IMPOSTER - PART SIX

Part Six continued:
The crushing weight of a man's body across her chest made Tea's breathing difficult as she tried to extricate herself from beneath him. As she inched her body out a little at a time, she grunted with the effort and her previous terror gave way to exasperation. She wanted to be out and as far away from him as soon as possible. Who knew if he would wake up or not. She let out more gutteral sounds as she pushed and poked at the lifeless form. I can't breathe! He'll suffocate me and he's not even conscious!
Twisting and turning her body like a writhing snake, she pulled away from him and finally with one last push against his upper torso, she slumped down onto the floor. Her hair had fallen completely forward on her face and the eyes that peeked out were crazed and distraught. She sat there numb with what had happened and with no energy left to move. From somewhere she heard the sound of a phone ringing persistently. She looked at the large hand dangling from the side of the sofa -- a hand she had wanted to feel on her skin many times. This time his hand had been an instrument of torture inflicting punishment for an imagined crime.
The ringing got louder in her brain and she looked over in the direction of the sound. She dragged her body up from the floor and shuffled as a sleepwalker to the blaring noise. Lifting the phone set she whispered hoarsely, "Hello?"
"Tea! Thank God, it's you! Are you okay? Has anything happened there?
"Happened?" she repeated the word back to him dully, still not fully cognizant of where she was anymore.
"Tea! It's me, Sam! What's the matter? Has he hurt you?"
She looked over in a daze at the crumpled-looking shape of Todd Manning. As the full reality of everything came crashing in on her, she mumbled into the phone.
"He tried to..."
"What Tea, I can barely hear you!"
Tea's eyes clouded over with tears and she fought the urge to collapse on the floor.
"He tried to rape me, Sam." She knew as soon as she heard these words echoing back to her that in some weird way she had expected something like this to happen a long time ago. You warned me, Todd. You tried to protect me from him that night, didn't you? You've been afraid for me all this time. You must have been holding on to your sanity by a thread and no one knew it. Especially me.
Sam's voice cracked with emotion as he tried to speak. "Tea...oh, Tea..." he muttered with a deep well of sadness within him. "Where is he?" his voice demanded harshly in the next second. "I'll kill him!" he said savagely, feeling utterly betrayed by a man whom he had gone out on a limb for over and over again -- trying to salvage some good from the wreckage of his life.
"He's lying face down on the sofa, Sam. I hit him over the head with an art piece. For all I know, he is dead," she said mechanically but her heart stopped when she said it.
She held the portable phone to her ear as she walked slowly over to the slumped figure. She reached her other hand down and touched his wrist. She felt his pulse throbbing under the skin. A part of her was thanking God in relief that he wasn't dead, but another part -- the part that had been sadistically and cruelly victimized -- wanted him to be gone forever.
"He's alive, Sam. I don't see any blood either," she said backing away from him.
"Tea, was it Todd who did this...or was it one of his alters?" Sam asked thinking that he might not want to know the answer.
"He was...he said he was Pete Sam, he was a monster I don't believe it could have been Todd. No, I won't believe he could ever do anything like that!" she said emphatically.
"Tea, I want you to leave now! I'll be there in fifteen or twenty minutes. He may still be dangerous, so I want you out of there, do you hear me?" Sam's voice got louder and cut through her thoughts of her ordeal.
"Yes," she said, nodding in agreement with his assessment. "I'll go, Sam. Do you think he'll be alright?" she asked looking warily over at the still motionless form.
"Never mind about him or whoever that is there with you!" Sam spoke severely to her. "You worry about yourself now, Tea. If he wakes up and is still Pete..."
"I know! I know, Sam! But are you sure you want to come over here now?" she added worriedly.
"I'll be on my guard, Tea. Just get out of there, please!"
"Okay. I am leaving. Please call me at my suite later, Sam."
"Right," he affirmed and hung up.

