They Call It Paradise

Part 1

 

“Sydney, you aren’t happy here.”

 

He looked up to find Rebecca standing in the doorway of his room and tried to smile. “I thought your knowledge…”

 

“I don’t have to be psychic to know that. I only have to look at you.” She came and sat opposite him. “What is it?”

 

He glanced over at her before looking away. “I don’t want to worry you.”

 

“I’m already worried,” she replied somewhat tartly, “so don’t pull that excuse. And Jacob is worried too.”

 

“So the two of you have discussed this already.”

 

“Yes,” said another voice from the doorway and Jacob walked over to sit beside Rebecca. “We have.”

 

“Well then,” Sydney got to his feet, “you’ll both have made your assumptions and have no need to talk with me about them.”

 

Jacob stood and placed a hand on his brother’s chest, forcing him back to his seat. “We have made assumptions and we want to know if they’re correct.”

 

“And you expect me just to tell you,” his brother snapped.

 

Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Actually, yes. If Miss Parker were here, you might be able to avoid it, like you managed so often with her, but she isn’t. We are.” She leaned forward. “And what concerns you concerns us as well.”

 

“Noble sentiment.” Sydney looked past them and out to the tree-lined street in front of the house as he spoke. Rebecca brought up her legs in front of her and wrapped her arms around them, watching him.

 

“Jarod.”

 

“Jarod?”

 

She looked up to find that he had fallen asleep on the sofa beside her. Reaching up, she gently planted a kiss on his cheek before getting off the seat and walking through her room and out of the house. The street was a long avenue, lined with trees and she wandered along it at leisure, finally stopping outside one building and leaning on the gate.

 

“Are you going to come in, Rebecca, or would you rather stay there?”

 

“That depends, Jacob,” she laughed. “If I’m going to get lectured at again, then I’ll keep going.”

 

She heard his laughter out of the darkness and swung the gate open before he could answer, coming up to sit beside him on the outdoor sofa.

 

“How’s Jarod?”

 

“Happy.” She smiled. “Very happy.”

 

“And how are you?”

 

Rather than answering, she looked up at him. “You were right, Jacob, before you ask. But if you say ‘I told you so’…”

 

He chuckled and then looked around as the gate opened again.

 

“I thought I might find you here,” a familiar, deep voice stated.

 

“Missing me already?” Rebecca giggled.

 

Jarod came up and sat beside her, slipping an arm around her waist. “How could I not be? I wake up to find myself deserted…”

 

“With so little idea of where I was,” she laughed, “that it took you a good twenty seconds to find me.”

 

His laughter echoed around the garden. “Well, considering that you told me I could have anything I wanted, it seemed pretty easy to wish for it and know that it would be there when I opened my eyes.”

 

“Ah, so you were cheating again.”

 

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Probably.”

 

The opening of the door stopped him as he was about to kiss her.

 

“Well, look what the wind blew in.”

 

“Hey!” Rebecca protested. “I walked! I haven’t flown here since I gave you that shock by almost landing on top of you.”

 

Jarod stared at her. “You did what?”

 

“It’s a long story.”

 

“And you found it amusing,” Sydney added as he sat down.

 

“You didn’t?” She gave him a look of such amazement that Jacob broke into a fit of laughter and, after a moment, Sydney joined in.

 

As she said the word, he looked over and she could see the expression on his face. “It’s Jarod, isn’t it Sydney? You’re worried about him.”

 

“And you aren’t?”

 

“That doesn’t enter into it.” She watched him closely. “We’re talking about you at the moment, not me.”

 

Sydney got up from his seat and walked over to the far side of the room, staring out of the window. He made an effort to stifle the emotion that he could feel building up inside but Rebecca and Jacob exchanged glances as they watched his shoulders heave. Finally Rebecca got up and walked over to him, placing her hand on his arm and turning him to face her.

 

“Sydney? Is it Jarod?”

 

He nodded silently and she gently reached up to brush away the tears. “I know, Sydney. I know.”

