none the less. "What did they do to you? Why are you all here?"
Cameron steps close and peers down at me. "Everyone needs a friend. Lara." Cameron snorts. "A reminder of what you will never have again." He leaves me and the orderlies surrounding my cage follow him, like a litter of trained puppies.
Some of them appear angry, but others have sadness in their eyes as they look at me. Some of them aren't on board as much as Cameron wants them to be.. Well…that's interesting.
I stand up and peer at the room that’s supposed to be my home. But I can't do it, I won't even sit down. Instead, I face the glass that holds me prisoner. I gaze across the way, into my own face. It's Lara…the other Lara, I can tell from the hoodie and the pair of pants she's wearing.
If she's here, does that mean my dad's here too? Has everything we have done been for nothing?
****
Time passes, and I still refuse to sit down. My legs are tired and my head is swimming with worry and grief. I haven't seen Molly since Cassidy had dragged her out. I don't know where she is…what's happening to her. Don't know what Cameron was talking about when he’d said he knows what Molly really is.
Molly is just a kid. Sure, she's had some strange episodes. But that doesn't mean she's not a kid. She's my sister, and I am going to find a way to save her.
The sound of someone tapping their glass prison pulls my attention and when I glance up, I see that it's Rick.
“Rick!” I put my hand on the glass.
“You’ve been gone awhile. I thought maybe you escaped for good this time.”
"This time?"
Rick nods. "You've been gone before, but not always the same. Sometimes you look younger, or older." He sighs. “I
just really wish that I could get back to you."
I grimace. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault, and what he says about Molly —."
Rick shakes his head. "I can't help you there. Where I'm from, there is no Molly." Rick returns to his bed and sits down with his legs crossed.
His words haunt me; a world without Molly? That's a world I'm not willing to return to. That's a world I don't even want to know about. Which means I need to find a way out of here. I have to open the bridge and return home, but I won't do it without Molly. And if my dad is here somewhere, I'm not going to do it without him.
Which makes my task almost impossible.
Maybe this time, I really am trapped.
****
When I'm too tired to stay awake any longer, I slide down to the floor and I sleep in a heap. Silly, not to sleep in a bed when there is one, but I won't give Cameron the satisfaction. My dreams are dark and dismal, as though they are nothing but static. Maybe there is no dreaming on the bridge, because I don't think I do.
Instead, I'm in a gray place where there are tinges of black. Lost, without human companionship or touch, as if I don’t have a body anymore. My consciousness is alone and left to drift.
In the morning, Cameron and Cassidy come to see me. Cassidy is back in her silver outfit with her electric batons attached to each hip. Cameron opens my cage, but I refuse to move from my seat on the floor. "I'm not going anywhere." I wrap my arms around my knees and bury my chin between them.
Cameron stifles a laugh. "It's not as if we're giving you a choice."
Cassidy enters and grasping one of her electric batons, she spins it in her hand as if she’s a cheerleader. She points it at my face and when she snarls at me, I snarl right back. "It doesn't have to be this hard,” she says.
Something flashes in her eyes that I can't categorize. I can't put it in a box. I don't know if she's angry, or if she feels something for me, but I get up and slowly walk towards her. When she reaches for my arm, I yank it back violently and step out of the cage.
In some ways, I’d rather deal with Cameron. He had never been my friend, and we had never shared a bond…not like the bond I had shared with Cassidy in the past—or the future.
As they take me down the hall, I noticed the cell that Other Lara had been in is now empty. I'm left to wonder what that is about as Cameron opens the door and Cassidy pushes me into a small room. My breath heightens as I step inside and I see the chair.
The one that looks like a dentist chair, except for the hole in the headrest, which allows a cord to be fitted into the back of someone's neck. I turn, my heart pounding, and try to get back out the door, but Cameron and Cassidy force me back.
I kick and scream as they thrust their arms through mine and force me into the chair. Orderlies from each corner of the room step forward and pin down my legs, and then my arms, with leather straps. I’m unable to move, no matter how hard I fight.
I toss my head back and forth, and arch my spine as I try to get free. Balling my fists, I scream as Cameron walks to the other side of the room.
"Your mind is going to be wiped of everything that happened between you and Cassidy after you took her captive. You will remember your father’s death but won’t remember your ruse. You will remember nothing since you met Cassidy that night at the restaurant. I need to assume control at the TTPA and as that hasn't happened yet, I need to insert you back into the timeline. Once Delilah is dead, and I have the TTPA under my full control, your time is up.
“True, I could do it without you, but then you wouldn't have the joy of getting to watch."
That’s what is important to him. Maybe that’s the only thing that’s important to him. That I suffer. That I get to witness my greatest failing.
My breath rushes out and my heart takes off with a frantic pulse. My mind automatically tries to time travel and get out of there, but I'm only hit with wave after wave of distorted time energy. My brain sears with heat and red fills my vision, but when it clears, I notice a table beside me that is draped with a sheet; the shape of a person lies beneath it.
