Whispers In The Dark

Chapter 5. Darkness Awaits You

Teaspoon run into Kid when he left Doc after Doc had returned from seeing to Rachel. Mrs. Denning had agreed to let her stay until she was better and Rachel had reluctantly agreed after seeing the blisters that was already forming on her arms. She was not going to much use at the station any way. Teaspoon promised to ask Mrs. Kelley to check on Jesse and the riders until Rachel was better.

"What's your hurry?" Teaspoon said as he held Kid back.

"Buck's sick," Kid replied.

"Sick? What do you mean sick?"

"I'm not sure, but he's in severe pain. We don't know what happened."

"All right, get the Doc then," Teaspoon said, feeling that things were quickly escalating beyond his control. Then he quickly walked down to the station where he found Lou still trying to ease Buck's pain with some compresses.

"Teaspoon," she said relieved," am I glad to see you."

Before Teaspoon was able to reply, Kid arrived, pushing Doc into the room.

"You never let a poor man have any rest," Doc Barnes complained as he approached Buck, but seeing the painful face he immediately set off to work.

"Can we go out?" Doc asked Teaspoon after a few minutes. "Noah, will you join us?"

As the men stepped out on he porch, Doc turned to the others.

"There's nothing wrong with him," Doc explained.

"What do you mean, nothing wrong? Just look at him?"

"He's in pain, true, but I can't find any reason for it."

"Nothing?"

"No. I understand you were closest to him when he first felt the pain, Noah?"

"Yes, we were fixing one of the wall on the barn." Noah replied.

"Did you see anything that could have caused this? A snake, spider anything?"

"Sorry, Doc, there was nothing there."

"What are you thinking, Doc?" Teaspoon asked.

"I don't know. The only thing I can think of is a snake bite or something like that, but if there weren't anything around there, then I don't have any clues. I guess that all we can do is to wait."

"But what about Buck?"

"We can only hope that the pain passes. If he's not better by the morning, I can try to give him some relief with some laudanum, but apart from that---" Doc shrugged.

"Well, if that's the way it is," Teaspoon shook his head. "Thanks, Doc, we'll keep you informed."

Doc nodded and grabbed his bag as he headed back to his offices.

Kid joined the others outside.

"What do we do now Teaspoon?" he asked.

"I don't know. I need to find those murderers from last night, and we need to keep the Express running. Who's up next?"

"I am." Kid replied.

"Well, Jimmy should be back soon and Cody's back tomorrow. Noah, maybe you can take Buck's ride tomorrow?"

"No problem, Teaspoon."

"All right. Now you have to decide who's gonna fix dinner tonight."

Kid and Noah looked at each other and sighed.

"We'll fix it."

*****

The night was miserable for everyone. Kid headed out just before nightfall in hope of an early return as Lou and Noah took turns sitting up. Noah felt fine through the night without any memory lapses or headaches, which made him feel better. For a while he'd feared that he was going to be sick, but apparently he was mistaken. However, Buck was not getting any better and he was still exposed to pain and Lou feared that he wouldn't last for long. She couldn't believe that he endured it through the night and she tried her best to ease the pain, but nothing seemed to help. She wished she knew what was causing it, but Buck was too weak to speak, so they remained in the dark. Jesse's fever was still going down but he had been surly and refused to talk to her. Not that she cared right now - she was more worried about Buck.

*****

Cody arrived around noon the day after, only to be welcomed by two tired riders, Lou and Noah. Unaware of what had happened, he smiled at them as he dismounted.

"Good news," he said happily. "There's no mail to Ft. Laramie this time. One of you got a day off!"

"I sure can use that," Noah agreed as he took care of Cody's horse. "How was your run?"

"Piece of cake. What's with the sad faces?"

"Rachel had an accident last night and Buck's down with something."

"With what?"

"We don't know," Lou replied tiredly. "And there's been three murders in town."

Cody looked at her with disbelief.

"Three murders? You're kidding me?"

"Wish I was."

"Sounds that there some interested stories for you to tell me. Now, how about something to eat?"

"You'll have to fix it yourself - Rachel's resting at Mrs. Denning after she burnt herself."

"No? Then who's making dinner?"

Lou shrugged.

"The one most hungry, I s'pose."

"Now why was I in such a hurry to get back," Cody complained.