 

Rebecca looked up to find Sydney scrutinizing Jarod closely and she raised an eyebrow as she watched him.

 

“Are you still worrying about him or is it something else now?”

 

Sydney shook his head and laughed but Jarod caught the tone of the question and looked up.

 

“You were…worried about me?”

 

“We all were.” The statement was made in Jacob’s quiet voice. “I don’t think any of us could have helped it, Jarod, even if we’d wanted to.”

 

“But…why?” Jarod's face betrayed his confusion. “You knew that the worst thing that could happen to me would be to come here, and…”

 

“No, Jarod.” Rebecca reached up and placed a finger on his lips, silencing him as she shook her head. “The absolute worst thing that can happen to a person isn’t dying.” Her eyes became sad. “It’s suffering in life. And that’s what none of us liked having to watch, for any of you.”

 

Sydney sat in the room and watched as Jarod moaned quietly in his sleep, his clenched fist pressed to his chest where the newly healed scars showed clearly through his unbuttoned shirt.

 

“He hasn’t been in this much pain for a long time.”

 

“Not since he was six,” Rebecca agreed quietly from her chair in the corner, her face wearing an expression of sadness. “Even when he was recalling it, the pain wasn’t as bad as it was at the time of his injury and illness.”

 

Sydney made no sound in reply but slid forward in his seat and placed one hand on that of the man lying in front of him.

 

“I think that time was worse for you than for him, Sydney.”

 

Her voice broke through the silence and the older man looked up at her, his expression one of shock. “How can you possibly say that? He was suffering…”

 

“And you would deny that you were as well? His pain, though, was only physical at the time, the mental pain only coming later. But your agony was a mixture of mental and emotional, and that’s the worst kind.”

 

“I didn’t even know what caused it…”

 

“And for the whole two weeks that his body was fighting the problems that Raines caused, you tried hard to find out. But you never could, because he hid the facts well enough to protect himself from you and the Triumvirate.”

 

“Why?” Sydney's voice was soft. “Why would anybody do that to a defenseless six-year-old boy?”

 

“Why did Raines do anything he did?” Rebecca shook her head. “Because he hoped it would help him and his career. But mostly just because he could.”

 

“I don’t remember anything of that time now, except for the things you reminded me of.”

 

Jarod looked down at Rebecca, his arms around her, and she nodded.

 

“I know, Jarod. It was meant to be that way. I wouldn’t have wanted to remind you of what came later because there was so much pain involved.” Her eyes became sad and she looked over at Sydney. “But we remember. He because he was there and I because it haunted my thoughts for weeks.”

 

“Years,” interposed Jacob. “In fact, I don’t think you ever got over it.”

 

“I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, though, was I Sydney?”

 

“No, Rebecca.” His voice was soft and his eyes searched the face of the young man who sat opposite him. “No, you weren’t.”

 

Jarod released his hold on Rebecca and leaned forward, his gaze intense. “Tell me.”

 

“Please, Jarod…” his former mentor begged.

 

“No, Sydney. Tell me. That, more than anything else, will get rid of it. We both know it will.”

 

Sydney looked down at the folder, his eyes taking in the small amount of data that was provided there – some internal bleeding, source unknown; possible acute appendicitis. Reaching into his pocket, Sydney pulled out a note, scribbled on a scrap of paper, which had been pushed into his hand by the surgeon that morning. This was the genuine diagnosis: an Esophageal rupture, and pleural effusion with the ongoing threat of Mediastinal emphysema, and all of that, with no apparent cause, in a boy of six.

 

However this had to be kept secret – because a higher directive, from some unknown source, had insisted, had demanded it. But the other doctor had been willing to ignore that directive and pass it on to his colleague. Shaking his head in a mixture of anger and sorrow, Sydney replaced the folder and pushed the paper back into his pocket. He then moved over to the side of the bed, sitting down in the chair that was there and gently reaching out to place his hand on the forehead of the boy that lay there. He could feel the heat of Jarod's skin and he frowned, getting up again to look at the chart once more, his eyes now traveling over the line that denoted the heightened temperature.

