This story is the result of a collaborative round robin. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- prelude _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Tue Mar 11 22:12 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "What are you doing sweetie?", Catherine asked Jordan as she walked into the living room. "Coloring...", the little girl replied, her focus set on the sketch pad in front of her. Catherine sat down on the couch and leaned over to get a glimpse of the drawing. "What are making?" Jordan put down the crayon and picked up the pad of paper. It was a forest- a dark and depressing one. Streaks of brownish-blackish tones as tree trunks and dark green for branches made up the scene. Catherine frowned and picked up a red crayon. "It's nice, but why don't you try something a little more- brighter." Her daughter took the red crayon and put it back in the box. "I don't want to draw any more...", she announced and stood up. Catherine watched as Jordan skipped out of the room and magnetized the picture to the refridgerator. She wondered why her daughter was always so cheerfully dark like that, but she knew the answer -- it came Frank. *** Melody Chambers put her 8-year old daughter in bed and turned off the light. Being a single-parent was never easy, so bedtime was the only time she could have a moments peace. "Mommy, where's Roy?", the little girl asked. Melody let out a heavy sigh. Great, her teddy bear was missing. "Where did you last see him?" She watched her daughter think hard and could almost see the gears turning. "I was playing with him outside this afternoon." The banging thunder and the flash of lightening from outside was all Melody needed at that point. "I'll go outside and look around before it rains. Stay put, Katie." Katie watched her mom leave and jumped up from bed. Scurrying to the window she spotted Roy in the sandbox. "Mom!", she shouted to her mother who had already gone downstairs. *** Melody ran outside, trying desperately to dodge the drizzing raindrops as they fell from the sky. Where was that damn bear anyway? Katie ran outside after her mom who disappeared. She decided to just get Roy and get back to bed. Roy sat in the sandbox, his button eyes stearing hopelessly into space. Katie began to run toward him, but from out of nowhere she felt someone grab her. "Mom?", she turned around in the arms which clutched her. "MOM!!" The thunder clapped loudly, startling her. Melody felt the illumination of the lightening and the dampness of the rain on her back. [Did she hear something? Doubtful.] It was then between the seemingly endless rythem of thunder were the screams-- Katie's screams. She stopped searching the plastic Playschool house upon hearing her daughter. "Katie?!" She pivoted around and ran back to the house. Screaming Katie over and over again, the woman stopped short of the backyard swimming pool. [What was that black object floating in there?] "Oh, my God... No, no, no..." Melody bent over the pool's edge and turned the object over. "KATIE!" The face stared up into hers and everything at that point seemed crazy and out-of-control. Admist the thunder and lightening, Melody watched her daughter's body float in the swimming pool. She half-blamed it on herself, but also half-blamed it on that damn, old, teddy bear Roy-- whose soaked cotton body was lodged in the bushes. Still, you could tell Roy was upset too, because he had no one to play with now... drat. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 1 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Mon Feb 17 19:49 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Call not that man wretched, who whatever ills he suffers, has a child to love." -- Southey Frank stared at himself in the mirror, constant visions of death and mutilations flashing through his mind, eating away at his soul once more. "No, I can't let it happen again," his inner voice screamed, and he tore his eyes from his reflection, hoping the flashes would go away. But the instant he looked down at the picture of his wife and child, they finally but temporarily released their grip on his psyche. "Daddy, are you all right?" His daughter quietly walked into the room, hugging her teddy bear. Her tiny, pleasant voice caused a smile to brighten Frank's darkly-brooding face. "Yes, I'm all right, honey." His daughter, Jordan, smiled back, giggled, turned, and skipped into the hallway. As Frank followed her, his stomach suddenly rumbled, and looking so forward to his wife's cooking, he started for the stairs but was stopped by a telephone ringing and the beeping of his pager. Frank hesitated a moment, aware of the atrocities he was about to face, but he wasn't going to let them get to him, as they had in the past. He was over the breakdown, had retired from the FBI, moved his family to Seattle to get away, but... He now realized his fate, that he just couldn't forget the evils of the world. He had a job, now, to stop those evils from further spreading disease. So, Frank took a brave step forward, returned to the bedroom, and picked up the phone. "Hello..." _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 2 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: O Dates: Mon Feb 17 19:50 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Doing anything, Frank?" Watts never wanted the sound of his voice to become the "Voice Of Impending Doom" to Frank. He often wished he could just come over for dinner, or do something "normal" in the pattern of human behavior, for a change. Of course, today wasn't the day, nor, he feared, would any day soon. Watts wanted to meet Frank's daughter, instead of just being that strange man who is always hovering outside. "No, Watts, nothing much." Black smiled at the old joke. It still worked. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 3 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Mon Feb 17 19:52 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Frank wanted to look away from the sight, but he once again locked eye-to-eye with the horror. He envisioned the killer dunking her into the pool, pushing her little head down underneath the water. She was so small and had not the strength to fight back, as water filled her baby lungs. Frank quickly looked up from the dead girl's body, as he broke loose from the evil. But for some reason, he felt it had a much tighter grip on him lately. "She was drowned, not long ago," he announced and turned away. The coroner replaced the shroud over the curly-haired girl. "What do you think? Does this have anything to do with the drownings a few years ago?" Watts asked. Frank's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure." He couldn't sense a motive just quite yet, but he was certain that the killer had some sick reason, as they all had some demented excuse to kill. But this case... Frank's shoulders sank lower. This case seems too close to home. "Why would anyone do that?" he suddenly asked. "Drown an innocent little girl?" Watts could only shrug. Frank walked as far away from the scene as he could, but another vision hit him. And something compelled him to search in the bushes by the side of the house. What he saw disturbed him deeply, a battered and beaten teddy bear nearly tangled within the branches, looking sad, hurt, and very lonely. He immediately stood and called for Watts... _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 4 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Mon Feb 17 19:53 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Well, it could be one of two things", said Watts looking over at Frank who was staring at the teddy bear with a look of desperation on his face. "It could be the girl's bear or the killers. Somehow, I believe the latter." Frank looked up from the bushes, only to turn around and face the crime scene. "You believe it's the killer's calling card? That he's targeting children?", Frank watched as the police removed the girl's body from the scene and took it off in a large blue van. Frank turned back around, "What did you say?" Watts stopped scrawling on his notepad, "Nothing." Walking away from the bushes and to the main house, he continued to talk to his partner, "Sorry.", he continued, "Either he's targeting children or what they stand for..." Watts caught up to Frank, "What could that be Frank? Innocence? Inexperience?" Frank stopped short of his jeep and put his hand to his face. [Jordan was sitting on her bed clutching a teddy bear. Meatwagon. Make her ugly.] "No Peter... he's killing youth." _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 5 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Tue Feb 18 15:59 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jordan sat on her bed, hugging her teddy bear. She threw it into the air a second later. As she reached to catch the furry, stuffed animal, she didn't even turn her head as Catherine entered the room. "Hi, Mommy," she said and smiled. "It's bedtime, honey," Catherine Black announced. Jordan finally looked over at her mother, as she approached the side of the bed. "Hey, how'd you know it was me, anyway?" Catherine playfully touched her daughter's nose. Jordan giggled and shrugged as she got under the covers. "Where's Daddy?" "Downstairs, honey. He'll be coming up to say goodnight in a minute, OK?" "I want him to read me a story." "He's real busy right now," Catherine announced. "Will you read me a story?" "OK, just for a moment." Catherine sat down. "How about the story of Goldie-Locks and the three bears?" Jordan nodded in approval. "OK, once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldie-Locks. She was playing in the forest, and one day she discovered a little house. So, she decided to go inside and explore..." "Telling Jordan a bedtime story?" Catherine looked over at Frank, who had been leaning in the doorway. "Yeah, Goldie-Locks and the three bears." Frank's heart jumped, as a feeling of sudden dread overcame him for a split-second but vanished as quickly as it had come. Calming down, he entered the room and approached the bed. Smiling, he lowered his head to kiss his daughter's forehead. "Goodnight, honey." As Frank turned away, Jordan called him back, and he returned his attention to her. "You forgot to kiss Beanie." Jordan held up her teddy bear. Frank did so, smiled once more, and left the room. Though, that feeling had returned again on his way out, but he fought to ignore it. After all, he wasn't going to let the