Todd saw the hands holding the bat as it crushed Michelle's skull, with a loud terrifying sound. The thud and cracking sound of the bat making contact with Michelle's head reverberated throughout the room. A sound so loud, it seemed to fill every cell in Todd's body. Then it seemed as if the entire world had turned red. It was everywhere Todd looked. He felt the warm stickiness of Michelle's blood as it splashed over him.

Peter stood in front of Todd and lifted him to his feet. He turned Todd around so he was facing Michelle. She was on her back, partially wedged up against the wall. The left side of her skull was caved in. Her shiny hair was matted with her own blood and brains. Her blue eyes were open.

"Michelle?" Todd called to her, "Michelle, I'll get you untied, I promise."

Peter pushed Todd to his knees so that he was closer to Michelle's body and screamed, "LOOK AT HER! LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO HER!"

Peter lifted Todd back to a standing position and turned him around so that Todd's back was facing Peter and placed the bloody baseball bat in Todd's hands. He squeezed Todd's fingers around the base of the bat. Then Peter threw the bat on the floor and took off the work gloves he was wearing and threw those on the floor as well. He then cut the rope off Todd's hands and feet.

"We have to get rid of her," Peter said, not bothering to notice that Todd wasn't hearing him. Todd was just staring at the bat and gloves that lay on the basement floor. "We have to get something to put her in. Todd, get that old sleeping bag off the shelf." Todd didn't move. Peter spun around and grabbed Todd by the shoulders and shook him.

"What the hell is the matter with you Todd! Do as I say! TODD!" Peter commanded, shaking even harder. Like a robot, Todd got the sleeping bag off the shelf and handed it to his father. Peter put it on the floor and unzipped it, laying it open.

"You take her feet," Peter ordered. Todd just stood there, staring, his eyes blank. Peter walked up to Todd and slapped him across the face so hard he knocked him over. Peter grabbed him by his arm and pulled him back to his feet.

"Do you want to go to jail! Do you! Look what you did!" Peter once again turned Todd toward Michelle. Peter turned Todd back so that he was once again facing him. "I'm willing to help you. Do you want me to help you?" Peter asked, as he shook Todd by the shoulders.

Todd looked up at his father and nodded. "Then we have to get her out of here and put her where she won't be found. Now let's get her into the sleeping bag and then we have to get the basement and ourselves cleaned up."

In silence Todd and his father put Michelle in the bag. Peter also put the bloody bat and gloves in with her and they cleaned the blood from the basement. Peter, using the bathroom in the basement, took a shower. Naked, he went upstairs to get dressed, leaving Todd with instructions to shower and to make sure to wash the blood from the shower before he was through.

Peter returned carrying some clothes for Todd and the coat and bag that had fallen off Michelle in the front hall. Peter carefully gathered up the bloody clothes that he and Todd had taken off and placed them in a large green plastic bag.

"We'll go out through the garage. You wait here," Peter instructed. Once again Todd followed his father's instructions, silently. In a few minutes Peter came back down and said, "We have to get her to the car. Don't just stand there like an idiot. Help me." Peter and Todd carried Michelle up the stairs and out to the car's trunk.

Peter drove out to a wooded area about twenty miles from their house. He drove the car as far into the area he planned to leave Michelle in as he could. "We have to carry her the rest of the way," Peter barked.

They carried her about fifty yards and placed her on the ground. "Wait here!" Peter ordered. He went back to the car and returned with two shovels. Todd stood there shivering in the cold January night. He never felt so cold. He felt as if he would never be warm again.

Peter handed him one of the shovels and said, "Come on! Let's go! What are you waiting for!" Todd put the shovel into the earth. "I can't. It's too cold. It's too cold. It's too cold! It's too hard. I can't leave her here. Don't make me," Todd pleaded. Peter waked over to Todd and pushed him against a tree. He didn't need to say a word. The look on Peter's face was enough. Together, father and son dug a grave.

Peter made sure it was deep enough and then he and Todd placed Michelle, sleeping bag and all, in the grave and shoveled the cold earth back into it's place. Peter told Todd to gather some leaves and branches to cover the fresh grave with.

Having now, fully, slipped into his own world, Todd commented, "She likes lilacs."