 

“Come quick – Jarod's dying!”

 

The words seemed to echo around the room and he looked around sharply, the tears standing out in his eyes as he recalled the image that he had seen twice that morning – the body of the small, blond girl lying on the high, white bed.

 

Jarod looked up sharply. “I had no idea.”

 

”No, Jarod. And I never wanted you to remember. That was why I did everything I could to make you forget.” Sydney looked sadly over at him. “Even the parts that it would have been better for you to know.”

 

“Such as?”

 

“Such as Rebecca.” Jacob spoke softly. “We didn’t want you to forget about her, but you couldn’t remember some without remembering it all.”

 

She felt his arms tighten around her as the words were spoken and looked up at him. “I didn’t mind, Jarod. I understood.”

 

“But I didn’t want to forget you, Rebecca.”

 

“If you hadn’t forgotten, Jarod, your life could never have been what it was. You had to forget, so that you could remember later.” She smiled. “And I had to die, so that I could live later.”

 

Sydney let himself into the house, having made sure that he would be contacted if anything happened to Jarod, and dropped into a chair in the kitchen, eyes turned to the sky where the sun was gradually sinking towards the horizon. He had never been home from the Centre so early before, but he couldn’t stay there, not today. Not after having seen that Jarod was asleep. And not after seeing the first child ever to die within the walls of the Centre. He felt his throat constrict and he swallowed several times, getting up from his chair and walking over to the phone. The dial tone hummed in his ear before he pressed the numbers and waited until it was answered.

 

“Catherine? How is she?”

 

“She’s better, Sydney. How’s Jarod?”

 

“He was asleep when I left. But he’s not in pain anymore.”

 

“And – Rebecca?”

 

He stared at the wall for a moment before replying softly. “No, Catherine. They couldn’t save her. They tried, but they couldn’t bring her back. Her injuries were just too severe.”

 

He heard her swallow several times. “And she was the one…”

 

“…who saved Jarod. But she found your daughter too, didn’t she?”

 

“Yes, Sydney. She did.”

 

“I was lucky,” Rebecca stated. “If your connection had been stronger, I would never have managed to get to both of you in time.”

 

Sydney looked over at her. “If it had been – who…?”

 

”I would have gone to Jarod, Sydney. I would have had to, because he would have died if I hadn’t. Miss Parker's pain would have faded when his did, whether I’d been there or not. All I did was help her to get through it.”

 

”All?” The voice from the gate made them look up. “That was a lot, Rebecca.”

 

The blond woman smiled. “Hello, Catherine.”

 

Jarod looked up as the woman came over and sat on the other seat, facing him, with a smile on her face.

 

“It’s been a long time, Jarod.”

 

“It has.” He smiled. “I’d say you haven’t changed…”

 

”I haven’t. But you have.”

 

“Can you see that?”

 

She nodded. “When you watch a person from here, before they die, then you see them as the world sees them. It’s only when they come here that things alter.”

 

He nodded before looking back at Sydney. “And what happened later that night?”

 

He didn’t look up as the door opened, his eyes staring at the spot on the floor that he’d been examining since finishing his discussion with Mrs. Parker and calling to check on Jarod's condition.

 

“Hello, Sydney.”

 

He froze, hearing the soft female voice, before looking up to see the girl held in his brother’s arms.

 

“No…” His voice was a whisper.

 

“Yes, Sydney.” She smiled, holding out her hands to him, but he backed away and she looked up at Jacob, a sad expression on her face. “I thought you said this would be easy.”

 

“And you said it wouldn’t be.” He smiled at her. “You were right.”

 

She wrapped both arms around his neck in a warm hug. “Is that such a surprise?”

 

“It took a long time to persuade you, Sydney. And yet I was right there, in front of you, all the time.”

 

He smiled faintly. “It would have been easier if I hadn’t seen your ‘body’ earlier that day.”

