IMPOSTER - PART THIRTY THREE

PREVIOUSLY

Del's eyes were transmitting some secret that she didn't think she wanted to know. "Okay, what is it? Don't play games, Del…you…"
He never said a word, but she had always been able to read her big brother. His complete, unnerving silence and the dark, hurting look behind his eyes as he stood there said it all, and in mid sentence she saw her world turn upside down as she slumped like a ragdoll to the floor and from somewhere far away heard the echo of her own voice screaming, "No!! No!!…Todd!!"

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From somewhere in a dark, forbidding void, Tea heard a voice talking to her - softly at first and then with a heightened urgency as if the speaker was trying to communicate something important to her. Her entire being was spiraling down into some bottomless pit and she wanted desperately to grip something as she escalated further down into darkness. Horrible, sinister images floated past her as she fell as well as images with disdainful, pompous expressions. These latter images were from her childhood and even later into her young adulthood. She recognized the faces of people who had looked down on her because of her low background. There was so much pain…

Todd lay as still as a corpse as he heard the chaotic sounds closing in on him. The sirens blared only yards away from his hiding place and then shut off suddenly with other noises of slamming doors disturbing the unearthly quiet of his surroundings. Male voices rose and fell in a fevered pitch and then seemed to settle out into tones more calm and ordered. Todd heard a stronger voice break through.
"It's a done deal, guys. Nothing to do here but call the salvage crew. Sykes doesn't want us to touch it."
"Why not? There might be something…"
"You want to go scrounging through that mass of metal and burned up flesh?" the first voice asked incredulously. "Not me! I don't ask questions. If the boss wants it left alone, it's just peachy by me. But hey, if you really want to stay here yourself…"
The second voice laughed. "I'm not trying to make detective or anything like that…naw…fine with me, too."
"Write up the standard report then. Okay, guys, let's get back." A few moments later the same voice uttered something that made the concealed man shut his tightly eyes with pain.
"Hell of a way to go for this Manning…even if he was a rapist."

Minutes passed and Viki did not consciously realize what she was doing as she heard her own muffled sobs against the chest of the man who had just kissed her. When Sykes had told her that her brother's car had gone over a cliff and had burst into flames, she had been delivered a blow that left her mindless, and all her usual defenses had refused to come into play. The long vigil she had kept for her brother had finally come to an end, but she felt as if part of her had died with him. Somehow she sensed that it was because she had seen so much of herself in her brother - all his struggles had in some way been hers, too.
As Sam caught her in his arms, his mind was trying to grasp at any straw he could to force him to believe that what she said wasn't true. No, Boomer! It wasn't supposed to be this way! Maybe it's a mistake…maybe…
"Viki," he spoke urgently as he held her protectively. "What happened?" Are you sure it's true?"
Looking up at him with eyes glistening with tears, she stumbled over the words as her body continued to shake. "He…his car went over a cliff…caught fire…"
Sam's arms tightened around her as her words sank into his soul like some heavy metal. You were my son…in every sense of the word you were the child I needed to have…to protect…to love. I kept trying to make it right for you, but it never was right. It's all lost now…all lost…

A last slam of a car door and a car engine starting up filtered through the air and into Todd's range of hearing. Miraculously he had once more prevailed against the forces trying to capture him as well as the forces trying to snuff out his life. It's not my time yet…I've got more to do and there's a woman in this world who loves me…
This last thought acted like a shot of adrenaline as he realized the implications of what his presumed death would mean. They'll tell her…she'll think I'm dead…
Forcing his muscles to work harder he pushed up off the ground and jammed his one uninjured fist into the earth to elevate himself. The strong smell of smoke permeated the air in a suffocating fog all around him, and he tensed as he thought of what had happened to the Lamborghini. It wasn't that he thought it was anything more than a material possession, but in some way it had symbolized his success in a world which seemed determined to measure him by another standard - one that he could never meet. It was the last semblance of who he had been - the Todd Manning who reigned over the Sun publication and had wielded his power far and wide into a stuffy, unyielding Llanview society. That man was now dead and as in Ireland, he felt the racing pulse of a foreshadowing of something new ahead. From this moment I'm starting over…it's my last chance to correct the shambles of that other life. Everything will be different…everything must be better…

