The Game - 24. Chapter 24

The door opens again and the hands which hold mine are snatched away. It is a clear, still, day and the sounds that float in through the window on the breeze are muted but carry in from far, far away. The cows in the field are away on the other side of the valley, the birds are flying high above, the cars on the road are drawing closer but it takes time... time... time.... Time slows to a painful crawl. I both hear and feel the beat of my heart thumping slow and steady, pumping sluggish blood around a body beaten and battered, tired beyond endurance, with a mind...well let’s not think of my mind just now... I am only just getting to know it myself... in fact I think that there are parts of it waking now that I have never known, or at least never accessed.

Time.... the end is drawing near with tiny steps, so slowly, so very slowly that no one except I... who am so slowed, can see how close it is. No one else.... no one who draws near, none of them know, none of them see... only I... only.... only...

“Thank you Lily, Shaun... you can leave now. Get yourselves a coffee or go for a walk in the gardens. We won’t be long, a few hours. I will send for you when we are done and you can take Daniel home.”

Home? No, that house is not my home. Daniel has no home. Daniel will not be leaving this place today.

“Why did you have to sedate him like this? What ‘tests’ are you going to do?”

“Shaun!”

“Lily, I would suggest you use the time to have to word with your friend. I have always been fond of you Shaun and, I think, we have always had an excellent working relationship. I hope that you have come to trust me and it would be a terrible thing if that working relationship were spoiled over the fact that you have stepped across a line. I think it might be prudent for me to take you off this case. I will make arrangements this afternoon. Take a few days off.”

“But...”

“Come on Shaun. Let’s get out of here.”

“But...”

I sense them leave and a part of me wants to call them back, to have them close to me... to feel his energy, so pure and calming all around me. But that is the part that is afraid, the part that doubts, the part that is locked up tight, far within. I am beginning to feel again. I can feel the Professor touching me.... my hair... my face....

“I know you are awake Daniel. Open your eyes.”

I sigh.... oh well... here goes.