The Bridge (Para-Earth Series) (41 page)

             
But, she/he managed to talk to Sergeant Ross when Cyrus had been out.  She/he hadn’t been able to tell her everything, the control over her/his mind was too great.  But an arrangement had been made…

              Now the sounds of something moving were coming from the underside of the bridge…

              Veronica… was going to take the baby and adopt it…

             
Another stab of pain hit, they were getting worse.

             
Where was she?  Rachel/Alex cried out, “Ronnie I need you… OUR BABY’S COMING…”

              Cassandra let out a groan of pain. “Oh God…”

             
Julie looked at her with worry, “What is it?”

             
“It’s Alex,” the smaller woman breathed, “Something’s happening to him.  How much farther is it?”

             
“At least another 10-15 minutes,” Julie told her.  “Tell him to hang on, Ronnie will be there shortly.”

             
“I’ll try,” Cassie promised, “but there’s something interfering.”

             
“The baby?”

             
“No,” the smaller girl shook her head and said quietly, “something else.  Something that doesn’t belong…”

              It was a girl, and they were all alone.  Jason was away, and there was no sign of Ronnie.  The baby was crying.  She needed to be fed and cleaned.

             
Rachel/Alex staggered towards the water. ‘I could drop us both in,’ she/he thought, ‘then we’d be together always.  Not much of a life really…’

             
Then she/he noticed her reflection in the water.

             
It wasn’t his of course.  It was Rachel’s and she was holding her newborn daughter.  As he watched through her eyes, Alex saw Rachel’s expression change in the watery mirror and knew a choice had been made.

             
Drowning wasn’t the answer.  She’d get the baby to Ronnie...  Ronnie said she’d adopt it.  “Maybe she’ll take me too,” Rachel/Alex murmured hopefully.

             
She/he looked down at their reflection one last time and started.  Something black and with many arms was coming up behind them.  “WHAT THE…” Suddenly, she was hit from behind and they were both thrown into the stream.  Looking around Alex noticed the water around her/him turning red.  But only one thought ran through her/his mind, ‘MY BABY’S IN THE WATER…. MY BABY…. I CAN HEAR HER CRYING…. MY BABY…’

             
Suddenly, something grabbed them from below…

             
As the vision ended, Alex saw that something like a black rope made of human hair, had wrapped itself around him and his macabre savior.  A moment later, the two of them were lifted out of the water and
slammed against the side of the bridge.

             
The sound of snapping bone echoed in his ears, yet he’d felt nothing.  At the last second, his rescuer had twisted their bodies so that she took the brunt of the blow, saving him once again. 

             
Instinctively, he reached up grabbed the railing to keep them from being slammed against the stonework again.  “Thank you, Rachel,” he breathed.

             
Somehow, the battered skeletal figure managed a sad smile. 

             
He smiled back at her as everything finally became clear to him.  She had recognized his talents the night of the Policeman’s Ball and had broken Cyrus’ control, just long enough to ask for his help.  But, he hadn’t understood at the time and hadn’t been able to help her. 

             
Then on the night of the Open House she had sensed him once more and tried reaching out to him.  Unfortunately, he’d still been closed off psychically and had not recognized who or what she was.  But, now he knew everything, including what they were really up against.

             
At that moment, she released her grip on him.  As she fell away, he saw her mouth move.  There was no sound, but he heard her nonetheless. 
“Save her.  Please save my baby…”

             
A moment later, she hit the water and sank out of sight. 

             
Alex stared sadly at the spot where she disappeared. 
‘All those years and no one thought to look for you down there.  But not even death could stop you from trying to rescue your child from the thing that took her from you.’
  Having experienced the child’s birth, he suddenly knew what a Mother’s resolve felt like.  “I’ll save her, I swear it,” he said aloud, knowing that it would be easier said than done.

             
First he needed to get onto the bridge, instead of hanging on its side, like some forgotten Christmas decoration.  He tried pulling himself up, only to realize the black length of hair was still holding onto him.  And he was slowly losing both his grip and his strength.  “I meant what I said before,” he called out.

             
He heard a noise and looked down.  From the beneath the bridge SHE was watching him.  Her face was full of anger, but not hate.  He could sense confusion and uncertainty from her.  “I do care about you,” he told her.

             
Her expression changed as she pulled him away from the bridge and dangled him directly in front of her.  It was as if she were studying him.

             
Luckily, this gave Alex a chance to get a better look at her as well.  She had a very slender frame, with yards and yards of black tresses that moved and waved about.  He briefly thought of Medusa, until he noticed that some of the hair seemed to go into the cracks between the stonework of the bridge.  That was how it had seemed to come to life earlier and toss him about. 

             
“You were born of an act of violence,” he told her, his voice tight with emotion. “I know what you suffered and I understand your anger.”

             
She drew him closer and he let her see the pain in his eyes.

             
“I can’t undo what happened,” he whispered sadly, “I wish to God I could.”

             
She quickly turned away. 

             
At that moment Alex realized she could sense his emotions and opened himself even more.  “I’m so sorry, please believe me.”