"Tea…Tea!" Del passed his hand over her ashen face worriedly - repeating her name. She hadn't responded to him - even when he had used every means to bring her out of unconsciousness - and fear shot up inside him and transformed into some other emotion he was more familiar with. This is what you've done, Manning…no other man in her life has hurt her the way you did. She'll recover -- I know it -- and I'll make sure another man like you never darkens the door of her life again.
Lifting up her body, he carried her to the sofa and laid her tenderly between the pillows. Snapping open his cell phone, he was once again a professional calling in to request assistance.
"Get an ambulance. I'm at Manning's penthouse. My sister, Tea Manning, has passed out and isn't coming to."
With a thud, Tea landed softly on what seemed to be a large pile of hay. Her fall had ended abruptly, but this time she was confronted with heavy gray stone walls, which seemed to be all around her. A massive wood door was facing her but there was no handle on it. Thick mists swirled around her and a pungent odor hung like a vapor in the air. She knew where she was. This was a dream she had had over and over as a child. This was a dungeon in a castle.
Standing up, she was oblivious to the pieces of hay clinging all over her and she walked unsteadily to the door. She glided her hands over the rough wood with certain knowledge as to how it would feel. Yes, this door has always been here in this dream. It's the door I have to open…

The clock chimed in the family room where Viki and Sam stood holding onto each other - each one lost in their own personal sorrow. Viki leaned her head against Sam's shoulder - not caring that she had completely broken through any barriers remaining between them. You were more my son than my brother…why couldn't I help you? Why? Am I supposed to feel relief, God? He was worth saving…or did you take him so that you could?
Her arms suddenly pushed away from Sam and she looked at him with a stony visage and a fiery glint in her eyes, which made Sam uneasy. "I have to go, Sam. There are questions I want answered. He may be dead, but I'm going to find out all about how and why it happened. That overbearing police commissioner is going to get a late-night visit!"
Sam opened his mouth to voice his concern at her recklessness, but she was echoing everything he thought as well. They were both losers in their efforts to save Todd, but he didn't feel like accepting any of it right now. "Why the hell not, Viki! I want to know everything, too…we can take my car!"

Tea backed away from the door and glanced around at her prison room. It was the same as she remembered from years ago when she would wake up in the middle of the night shivering with fear. Only a sliver of light passed through a tiny barred window high up in the upper corner of the room. You should feel right at home, Tea…this is the place you always ended up in. A sudden noise from behind the door caused her to freeze and a booming voice called out.
"Are you ready to do what you have to do, Tea?"
Running to the door, she pounded on it with her fists and yelled at the voice on the other side.
"You let me out!! I don't belong here! I know what I'm doing…you can't force me to do anything!"
"Careful, Tea. Your words will keep you here even longer…better keep quiet!"
Tea's face fell forward against her hands which were flattened against the door and tears began streaming down her face. I don't need this…I need something else…

Todd stood at the brink of the bluff supporting his broken right arm with his left and watching the blazing fire finish consuming his car -- his long hair slung garishly across one side of his face - the scarred side. He would have been a hellish sight to any observer with his blood-smeared skin and clothes grimy with dust and dirt, and his dark, enigmatic eyes drawn hypnotically into the bouncing flames below. You're gone, Todd Manning…up in fire and smoke this time…not Irish bullets. A perfect ending…cremation.
Something made him stand there - forcing him to look into those flames and review the carnage of his life through them. Viki, Sam…and Tea…you all tried to show me the way out, but I had a spirit within me that resisted all of you. But you never knew all of the story, did you? I kept it from you.
As the fire swelled again with another gust of wind, Todd's mind leaped back to his past and to a reality he had embedded in his psyche for years. He knew now just what that reality had done to him, but back then he hadn't had a clue. Very few people had known anything about his private hell. Sam had known some, but not enough. There was someone else, though, who had known much more - a friend who made him feel less like an outcast than just about anyone else except Sam. That friend had also stood by him on more than one occasion when he needed it. Todd cast back into his memories - once more seeing the face of his friend and remembering cheering him on wildly as he stole base after base in their highschool baseball games - giving him a name that stuck with him all through his highschool years. They had made a pact to help each other if either one of them was ever in trouble, and now Todd knew that he needed a special kind of help. You're finally going to get a visit from me…yeah, after years…you always said you could help me. I'm coming back, Slider!

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~