September 9th, Sunday - Casey Silpetti
Consciousness starts returning slowly, sleep resisting letting go its hold. Casey wakes from the dreamy depths of her blissful rest, slowly at first, smiling to herself as she feels the warm press of Aiden against her as they spoon, wearing only his boxers. She replays the last bit of the night in her head as she relaxes in his arms, pleasantly sore and completely content.
Aiden kisses her ear softly, his arm tightening around her. She’s wearing only the button-up shirt he wore last night, and his hand slips underneath it and starts to idly caress her stomach with the softest of touches, causing all sorts of goosebumps to ripple over her.
“Morning beautiful. How’d you sleep?”
She can feel the smile spread across her face, and thinks to herself that it’s a good thing she’s not facing him at the moment, she expects she probably looks pretty goofy just then.
They talk about inconsequential things for a bit, until she finally tries to sit up. He pulls her back down into the bed and into his arms.
“Oh no no, where do you think you’re going? I figure we can stay right here in bed all day. No reason to get up. If we’re quiet, maybe Harmony will forget we’re here.”
He smiles and pulls her close. “And if we’re not quiet, well, Harmony is a big girl, I don’t think she’ll be embarrassed.”
“Letch!” she jokes, but she snuggles into his arms.
“Yep. It’s hard to live up to my reputation, but sometimes you just have to take one for the team. Look, we can even turn on the tv to make some noise…”
He flips the tv on, and drops the remote on the nightstand before moving to kiss her neck. He spends time there, softly kissing and nuzzling, and she fights with herself. It’s getting late, they really should get up, but it feels so good…
Until she sees something on the screen that rips her mind out of the daze. “Wait… wait Aiden.” She reaches over him for the remote and turns up the television.
“…body was savaged brutally. Authorities think it may have been a pack of feral dogs that somehow got into the yard. The body of his younger brother is unaccounted for, other than the arm that was found a short way away.”
The screen cuts from the footage of cops and medical personnel in a suburban yard back to the photograph that first got Casey’s attention. It’s a photo of the two boys she photographed in the park, with Faust’s lens.
“Again, it looks as though something might have attacked Stephen Dorsley and his brother Michael. It looks as though Stephen tried to fight, perhaps to keep the animals from attacking his brother, but was savaged in the attempt. Michael is presumed dead, his body has not been found except his left arm.
“Authorities are on the search for the feral dogs believed to have savaged these two young boys. And across town…”
She mutes the tv, and lets the remote fall from her numb fingers. Aiden is holding her tightly, and finally turns her towards him.
“Case, what’s the matter? Did you know those two boys?” His words are laced with deep sympathy.
“No, I didn’t… you didn’t recognize them?”
“No, who—” He cuts off as she pulls out of his arms and gets out of bed. She goes through her bag and pulls out the pictures from last night.
Even as she grabs the picture to show him, she’s rocked by another shock.
The photo is even more faded, but it’s changed again from last night. The old man from the bench is no longer in frame, only part of his coat - billowing behind him like a cape - is still in frame. The only thing left of the two boys are - thankfully obscured - piles on the ground.
The photo drops from her hand, and she grabs the table for support, feeling nauseous. Suddenly his arms are around her again, and he helps her over to the bed where she sits.
He picks up the picture. “This was them?”
She looks up, unable to look at the photo but focusing instead on his eyes. “Yeah.” Casey moves to sit on the floor by her bag, digging through it until she finds the same photo she took with her regular lens and handing it to Aiden. “These were almost identical, this one taken just after the other one. It changed…”
They are silent for a long moment, as he looks at the pictures. He finally puts them back into her bag. Almost perfectly in unison, they both say “We need to talk to Faust.”
He gets her into the shower, while he goes and gets them both some breakfast. She stands under the scalding hot water, scrubbing hard at her skin as the photo of the two boys keeps coming to mind.
She gets out sooner than she’d like, and is dressed in some jeans and a sweatshirt when Aiden walks back in, a plate in his hand.
“Here, eat this. I’m going to freshen up, then we’ll go see what Faust has to say about all this.”
She eats while he’s in the shower, and brings the plate down to the kitchen. Harmony is sitting at the table, a mug of coffee and plate of toast next to her. She looks like she’s recovering from last night.
Harmony is certainly the life of the party, and while she’s been trying to rein it in some, it was no surprise last night to have seen her get around the under twenty-one stamp. Several guys and at least one girl had been buying her drinks, and while she didn’t get as tore up as she has in the past, it looks like she’s regretting it now.