chilled hands of Fear interfere with his work. Catherine had watched her husband descend the stairs before she finished Jordan's story. Five minutes later, she kissed her daughter goodnight and went downstairs to check on Frank... _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 6 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Tue Feb 18 19:11 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Catherine found Frank curled up the couch with his eyes closed. "Frank?", she asked quietly. He moved around and opened his eyes. "What?" "Sorry, thought you were sleepig there for a second." "No, just thinking..." "About?" "A case. Something I saw earlier. Shook me up quite a bit." She sat down next to Frank and rested her head on his shoulder and squeezed his hand with hers. "Do you want to talk about it?" Frank thought for a minute and shook his head, "Maybe later." Catherine sat up straight and rose from the couch. "I want you know... I'm always here for you." Looking at her, he managed to smile, "I know... I'll be right up." She walked out of the room and he stared straight ahead. [The tombstone read Frank Black. IN LOVING MEMORY. LOVED HUSBAND AND FATHER. It rested on the ground, surrounded by a gathering of people mourning. Approaching it, he looked into the hole in the ground. It was himself. Frank looked into his own eyes and blinked. Now he was looking up above, he saw Catherine and Jordan there, Cathy was crying, but Jordan was calm. They were dressed all in black. He couldn't make out the rest of the people gathering behind them. Someone was muttering, but everyone else was silent. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We commit this body to the ground." Catherine tossed something down onto his face, he blinked, then it was all gone...] Frank rubbed his eyes and did something he hadn't done in a long time... he began to cry. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 7 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Tue Feb 18 22:43 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jack stared through the darkly-tinted window of his battered, light-blue Cadillac at all the children on the school playground. He had a long wrinkled frown on his face, which never seemed to end. He studied each child closely, scrutinizing which of the annoying, YOUNG, little urchins he should take next. But a HONKING! interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, ya old geiser, get a move on!" Jack heard a man yell from his truck. Groaning, Jack put the car in drive, and as he made his way down the road, he purposefully went slowly, as he'd caught sight of his next victim, a blue-eyed, red-haired child of eight. Finally speeding up, Jack made a turning and disappeared behind an oncoming garbage truck. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 8 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Tue Feb 18 23:36 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Heli skipped across the playground, her legs continually dodging the jumprope which was spinning over her head and under her feet every 1.5 seconds. Her red locks jumping up and down opposite to her own movements. The teacher was ringing the golden handbell, a signal for the class to come inside. Still, when Heli was jumping rope, she was in her own little world. Red butterflies flew against the clear blue sky and the yellow daisies harmonized in a perfect contrast against the greenest of green grass, you'd ever seen. The little girl continued skipped forward, oblvious to the playground vacating around her. She disapeared around the plastic playhouse when her teacher checked the playground one last time. Upon closing the doors, Heli realized she was in the back alley on the side of her school. A man said from behind her. "Shouldn't you be inside your school little girl?", he asked Heli. A tear formed in left eye, "They shut the doors, the doors are locked..." "Well, I can take you inside. Is that your jump rope?", he asked. She nodded. "Can I see it? I used to skip rope when I was... your age." He studied the rope carefully and looked at her. You're such a pretty girl. Turn around let me get a good look at you." She did as he asked, she happily turned back around and let him touch her hair from behind. "Such... beautiful hair." Jack slid the jump rope around her neck- and pulled. She screamed out loud. Then her little mind blanked into space. Heli's teacher ran out of the school. "Heli?! Where are you?! Recess is over! Heli?!" She disapeared behind the dumpster and walked into the alley. "Heli...", her voice trailed off. She watched the little girl's body dangle from the fire escape above her. Her pour innocent eyes bugging out of her pour innocent face. The woman dropped to her knees and screamed for the world to hear... Heli Johnson, 8, with red curls, hanging from a fire escape. At least in the girl's mind she was where she could skip rope all day, with the butterflies and the dasies... But her momma will never be able to tuck her in at night or fix her a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. It's too late for that... isn't it sad how things work out?... _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 9 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Wed Feb 19 1:12 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Frank could no longer bear to look at another dead girl's body, but he had no choice. After all, he couldn't let Fear get to him. "Her name was Heli Johnson," Watts mentioned. Frank connected with the killer's mind once more, as he saw him wrapping the jump-rope around Heli's white neck and stringing her up on the fire escape, as she screamed and screamed but couldn't be heard. Her body riggled around till she breathed her last breath. He saw the killer's ersatz smile, which quickly turned into a deep-set frown. The killer reached into his dirty-grey trenchcoat, pulled out another battered teddy bear, and set it carefully behind the trash can. Frank shut his eyes and turned his head. He opened them a second later, approached the spot where the bear lay, and picked it up. He showed it to Watts, who nodded. "The killer's calling card," Frank said. "You have any idea who did this?" Frank could see the killer's face. "He's old, probably around sixty-five. He's afraid of dying." "You think he's killing youth, because he doesn't want those children to grow as old and die as he?" "Maybe." Frank turned away, but couldn't stop his eyes from looking at the girl once more as she was rolled away into the coroner's truck. He immediately shut his eyes again, as Jordan suddenly flashed into his mind. No, he would never let it happen. Not Jordan. Nothing was going to break the protective barriers of his home-life. If it ever happens... Frank straightened, and took a deep breath. No, I can't let it happen, he thought to himself. Calm down, Frank. Be strong. Reopening his eyes, he headed back to his Jeep Cherokee. Time to go back home. He NEEDED to see Jordan. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 10 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Thu Feb 20 20:52 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jack sat cross-legged on top of a table, his tongue sticking out of his mouth, as he dipped his finger deep into a jar full of a dark-blue substance. He removed his finger from the jar, and with the substance now on his index finger, he pressed down hard onto a long, white piece of paper, spreading the paint all across the top. Near the bottom of the paper, he had finger-painted some grass and flowers. Heli's world, he thought, where she'll be young forever. A few minutes later, Jack stopped and lifted the drenched paper. Satisfied, he jumped off the table, went over to a clothes line attached to either wall and hung his work of art out to dry. He took a moment to observe his other works, and stared at a dried picture of a girl in a pool. "Good, stay that way. Never grow old. You don't realize the kind of life I've been through, you know?" he said aloud. That deep-set, envious frown darkened his face once more. Jack went over to his toy box in the corner of his room, opened it, and took out a beaten, stuffed bear. Time for another. Jack milled around inside Josie's cafe, searching for another perfect little child. He knew this was a hot spot for the little urchins, because of Josie's famous Peaches-N-Cream icecream. Every kid loved it. "Can I help you, sir?" Jack reacted to the sound of her high-pitched voice, and had looked up into the eyes of a teenaged waitress. "You're so young," he said. Oblivous to what he really meant, she smiled at the same time as she twirled her bubble-gum around in her mouth, and said, "why, thank you, sir. You can go ahead and take a seat by the window here, and I'll take your order." "I...I don't want anything. I'm looking for someone." "Well, you can tell me the name of the party, and I can find where they're seated for you," the waitress offered. Jack ignored her and started walking. "Sir?" the waitress tried to call him back, but Jack continued on walking. Finally, he took a seat at the very back of the cafe and realized that Josie's was not very crowded at all. The only people that were in it were... He shuddered at the sight of an old couple holding hands, but envisioned them young again. Jack sharply turned his head, as something caught his attention, and he listened in on the conversation at the table next to him. "You serious? You really have a kid, now?" a man asked another man, surprised. "Gerry, I haven't seen you in years. You never seemed like the type to have kids." "Karl, you don't realize what it's like to have kids. My nine-year-old makes feel twenty-years younger. Just being around her takes the age away." JUST BEING AROUND HER TAKES THE AGE AWAY, the man's voice echoed in Jack's mind, as an idea suddenly hit him. Before he could be bugged by another waitress, he immediately stood, and frantically searched the cafe. Not a single child in sight. Jack quickly left Josie's and walked into the middle of a crowded road, cars honking left and right as they halted to a stop. "Hey, old man, get outta the road!" someone shouted. Realizing where he was, Jack reached the other side and continued his search. Forcing to calm himself down, he spotted three kids with their parents, but knew he couldn't have them. Turning the corner, he marched down another street, but a sudden twinge of arthritis in his knee made him falter and stop. But luck was on his side when he spotted a kid, appearing completely lost and crying for his Mommie. Immediately assuming the role of good citizen, he tried not to limp, as he approached the wailing boy. "You lost, little boy?" he asked. The child looked up, and replied, "Yes. Do you know where my Mommie is?" "Why don't you come with me, and we can find her together?" Jack reached out his hand. The boy hesitated for a moment, but took it a second later. Jack smiled, and led him down the street toward his car. "Joshua!" a mother frantically cried out for her child. "Joshua!" But he was nowhere to be seen. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 11 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Sat Feb 22 10:16 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Jordan!" Frank immediately called to his daughter as he rushed into the house. "Jordan!" He burst up the stairs in a sudden, worried fury, and immediately entered her room. "Yes, Daddy?" Jordan looked up from the table. Frank breathed a deep sigh of relief. "What's the matter?" his daughter asked. "Nothing, honey." Jordan smiled and lowered her head. Frank watched her for a moment. She'd been reaching into a yellow container and pulling her hand out a second later; It was covered in dark-green paint. "What are you doing?" he wondered as he got closer. Jordan held up her work of art, and what Frank saw made his heart jump, a scene from a playground... Heli's school playground. "That's nice, honey." Frank tried to hide his emotion. "How can she know?" he asked secretly. He knew something was happening to his daughter. He even thought this from the day she was born, but hoped it wouldn't happen. But it IS happening. She was becoming like him. Frank immediately shut the thought out of his mind, denying it after all. Probably just a coincidence, he thought. I can't have her part of my nightmare. A minute later, Frank gave Jordan a smile, turned around, and walked into the hall, closing the bedroom door behind him. He descended the steps and greeted his wife, who had just entered the house from the backyard. "Anything the matter, Frank?" Frank knew Catherine would immediately catch his troubled expression. "Nothing. I'm all right." "Hey, would you do me a favor?" Frank tried to lighten up, as he gave his wife his full attention. "Yes?" "I need some things from the store. There's a list in the kichen. I have some important work to do." "Sure." Catherine was about to turn around when she added, "I think Jordan would love to go along." Frank managed to smile, as he went back up the stairs to get his daughter. A few minutes later, he returned downstairs with an eager Jordan. Frank quickly grabbed the list, and wishing Catherine "goodbye", he and Jordan left the house and got into the Jeep Cherokee. *** "Where are we going?" Joshua asked. Jack looked down at the boy and noticed more tears streamed down his eyes. He remembered the teddy bear he had hidden in his trenchcoat and had begun to reach for it. "Would you stop crying if I gave you a present?" "I want my Mommy!" the child continued whining. That was one of things Jack COULD NOT stand, was insistent crying, as Josh had been for the last fifteen minutes. "OK, OK, we're gonna find her." He looked over at him again, and saw an expression of increasing fear in his damp, blue eyes. Josh's whining got louder. This isn't working, at all, Jack's inner voice shouted at him. Frustrated, Jack made a sharp turn into a grocery store parking lot and halted at the curb. "Get out, kid!" he shouted, "you're bugging me!" Joshua continued whaling. Jack immediately plugged his ears to block out the noise. He wasn't used to this. He couldn't recall ever crying when was younger, but he never had a childhood. He was old since he was young. "Grow up!" his father would continually scream at him. "Grow up, Jack, or you'll never get anywhere in life! There's no time for WASTING time playing with stupid toys!" Jack remembered that day when his father beat him, when he was ten-years-old and not allowed to cry. By then, he did not know how. "Get out!" Jack raised his voice. Joshua did not move. Jack pulled out the teddy bear and threw it at the kid, hitting him directly in the eyes, which made the situation even worse. "Oh, God, look, I'm sorry, all right?" He looked down at him and noticed his pants were wet. "Did you have to go and piss in your pants, too?" Frustrated, Jack slammed open the car door, got out, went over to the other side, opened the passenger door, and grabbed him. He took Josh into the store, and directly toward the information counter. "Look, miss, I found this kid lost outside." The woman inside the booth took one look at the kid and did not hesitate to come out into the store area. "Give him to me. He's all wet," she said, as she tried to calm Josh down. "Do you know his name by any chance?" "No, I don't. Look, I just found him outside." "Well, I'll call him parents over the PA. Perhaps, they're looking for him right now." "No, uh... I found him lost down the street. Maybe, he just wandered out of his house or something," Jack suggested to get himself out of his bind. "OK, then, I'll just take him to the child care center at the back of the store. He can be safe there while we try and locate his parents," the woman said as she took the child away. Relieved, Jack quickly left the store, but as he got near his car, he spotted the cutest little girl being helped out of a red Jeep by her father. Perfect. Jack grinned, sensing this was the one. She was special. He could tell by her face, her smile, the enthused twinkle in her eye, the picture-perfect example of youth. Jack watched them enter the store, which he had noticed earlier was not just a grocery store but more like a Super K-mart. And taking on the role of shopper, he entered the store a few minutes after. Grabbing a blue hand-basket, he searched around the front of the store for them and had spotted them just walking down aisle 9, in the grocery area, and heading for the dairy products. Jack stayed well behind as he neared the area. He watched the girl interact with her father, and wondered what kind of conversation they were having. "Are these eggs OK, Daddy?" Jordan asked as she held up a white carton. "Open them up and see," her father spoke. Jordan opened the carton. "The eggs are beautiful, Daddy." She closed it and handed it to her father. Frank carefully placed the carton into the basket. Jack started moving again as he witnessed them entering the cereal aisle. He watched as Jordan picked out two of the same cereal, stretch her small body to reach over the rim of the basket, and dropped them in. Again, they exited the aisle and moved to another, and Jack continued to pursue them, while trying not to make himself appear suspicious. This time, they were in kitchenware, but as Jack took a step forward, he saw Jordan turning around toward his direction. Quickly, he retreated out of the aisle. No, he scolded himself, it's not time. Not here. There's too many people. Jack decided to peer into the aisle. He stared at the father for a moment and noticed he'd had his back turned to his own daughter and seemed to be staring at the list. Jack flinched as he saw Jordan staring at him. This time, he made his escape to the exit, and decided to wait outside. Maybe there, he would have more luck. Besides, he couldn't pass this one up. Here was the chance to get back his life. It'd been standing in two white shoes, wearing a white dress, and holding a wonderfully new teddy bear. Jordan found herself wandering away, as some strange impulse made her feet move. She did not understand or was really fully aware of the new sensation overcoming her. She just knew she had to walk away, and before she realized it, she passed through the exit. "Jordan, don't wander off," Frank spoke up as he turned around. Horror hit him in the chest, as he saw that his daughter no longer stood by his side. "Jordan!" he shouted as he dropped the list, shoved the basket out of his way, pushed through the crowd at the checkout lines, and rushed outside. "Jordan, no!" he shouted as he caught sight of his little girl climbing into a car. Struggling to calm himself, he stepped forward, but realized, as he'd taken a closer look, that it wasn't his daughter but someone similar to her. Relieved, he turned, but reality hit him hard once more, as he spotted his own daughter actually climbing into a light-blue Cadillac. No, this can't be happening. He didn't want to believe his eyes. "Jordan!" he wanted to shout out to her, but couldn't. The icy hand of Fear chilled his ability to speak, nor his ability to move. He was literally frozen in place, and he watched in terror the Cadillac driving away. "Jordan," he only managed to mumble, as he felt a welling in his stomach, a sensation that had not really come to him in such a long while. A whole lake of tears flooded his moss-green eyes, and ran down his cheeks. He tried so hard to protect his family from harm. He tried so hard... Frank felt his body collapse under the weight of anger, rage aimed at himself, and he fell onto the concrete on his knees, his hands hiding the emotion. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 12 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Sun Feb 23 12:48 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Catherine saw Frank walk into the house, a blank expression on his face, tears stained his cheeks. "Oh my God, what happened?" she immediately asked as she took her husband by the arm and led him to the sofa. "Jordan," she barely heard him say. "What happened to her? Where is she?" The sadness in his eyes answered her question, and Catherine felt her body collapse onto the couch next to him. Frank leaned over and layed his head onto her lap, as more tears rolled down his face. "I tried so hard, Catherine. I...I tried." Catherine rested her hand onto his head. "Shh, don't speak." She tried to be strong, but felt extreme emotions welling inside of her, as well. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't turned around, she would have never wandered from my sight." "It's not your fault," her voice began to quiver. "I've lost her." "Shh, we can get her back." "I just can't believe it. She's gone," Frank would not stop, as he felt something deep in his stomach start to grow, and his fist clenched. "I'll...I'll get him... I'll do whatever I can to get her back." "What did you say?" Catherine became suddenly alarmed at her husband's vengeful tone. "I said I'll do whatever I can to get Jordan back." Frank swallowed hard as he sat up, but his fist would not relax. "Frank, calm down. We'll get her back." Catherine placed her hands on his shoulders. Frank abruptly stood. "Frank, please." "I...I...," Frank stammered. He experienced overwhelming urges awashing his entire body, and he immediately darted into the kitchen and down the basement stairs. Catherine flinched as her husband screamed so loudly that the noise could be heard from outside the house. Dropping back down onto the couch, she rested her face in her hands, and began to cry. She obviously understood what Frank went through, but she could also sense a great and frightening rage germinating within him. And now she was not only afraid for Jordan, but also for Frank. Frank raised his shaking hands, as he could not understand what was happening to him. He never experienced rage such as this. His blood more than boilded within his body; It began to eat away at all rational thought, and a deep hole began to spread within his psyche. "Ah...," he tried to let out another scream, but now he was beyond the capability. Frank stared at the basement wall, his hands continuing to clench up. "Frank," he could hear Catherine coming down the stairs. "Frank, please, calm down. Let's think about this rationally." "Don't come near me, Catherine," Frank warned. Catherine had reached the bottom of the steps. She swallowed and tried to get a good look at her husband, but as she neared him, he turned around and she stepped back. "My God," she reacted to the fire in his eyes, the same look he had during his breakdown. Frank struggled to fight with himself, to hold back the monster inside him. "Frank, think of Jordan. Think of all the good times you've had with her. You can still have them," Catherine tried to talk to him. Frank's body shook. "God, I'm calling a doctor." Catherine immediately reached for the phone and dialed 911. "Uh, yes, send an ambulence. My husband..." A hand grabbed hers. "Don't call the hospital," Frank's voice sounded heavily gruff. "I'm all right." Catherine looked up, confused. "But you were convulsing. Frank, what's happening to you?" Frank took the phone from her and hung it up. He turned around. "I've never felt like this before." Catherine cautiously approached him. She noticed his face and body was damp with sweat, and she put her hand to his forehead. "You're burning up." "I'm all right. I've...got to find Jordan. Got to." Frank reeled. "No, you're not." Catherine reached for the phone again. "I am calling the hospital." "Please," Frank breathed, "don't. I've got to call Bletch. We've got to search for her." For awhile, Catherine did not move a muscle. Then, she wrapped her arms around him and cried. "What are we going to do?" "I don't know, Catherine. I just..." Frank paused. He knew the reality of his situation, the many positive or NEGATIVE possibilities. "I just don't know..." _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 13 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Sun Feb 23 22:04 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Where are we going Mr.?", Jordan asked sitting in Jack's Cadillac. "I thought I told you", he replied. She looked out the window and watched the trees zoom by. "Home?" Jack looked at her and half-smiled. "I promised I would take you-- home." "Will daddy be there?" "What did I tell you before?!", he shouted abrubtly. Jordan squirmed in the seat and whimpered quietly. Jack shook his head. "Jesus, kid. Here...", he fumbled around in the back seat and grabbed a bag of white cheddar popcorn. "...eat this." "I'm not supposed to snacks before dinner." He was losing his patience already, but he tried to stay calm. This is what he wanted to be. Young, carefree, no responsiblities. This girl was special, he could see it in her eyes. Lovely... "Fine. What do you want for dinner?", he asked her. "I want to go home. I want to go home-right now!" Jack swirved off the road. "You ARE going home. You'll be happy there. Trust me.", he smiled at her. She stared into his eyes, but saw nothing but evil. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 14 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Mon Feb 24 0:12 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jordan hesitated at the doorway, as Jack walked into his apartment. He turned and saw the little girl just standing still, the expression of fear upon her face. "Don't be afraid, little girl," he tried to soothe her. Jordan remained, and she immediately looked left and right for an escape. "Don't you even think about it," Jack snapped as he yanked her by the arm. Jordan lost her balance, as she was literally dragged inside. "Ow, you're hurting me!" she screamed and held her arm. Jack let go of her and left her sitting on the cold, wet concrete floor. He immediately marched toward his stove and opened the cupboard above it. Jordan shrieked at the dozen roaches crawling out of a cereal box. "They're just damn bugs," Jack told her. Jordan looked away. But as she focussed her eyes upon the finger-paintings, she saw sudden flashes of children being hurt, and she cried. "Oh, God, not again." Jack threw his hands up in the air. "Look, kid, I can't handle it when you cry. I thought kids were supposed to be good and cheerful. Why're you crying?" Jordan wouldn't answer him. She tried to look away from the paintings but couldn't. Even if the tears flooded her vision, she still could not shake the images out of her mind. *** "God, Frank, what happened?" Bletcher came round his desk and approached a haunted man. "I need you to find Jordan. I can't do it alone," Bletch could barely hear him answer. "What happened to her? She got kidnapped or something?" Frank nodded. "How? When? C'mon, sit down." Bletcher offered his chair. Frank remained frozen in place. "We were at the supermarket. I had my back to her, and when I turned around...she...she was gone, Bletch. How could I have let her get away from me?" "Do you have any idea who took her?" Frank didn't answer. "Whoever did..." He found himself start to say, "whoever did, I'll get him for it." But Frank kept silent. "Were you working on a case before? Maybe, her kidnapping may have something to do with it," Bletcher suggested. Somewhere in the back of Frank's mind, a little voice was screaming the answer, but all rational thought was completely lost to him. "Frank, come on, if you don't help me, we can't help Jordan. Now, were you working on a case before this?" "Y...Yes, I was, but..." Frank's brow furrowed. He couldn't think. He found it so hard to think. "Frank, you really don't look so good right now." Bletcher had noticed the moment Frank walked in. His entire body was drenched with sweat. "God, Frank, you look like you're running a 106 degrees. You ought to be in the hospital." "No, I shouldn't! I should be out looking for her!" Frank burst out. "Calm down, we'll do something, but not until you tell me what you'd been working on. Besides, this could be the man who'd been sending you polaroids in the mail. He could finally be testing you, Frank." "No, it can't be." Frank Black stepped back, shaking his head. Bletch saw the fear burning in his eyes. "It'd better not be," he continued to mutter. "Someone call an ambulence," Bletcher said as he watched a terrified man slide his back down the wall and crawl up into a fetal position. A woman rushed for the phone. Bletcher watched in horror as his friend rocked back and forth on the floor, muttering his daughter's name over and over again. Nine minutes later, medics struggled to pull Frank out of his position and lay him on a stretcher. Bletcher hopped into the ambulence and stayed close by his side the whole ride. He never saw Frank act like this before. EMS had announced that his temperature was well above 103 degrees, and that he was slowly slipping away into a coma. "Hang in there, Frank. Please," Bletch tried to talk to him. But all Frank could hear was his own voice screaming "Jordan!" over and over again. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 15 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Sat Mar 1 1:56 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Catherine stood as the doctor came out into the lobby. His sad demeanor did not help her worry at all, as she knew what may have happened to her husband. This time, she felt a certain contempt for Frank's "gift". In her mind, she started blaming Frank for Jordan's bouts with the flu. But now Frank had the same symptoms. "We took a few blood tests, Mrs. Black; however, we could not find anything wrong with your husband in that respect. But..." Doctor Douglas's voice trailed off. "But?" "He's slipped into a coma." "My God, how?" Catherine tried to keep calm. "We don't know. All we can guess is that because of the serious flu he's suffering through right now that could be a plausible explanation." "May I see him?" The doctor sighed. "I doubt that would do you much good, Mrs. Black. He's off in a dark place right now and won't be able to hear you." "Frank can hear me, doctor. He's a very special man, and the only way he's going to pull through this is if I be with him." Catherine started past Doctor Douglas. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to see my husband." Doctor Douglas stepped aside, as he watched Catherine march down the corridor. Catherine didn't hesitate one moment to open the door, as she immediately stepped inside and found Bletcher sitting in a chair next to the hospital bed. He'd had his head lowered, his hands cuffed, and seemed to be praying. Bletch heard her come in and made eye-contact with her. "He's...gone, Catherine." For a moment, Catherine felt her heart sink to the deepest pit of her stomach. "I mean, he's...somewhere...Somewhere dark, I guess." Lt. Bletcher stood and offered the seat to her. Catherine felt better, now that she had been reassured. She took a long look at her sleeping husband as she slowly sat down. "I've been praying for him a long time now. I hope he'll make it through," Bletcher added. Catherine kept quiet for a moment. She looked at the lids of Frank's eyes, searching for some kind of movement, but they stayed completely still. "Frank, I know you can hear me. I know that wherever you are, I'll always be right beside you..." ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REACH OUT AND TOUCH ME. REACH OUT...REACH OUT... REACH OUT... *** Frank stumbled across a field, as he struggled to see through the dense fog. He stopped for a moment, really not having a clue as to where he was or how he got there, but for some reason, he felt he had to keep walking. "Hello?" he shouted. "Hello? Is anyone around?" No answer. As Frank made another step forward, his shoe suddenly banged against a large rock, which almost made him fall. But he regained his balance and kept going. Finally, the fog had thinned, and Frank was able to see clearly. He discovered that he had come to a black-paved road, which led into a town that seemed to his eyes completely deserted. And yet, the town did not seem old, like a ghost town. It just seemed dead, and Frank could sense a coldness surrounding him, which caused him to zip up his jacket. But the warmth of his jacket did not keep the chill away. Goosebumps popped out all over his skin, as his hairs stood on end. There was something strange about the town, a sort of strangeness that Frank could not really place, but he knew it didn't take a rocket scientist to know he stepped right into a possibly-deadly trap. "Daddy!" Frank immediately jerked his head toward the source of the voice. "Jordan?!" "Daddy, help me, please!" "Hang on, sweeatheart, I'm coming!" Frank immediately broke into a run, but was stopped suddenly by a rumbling, as the ground shook beneath his feet. Frank was nearly knocked backward by a bulging in the ground, as something monstrous had started growing. He stepped back, alarmed at the thing. Though, it didn't take him a second to realize a full-grown, blackened tree had sprouted from the ground. Frank stared at its branches for a moment, but jumped as they literally reached out to grab him. Terrified, he ran, and never looked back. He went wherever his legs took him until he finally stopped, short of breath. "Daddy!" came Jordan's voice again. Frank tried to move, but he felt extremely weakened. And he dropped to the ground. "Jordan," he umbled. "I'll find you. I promise I will do everything in my power to find you." He struggled to lift himself off the ground but couldn't. "I promise, sweetheart." He felt a knotting in his stomach, as a tear escaped his eye. *** Catherine thought that might have been a sign, as she argued with the nurse. "But, nurse, I swear I saw it. A tear had run down his cheek." The nurse shook her head, appearing obviously skeptical, as she walked out of the room. "You saw it, didn't you, Lieutenant?" Catherine asked, tears now flooding her eyes. She felt torn. The two most important people in her life were lost. Catherine let herself fall into Bletcher's arms. She desperately needed comfort. "Shh, it's okay," Bletcher whispered to her. "Frank's a strong man. He'll pull through this." But hope had already started to leave, replaced by doubt. Catherine no longer felt in control. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 16 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Sun Mar 2 17:35 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jordan just stared down at her peanut-butter sandwhich. She sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "You gonna eat or not?" Jack asked. Jordan looked up and mumbled something that he could not hear. "What'd you say? Speak up, kid." "I wanna go home." "Well, you can't. You're mine now. You're gonna help me, you know. Now, eat up." "I want my Daddy." Jordan screamed as Jack slapped her plate onto the floor in anger. "Dammit, kid, you can't go home! You're mine, now! Don't ya understand?" Jordan leaped off her chair and rushed to the corner of the room. She sat onto the floor, curled up into a tight ball, and started crying "I want my Daddy" over and over again. "Look, I'm sorry, all right? I didn't mean to scare you." Jack stood and approached her. Jordan felt his cold hands touch her wrists, as he attempted to pry her arms away from her knees. "Kid, it's OK. I won't hurt you. I'm sorry I knocked your dinner on the ground." She continued to fight him, as she hugged her knees even tighter, and buried her face into her arms even deeper. She wanted to block out the light surrounding her until she could enter into her own little fantasy world. Deep down, she knew it was the only way out. *** "Can't you go looking for her, now?" Catherine asked once again, frustrated that the conversation wasn't going anywhere. "Mrs. Black, we have no clue where to look. Our only hope was Frank, but he's in a coma. Besides, we were working on a case," Watts said. "But don't you find it odd that whoever you're looking for hadn't struck again in the last 48 hours?", Catherine said. "Yes, we know, and we're taking that into consideration, but all we can do right now is wait... Wait for the killer to strike again...whatever! The point is, we have nothing to go on right now. We might as well just give up for now." "No! No, you can't do that. Jordan is out there somewhere, and we have to go looking for her." "What? Scour the entire city of Seattle? Please, Catherine, I know how much you feel about her. I'd feel the same way if it happened to me. Just be patient," he suggested. Catherine stepped back, trying to swallow the tears. She had to be strong. This was no time to lose control. "All right," she said quietly and turned away. She had to go see Frank again. *** Frank finally stood from the ground, as it seemed like he sat there for hours, sobbing. He felt so defeated this time, so weak, so helpless. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he put one foot out in front of him, and pulled himself up. "Daddy," he heard her again. "Daddy, please, help me." Somehow, her voice sounded closer this time, more clear, more real. "Jordan!" he called out to her and immediately started following her voice. But the ground rumbled and shook once more. This time, Frank had been knocked onto his back, as another tree burst through the paved street, and reached high into the night sky. He scrambled to his feet, as the branches lowered themselves and tried to strike him across the chest. He managed to dodge their attack as he rushed down another street and continued to follow his daughter's voice. Finding himself in the middle of a square, he stopped and listened. Nothing. "Jordan?" Still nothing. "Jordan!" Silence. Frank searched his surroundings and noticed a fountain a few feet away from where he stood. Its statue was that of a robed man, his identity shrouded by a hood. Frank turned away for a moment, but something urged him to look back. This time, the statue was different, as the man's hood was down. But what he saw chilled him, however. It was his own image, but the expression on his face deeply disturbed him. Anger, violence, frustration all mixed together created an inferno in the statue's eyes and a permanent scowl in the mouth. No, he would never let himself become like that. "Do you know who that is?" Frank spun around, startled by the sound of his own voice, shocked to see himself standing next to him. "My God," was all he could say. The other Frank shook his head. "No, no, I'm not God. Quite the opposite, actually." "Who are you?" Frank wanted to know for sure. "Frank, who else would I be?" "What are you doing here?" "Same as you, wandering around." "Daddy," Frank heard his daughter shouting again. But the other Frank did not react to the voice. "It's Jordan. I have to find her." "I know who it is, Frank, but I can't let you. You see, your only chance in finding her is to find a way out of this place." "Where is this?" "This is what I would call the hole in your psyche that had been created a long time ago during your breakdown, and me..." the other Frank paused to chuckle. "You don't ever want to be me, Frank." That loose, yet crooked grin gave Frank the shivers, as he knew his other self, what that other self represented. He tried zipping his jacket up higher, but it had already been zipped all the way. Instead, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets. "How do I get out of here?" "Frank, I'm surprised at you. Considering how powerful your investigative abilities are, you ought to know where the exit is. Just look under your feet. Reality's the only key," the other Frank hinted. Then, he turned, and as he walked away. Frank noticed his body start to fade until it was no more. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Frank started searching the ground for whatever his other self meant. But as he stepped forward, another mini-earthquake came, and this time, Frank was well-prepared to leap out of the way. Another tree burst from the ground and more claw-like branches reached to strike his chest, but Frank was well out of reach. Never looking back at what he now figured represented him in some bizarre way, he continued his quest for the exit out of his nightmare. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 17 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Mon Mar 10 18:41 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jordan sat on the green, grassy knoll which overlooked a shallow blue stream quietly flowing by. She looked up at the blue sky with speckles of red butterflies flying. It was peaceful, as it always was. Her own fantasy world. Smiling she rolled down the hill on her side and fell (ker-plunk) at the bottom. Still, something wasn't right, down the stream it was darker- Abnormally so. Jordan slipped into the water and it came up to her shoulders. She hadn't learned how to swim yet, but it didn't really concern her. The darkness eventually got closer, and upon noticing the beginning of a forest- she realized this was a place beyond her gardens she had never visited. *** Frank scrambled across the forest path which was obstructed by fallen timber and large stone rocks. He panted, out of breath, and kept on running. His leg was throbbing after his trip down a cliffside- a trip he didn't intend to make. God, when would this forest end?, he thought. The branches of the towering trees didn't allow a single speck of sky through. [His other-self had told him he knew where the exit was. Where? Inside of himself? Could he have visited this place before? No. Come on Frank, get a hold of yourself. Think. Think.] Frank stopped running and closed his eyes. He sat down on a log and thought. [Wait a minute... the forest did look familar. He knew what it was!] Frank stood up and smiled. [The forest Jordan drew!] He frowned and sat back down. [Still, that didn't help him get out of this nightmare. So he knew he was in a part of his mind still think about Jordan's picture. Or is he? Maybe he's thinking about...] "Jordan!" *** Jordan jumped through the dense gray bushes blocking her way and heard her daddy call her name. "Daddy! I'm here!" Frank turned and rushed toward his daughter. The two embraced and the forest seemed to melt away. They stood in Jordan's grassy field of butterflies. "What are you doing here?", he asked her. "I came to find you. I know I could.", she replied. "Daddy, I'm scared." Frank set her down and rested his hand on her head. "I know sweetie, I'm scared too. Do you know a way out?" She pointed to a small door nudged in the hillside. "Don't go, it's scarry out there." He took her hand and guided her to little, red door. "We have to leave this place, even if it's scarry. It's not good for us to be in our fantasies for so long. The world maybe scarry, but your mommy's there - and she loves you." "Can't she come here too?", Jordan asked. "No, she can't. Come on..." Frank opened the door and Jordan walked in. Frank followed, and as he did, everything melted away... _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 18 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Tue Mar 11 19:15 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Frank opened his eyes and saw Catherine leaning over him. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "You're awake.", she said. He grasped her hand. "I saw Jordan." "What?" "I saw her in my mind. I was in a dark forest, like the one she put up on the refridgerator. I thought I was in my memories, but I was in hers. I was inside Jordan's mind. I could feel the pain and the confusion she was going through. It was unlike any other experience I have ever had.", he swallowed and continued, "Part of myself told me I knew how to escape it, but I was too angry and afraid to listen to her. When I did, she came. We talked and we both left together. She's safe now, Catherine." Catherine stepped back and stared in awe. "She's okay?" "She's being held somewhere." "Where Frank?" He shook his head. "I- I- don't know... where, but we have t find her soon Catherine." She nodded, "Who took her Frank?" Frank stared up at his wife who was half-relieved, half-panic striken. He knew she couldn't know what he knew without her going hysterical. "I'm not sure.", he lied. "Can you get Peter?" Catherine could only nod in agreement. *** Jack closed the urine-stained toilet cover and walked out of the bathroom. "Hey kid? Wanna-", he stopped dead in his tracks. The door to his apartment stood open and Jordan was no where to be seen. Everything stopped cold. "Kid?! Kid?!", he shouted. Jack ran around the small apartment and checked every corner, every nook-and-cranny. She wasn't anywhere. Jack walked outside and onto the street. He looked up and down the street, everywhere she could possibily hide. The little girl wasn't anywhere. He cringed, "Oh, no..." Jordan ran down the smelly alleyway, covering her nose with her sleeve. She knew the man would discover she had escaped and if (or when) he did- it would mean trouble. So she kept going, weaving in and out of the narrow streets. The tall apartment buildings and the rush of traffic scared her. She had never been so far from home before. Everything was different and frightening. Jordan turned around to check if the bad-man was after her. He wasn't. That was good, but... she was alone. She was alone, in an unfamilar place, a scary place... Jordan sat on the ground and clutched her knees. Remembering what her father told her, she stopped herself from entering her fantasies. Everything had been so real then. Why couldn't she stay there? It didn't make any sense. At least there she wasn't alone and -- "--Hey there little girl" The voice made Jordan jump up and shriek. She dashed away from the man, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Where are you going?" She turned around, but... it wasn't him. This man was younger and his clothes were dirty and ragged. He smiled at her and she did the same. "Hi.", Jordan said to the stranger. "Where are your mommy and daddy?", he asked her. She shook her head and mumbled, "I don't know...". Jordan began to half-cry, half-cough. "Whoa... sit back down. Why were you running?", the man asked her. "I was in a house and there was a man and he yelled at me and there were bugs in the ceral and there was--" "--slow down!", he snapped at her. "Lets go find your mommy and daddy". Compared to the last person she was with, this man was a refreshing relief of honesty. Jordan could see it in his face. She held hands with the stranger and the two walked out of the alley together... *** "Peter." Frank opened his eyes. Watts smiled and nodded. "Hey stranger. How ya doing?" Frank didn't miss a beat, "The man we've been tracking... he's taken Jordan." "I'm not going to even try to understand how you know this.", Watts said. Frank nodded. "She's okay for now, but I don't know how long that will last." "If he's killing youth..." "The killer is an older man. He tried to kill youth by killing children, but he changed his M.O. Peter... He's trying to CAPTURE it... This man desperately wants to be young. Simply put--" "He's crazy.", Peter sat down at in a chair at the foot of the bed. "That boy who was missing... the killer tried to capture his youth?" "He took him, but for some reason-- didn't want him. Then he decided on Jordan." "So Jordan should be safe then. The killer won't harm her-- or he'll lose the youth." Frank sighed. "He's confused and he's prone to violent outburts. If something pushes him over the edge, then there's no telling what he might do. If he hurts Jordan, he'll try something else. These crimes won't stop. They'll continue until he gets younger, a futile quest." He sat upright in the hospital bed and stared at Peter. Then Frank turned and saw Catherine looking through the window. She wiped her tearful eyes with a tissue and Frank closed his. He didn't even realize how exhausted he was until that moment... _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 19 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: O Dates: Mon Mar 17 2:43 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Excuse me, but that's MY little girl." Jordan screamed when she saw the blade rise up above the kind man's head. She did not see it enter his chest, since the young man protectively put Jordan behind him, sensing the danger from this insane man. Jordan fell back as the young man's body knocked her aside, and she watched as her dying, intended savior continued to struggle, his young hands holding Jack's knife arm and bringing the old man down with him to the hard cement. Jack's flick blade was short, he had only meant it for young, small bodies, and though fatally wounded the kind man fought much longer than his slowing heart beat should have allowed. He didn't have enough breath to tell Jordan to run, to leave that blood-splattered place, but Jordan knew what she had no choice but to do. "Now look what happened!" Jack screamed at the cooling body. He did not delay the chase by continuing to stab the man, though he wanted to punish him for her escape. "Interfering, willful, young Idealists! God, the generation today! Comes from watching all those damn talk shows!" Damn it. Maybe I will have to kill this one too. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 20 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: O Dates: Tue Mar 18 3:30 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Frank sat in the back of the van, listening. Police scanners, emergency department reports, all the equipment Watt's could get for this one. Black had insisted on leaving the hospital that very hour. One pupil was dilated, he seemed to have some numbness on the left side of his face, but he wouldn't stay. "Mr. Black, just don't sue us when you have that second, major stroke that paralyzes you and your family for the rest of your life." Hopefully, Frank thought, I'll have a family again by then. So far that afternoon, there were three muggings, five reports of stolen property (unattended packages), one theft at a gasoline station (insurance claim, probably just someone leaving without paying for the gas), a report of gunshots fired, and two hit and runs. They were heading for the direction of the gunshots fired; though both knew that did not fit the MO at all. "Frank?" Silence. "Frank, do you really think this is helping?" Watts would never admit it, but he felt like a babysitter at this point. Frank had brought back something from that place. It was restless, buzzing around his head like an irritated wasp, constantly moving, shark-like. -You need me, Frank. Now. Or you'll never get her back.- "Frank?" "Watts. Shut up." Watts felt a chill rise from his stomach and his back teeth ground out any further comments. "I'm sorry... Peter." -Yes, you are a sorry example, Frank. Passionless, edgy, sorta weaselly in my humble opinion. A Pretender, not the real thing. Someone who would let their only child be taken from them, so paralyzed by fear that they couldn't even give a pretense of a chase, couldn't even dial a phone to get the REAL police...- "It's okay, Frank." "Shut up!" Peter glanced into the rear view mirror, and stopped the van. "What are you doing!" Frank lunged toward the front seat. He heard someone laugh derisively off in the distance. "Where do you want me to go, Frank?" -Yes, Frank. Where?- More mirth. -You're as lost as Jordan.