 

“I only planned that you would come with the members of the Tower and I hoped to find time to tell you the truth by then, so you’d be able to help me afterwards.” Jacob smiled. “By the time I saw you outside the window the first time, it was too late. But I thought you would have stayed with Jarod.”

 

“I couldn’t stay there,” Sydney responded softly. “I felt so guilty…”

 

“Why?” Jarod leaned forward again. “Why on earth did you feel guilty? You hadn’t done anything…”

 

“That was exactly why.” Sydney stared at his hands. “I thought that, if I’d done something, I might have been able to prevent it. If I’d even noticed earlier…”

 

”Then I would never have met Rebecca,” Jarod responded. “And that made it all worthwhile – even the pain.”

 

“Oh, you would have, Jarod. I promise that we would have met.” She smiled up at him. “I would have made sure of it.”

 

He only held her more tightly and then looked back at Sydney. “And what happened, once you were finally convinced?”

 

Sydney slipped in behind the wheel of the car and looked behind him as Jacob climbed into the back seat, the girl clutched in his arms, her blond hair streaming over his shoulder.

 

“Ready?”

 

“Let’s go.”

 

Nodding, Sydney started the car and drove it out of the driveway. At the first bump, he heard the muffled sob from behind and turned to see the girl clutch at his brother’s shirt.

 

“What is it, Jacob?”

 

“She was badly injured when I found her – broken bones. I haven’t had time to set them yet.”

 

“Do you want me to stop while you do it?”

 

“No, keep driving. I’ll give her something and do it while she’s asleep.”

 

He nodded again and focused on the road ahead but his ears were trained on the conversation in the back seat.

 

“I don’t want to go, Jacob.”

 

“You have to, Rebecca. You know that you do.”

 

“But I don’t want to leave you. I’ll never see you again.”

 

“You don’t know that for sure, Rebecca.”

 

“Yes, Jacob. I do.”

 

“You’ve made mistakes before, sweetheart.”

 

“But I won’t make them anymore. Not after what he did. Now I know.”

 

Rebecca looked up, tears in her eyes. “I was right, Jacob. You know I was.”

 

He nodded. “I knew at the time that you probably were, but I didn’t want to upset you more than I had to by making you go.”

 

She released her hold on Jarod's hands and threw her arms around Jacob’s neck, to which he responded by wrapping both arms around her, lowering his face to hide it in her hair.

 

“I’m so sorry, Rebecca.”

 

“No, Jacob. Don’t be. It was best. We both know that.”

 

“It’s easy…in hindsight…”

 

Reaching up, she kissed him gently on one cheek, wiping the tear that slipped out of his eye.

 

“It’s always easy, looking back. But you thought you were doing the right thing, Jacob, and we both know what would have happened to me if I’d stayed at the Centre. We know what they would have done to me – what they would have used me for. I would rather have died…”

 

“Don’t say that, Rebecca!”

 

”Why not, Jacob?” She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. “It’s true. Even being near you wouldn’t have been enough to make up for what they would have done to me – if I’d even been able to remember you at all. If Raines had had another chance…” She shuddered and held him close. “It was better that way.”

 

“You’ll be safe now, Rebecca.”

 

She looked up at him, the drugs still making her drowsy but tears clearly standing out in her eyes. “I love you, Jacob.”

 

He bent down and kissed her gently. “I love you, too, Rebecca. I’ll try to come and see you again…”

 

“No,” she interrupted him. “You won’t be able to. You don’t have…” She stopped and closed her eyes, opening them once more to look up at Sydney. “Jarod…will live. But he needs you, Sydney.”

 

“We should be going anyway, Sydney.” Jacob looked up, resolutely keeping the tears away. Turning back, he kissed her once more before walking to the door of the room. Once there, he looked back. “Goodbye, Rebecca.” Hiding his tears, he left the room, followed, several moments later, by his brother.

 

“And you never saw her again?” Jarod whispered.