She smiles wanly up at Casey. “Hey there chica, some birthday, eh?” She manages a rather comic dirty-old-man eyebrow waggle, that gets Casey to laugh.
“The best! Thank you so much for everything.” She hugs the other girl tightly. “How are you feeling?”
“Me? I’ll be ok. I’ve felt better, but at least I didn’t do anything too stupid last night.” Her face twists comically. “Although I might have to start screening my calls, I think I gave out my number last night. A few times.” She hangs her head, holding her eyes with her hand. But a grin keeps threatening to appear even as she tries to look pained.
“Ready to go, ‘bay?” Aiden asks as he walks into the kitchen.
“You’re going somewhere?”
Casey turns from Aiden, and looks back at Harmony. “Yeah, we have an errand or two to run. But I’ll be back for a big, greasy dinner of junk food,” she teases.
Harmony goes a little green at the thought, and waves them away. “What evs. Have fun, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
The two of them walk out to Aiden’s SUV, hand in hand.
It’s a quick, and quiet trip to Faust’s. The clouds finally break, and a steady drizzle starts to fall, bringing a chill to the air.
They leave the SUV parked on side the road, and walk the rest of the way to his office. Casey knocks tentatively on the door, and although there’s no answer, it swings open for her yet again. She takes a deep breath and then she and Aiden go inside. They look around but don’t see Faust. “Hello?”
He comes in from another area, “I had a feeling I’d be seeing you today. Sit.” Aiden and Casey sit next to each other on the couch. Faust doesn’t say a word. When Casey looks at him, he simply nods for her to go ahead.
“Ummm…I have a few things I want to ask you about.” When Faust doesn’t respond, Casey continues. “Uh, the lens you left at Harmony’s, I…I don’t understand it. I used it yesterday and ummm…a lot of the pictures didn’t turn out, and some of them were darker, but normal…and uh, then there were a couple that were…strange. Creepy actually.” Casey shuffles in her bag and takes out the two odd photos and the one of the boys and the man that she took with her regular lens. “They’re not what I took a picture of…and there’s some color.” She pauses for a moment, ” And part of this building one I could swear moved, and this one,” she holds it up for Faust to see without looking at it, “keeps changing. And it was a picture of these two boys, and they’re dead. It was on the news.”
“Ahhh, the lens. So you used it, and aren’t quite sure what you’re seeing, right?” He waits until she nods, taking the pictures from her hand. “That’s why I left it for you. I figured, if you wanted to help your little friend, you’d have to know what was out there. I told you, once you see some things, you can’t unsee them.”
He waves his hand across the picture, and looks down at it for a long, quiet moment. He sighs, walks over and tosses them both on his desk, before coming back to sit across from her and Aiden. “There are bad things out there. Surely someone who’s spent as much time on the streets as you, knows that. Things that you see out of the corner of your eyes, things that live and eat in the shadows.”
He motions over to the pictures sitting on his desk now. “That was a picture of one of those things. It wears a disguise, just like so many nice people do. But underneath it’s a monster. Don’t worry about it; I’ll take care of it. Shame about the boys, but things like this happen. It’s the way of the world.”
“What about the building? And ummm…are there things that don’t hide, don’t disguise themselves? They’re just out there…I mean…well, I saw some thing maybe a week ago. It took me a while to see it; I probably passed over it a few times before I realized it was there. And, well, it was quiet out, like really quiet, no bug sounds, no animal sounds, nothing while it was there. And then when it was gone all the sounds came back.”
“The building is easy to explain. Haven’t you ever been somewhere before, that used to be something else? Like a library that was once a church, or a shop that was once a hospice? Did that building feel, well different to you? Like it had changed its clothes, but wasn’t really what it appeared to be?
“Buildings have ‘spirits’ too, if that’s what you want to call them. They pick up on what happens in them, the people that live, work, die in them every day. That building you took a picture of, for years and years it was a factory for the war effort. People slaved away in there twenty-four hours a day. They left their mark on it, and that’s what you photographed.
“Now as far as your other question, yes. There are things out there that don’t hide themselves. And nature doesn’t always get along with what’s out there. A predator is a predator, they don’t care if it’s in the normal food chain or not. Animals are sensitive, so are children. Pay attention to them.”
“But to get back to the lens, it is a very special gift that I left for you. One to ease you into this world, and if you choose to stay and fight in it, one that may just help you out. You see, it doesn’t take pictures of what you see. It takes pictures of what’s really there. The truth of the matter, so to speak. As you get better with it, you’ll be astounded by the things it shows you.”