Tea spotted her purse by the sofa and edged her way slowly over to it -- her heart still beating from the terror she had experienced. His eyes appeared to be swollen shut as she passed by and she found it hard to believe that only a short time before he had been so viscious and animated in his efforts to violate her. I wanted to die, Todd. The thought of you doing this to me. You! I couldn't bear it!
She quickly grabbed her purse -- never taking her eyes off him. I'll think about all this later. There were two very conflicting emotions surging within her, and she didn't know which one would win out -- love or hate. I don't know anything anymore. You have undone me, Todd! She weakly walked over to the chair to get the jacket she had left there and slowly put it on.
Her back was turned briefly to the sofa, so she didn't see the change that occurred. The hand that had been dangling over the sofa rose up in an arc and moved in robotlike fashion up to the forehead of the man who lay there. The eyes underneath the matted hair simulaneously opened wide and blinked two or three times. As they adjusted to the light, they peered through strands of hair to see a woman putting on a jacket.
She tossed her long hair back behind her and buttoned the front of the jacket and half-turned to check again on the unconscious man. Still no change. She swallowed nervously and began to walk toward the penthouse door.
"Tea." A low moaning sound caused her body to stiffen up and every muscle to tense. She turned to look back at him -- her entire face frozen in fear -- hoping that the sound was not real.
"Ohhh...Tea." The moaning began again and became less muffled. Please...Tea... Don't you go."
The last three words sent Tea's mind into a tailspin. Those three words were very familiar to her. She knew so well the pleading connected with them. For some reason she had always sensed that they were words that had been spoken only to her and to no other woman. Her heart seemed to cry out and acknowledge them within her.
"Todd?" she hesitantly spoke in the hushed quiet of the room.
"Delgado. Ohhh...my head feels like..." He attempted to raise his body up from the sofa but drooped down again with the effort.
"What happened to me?" He shut his eyes again in obvious pain and let out another moan.
"Todd, you...you're you!" she blurted out and moved somewhat closer to him.
"Delgado, did someone hit you over the head?" he said with labored effort. "Of course, it's me...who did you expect?" He groaned and pushed himself up to a slouched position and leaning forward, covered his forehead with his hands. He rocked back and forth and blew out a breath of air. "Man, am I gonna have a lump on my head tomorrow!"
"Todd...you...don't remember anything?" she asked cautiously -- still racked with doubt.
"Remember? Delgado, right now my head is throbbing like I've been hit by a two-by-four and you want me to remember something? Give me a minute, will ya?" he said vehemently as he pressed his hands into his aching flesh.
She stood there in a state of indecision as to whether she should hightail it out of there or wait to see what he had to say. He's certainly not acting like that evil incarnation that she had brained with that piece of art. In fact, there was a sense of peace again in the room that hadn't been there before. What should she do?
"Uh, Tea. D'you think you might possibly get me an ice pack or something?" he muttered in a measured sarcastic tone which sounded like his old self. He looked at her with his deep, compelling eyes and she felt her resolve shifting. He was in great pain. He could even have a concussion. She observed that he seemed very disoriented and weak.
"Tea, please!"
She told Sam she would leave, and she would -- right after she gave him the ice pack. I won't wait for anything else. Whatever he has to say I'll hear it later. I'm too wrecked mentally and emotionally to figure any of this out now.
She walked briskly to the kitchen and got an ice pack from the freezer. She listened intently for any sound coming from the living room. She heard the same moaning sounds from Todd and several words which she made out to be, "Oh, my head". She thought quickly of what she would say to him as to why she was leaving. What do I tell him? Do I tell him that he has an alter named Pete who tried to rape me?
She walked out of the kitchen -- her footsteps soft on the carpet -- carrying the ice pack. As she approached the entrance to the living room, a sound carried over to her which sent a barrage of warning lights off in her brain. The sound she heard was a sound she recognized instantly. The front door lock had just been bolted.

~ TO BE CONTINUED ~