The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  "I need some money," she said glancing around nervously. "I made a huge mess in there and I think I should leave a tip or something. Is that what people usually do?"

  "Not when they're late," Will answered, grabbing her hand and running. Soon, he had to let go however. He was an athletic man who trained regularly, due in a large part because of his sister, and because of this training, most people would've considered him fast. Yet next to Talitha, he was dead slow. She sped on feet that seemed barely to touch the ground while after thirty seconds of pure sprinting he was beginning to lumber, falling behind.

  "I see Father Vogel," she said seconds later as if they were strolling in the park. Will could say nothing. It was all he could do to breathe. He lifted his head and indeed the priest was there, seven or eight gates further on, waving his arms for them to hurry. Talitha increased her speed and all eyes were upon her; she was a sight with her hair streamed out long behind. As she lengthened her stride, her coltish legs looked longer than normal and only then did he notice she wasn't wearing shoes.

  "Here they come," Will heard Father Vogel say as he came huffing up, winded. They were escorted aboard the plane by a stewardess in blue who tried her best not to stare at Will's face. He helped by keeping his chin down, popping it up only to glance down the length of the plane. Thankfully, though the plane wasn't a large one, it was only half-filled.

  "Let's go to the back," Will gasped. He didn't want to be too near anyone, since he was sure the priest would start in with the questions as soon as they sat down. Always the keeper of the rules, Talitha turned back pointing to her ticket and Will spoke before she could protest. "Talitha, we paid for the seats, we can sit where we please as long as no one's already there. It'll be fine." He gave her a nudge.

  "Talitha," Vogel pointed to the window seat and after she slid in, he sat down next to her. "Where are your shoes?"

  "Do I have to wear the shoes?" she asked drawing her feet under her and looking around as if the shoe police were on their way. "Is this airline one of those: no shirt, no shoes, no service, deals?"

  In truth, Will didn't know, but just then, the plane began backing away. "If it is, then it's too late now, so don't worry." He took a seat just behind his sister and lifted up the window. The view was ugly. Dour rain beat down against the pane steadily, but as they moved toward the runway, the drops turned sideways.

  "Will it be ok if I ask you some questions?" Father Vogel inquired of Talitha. Her shoulders slumped and she turned her face to the little square window, she nodded.

  The priest paused for a moment in thought and then spoke quietly so as not to be overheard, "I need you to be as honest as you can. Is the demon, the one you called Ba'al Fie-ere, is she still inside you?"

  Talitha turned her head from the retreating airport. "I don't know, but you're an exorcist. If she's in there, you can do something about it."

  Will put his head between the seats and interrupted, "No. Not while we're on a plane. Tonight, after we make sure Lisa's safe, you can try another exorcism then."

  "Maybe not even then," Vogel replied. "I still need to establish that she is indeed possessed. What do you think, Will? Last night you say you exorcized the demon, but here she is today doing all sorts of remarkable things."

  "I don't know what's going on. I saw the exorcism work. Ba'al Fie-ere's face was beyond furious at being cheated; I mean it was so real. But now it's like all that never happened." Will paused for a moment as a question of his own came to him. "Before we go too much further down this road, do you believe in any of this, Father? I know you're an exorcist and all, but that doesn't necessarily mean you believe this stuff."

  "I believe that possession happens, with all my heart."

  "Have you ever had to exorcize a real demon?" Will asked.

  "Once for sure and two other times where I couldn't be certain. They were..."

  Talitha turned sharp at this and grabbed the priest's arm, interrupting him. "What were the names of the demons?" Her voice was loud and held a manic quality.

  With a worried look, Father Vogel leaned back from her. "One wouldn't give its name and the other two...well, I don't think it would be wise to bring up their names just now."

  Will concurred, "Please don't. Talitha shouldn't get worked up." The plane had reached the end of the runway and was cleared. It accelerated quickly, pushing them deep into their seats before nosing up into the rain.