"What?" Peter asked.

"She likes lilacs. I heard her tell Todd she likes lilacs."

"What the hell do you mean you heard her tell Todd?"

Peter stood over Todd and slapped him across the face again. "Snap out of it! We have to get home." Peter had to drag Todd back to the car.

"She likes lilacs," Todd kept repeating to himself as they drove. Then the boy, who loved Michelle and had come out that night and answered to Todd, went back to his hiding place, where he would stay for almost fifteen years.

Todd came back when he and his father were about a mile from home. Todd had no idea how long it had been since his birthday, but the humiliation of what happened in front of Michelle was fresh in his mind. He couldn't bear the thought of seeing her in school again. He wondered how much time had gone by. Maybe he had already seen her and forgot.

Todd's body hurt all over. His wrists hurt a lot. He looked down at them and saw that they had red welts around them. He pulled his sleeves down to cover them, as he always tried to cover the wounds he didn't remember getting. Todd wanted to sleep. He just wanted to get home and sleep. He wondered what he was doing out at night with his father and why they were driving around. He also wondered where they had come from. Finally they drove into the garage.

Peter instructed Todd to go to the living room and build a fire. Todd was so tired, but he did as he was told. Peter came into the room and told Todd to go into the front hallway and clean up the mess in there. Todd saw the remains of his birthday cake on the floor. That was when he realized it was probably still the same night.

Todd still wondered what he was doing out with Peter. "Maybe Dad felt bad about what he did in front of Michelle and took me out for my birthday," he thought.

"How stupid are you!" Todd heard the angry voice say. Startled, he turned around. He had never heard this voice before. It was different from the others he heard. Todd was terrified. He was always frightened when he heard the voices, even though as a very young child he had found comfort in them. He would talk to them and feel less alone. Now they terrified him.

"The only thing he thinks about your birthday is that it never should have happened," the angry voice said. Todd put his hands to his ears trying, in vain, to block the voice out.

"I hate him!" the voice said. Todd tried to ignore what he was hearing and continued to clean up the cake. Peter had thrown all the bloody clothes and the handbag into the fire. The smoke was strong and Peter came into the front hallway and opened a window. He also opened the door a crack, to let some of the acrid odor out.

Todd had finished cleaning up the floor. "I'm finished. Is it all right if I go to bed?" He asked Peter.

Peter looked at him and laughed. "What a wimp you are. It's not even ten o'clock yet. Was tonight too much for you?" Peter asked in a sarcastic and mocking manner. "At least you won't have to worry about that little whore ever coming back here again."

Pete didn't even have to make Todd's head hurt to get out. Before Peter had a chance to say another word, Pete, with all his rage and fury, pushed Peter up against the wall. With his hands around Peter's throat, squeezing as hard as he could, Pete shouted, "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT! YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT! I HATE YOU! I WANT YOU DEAD! I WANT YOU DEAD!" Pete did not hear Sam Rappaport come into the house.

"I HATE YOU! I WANT YOU DEAD! I HATE YOU!"

A stunned Susannah, Viki and Sam heard Pete scream. His hands were still around the throat his mind's eye saw.

"Pete! It's all right. It's not happening now. Todd's father is dead. He can't hurt anyone anymore. It's all right, Pete. We know what happened. You can stop now. We know why you wanted to kill him. It's okay. Pete, I want you to relax. It's over. You and Todd were able to tell the secret. It's over. You need to calm down now."

Susannah looked over at Sam and Viki. Both seemed to be frozen, not yet able to process what they had just seen and heard.

"Pete, it's Doctor Hanen. You need to relax. I want you to go back inside and go to sleep now. I want you to calm down and go to sleep. Pete, I'm going to count from three to one and when I get to one I want you to go into a deep trance."

Susannah's hypnotic command had no effect on Pete. He was still in that room with Peter and could not hear her. Susannah ran to the bedroom and called Frank, Jeff and Terry into the front room.

"I need to give him a shot." Susannah called to them.

Frank and Jeff rushed to where Pete stood, "strangling" Peter. They were able to restrain Pete without much difficulty. Despite Pete's rage he was dazed and confused. On top of that, Todd's body was weak.