 

”No. The accident happened and…” Jacob paused. “Sometimes I thought I did. I was still able to hear and, if my eyes were open, to see during that time. There were times when I thought she was there.” He looked down at her as she sat beside him. “Of course, now I know that I was right.”

 

Jarod looked over at Rebecca. “But you said, that day in the hotel room, that he would come and visit…”

 

She shook her head sadly. “I know what I said, but it wasn’t true. I used to dream that he’d come and see me, and those dreams were so realistic that I could just about convince myself he’d really been there, and not just in my mind.” She swallowed hard. “Then – after the accident – I couldn’t stay away. Even if Raines had been there, I still would have come. I had to see him.”

 

“And your parents didn’t…?”

 

She smiled at Jarod. “No, they didn’t mind. They understood what he meant to me. I told them. Often they would take me – before I was old enough to drive or go on my own.”

 

“To the Centre too?”

 

“Yes, there as well. They didn’t want to, but after my adoptive mother found me climbing out of my bedroom window one night, she thought it was better to take me than have me try to kill myself getting there alone.”

 

”And you didn’t know she’d come in?”

 

“Of course I knew she’d come in.” Rebecca laughed. “I knew they wouldn’t take me unless they knew how much I wanted to go, so I had to do something to make it look extreme.” She paused, a slight smile appearing on her face as she looked up. “Did I mention that our apartment was on the third floor?”

 

She dropped into the vent, making no sound as she loosely replaced the cover and began to creep down the darkened passages.

 

“Rebecca.”

 

“Hi Angelo.” She threw her arms around him and hugged him, feeling him hug her back. “Are you okay now?”

 

He nodded slowly, eyes fixed on her. “Sad.”

 

“I know, Angelo. They’re all very sad.” She chuckled. “It’s almost a shame they don’t know. Such a waste of emotion.”

 

Grinning, he turned and led her down the passageway. At the cover, she stopped and sat down, turning to him. He nodded, touched her arm gently and then faded away into the darkness. She smiled and then turned back, waiting for the girl to appear below her.

 

“It really was such an awful waste.” Rebecca turned to Catherine and smiled. “All those people, so many of them just devastated – and you were alive and well, only a short distance away.”

 

Catherine smiled sadly. “It was necessary. We all know that.”

 

“We do now.” Jarod leaned back and spoke philosophically. “Death gives one such a wonderful perspective on life.”

 

The older woman laughed. “You knew before, too, Jarod. You were the one who told my daughter.”

 

He shrugged. “Ancient history.”

 

“The things we were remembering were even more ancient.” Rebecca looked over at Sydney. “Like when you got back to the Centre – remember?”

 

Sydney gently opened the door and walked into the room to find a nurse standing beside the boy’s bed.

 

“How is he?”

 

“He’s been asking for you.”

 

He turned and stared at the woman. “So why didn’t you call me?”

 

“Because he told us not to.”

 

“Jarod?”

 

“No. Mr. Parker.”

 

About to respond, the psychiatrist stopped when he heard the weak whisper.

 

“Syd-ney?”

 

“Yes, Jarod.” He pulled up the chair and sat down, placing one hand on that of the boy that lay there. “I’m here.”

 

“It…hurts.”

 

“I know, Jarod.” As the boy began to roll over on to his side, Sydney rearranged the blankets so that he would be more comfortable and then gently stroked the sweat-covered forehead. “But it won’t hurt for long.”

 

“Promise?” Jarod's eyes were filled with tears and glittered feverishly as his hand clutched Sydney's.

 

“Yes, Jarod.” He picked up the damp cloth that sat on the table beside the bed, wiping the boy’s face. “I promise.”

 

Rebecca glanced over. “Neither of us was very good at keeping promises, were we, Sydney?”

 

He shook his head sadly. “No, I don’t think we were.”

 

“How long was it?” the Pretender asked.

 

Sydney looked over at Jarod. “You were ill for a fortnight. Dangerously ill for the first few days. The other doctors didn’t think you’d survive.”