  Talitha watched the ground dropped away. "I'm not getting worked up. But that 'demon' who wouldn't give you his name was a fake. All a demon really has is its name and they aren't shy to let you hear it."

  "Thanks Talitha, I'll keep that in mind for the future."

  "If you live to see that future, Father," Talitha kept her face to the glass as she spoke.

  The priest gave Will a glance. "Why do you think that I might not live?"

  She huffed out a long breath. "Because you don't fully believe our story. If you did, you would've begged to stay back in Boston. There it goes." Just then, the city disappeared below the heavy clouds and she watched it with sad eyes.

  "Actually, I believe your story. All that remains to be seen is if you're still possessed and I for one think you are." For a moment, there was an awkward lull in the conversation with only the thrum of the engines running through their ears. Talitha nodded in agreement.

  "Are you sure?" Will asked the priest.

  "Pretty sure. She's been exhibiting quite a number of signs that point in that direction... the personality changes alone are drastic enough for me to believe that she's possessed. But it's her super-human powers that make this case incontrovertible. I've never seen anything like it."

  Will's stomach knotted and unknotted unpleasantly. "I explained that to you already. She doesn't have unnatural powers, she only has magnified abilities. Like those people who walk on coals or lay on beds of nails, or like those people who can lift a car off of a loved one...like that."

  Father Vogel shook his head. "She knew things about me that she couldn't have. And look at her arm, it's practically healed."

  "She heals fast! Like I said, she can send out chemical thingies...markers I mean, to speed up the healing process. And the stuff you ate for dinner, she smelled it on you, I bet."

  "What about my Zippo, she knew it had an emblem on it." He pulled it out and there was a cross on the silver finish. "She also knew about my violin playing and...that I like to sing."

  Will was at a loss. He didn't know how she knew those things.

  Talitha shrugged. "You have a habit of tracing the outline of the cross on the Zippo in your pocket. I knew it wasn't a normal lighter by the smell; due to their construction, Zippos lose their butane at a higher rate." She took the priest lined fingers and held them up. "The tips of your fingers on your left hand still have the calluses of a violinist, as does the pad of your right thumb and tip of the right index finger. You use the Russian bow grip, I presume?"

  "Yes," he was surprised. "And my singing?"

  "That's easy. You have tears in your vocal chords that are common to...rock singers." She seemed embarrassed, as if she were accusing him of something bad. "My guess is that you are losing your hearing somewhat and are over compensating."

  "You see that?" Will cried out in his excitement. "These were only observations and anyone could've seen them."

  "But if I'm not possessed, what's wrong with me?" Suddenly she looked a little green as if from airsickness. "I disemboweled a man once. I made sure that he was still alive and I fed his own..."

  "Talitha! Stop it." Will growled. "That wasn't you, ok? That was someone else."

  "No it was me...I did it with these hands. I can feel the man's blood, hot and sticky... I'm scared, Will," she refused to look from the window but Will could see her tears in the reflection. "I became a demon once before. I think it's happening again."

  Will got up and went around to the seat in front of her and leaned over it. "These are only memories. They're not who you are."

&n
bsp; At this Vogel's eyebrows shot up meaningfully. "There is a small possibility that you are suffering from dissociative identity disorder."

  Will looked to the priest nonplussed. "What's that?"

  "It means that he thinks I'm crazy," Talitha answered and her words were suddenly colder than they had been. "Right priest? You think I've gone off the deep end?"

  "Tal, don't do this," Will said with menace in his own voice. "He said a small possibility, maybe he's wrong."

  "He is wrong, Will. There was a demon in me and now it's coming back. There's no other explanation." She slumped back in her seat, glaring out of the window moodily, the tears on her face now forgotten.

  "Why don't you tell me what dissociative disorder means?" Will asked his sister, purposely looking at her, and not the priest, wanting her to talk and definitely not wanting her to change.