“Does it only work with black and white film? Will it work with digital? Can I just look through the lens and see these things, or do I have to take pictures? I mean, by the time I get them developed and see that something’s different, will I be able to do anything about what I see?”
“Good questions. As you get used to it, you might find that you can use it in different ways. It was made in the days of black and white photography, which seems to be the easiest way to get it to work. I’m not much of a photographer, so I can’t say much more to that. You have the touch of possibility about you, girl. One day, you may get good enough where you don’t need the lens to see the truth, at all.”
“Ummm…so you left a picture of me with the lens…from when I was little. Where’d it come from? How did you get it? Why’d you leave it for me?” Casey sniffles, feeling her eyes filling with tears. She sniffles again, holding back from crying. Aiden puts his arm across her shoulder and she leans into him, waiting for Faust’s response.
“I was hoping you’d like that picture. As to why I left it for you, there are two reasons. The most obvious, is that it was a good day for you, yes?” He waits again for her to nod. “In the days that come, you may forget what good days are. Sometimes you probably feel that way already. But it was a good day, a day to remember and cherish.
“As to the other reason, it was to open your mind. We humans, we are selfish creatures. Sure, we think we can be selfless. But in our own way, we are selfish on a level that can barely be comprehended. Everything in our world, is about us. We think we know the world’s story, because it revolves around us.
“Take your mother, for instance.” He ignores the sharp intake of breath she makes. “You believe you know her story. But you don’t. We never, truly, know our parents’ story. How much we changed them by being born, how we affected them every moment of every day. We just see things from our side of the lens, and often we respond in anger at things that don’t go the way we want them to. We don’t know those stories. All we know is our own, and if we’re lucky, a little of how it affects others.
“Your mother may not be the bad person you think she was. Perhaps in her own way, in her own story, she was a hero. Or maybe you’re right, and she was the villain. Maybe it’s just something you should think about.”
“Where’d you get it though? And I never said my mom was a bad person. ” She laughs a little nervously, “How would I know what kind of person she is? She was always drunk, or high, or both…when she was around, and that wasn’t a whole lot. I mean, I think I’ve seen my mom once in 8 years, and not a whole lot before that when I was living with her…do you see her? Was she a hero?” Casey blows out a breath, frustrated. “Can’t you ever just say something straight out instead of talking in circles?”
He actually smiles a bit at that outburst. “Yes. I know her. Which is how I got the picture, a story for another day perhaps? And I don’t talk straight out, because you’re not a child, and I won’t treat you like one. We must make our own decisions; we can’t have someone explain it all away for us. I can tell you things, hint at things, but in the end it’s what you do with that knowledge that matters, at least to you. And your mother’s story – exciting though it may be – is not what’s important to the matter at hand.”
“And um, last on the list…you, well you keep talking about Veronica like she’s a threat to someone, or something way special…and ummm…last night you talked about having to kill her, which I really don’t understand why you’d do that…but I need to know what you’re talking about. She’s probably the nicest person I know and she’s one of my only friends…” Casey’s voice trails off, unsure how to continue.
“Ahh, and now to the… heart of the matter.” He grins as though he has made a joke of some sort, but then turns very serious. “I warn you one more time, if I proceed, you will both take a step into a larger world, one much more dangerous than you can imagine. Are you prepared for that?”
Aiden sits up a little straighter. “Wherever she goes, I go.” He squeezes her shoulders tightly. Casey turns to him and softly says, “You don’t have to do this you know? You can just go drive around for a while, come back and pick me up in a bit.” She looks down at her lap, “Or just go and I can take a cab back, I’d understand you know.” Aiden tilts her chin up so she’s looking at him and waits until she meets his eyes. He holds her gaze for a moment and then nods almost imperceptibly. He lets go of her chin and Casey looks toward Faust.
Faust’s eyes lock onto Casey’s, looking deep inside them for something, what she doesn’t know. But damn it, she’s tired of being left in the dark. If she’s gonna be involved, it’s time to dive in. She nods.
Faust smiles, grimly. “I do nothing for free. My knowledge is expensive, but in this case… Casey Silpetti, do you agree to be bound by debt to me, to be called due sometime in the future in exchange for what I’m about to tell you? I promise it won’t be anything you cannot afford, but say no and leave, never to darken my door again.”
She can feel Aiden turn to look at her, but she keeps her eyes on Faust. If this is the way he wants to play it, fine. “I agree.” She feels a slight chill run across her as she says the words.
Faust sits back. “Well then, children, listen up. Class is about to begin.”