"Just in case you’re thinking you might be rescued before this happens,” Cameron pulls back the sheet, and I see the lifeless eyes of Other Lara; they are empty pools.
I scream at seeing my own body dead, and Cassidy firmly places her hand over my mouth. I shake my head back and forth but I can't dislodge her grip as her fingernails begin to dig into my skin.
Cassidy leans down to speak to me, but I can't get a read on her. "Her memories soon would be yours, but too bad your mind is about to be wiped." She sticks the baton into my gut. I scream as the electrical pulse radiates out.
My vision splits and I can feel the cord as it is jacked into my brain.
Cassidy works the computer terminal. She's going to be the one that wipe’s my mind? How dare she!
"I'm going to get you for this." I clench my teeth together.
Cassidy does a double take and there’s shock on her face, but it’s quickly masked by anger. “Bye-bye, Lara." She singsongs and then everything fades to black.
Chapter Thirty-Two
When my eyes open, I'm standing in front of a closed casket covered in white roses. I don't remember how I got here. I have no memory of the drive over, or what I might have done before. My head is foggy and I have a slight thumping sensation behind my temples.
Gazing around, it’s clear I'm in a funeral home, but why? I can't remember much of anything. I rub my temple as it surges with pain. My memory flashes back to my college classroom. I'm standing outside with Mom, and she's crying.
Why is she crying?
Intense grief is building in my chest as I grip mom's arms. "I'm sorry, Momma." What am I sorry for? Why can't I remember?
Mom hugs me and she sobs. "He's gone. He's gone."
Dad? No, not Daddy. Not Daddy…
My dad is inside the coffin. He's dead. There was nothing I could have done to stop it.
My legs give out on me and someone grips me by the waist to keep me from falling. Still, my hand touches the top of the casket. I'm desperate to open it, and at the same time, just as desperate not to.
It's Donovan who has me by the waist. "It's okay, Lara. I've got you. I'm not going anywhere."
My own sadness is mirrored in his face. "Don, why? I… I need to see. I need to be—.”
Someone puts his hands on top of mine and I don't recognize him. He shakes his head. "Ms. Montgomery, nothing good will come of this. You can't open the casket."
"Why?” My breath quivers. It's like I'm living my worst nightmare.
"You don't want to see what he looks like." Donovan holds me close and he's the only thing keeping me from screaming in rage. "You don't want to see how they found him."
The funeral director moves on and I lean against Donovan. Against the wall, Mom sits in a chair with a white handkerchief in her hand. Jax sits next to her, as do Mike and Molly. Someone I recognize from my dad's work stops by to offer his condolences. Mom rises to kiss his cheek and accept his words.
But inside, I feel dead.
Why can’t I remember any of this? My eyes fall to Molly as she stares off into space, but maybe that's not unusual, how often does a eleven-year-old go to a funeral? But when she gazes at me, I feel as if something's wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
****
The sky is clear when Dad is buried. I can barely believe what life has thrown my way as I watch the casket slowly lowered into the ground. None of this can be true. It just can't.
Donovan stands behind me and his hand is on my shoulder. To my left, stands Jax and he holds my hand tightly, just like the dad he has always been. I'm grateful for him, even if I wish I never needed to know him. I gaze up at his face as Molly takes my right hand, holding it as tightly, as a child who awakens scared in the dark. "I can't believe I lost him, after I just found him again."
Jax's face is severe and he frowns. “There are no words, Lara. All I can say is that I'll be
here whenever you need me. No matter the day, no matter the time."
Jax holds me and kisses the top of my head as he used to when I was a little girl.
My stomach sinks as they throw dirt onto my father’s coffin now lying deep in the ground. How could Dad do this to me? How could he just leave me?
Why did I feel so gray and empty inside?
****
A headache had been building behind my eyes all day. I can barely even see as Donovan takes me home. As I settle into the warm sheets of my bed, for a brief moment, I feel safe from the hurt the world has offered me.
It seems that’s all it has ever done.
The curtains are drawn closed and make the room dark, but that's just what I need. I don't want to feel. I don't want to see, and I'm not sure where to go from here. Saving my mom had been my life’s goal for so long and then it had been to get my dad out of prison. If he’s gone and I lack the ability to travel in time? What am I supposed to do?
I promised Dad, no matter what the future held, I would never risk time travel again.
My headache surges with my emotions and I feel time pulling at my skin. Everything falls apart…it begins to pixelate, but it doesn't make sense. I haven't time traveled in years, so what's happening to me? I pull back from the brink and sit up straight in bed as Donovan comes in and places a glass on my end table.
He sits beside me and his fingers get lost in the waves of my hair. "You need anything else?"
I shake my head and sip my water. "You can go do what you need to, I'm just going to sleep anyway.”
"Are you sure?"
I recline into the pile of pillows against the headboard. "I just want to sleep off this headache…and the rest of the day. I don't think I want to talk, or see anybody for a while, if you think that's okay?”
Donovan kisses my forehead, his lips lingering against my skin. I wish I could enjoy it, but I can't. "I'll see about grabbing some dinner. Maybe your favorite little Chinese place?"