  She sighed loudly fogging up the window. "It's dissociative identity disorder. It's a fancy way of saying that I have a split personality. But we both know that's just crap."

  "Actually I agree with her," Vogel said with a nod. "Generally speaking, dissociative identity disorder is one of the most overused and clichéd diagnosis in America. It's become a fad. We're number one in the world when it comes to this mental disorder. It's diagnosed at ten times the rate compared to countries like Germany or France and four-hundred times the rate of India or China."

  Talitha turned back to him. "If it's all such claptrap why did you suggest I may be afflicted by it?"

  "Because of everything you and Will have told me. There was a real person residing in your mind for the last eight years. You mentioned that you never knew what she was up to when she had control of your body. This means that though she was using your brain, she was using different neural paths than you, creating memories that you couldn't access. But now there is no guardian of that part of your mind and as you stumble across memories, your brain...and this is only conjecture, your brain travels down the path of least resistance and you become her, at least for a little while."

  Will was scared of this possibility, as well as confused. "I don't get what you mean by path of least resistance. Isn't her brain like mine and just kinda flows back and forth?"

  "It's not. Think of her mind like a railroad. Running all through her brain, she has two sets of tracks, but of different gauges..."

  "Gauges?" Will shrugged not knowing what the priest meant by this.

  "The widths of the rails. A train's wheels can only sit on the correct size track. So Talitha is churning along thinking her brilliant thoughts, but suddenly she comes to a memory that is shared between her and her evil twin. Let's take what happened at the factory for instance. They both had traumatic moments there and because of this, her train jumped from one track to another. Suddenly she's on a new track and her thinking is easier as long as she stays on it. You see? Right then she has just become the other Talitha."

  "Why would her mind do that? Why doesn't it stop itself?" Will asked looking at his sister thoughtfully.

  She kept her face steadily out the window, but even in profile, he could see that she was thinking on this as well.

  "Curiosity at where those memories lead? Guilt?" Father Vogel shrugged his shoulders. "Perhaps that is just the way the mind works. It's all a guess, even to those of us with advanced degrees in psychology. It's one of our dirty little secrets. The mind is far more complex than we'll ever likely know. And though we can work out some of the details of the how things work up here." He tapped his forehead. "The why is frequently beyond us."

  "I had a psychologist once...DeBracy," Talitha said with a frown on her face. "One day he was there and the next..." she trailed off.

  Will snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Talitha, don't think on that." Seven years ago, the evil Talitha had snapped kicked the man's larynx in and only an emergency tracheotomy by another doctor had saved him.

  "Why not? Whatever happened to him? Did I do something to him? If I did he deserved it that rat faced-asshole." Her face clouded into anger, snarling her lip.

  "He's in private practice." Actually Will had no idea. "Speaking of doctors, did I tell you that Lisa has been dragging me to Lamaze class?" Talitha nodded vaguely, losing her sudden anger and her eyes wandered around the plane in confusion. She was trying to get her train on the right track. He continued, "Remember, I told you all about that goofy breathing they were making us do?"

  "Oh right. I remember." She paused a moment, her brows coming down. "Were we talking about Lamaze before?"

  Father Vogel spoke up before Will could say anything, "What's the last thing you can remember before we started talking about child birth?"

  "Train tracks? Were we talking about trains... no wait. We were talking about your voice. You have tears in the vertical aspect of the ventricular folds of your vocal chords. Right? From your singing, right?"

  Will plastered an imitation of a smile on his face. The conversation about her abilities had been a few minutes ago. "Yep. Tell me, those two stewardesses, can you tell me what they are saying?" Two women in the blue uniform of their profession were all the way at the front of the plane. They seemed to be whispering to each other.

  Talitha gazed toward them and shook her head slowly. "No, there is too much ambient noise from the engines. I can read the blonde woman's lips if you want. Actually, they're talking about us, or rather you, Will."

  "Tal, it doesn't matter. Look at me. I want you to do some math while I talk to Father Vogel in the front of the plane. What is a good sort of problem for you to work on?"