- "Peter... I..." "... at the intersection of 21st and Civic. Man reported stabbed. Paramedics notified. Units 5 and 16, please respond." *** The paramedics didn't know what to make of the screaming man. They stood rigid as he approached them and threw the sheet off the homeless man's face. He looked fiercely at the split skin, the bared yellow teeth, and the sad, disturbed, yet finally kind eyes. "What position was he in on the ground?" The two pallbearers looked at each other, much more afraid of the living than the dead. "How was he lying!" A so young officer, after seeing Watt's I.D., answered the insane man. "Sir, he was positioned three-fourths on his right side, his right arm outstretched under his head, his left hand to his chest. Over here." The arriving paramedics had turned the bleeding man over and seen the drying blood. There was no outline. Frank looked closely at the poolings and splatters. The homeless man had fought hard to defend his daughter. Half of her shoeprint remained near a pool. There was also a smeared palm print, curved, pointing in a direction. Frank ran to the other end of the alleyway. *** A block away from the alley was the beginnings of an old, dangerous, deserted playground. So old and dangerous, in fact (filled daily with used syringes, razors, blood), that the city decided to remove it and build a row of condominiums to house the poor. Well, for the poor until the artsy crowd discovered it, and then the young and rich. For now, a partial foundation littered the grounds. Huge, concrete pipes, bags of cement, plasterwood, and a bulldozer or two blocked the unsightly mess from the even more unsightly people. The wreckage of a jungle gym still cluttered one corner of the construction site, and the over-eager, underskilled and underlicensed crew already began the framework of one housing over shaky grounds. Giant black plastic sheets unsuccessfully draped themselves over half-completed work, blown dry and cracked, liked the citizens sometimes therein, by rains and sun. Dozens of rats nosed excitedly at the prospects, and at the broken beer bottles and tasty leavings of the workers. They were disturbed from their meals by the strangers. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 21 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: O Dates: Thu Mar 20 3:00 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "To be a mouse is to take advantage of smallness. To be is to understand all the creator has seen fit to give us." Jordan tried hard to remember on of her favorite stories. Lessons her mother unknowingly gave her. "Use your ears, that is why they are so big! And your eyes - but your mouth, as sharp as you think your teeth are, should be shut until the time you need it unshut." Jordan wanted her mother there with her now. Reading to her, even scolding her. If she were just here. "When the enemy comes, quiet your heart. They are many in this world - cats, bats, owls fowl, they are all around, listening. To be a mouse is not a shameful thing, but it is a dangerous thing. Even those closest to you can become an enemy." Jordan had asked her mother what that meant. "It means that people, bullies, mean people," her mother had crinkled her nose at her, "even friends, are hard to understand at times." Jordan was crawling through one of the giant cement pipes now. It was damp and molding, and the rough, bumpy surface of the made-made stone hurt her young skin. It was also too easy to see things from where she was, which meant others could easily see her. She had played enough hide and go seek even in her young life to realize that. Jordan had to look for a small place, a mouse place. Her sneakers squeaked on the damp surface, and she froze. "The mouse survives. We are blessed with quietness, smallness, and invisibility." One of the long pipes in front of her tilted down into the foundation, into an unknown, cold darkness. *** He didn't feel good about wondering out here in the open. An old, bent man like him did not look like a laborer, not even like a supervisor. Maybe he could pass for a retired crazy, looking for scraps along the site. He was even too infirmed to look like he could survive true homelessness, like many out here. Jack was always a cripple. Bent spine, bow-legged, he had to grow up too fast in a cruel world. Missing school to go to government run hospitals, missing peers who sneered at such young limitations, he always felt a thing apart from the world. The crude braces helped straighten his body- he could walk, scuttle, run, kill - but not his mind or spirit. If he could just keep the youth he never saw, touch it, hold it close, maybe he could understand the world. It was quiet out here. No one seemed to bother the site much. Most of the things were too heavy for an individual like himself to haul away. Not that some people, especially around here, his home, didn't try. He heard a scuttering up ahead. Jack felt for his blade. Maybe she would come along if he just threatened her. He hoped so. He was willing to try just one more time. The little girl was so pretty. A small body bolted past him, much faster than a little girl should be able to move. He missed his lunge at her, and almost fell to the ground. This body was used to running, and was much taller than his Jordan, though almost as thin. Shit. Another one of "those." Sometimes he amused himself by picking one of those up, playing with them a little, and giving them some money before they had a chance to rob his home. They were so old. It was hardly worth the bath he always offered them first. Jack thought about chasing her, but that would only make him look suspicious. So far, they had just startled each other, and he didn't even have his knife out, so nothing to report. She was already down to the end of the block when he looked at her again. Probably hopped up on half a dozen things or more. She was nothing. Jack turned his mind to better amusements. Frank saw the little girl running toward him. Her dazed eyes widened when she finally noticed him, and she quickly changed directions. "Wait! Please!" He tried to pace her, but she was so fast. Only his longer strides and her undernourishment allowed him to finally catch her. "Too many crazies tonight! Get offa me, old man!" "Did you see something tonight? Another old guy, like me?" "All you geezers should be in by now. It's getting dark. You should already have all your toys inside." "Where did you see him?" "What?" Her unfocused eyes grew fiercer, and she almost threw off his hold. "My little daughter's missing out here. Please." She stopped struggling for a second and looked at him suspiciously. She's heard such lines before. She looked his clothes, his hair, his bright, hopeful, undrugged eyes. He didn't belong out here. He didn't have any of the signs. Still, he looked insane, but it could have been the insanity of logical terror. "Okay, just let go." She saw him tense as he stood back, afraid she would flee. Yes, it was fear. She saw it daily in its myriad forms all her short life. "I saw him back there, the construction site, near the big pipes. Houses, for... us. Yeah, right. He was crazy, and definitely looking for something. Believe me, I know crazy, that's why I went. If your daughter's around there..." She shrugged, but there was concern even in her eyes. "Come back with me. Show me where." "Uh uh, buddy. You're on your own." Frank looked at her. Why should she help him? "Maybe I can help you..." "You know where I am. We're not hard to find. Go get your daughter." She softly shook her head. "You can't help me." The too young girl walked away. Frank didn't wait to watch her go. _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 22 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Thu Mar 20 21:53 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ "Jordan!" Frank shouted, his hands raised to his mouth to make his voice seem louder. He had nearly trampled over left-over debris near a dirt hill, as he made his way further into the contsruction site. "Jordan!" His feet increased the pace, as something inside him pushed him further on, and soon he found himself running, not aware of where he was going. "Jordan!" Suddenly, his foot got caught underneath broken cement. He took a dive straight toward the ground, and landed flat on his face, banging his forehead. His life flashed before him; then everything went dark. Jordan flinched as she felt something in her stomach, but she was not sure of what it was. *** "Little girl, where are you?" Jack hurried down a street, his back bent forward, like an old ram, hunting for its prey. He turned, and headed back into the opposite direction, as he saw something out of the corner of his eye; one of those ragged, homeless children had ran toward a construction sight, and seemed to be deeply interested in the ground. But Jack could not see clearly. His sight had gone increasingly worse in his old age. Trying desperately to move his body faster, he finally found himself at the beginning of the construction sight. *** "Hey, mister, you all right?" the homeless child tried to shake the man awake. She carefully tried to move his body on its side, and noticed, as she was doing it, his lips bloody and swollen, a gash near his right eyebrow, and a scrape on his left cheek. "Jeez, mister, you sure took quite a fall." "Hmm," the body began to moan. "Jor...dan..." "Who?" "Hey!" the girl heard someone shout. "Hey, what are you doing there?" Startled, the girl stood and rushed off. "Hey, come back here; I'm not finished with you!" Jack hurried toward what seemed to be part of a hard-top. He saw the body of a man laying on it, but it had immediately started to move. And Jack wasn't sure if he should run, worried of seeming suspicious or not. It was just another old guy, right?... But the guy worried Jack. What was a clean-cut, middle-class man doing in the slums, anyway? As the man's eyes started to flicker open, Jack made his move, but couldn't run fast enough to get away from his sight. "You!" he heard him shout. Paranoid that he'd been caught, Jack half-limped and half-ran to the left, down the construction sight, and toward some concrete pipes. Jack looked over his shoulder, and saw the injured man running after him; however, he was not fast enough. So, he decided to stop, and hold his ground. Reaching into his pocket, he took out his knife, and hoped it would do enough damage to keep the stranger off his back. *** Frank hadn't really felt such anger, such rage build up inside him before. It had a far deeper effect on him than his breakdown, and this time, the feelings almost seemed like candy, totally invigorating. Despite his injuries, he felt he could hurt the man. "HOW DARE YOU KIDNAP MY DAUGHTER!" Frank's voice bellowed. *** Jordan scrambled toward the end of the pipe and peaked out to see what was going on. But her knee had scraped against glass, cutting her. "Daddy!" she cried out. Tears rushed down her cheek, as she felt extreme pain. She looked down and saw her knee covered in blood. *** Jack reacted to the voice, and saw his little girl peering from out of the pipe. Frank made his move, and he grabbed the man's arm, gripping so tightly that the man yelped in pain; however, Jack would not let go of the knife. He tried to fight back, and jammed his knee hard into Frank's stomach. Frank let go of his arm, and doubled-over in pain. "Daddy!" Jordan shouted. "Help!" She tried to get all the way out the pipe, but had found herself