He gets up, walks over to his desk and returns with a folder full of paperwork. He throws it down on the table in front of them, where it opens to a picture of Veronica. Casey starts looking through some of the paperwork. “First things first, I told you that your little friend was no Senator’s daughter. If you look right there, you’ll see that I’m right, She was adopted almost ten years ago. Try to find her before then, and you won’t. Not a birth certificate, not a name, nothing.
“Something else interesting, check out the photos and news articles. It seems that when they adopted her, they lived in a small apartment in King’s Row. The father was a small time public councilor, helped the kids who were getting into problems. Mother was a struggling legal assistant trying to get through her Bar Exam.
“But then, they adopt this sweet little girl. And suddenly, the mother is on the fast track to becoming one of the most powerful lawyers at the premier firm in the city, using that as a stepping stone to public office. They move out of Kings Row, and into Olympia Hills. Their children go to the prestigious Blake Holsey prep school, and now it looks like dear Madison may even be on the way to becoming President. Pretty big change in lifestyles, don’t you say?”
Casey shakes her head. “But how is all this related to Roni? I mean, are you saying she’s responsible for all this?”
Faust gets a dark look. “Oh no, I reckon that it’s all the parents. Look, scientists have a few things right. When you look down at the very basics of matter, everything is the same. This chair, our bodies, the air, it’s all a soup of particles and waves. It’s all… possibilities. Each of us carries within us a spark of possibilities, a piece of creation itself. In some of us, it burns a little brighter.
“Tell me Casey, have you ever noticed how sometimes, things will happen? I mean, think about your life. You need a place to stay, and for some reason the campus cops don’t kick you out the University Student Center. Your teacher trusts a student enough to give her keys to the photo lab, ensuring that you have yet another place to stay, and one in which to work.”
He sits further forward in his seat, his eyes piercing hers, she’s unable to look away or break his spell. “Or when you were broke, and hungry, and on the edge of trying to figure out exactly how far you’d go in order to get something to eat, and just then, some art magazine you’ve never heard of buys one of your pictures, giving you enough money to survive a month or more?
“Ever notice how things happen, when you need them to? That’s because you’re strong, in possibilities. Some people are born that way. It shows up in different ways. Some people are instinctively good at math. Some can never get lost, and always seem to know a shortcut. Some can look at the world around them, and see truths. And some people, it’s strong enough to change the world around them.”
He leans forward, his hand reaching out to an ink pen resting on the table. “Some people, they can see the possibilities of things, of people, and they can use them.” He runs his hand across the pen, and it— her mind isn’t sure, it’s like watching a tv that’s barely tuned to the right channel, the pen seems to flicker, and then there’s no pen there, but a bright feather.
The silence of the room stretches, and he leans back into his chair. “Your little friend isn’t just strong with the possibilities, she is pure possibility. As pure as it comes, and her parents are using that to change their lives for the better. And that’s why; I may have to kill her. No, not because of her parents.”
“So, they know who…what she is…and they’re using it to their advantage? Or they don’t know and all these good things keep happening? I…I don’t really understand…”
“I think you understand more than you’d like. You’ve been to her house, you’ve seen her family. How do her parents treat her? I would have to believe that she is under much stricter measures than her sister, wouldn’t you agree? That she is shy is one thing, but how much of her solitude is imposed on her?
“Not only that, but her new bodyguard is… let us say, unique in the talents she brings to the fold. Someone like her is the only type of bodyguard that could keep even Laithe back. But I’m afraid that her parents won’t be able to keep that one here long enough to matter. They never take a job for long, especially one where there will be no fighting.
“No, they know what she is. They have to.”
“Do you believe in the Boogeyman?”
He waits for a response, but Casey still feels a little disconnected. Her mind still hasn’t seem to have caught up, and her eyes keep flicking back to the pen - the feather - that lays there almost mocking her sanity. “Boo-boogeyman?”
“In a way. There’s something evil in this city, something that devours the possibilities out of the most innocent. See, children are closer to magic, because they are in touch with that spark of possibility inside them. The murders and disappearances that have been in the news, that’s because of one thing, here in the city feeding on the children.”
“Like in my picture?”
“No. Worse than that, much worse. That creature is a minor nuisance, and one I can take care of easily. The one I’m speaking of goes back much further than that, and is far more evil. And thanks to the information you’ve given me, I now know that he knows about your friend.”
“Knows what?”
“What she is. And what she means for his plans.”
“Who? Who are you talking about?”
“The Mayor. Laithe Delacroix. He had your friend kidnapped, so that he could get closer to her. He’s going to wait until the right moment, and then he will take her, cut out her heart, and eat it.”
The room starts spinning again, and Casey vaguely hears her own voice say “But, why?”