 

”But you did.”

 

”I kept remembering what Rebecca had said – and somehow it never occurred to me to doubt her.”

 

“I wish I could have given you more hope at the time, Sydney.” She looked over at him, smiling slightly. “But I didn’t have the strength to fight against what Jacob had given me and tell you more, aside from those few things.”

 

“What you told me was enough, Rebecca. To know that he’d live was enough and you needed that medication at the time.”

 

“Why?” Jarod looked down at her. “What had happened?”

 

She placed her hands gently on the arms he had wrapped around her and looked up at him. “Do you remember what I told you, about Raines?”

 

Feeling him shudder slightly as he nodded, she pressed herself closer to him. “Are you sure you want to hear this?”

 

He nodded again, more slowly, and she swallowed hard.

 

She walked into the room, knowing what she would find there, and there was no surprise in her eyes as she looked up to see Raines leaning against the empty bed, his arms folded.

 

“Well, if it isn’t the little psychic. And what might you be doing here? Perhaps – visiting somebody?”

 

He reached forward and grabbed her with one arm, the other hand pressed over her mouth so that she couldn’t make a sound.

 

“We’re going to have to make sure that you never have a chance to tell anybody what you found out about today.”

 

Carefully opening the door, he carried her to the elevator, taking her down to SL-27 and into a small room. He locked the door behind him and then carried her over to a table, putting her down on it and loosely tying her there. She watched silently as he wheeled over a black box and picked up the two slender rods, flicking a switch that caused the machine to give a loud whine. Her eyes widened slightly as, a look of anger on his face, he walked over to her. As he lowered the ends of the rods to her temples, she felt something explode in her mind and then everything went black.

 

She felt the tears slipping into her hair as he held her close to him as though he wanted to protect her from the danger that was long since past.

 

“He did it while you were – conscious?”

 

“Yes, Jacob.” Rebecca looked over at him, seeing the pain in his eyes. “He was too angry with me and too scared of what you, Sydney or the Tower might do to think about me. Besides, he wanted to hurt me. That was part of it.”

 

“And…and then?”

 

“The straps he was using to hold me down weren’t firm enough, particularly with the voltage that the machine was turned up to. The first few shocks released my wrists and ankles and the last one, the biggest, sent me flying across the room and into the wall. That’s when my legs were broken.”

 

She felt Jarod draw back from her and looked up to see the pain that was on the faces of the three other people on the veranda.

 

“After that happened, he picked me up and realized that I was still alive. He took a sheet and wrapped me in it so that nobody could see me and then carried me back up to my room, leaving me on the bed…”

 

“…where I found you.”

 

“Yes, Jacob. And that was only about twenty minutes after he left.”

 

“And could you – feel? I mean, you said…”

 

“I know what I said, Jarod.” She looked up at him. “Yes, I could feel. Not right away, but the first thing was the pain. Then I knew that someone was about to come into my room, and he did.”

 

“Jacob?”

 

She shook her head, smiling slightly. “Timmy.”

 

“Rebecca?”

 

He bent over the bed and shook her gently, feeling her in his mind but wanting to have her look at him.

 

‘No, Timmy. I can’t do that, not right now.’

 

“Are you okay?”

 

‘I’m alive. That’s the main thing.’ There was a pause and he felt the pain, a weak echo of what she was feeling, in his mind. He turned away, feeling sick. ‘Go and make sure he’s okay.’

 

“Jarod?”

 

‘Yes. He’s angry, wanting me, and I can’t be there. You have to go for me.’

 

“But…Rebecca…”

 

‘No, Timmy, you can’t do anything for me.’

 

“Are you sure?”

 

‘Very sure. Now go, quickly.’

 

“I thought I heard a soft thud as I opened your door. That was Timmy leaving, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yes, Jacob.” She tried to smile. “He didn’t want to go, but I knew that you’d be there soon. Besides, Jarod needed him more than I did.”