suddenly stuck, as the pipe seemed a lot smaller than it was originally. Frank could not cry out for her. C'MON, FRANK, SHE'S THERE. GO GET HER. He heard that voice again. It seemed so familiar, but it hadn't taken but a moment to realize that it was him. (My God, who are you?) Frank had to be sure. WHO DO YOU THINK? UH-OH, LOOK OUT. Frank felt the blade stab his arm, as Jack tried to pin him down for the kill. C'MON, FRANK, WHERE'S YOUR STRENGTH? GIVE IN TO ME. IT'S THE ONLY WAY. Frank experienced a sudden surge of energy rush through his body. "Why? Why did you do it?!" Frank shouted, albeit the fact that he knew Jack's M.O.. "She's MY daughter!" "She's mine, now!" Jack gritted his teeth. He raised the knife for another strike, but Frank caught his arm. He began squeezing, and pulled Jack's arm around his back. Jack winced and let the knife go. "Ow, you're hurting me," he whined. "I'm an old man." "Damn right, you are!" Frank growled. Still holding Jack tightly, he reached down for the knife, and picked it up. He could not control himself, as he raised it. His arm came down, and let the knife stab Jack in the back. He immediately raised it for another strike. "Daddy, no! Please, don't hurt him!" Jordan shouted, alarmed and frightened by her daddy's behavior. Though, she noticed something alarmingly different about him, as he if he changed somehow, became someone else. "Frank, put the knife down now!" Watts demanded as he and the police had entered the sight. He'd had a gun raised and cocked. "Daddy!" Jordan kept shouting. Frank blinked. It took a moment for him to realize what had happened. Deeply ashamed of himself, he dropped the knife, let go of Jack. He collapsed onto the ground, bursting into tears. Jack tried to move, but he realized that there was really no place to go. Raising his arms, he surrendered, and police officers cuffed him and took him away. Watts lowered his gun and approached Frank. "For a minute, I thought you were going kill him, Frank." There was five minute's worth of silence before Frank lifted his head. "I was. My God, Peter, I nearly..." He choked up once more. "Shh, don't talk. Where's Jordan?" "I'm here!" Jordan's voice echoed through the pipe. Watts noticed that she was desperately trying to get out. Her head appeared, as well as her shoulders, but the rest of her was still in the pipe. "My God, we've got to get her out of there." Frank looked over at the pipe, swallowed back the tears, and stood. "Is she all right?" He followed Watts to the pipe. "Jordan." "Daddy." Jordan wanted so bad to hug him, but she couldn't move her arms any further. "How did you get yourself into this mess?" Frank tried to cheer himself up. After all, he did find his daughter, but he was still deeply disturbed by his own behavior. And he could sense that Jordan was, as well. "I'm going to call EMS, and we've got to call someone to get her out of there," Watts said as he walked off. Frank lowered himself to see his daughter face-to-face, and he raised his hand to wipe a tear from her eye. "What happened to you, Daddy?" Frank just stared at her, silent. He realized the confrontation confused her a lot, but he could not bring himself to admit that something inside of completely snapped. But he opened his mouth and admitted, "It wasn't me, honey." _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 23 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Erin Utely Dates: Wed Apr 9 1:14 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ Jordan was asked to stay still as a rescue team tried to saw through the pipe. She curled up into a ball, and protected her face from any flying debris. She was all right, now that her Daddy had found her. Still, though, the man that she saw attacking her kidnapper didn't seem like him. But he had the same face as her Dad, the same blue-green eyes. Jordan tried to fight the confusing emotions, and considered that, maybe, the whole situation was a nightmare. She'd wake up a minute to find herself laying on her Daddy's lap. The kidnapping, Frank's confrontation with Jack, her being trapped inside a pipe was all a dream. "Daddy," she tried to shout above the roar. "Make the bad dream go away." "We'll get you out of there, sweetie. I promise," she could somehow hear his voice. Though, Frank was further away, not even close to the pipe. Jordan tried to concentrate on a vision of her father, just to keep herself at peace. Whether a dream, or real life, all she wanted to do was get out, run up to Frank, and hug him. An hour had passed, and the rescue team did cut through the pipe, as the middle of the pipe was much larger than the edges. Jordan managed to stand up on her feet and leave it. After all, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that rescuing her was going to be a heavy task. She just somehow managed to enter the pipe but couldn't get out of it, because both ends were smaller in diameter than the middle of the piping. The overjoyed little girl rushed up to her father. Frank lifted her up into his arms, and hugged her. "I love you, sweetie," he said. "I love you, too, Daddy." Frank smiled and rocked her for awhile. "I'm so glad I found you." _________________________________________________________________________ "Dark Seeds" -- part 24 _________________________________________________________________________ Authors: Matt Asendorf (Matt_A) Dates: Wed Apr 9 19:55 EST 1997 _________________________________________________________________________ His vision settled on the Frank peered through the door crack and smiled as his vision set upon the little girl tucked in a bed. His daughter was safe at last. He kept thinking about the close calls and the heartache, it still plagued him. He remembered his wife's words... `I still have faith, even in a world where men like that exist.' She was right, he couldn't give up. Catherine walked up behind him and leaned over his shoulder. She saw Jordan in her bed. "She asleep?" Frank nodded. She took him by the hand and led him into their room. "Frank... I need you to tell me what happened. Who did this.", she said quietly. He shook his head, "You don't want to know the horrors I know." "Nothing can be worse than my own imagination, Frank- you HAVE to tell me. I have a right as a parent. Don't shield me from this, I don't need protection." Frank leaned back on the bed, his head resting on the pillow. No he did... He didn't want to talk about it. Catherine was right, she had a right. "The killer was an elderly man, envious of youth. He wanted to kill children and make himself feel better." Catherine sighed shortly, yet heavily. "He couldn't. He tried to--" A silent chuckle. "--Capture it." His voice broke up. "It was his, crooked, attempt at being-- young." She leaned back next to Frank and closed her eyes. "We have her back, Frank... and he can never-hurt-another-child again. It's over." She smiled and listened to the rain hitting the window - tap, tap. It's over... Thank God, it's over... *** Jack sat in the back of the patrol car and stared out the window at the falling rain. He watched as a little brown-haired girl wearing a pink backpack walked down the sidewalk in the rain. She skipped over some puddles. The car whizzed by. The two officers sat in the front seat talking. The car slowed down. "Hell. Who parked a car in the middle of the road? I better report it.", the man on the right reached out for the contraption attached to the dash in front of him. The driver put his hand on his partner's. "I heard it being reported over the radio when you and Fred were putting the handcuffs on scum here. They said they were on their way. I'll just turn down here." Jack sighed. The car turned down an alley and stopped. "Why are you stopping here?", the cop on the right asked. The driver took out his gun and pressed it towards the inquisitive passenger and pulled the trigger. The cop shook violently and groaned. Jack winced in the back seat. The driver turned around and smiled. The cop got out of the car and opened the back seat door. "Here you are... JACK." Jack got out of the back seat. The cop continued to talk. "I parked your car in the street, I lied about the report thing-- hey... my pay?" Jack shook his head. "Sorry, don't have it on me." "I sacrificed my job, my life, for you! You said you had the money to get me a flight and house in South America! I trusted you! I risked EVERYTHING!", the man shook Jack. "Pay up old man!" Jack coughed. "Don't worry." He reached into his boot and pulled out an a long sharp object. "You won't need cash where you're going..." He jabbed it in the cop's neck. The blood trickled down his neck. The man weezed as Jack jiggled what appeared to be an ice pick and pulled it out as the cop's eyes rolled back in his head. Jack let the man slip to the ground. He walked around the car and opened the passenger door. The other policeman tumbled out onto the wet ground. Blood still on the seat, Jack took off the dead cop's jacket and placed it over the stains. He took the man's wallet and hat also. Jack walked around the car and got into the driver side. The police cruiser cruised out of the alley, leaving the dead officer and his corrupt partner on the ground dead. He pulled back onto the main road. The little girl he saw earlier was still making her way down the street. He smiled and pulled up next to her. She stopped and looked at him. He seemed harmless, like a gentle grandfather. Her mother taught her about police and he was in the car, wore the hat. "Hop in, I'll give you a ride to your house-- keep you out of the rain, huh?", he said as he reach over and opened the passenger door. Laura, that was her name, remembered her mother's warning. `Don't take rides from strangers.' She announced it to Jack. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a wallet. "Here's my badge, see- I'm a police officer. You can trust me." He smiled. Laura thought for a second and climbed inside. Sitting on the jacket which had been placed down, she closed the door behind her. Jack turned off the police radio and turned on the other kind. Johnny Mathis played from the speakers. Jack grinned at Laura and the car sped down the road through the drizzle, never looking back... A certain smile... A certain face... Can lead an unsuspecting heart-- on a merry chase... A fleeting glance... Can say-- so many lovely things... Suddenly-- you'll know why my heart sings... _________________________________________________________________________ END