“I just told you, Casey. She’s not human. She’s pure possibility, pure potential. I could tell you what she is and where she came from, but I don’t want to give you too many shocks, I can already tell you’re not fully believing me. Suffice it to say, that should Laithe get her heart, he will not only be nearly immortal for hundreds, if not thousands of years, but he will gain enough power to make the entire city bow down to his will.
“That is why I’ll kill her first, if I have to.”
“What is he waiting for? Why didn’t he just… if he already had her?”
“Her heart isn’t ready. She may not know what she is, but she can almost remember, I bet she dreams of it. She will be at her most powerful when she is happy, content, and in love. He will try to wait until then, but still strike before she’s aware of what she is and how strong she will be. Which is why I asked if she has a boyfriend. It’s her weakness and her strength, love.
Casey stands suddenly, Aiden following a moment later. “I’m sorry, I obviously thought you would help, that you knew something…”
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist. Part of you believes me. Go to Legal Tender if you need proof. Go to the phone booth marked ‘Out of Order’ and type in 13727. I’ll sponsor you, just don’t do anything that will get you killed.”
“Aiden, let’s go.” They get almost to the door when Faust’s voice cuts through to them.
“You’re her only hope now, Casey. You know too much. I’m not strong enough to fight Laithe, and I will kill her before he can get to her. Her life is in your hands now. It’s up to you if she lives or dies.”
They walk out quickly, the overcast day still enough light to make them blink as they step into it. The chill rain is still drizzling down. Aiden takes her hand and they walk quickly back to the SUV in silence.
Once in, Aiden starts it up and starts to drive. “That man is a nutter,” he mumbles.
Casey pats his leg, but continues to look out of the side window. “Do you mind dropping me back off at Harm’s? I just need to sit for a while. I need some time and space to think.”
“No, I don’t mind. You going to be ok?”
She glances over at him. “Yeah, of course.”
At Harmony’s, he walks her to the door. “Call if you need anything, please?” He kisses her softly.
“I will.” She closes the door, and walks up to the room she’s staying in. She sits there for a little bit and finally decides to try and study. After reading the same paragraph about 8 times and not having a clue what she just read she puts her book away and goes in search of Harmony. She finds her laying on the couch with the TV on and a wet rag over her eyes.
“Still recuperating Harm?”
“Uh huh.”
“Head up Harm, let me sit.” Harmony sits up enough for Casey to sit down and then lays her head back down on Casey’s lap. Casey starts gently massaging Harmony’s temples, “How’s that feel?”
“MMMmmmm…don’t ever stop Case.”
They sit that way for a few minutes until Harmony sits up and turns to face Casey. “So, you and Aiden are pretty serious, huh?”
Casey blushes, but feels the goofy grin cross her face. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Harmony leans forward and gives her a hug. “I’m glad. You need someone special Casey.”
“We all do Harm.”
“I know, but I just think that it’s time you had some good stuff happen, and I think he’s good for you.”
“I think he just might be good for me too.” They sit in almost silence for a minute, just the sounds from the TV around. “Harm, I think some bad Cloak & Dagger stuff is gonna keep happening, and, well, if things start getting too weird, or you think I need to go, just say the word. I don’t mean now, but coming up, if you don’t feel safe or think too much shit is happening, just let me know and I’ll back off for a bit. I just, I can’t thank you enough for letting me stay here and for being the best friend I’ve ever had, and…”
“Case, don’t worry. If I feel freaked you’ll know. But until it gets to that point, if it even gets to that point, you know you’ve got a place to stay.” She yawns big and stretches, even though it’s still pretty early. “I think I need to make up for last night, so I’m grabbing a bottle of water, about 10 more asprins, and going to bed. I have a test tomorrow, but I’m still in no shape to study.” She stands and gives Casey another hug. “Don’t stay up too late chica. Dad and the step-monster went to a late dinner, should be home in an hour or two. Night.”
“Night, Harm.” Casey putters around, making a sandwich, salad and hot tea. She sits in front of the TV to eat and flips channels until she finds something she can watch. She eats quickly and decides to try and study some more. She puts away her dirty dishes and heads up to her room. She runs a bubble bath and soaks in the tub thinking about her conversation with Faust today. She soaks and thinks until the bubbles are gone and the water has gone cool before she gets out. After all this she knows she believes what Faust said. She may not understand it all, but she believes it. She climbs into bed, catching Aiden’s scent from last night. She closes her eyes and tries to push everything from her mind. The last thing she remembers thinking is that she needs to ask Faust what she can do, to try and protect Roni, and that she needs to go alone.