  "You're going to talk about me?" Talitha asked meekly, dropping her gaze down.

  "Yes. I need to be able to talk freely about subjects that might get the other Talitha all riled up. But it's only to try to figure out how to help you. Ok?"

  She nodded. "Ok. I guess I could figure out the decimal representation of Pi past the fifteenth point. I just need some paper and a pencil."

  Father Vogel dug through his bag and pulled out both items and they left her scribbling away. To Will, she wasn't working with the enthusiasm that she normally found in math. She was going through the motions, only.

  "Do you mind if we talk up here?" Will asked the blonde stewardess.

  She gave him a fake plastic smile, that didn't touch the slightly disgusted look in her eyes. "Only for a little bit. Passengers aren't really supposed to be up here, ya know." She left them, pushing the drink cart down the tiny center aisle.

  As soon as she was out of earshot, Will hissed in a loud whisper to the priest, "What's happening to Talitha? Why couldn't she remember so much of our conversation just now? She was right there."

  Father Vogel leaned in close. "This can happen to a person with split personalities. Likely, the conversation was not transferred from her short-term memory to her long term and thus poof; it just didn't happen for her. Or the conversation is with the other Talitha who was just starting to emerge. If it is she will have a full recollection of it while this Talitha won't."

  "Will it always be like this? Earlier today, she was afraid that she was going to become the demon. She acted like she had no choice. Is that really going to happen?"

  "Possibly, though I wouldn't find it probable," Vogel responded with a glance back down the plane. "Most likely she will develop an amalgamated personality. A mixture of both the good and bad sides of her, but dominated by her good side. You see she has had now... how old is she, sixteen?"

  "She just turned twenty-five."

  "Really? That's amazing" He gave another look back, shaking his head. "But back to my point, she's had twenty five years to lay the physical ground work, the actual neural path of her thoughts in her brain. The evil side of her has only had eight years, so in most things, she will use the older, better-worn paths. It will only be when she is confronted with a stark memory of her evil, that her dark side will emerge."

  "What about when she gets angry? It seems to be coming out then as well."

  Vogel pondered this for
a moment and then asked, "Before all of this, was Talitha quick to anger, or was she more the mellow type?"

  Will turned his swollen face lopsided with a smile. "She was generally the sweetest girl. Only very rarely did she get angry."

  The priest's shoulder's sagged at this. "Then I think you can expect her bad side to come out whenever she would get angry. And really, it will probably come out at many other times as well. As an example, just now her bad side began to emerge when we were discussing psychologists. Death also seems to bring it out...she talks as though she has been associated with more deaths than just the ones from last night." He made it sound less as a statement and more as a question.

  Will leaned back against the pilot's door. "Yeah a lot more. I never knew about them until a couple of days ago." His headache began to pound away and he rubbed at his temples. "So what do I do with her? Is there some sort of treatment, some counseling maybe?"

  Father Vogel crossed his arms, thinking for a moment. "The usual treatment is to try to consolidate the different personalities into a single working one and then deal with the underlying issues that caused the split in the first place. But with Talitha..."

  Will jumped in, "That can't be her treatment! The other Talitha is beyond help. She's a monster; she's more vicious and cunning than humanly possible, she can't be allowed to become a part of Talitha. I have a feeling that if that happens, her evil side will corrupt the good and wear it like a mask." Will looked down the plane at his sister. She wasn't working on the math problem; she was staring out of the window. "That could be the evil girl right now sitting there and we wouldn't know until..." he left the words trailing.

  The older man sighed. "I agree, that can't be her treatment. Though I have to say that when personalities collide they generally don't stay so true to form as what you are suggesting. In other words, the evil will be tempered by the good and vice versa, especially now that she is aware of her situation. She will feel shame at her hate, but also angry at her supposedly weak feelings, such as love. But for her the best news is that there's no reason for her to keep the other personality."