"Sam. SAM!" Susannah shouted, "Pete needs you."

Composing himself, Sam jumped to his feet and approached Pete, who was still screaming out at Peter. Terry prepared a syringe from the medication in Susannah's bag. "I WANT TO KILL HIM! HOW COULD HE DO THAT!" Pete screamed.

"I know you do, Pete, and I don't blame you." Sam tried to comfort him. Pete wasn't even aware of Terry injecting him.

"I HATE HIM!" Pete continued to cry out, until the drug hit his system.

Frank and Jeff half walked and half carried him to the couch and laid him down on it. Viki rushed over to him. Sam knelt down by his head and Viki sat next to him on the couch.

"I didn't hurt her. I didn't hurt her," Pete whimpered.

"We know you didn't," Viki said. She stroked his head.

For the first time, Pete didn't pull away from a display of affection.

"I'm so sorry pal. I saw you that night. I had no idea. Oh, God! I'm so sorry," Sam confessed, as tears fell down his cheeks.

Pete looked up at Sam and once again repeated, "I didn't hurt her."

"I know you didn't, pal. I know you didn't."

Then Pete was gone and Timmy was back. He looked up at Asa's moose head and asked Sam, "Are you sure he's not real?"

Realizing it was Timmy, Sam, his voice choking with tears, answered, "No, Timmy. It's not real, just a big ol' stuffed moose." Sam kissed Timmy's forehead.

"How come you're crying? Did the moose bite you?" Timmy asked Sam. Unable to compose himself, Sam had to get up and walk away for a minute. Timmy's lower lip and chin started to quiver. "Is Sam mad at me?" Timmy whimpered.

Viki pulled Timmy into a hug. "No, sweetheart. No baby, Sam is a little upset over something he heard, not at you."

"I love Sam. I don't want him to be mad at me. Then he won't wanna be my daddy no more," Timmy cried.

Hearing this, Sam pulled himself together and once again knelt down next to Timmy and Viki. Sam took Timmy from Viki's arms. He held him tightly. "Timmy, I will always want to be your daddy. I love you so much."

"This much?" Timmy asked. He held his arms out as far apart as he could get them.

"A million times that much," Sam swore, once again kissing Timmy's forehead.

Sam gently rocked Timmy until he was almost asleep.

Susannah came over and asked Timmy how he was feeling. "I'm cold," he answered. Viki turned to Jeff and asked him if he would please bring some blankets in from the bedroom.

Susannah felt Timmy's forehead. His skin was cold and clammy. She took his blood pressure. It was eight-five over forty. His heart rate was one hundred and thirty. Susannah checked his eyes. His pupils were dilated. She knew that Todd's body was starting to go into shock.

"Frank," Susannah called to him, "Would you also bring some pillows out here." Susannah stroked Timmy's damp hair. "Timmy, I'm going to put some pillows under your legs. I want you to try to sit up a little."

Timmy was too weak to pull himself up. Sam and Susannah helped him while Terry placed a couple of pillows under his knees. Susannah also placed some pillows behind him. Frank covered him with two of the blankets Jeff had handed him. Susannah tucked them securely around Timmy.

"There you go, snug as a bug," she said to Timmy and tapped his nose with her index finger.

"I'm still cold," Timmy whimpered. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering. Sam brought another blanket over and Viki tucked that one around him too. Timmy asked for Mr. Rabbit. Frank retrieved him and handed him to Timmy. Timmy clutched Mr. Rabbit to his chest. Viki adjusted the blankets around Timmy and Mr. Rabbit. Susannah asked Terry to sit with him while she talked to Sam and Viki.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he so cold?" Sam asked. He was frightened.

"Todd's mind and body have just been through a major trauma. He's in mild shock. He should stabilize soon. We need to keep him warm and keep his legs elevated."

"Should I call an ambulance?" Viki asked. She was terrified.

"No, I think that will frighten him. He'll stabilize soon. Then we'll get him back to the hospital."

Timmy had fallen asleep and didn't even feel it when Terry took his blood pressure fifteen minutes later. It was one hundred over sixty. Todd's body was coming around. They all sat silently. None of them spoke about what they had just been witnesses to. There would be time for that tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED

This page hosted by Get your own FREE Home Page