 

Rebecca felt his arms around her and smiled, leaning back against him.

 

“And then?”

 

“Then what, Jarod?” She looked up and saw the curiosity in his eyes.

 

“After Jacob came?”

 

“I’ve never been too sure on that.” She smiled over at him. “Not what happened, but your motive. Did you come up with the idea of faking my death straight away or was it an idea that came later?”

 

He smiled. “If ‘later’ can be within thirty seconds, then, yes, it was later. My first thought was that you were really dead. My second was that you looked dead. And my third was that if I thought so, it shouldn’t be too hard to make other people think the same.”

 

Rebecca laughed. “I don’t why they made me do the simulations. You would have been just as good.”

 

She felt the needle enter her arm but the pain in her head and body was so great that it almost passed unnoticed.

 

“It’s okay, Rebecca.” His voice was soft and she could feel his hand on her head, gently stroking it. “This will help. I promise.”

 

Gradually the pounding in her brain began to recede, the pain ebbing away until finally her mind was clear. Slowly she felt the weight that had been holding her down all day lift and she opened her eyes, focusing on his face.

 

“Ja-cob.”

 

The word came slowly and he smiled. “Hi, sweetie.” Gently he brushed the hair away from her face.

 

“Jarod?”

 

“He’s feeling much better now.”

 

“And…Miss Parker?”

 

Jacob raised an eyebrow. “So you did know about that.” He smiled. “Yes, she’s better, too. But I think it’s time we got you out of here.”

 

She nodded and raised her arms, linking them behind his neck as he swung her up into his arms, a blanket wrapped tightly around her legs to stop them from being further damaged. She nestled into his neck and drowsily watched as he opened the door of the room with one hand, softly closing it behind him and rapidly walking down the hall to the car. Closing her eyes, she relaxed as he put her down on the back seat and climbed in behind the wheel.

 

“How could you…?”

 

“How could she what, Jarod?” Sydney looked over as Jarod shook his head in amazement.

 

“How, after everything that had been done to you, could you even think about me or Miss Parker? I mean, you must have been in agony…”

 

She shook her head. “It wasn’t so bad by then. I’d become used to it. And then whatever Jacob gave me helped too.” Turning her head, she looked up into his eyes. “But of course I thought about you two. You were the whole focus of my life, from the moment I first knew about your existence. If I hadn’t wanted to be sure that Jacob wasn’t worrying about me, it would have been your name and not his that I said first.”

 

There were tears in his eyes. “We were…?”

 

”Yes, Jarod.” She kissed him softly. “You always were.”

 

He looked up, blinking slowly several times until his vision cleared enough to see Sydney standing beside the bed.

 

“Hi, Jarod.”

 

“W…?” He tried to form the words but his lips were numb and wouldn’t work.

 

“What is it, Jarod?” Sydney leaned down, placing one hand on his arm. “What do you want?”

 

“Her.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Rebecca…”

 

Sydney straightened up, shaking his head. “No, Jarod. You can’t see her.”

 

The boy’s eyes filled with tears. “Please, Sydney.” His words were a whisper and the first of the salty drops slipped out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

 

“No, Jarod. She’s not here anymore.” He glanced away for a moment and then looked back down. “You won’t see her again, Jarod. Just forget about her.”

 

“Who else was there?”

 

“I was, Jarod.”

 

He looked over at the woman sitting opposite her and the confusion on his face cleared. “And, of course, you thought she was dead.”

 

“That was why, Jarod. I wanted to tell you more, but I couldn’t.” Sydney glanced over at Catherine, sadness in his eyes. “It was hard to know who to trust then.”

 

“But it can’t have been that much later that she came to you with the plan to get us out…”

 

”It wasn’t, Jarod.” Jacob spoke sadly. “But it was later enough for us to decide it would be better to keep it a secret. Nobody else knew, but we were concerned that if we told one person, others might find out too.”

 

“And did anybody else ever know?”