"Stop whining, Cody." Lou looked at him. "This ain't funny."

*****

The day passed slowly. Lou felt compelled to sit with Buck but from time to time she was forced to leave, unable to stand the fact that she couldn't do anything for him. It was almost as if he wanted to say something to her, when the pain held him back. If she only knew what he wanted, she pondered, as she sat down next to Lightning on one of her breaks.

"I'm pleased you're all right any way," she mumbled to the horse. "And I wish that Kid was back soon - I'm probably crazy but I have that same feeling as I had in the basement. But don't you dare tell the boys, they'll laugh their heads off," she spoke softly to the horse, who looked up at her with his big brown eyes.

"Lou, are you here?" Noah called out into the stable.

"Yep, what's up?"

"Teaspoon's back with Doc. Thought you wanna know."

"Yes, thanks." Lou sighed and gave Lightning a final pad on the neck and walked up to Noah.

"You know Jesse thought it was your fault Buck's ill," she said jokingly to him as they walked back to the bunkhouse.

"Me? What did he based that on?"

"He said he saw you through the window - must be his fever playing tricks on him," she continued when she sensed a peculiar feeling and she looked sharply at Noah. "Right?"

"Probably." Noah answered after a few seconds hesitation. "I better talk to him about it."

Lou nodded, but there was a feeling of uneasiness tingling inside her, telling her that she shouldn't have told Noah about the incident. That's stupid, she thought, why shouldn't she tell Noah? Shaking her head she braced herself for what Doc would tell them about Buck as they joined Doc, Cody and Teaspoon on the porch.

"I still don't understand it," Doc shook his head, "He hasn't slept you say?"

"No, not a even a blink." Lou replied.

"Well, Doc?" Teaspoon asked a bit impatient.

"As I told you before, Teaspoon, pain can be quite serious if the patient isn't allowed to rest. It's straining his heart, and I fear that if he doesn't get some relief from it soon---" Doc left the sentence unfinished.

"So what can we do?" Lou asked almost despairingly.

"I can only think of one thing - an induced sleep. I can get him to sleep for a couple of hours with the use of laudanum. But remember that will only help him keep his strength for a while longer. It will not help him out of the pain or take away its cause."

"But it will help him?"

"In one way, yes. But you might also say that it will prolong everything as well."

"I don't think we have any choice. If it might help save his life, we'll do it," Teaspoon said. "Go ahead, Doc."

Doc nodded and returned into the bunkhouse.

"All right boys, there's chores to be done," Teaspoon said to the riders.

"I'll join Doc", Lou said and Teaspoon nodded his OK. As the others trailed off, Lou and Teaspoon went back into the bunkhouse.

*****

"Buck, son, Doc here is gonna give you something to sleep on, all right?" Teaspoon sat down next to Buck's bunk. To his surprise Buck shook his head.

"You need to rest, son."

Another shook. Teaspoon looked up at Lou with a question in his face. Lou joined him and looked at Buck.

"You can't take more of the pain unless you rest," she tried.

Buck shook his head again although it caused him more pain. He tried desperately to let them know that he couldn't rest. If he gave up fighting, he knew that he would loose not only his life but also his soul. He couldn't let them put him to sleep. The fear of what might happen then was far more greater than the fear of dying.

Doc handed over a cup to Teaspoon, who turned to Buck again.

"I don't want to do this against your will, Buck, but if I have to---"

Buck simply turned his head away and Teaspoon sighed. He handed the cup over to Lou.

"We'll have to make him drink it," he whispered sadly. Lou looked him.

"We can't do that," she replied in the same voice.

"You'd rather see him like this?"

Lou shook her head and accepted the cup as Teaspoon turned to Buck again.

"I don't want to do this Buck, but it is for your best," Teaspoon mumbled as he gently covered Buck's nose, forcing him to open his mouth in order for Lou to make him drink some of the laudanum. Buck tried not to swallow but with his nose covered he had no choice. Helplessly he felt the liquid trickle down his throat. Finally Lou removed the cup and he stared up into her face.

Lou saw the fear and accusation in Buck's eyes before the laudanum forced him to close them. Lou had never felt so low in her life. She didn't know why but she felt as if she had betrayed Buck, and that which she and Teaspoon just had done would turn out badly in the future. She looked at Teaspoon, who simply placed his hand on her shoulder as they watched Buck slowly fall asleep and his muscles relaxed as he no longer felt the pain.