             
She began to tremble.  Was it anger?  Or was he getting through to her?

             
He could see that her eyes were cast down to where Rachel’s corpse had fallen into the water.  “She never abandoned you.  Your mother…”

             
The infant’s scream of rage cut off the rest of his words.

             
Alex found himself lifted high into the air as the child’s hair stretched upwards and then quickly brought back down. 

             
A moment later, his battered body hit the surface of the bridge with a wet thud.  It rolled several feet and came to rest.  He did not move.  

              For several minutes only the sounds of the falling rain and thunder could be heard.  Then the scrabbling noise began and grew louder until the child rose up from underneath the bridge.  Using her black coils, she lowered herself onto the stones and began to grotesquely half crawl/half walk towards her victim.  She could see the marks on his clothing where her mother had touched him. 

             
The child began to tremble with rage.  She had tried to save him, but not her.  IT had touched her mind that night.  IT had shown her what her mother had been thinking, how she had planned to kill them both.  But IT had cared.  IT had rescued her from the water, after her mother jumped in so they could both drown together.

             
She paused and stared down at her victim.

             
This one said he cared, and she had begun to believe him.  Then, just as she had thought about pulling him out of the water, her mother had appeared and rescued him.  Just has she should have done for her, but didn’t.  Trembling with rage she opened her mouth inhumanly wide, emitting a nightmare wail.  The tips of her hair-tentacles twisted and squirmed eager to tear her victim apart and…

             
“DON’T!” a voice cried. 

              Veronica saw the infant/child change into her teenage form and turn to face her.  “I know you’re not Rachel,” she told the child moving closer. “You’re her baby.”

             
The infant/teen’s hair started to lengthen menacingly.

             
“She was going to let me adopt you,” Veronica continued, stopping her approach.  “That means I was going to be your Mommy.  She was going to let me raise you as my own.”

             
The black tendrils halted their growth.

             
Ronnie’s voice became more tender and sad.  “I couldn’t have a child because I got hurt when I was her age.  When she told me that she was going to have a baby but couldn’t take care of it, I offered to take you and she said yes.  I was so looking forward to having you in my life.”

             
Suddenly Alex stirred and croaked, “Veronica…”

             
“Don’t move,” she told him, without looking.  The fact that he could speak and move was a great relief.  But she didn’t dare look away from the child, who was eyeing her suspiciously. 

             
Getting down on one knee, Veronica held out a flower.  Rachel had told her to do this during their mind-link.  It was the only safe way to approach the baby.

             
“I never stopped searching for you.  I’ve never stopped caring,” she told the child as it moved awkwardly towards her. 

             
The baby’s face remained emotionless, but her eyes were fixed on the flower.  And now the black tendrils of hair seemed to be trembling as if confused and unsure of what to do.

             
In the background, Alex tried to get up.

             
“I still want you,” Veronica told the child, who was slowly shrinking in size to her real form.

             
“I love you.  Just as your mother loved yo…”

             
The infant suddenly uttered a wail of rage so powerful, Ronnie to dropped the flower and try to protect her ears.

             
At the same time she saw the black tentacles of hair suddenly coming at her with a vengeance.  

             
But before they reached her, Alex launched himself at the tiny figure using his good leg. The infant was caught completely off guard.  Her coils flailed wildly, smashing huge gaps in the railing as he grabbed her.

             
The black tresses continued to whip about, sending the two of them rolling back and forth across the bridge and finally towards one of those newly made gaps in the railing…

              They were alone now.  There was nothing around them only swirling white. 

             
“It’s all right.  I’m not going to hurt you.” murmured Alex soothingly, as he stroked the newborn’s pink head. His plan to block the ‘other’ from connecting with her mind had succeeded. It couldn’t reach her.  Now it was just the two of them.

             
The infant seemed lost and confused.  Instinctively she clung tighter to him, as uncertainty filled her with fear.

             
Alex leaned down and kissed her head, “THIS is love, little one.  This is what your Mum wanted to give you.  It’s what Veronica wants to give you.  And now I’m giving it to you, because you’ve touched my heart in a way you never intended.”  He began to rock her gently.

             
The baby made a confused noise between a cry and a whimper.

              “SOMEBODY HELP ME!” cried Veronica, clinging desperately to part of the remaining rail with one hand, while holding onto one of Alex’s legs with the other.  She hadn’t moved fast enough to stop him and the baby from falling through the opening, but at least she’d kept them from falling into the torrent below. 

             
The storm had swelled the stream to dangerous levels, and it was moving fast.  If they fell in, she might be able to rescue one or the other, but not both.  And there was no guarantee she’d even succeed in saving herself afterwards.  So her only option was to try and pull them back up.  Unfortunately, the stones were slick from the falling rain, which meant she couldn’t get her footing straight enough to do so. 

             
Staring down, she saw the child had reverted what must be its true form.  It looked like an emaciated corpse-infant that was somehow still alive.  And apparently, it had ceased to struggle against her love.  In fact, the child seemed staring off into space, as if witnessing something amazing.