 

Rebecca looked up at him. “I know you heard me telling Miss Parker that her father knew. Not consciously, like I said then, but he somehow felt that I was still alive. His hatred for me and what I did, particularly later when he realized that I had to have helped the two of you find each other again, kept the memory of me in his mind. In fact he was still sure that I was alive in the world, even after I really was dead.”

 

“And thinking that Rebecca had died,” Catherine added. “I tried to convince my daughter to forget her as well.” She sighed and looked over. “I think that nobody in the world was ever meant to remember who you were.”

 

Rebecca smiled. “One person was. Timmy – Angelo never forgot.”

 

She slipped into the darkness of the vents, silently passing along them, going into the darkness, always downwards. Finally she appeared at the side of a room, fixing her eyes on the figure in the bed. Gently easing up the cover, she climbed out and walked over, looking down at him as he lay with his eyes closed, breathing erratically and with bruises on his arms and increased redness at two places on his chest.

 

“Rebecca.”

 

“Angelo.” Keeping her voice low, she turned and hugged him. “How is he?”

 

He looked sadly from the figure on the bed to her. “Pain. Bad pain.”

 

“Yes, Angelo. I know he’s in pain.”

 

She turned back and watched as Jarod's eyes moved under closed lips, as the dream began to invade his mind again, and as the events of that day and those of the past week haunted him. Slowly she reached out with one hand and placed it on his cheek, smiling sadly as she saw him relax almost immediately, something like a smile on his face.

 

“Remember?”

 

“No, Angelo. He doesn’t remember. Not consciously.”

 

“Dreams.”

 

“I know. He dreams about me sometimes. Not very often, though.” She sighed and then turned away, grabbing Angelo’s arm and pulling him with her into the darkest corner of the room, near the cover of the vent. As she reached out to pull it up, the door of the room opened.

 

“Jarod?”

 

At the sound of the voice, she turned, watching as Sydney stood for several seconds and stared down at the figure in front of him. Then, a sad expression on her face, she followed Angelo into the darkness of the vent, knowing that there was nothing she could do.

 

“You – were there?”

 

“Yes, Jarod. I had to be there. After I knew what Raines and Lyle would do to you there was no way I could have stayed away. I even watched them do it, the first day. I would have liked to be there every night, when they brought you back to your room, but I was too much…” She lowered her head, taking several deep breaths and closing her eyes.

 

“Too much what, Rebecca?”

 

Too much of a coward.”

 

“No, Rebecca.” Sydney leaned forward. “With everything you went through in your life, nobody could ever accuse you of that.”

 

Her mouth twisted. “You don’t know the half of it.”

 

“So tell me.”

 

”No.” She shook her head. “We’re getting rid of your nightmares now, not mine.”

 

“I dreamed about her again last night, Sydney.”

 

“Who, Jarod?” He looked over as the young man glanced up from the computer where he’d been working.

 

“The girl. The blond one. I told you about her.”

 

“Oh, yes. So you did.” Sydney looked calmly back down at the papers he’d been reviewing and, with a frustrated sigh, Jarod turned back to the computer.

 

“You couldn’t even remember my name by then, Sydney.” Rebecca laughed and watched as the man half-smiled in response.

 

“I suppose I tried to hard so make Jarod forget you that I managed to do the same thing to myself.” He looked up. “I’m sorry, Rebecca. You were such an important part of our lives and we all managed to forget you.”

 

“Almost all.” Rebecca looked over at Catherine. “Once you learned about me, you never managed to forget.”

 

”No, Rebecca.” Catherine smiled. “I couldn’t have forgotten you. Not just because of what you did…”

 

”…but because of what came afterwards.” Rebecca nodded and then glanced up at Jarod before looking back. “But we won’t got into that now.”

 

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

 

“Because I’m tired.” She yawned. “All I want to do right now is go home and go to bed.”

 

“And…?”

 

She smiled as she got up from the sofa. “I told you, Jarod. You can do everything you ever wanted to here.”
 
They Call It Paradise Part 2 

 

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