*****

Buck felt himself floating as his soul left his body. Darkness surrounded him and he was surprised that he still was aware of his surroundings. As he turned he saw the light disappeared behind him and he was enclosed in complete darkness. He tried to reach the light again, knowing that if he could return he would be back among the others, when something held him back. Frightened he realized that his soul was held back by something else, something he recognized. When he suddenly heard the voice he thought he was lost.

"Welcome. I'm Barak and I think it's about time you tell me what I need to know. Or you'll never return to your body."

Buck desperately tried to move away from the spirit or force that seemed to have captured his soul, but there was no where to go. He could not return to his conscious self and he'd almost given up hope when he found he could move away from the entity, although he was forced to remain in the dark. Something had held the spirit force back, but somehow Buck knew that it wouldn't be like that for long. He just had to find a way to return before that happened.

Barak cursed silently. At first he hadn't believed his luck when the older man, Teaspoon, had decided to put the Indian to sleep. He knew that it meant that he would be able to control the soul as it left the body and he'd managed to do that. Now if he held on to the soul, the body would eventually die, and beside that, a soul that was inexperienced in travelling in that world would be an easy target for him. But the unknown force had once more stopped him from controlling the soul completely - the young Indian had more powerful friends than he'd thought. Well, it didn't matter - he could find his strength somewhere else - and as long as he held the Indian's soul, the Indian couldn't do him, Barak, any harm.

*****

Lou remained by Buck's side long after Teaspoon had left. She couldn't escape the feeling that they had done something wrong and that Buck was in more trouble than he'd been before. But now it was done and there was nothing she could do about it. So she sat by Buck's side, watching his every breath as is she feared that they suddenly would stop. She sat there with her head in her hands when Cody and Noah returned after finishing the chores.

"How is he?" Noah asked as he walked up to her.

"Sleeping," Lou replied shortly.

"Hey, you're moody," Cody said lightly as he joined them. "Honestly, Lou, how is he?"

Lou sighed.

"Don't know." She looked up at them and hesitated before she continued.

"Do you notice anything strange about him?"

"What do you mean strange?" Noah asked.

"I don't really know - do you notice something?"

"No. Can't say I do. What are you aiming at Lou?" Cody asked.

Lou bit her lip.

"I'm not sure, but - you know, when you're sleeping, you're always moving around a little or your eyelids move?"

"Yes?"

"Buck's don't. It's as he wasn't here - as if he's dead, except for him breathing." Lou shrugged.

"I see what you mean, Lou," Noah confessed, "but don't you think that's just because it's not a natural sleep. After all he only sleeps because of the laudanum."

"Noah's right, Lou - that must be it. Don't worry, he's probably better tomorrow. Is Jesse still cross?"

"Yes, he won't talk to anyone. I do wish Rachel will return soon." Lou rose from the chair.

"S'pose we better go to bed then."

Jesse couldn't sleep. After what he'd seen the previous evening he was sure that there was something seriously wrong with Noah. He couldn't believe that the Noah he knew could have done Buck any harm, but he had seen Noah do something to Buck. And now Buck was unconscious, beyond being able to tell them what had happened. Jesse had tried to tell Lou, but she had simply believed that he was delirious. But he wasn't. He knew what he had seen, and he hadn't that high fever. But it seemed that Lou and the others couldn't see what he by now was convinced about. Something had happened to Noah and now he was a danger to al of them. Especially him, Jesse, if Noah found out he knew. This had been on Jesse's mind for the last twenty minutes and keeping him awake. He was slowly getting tired and just about to fall asleep when he noticed the door standing slightly ajar. He was sure Lou had closed it when she left. The discovery made him awake at once and he stared out in the darkness as his heart begun to beat faster. Slowly the door opened and Jesse found that he was too scared to even scream or let out a sound. Slowly the door opened completely, but Jesse could not see anything. Fear made his throat go dry and he had difficulty to breathe. Slowly he moved in his bed, unaware of the headache, as far as possible away from whatever it was that was hiding behind the door. Jesse swallowed hard.

"Noah?" he croaked silently, not sure what he'd expect.

A sinister laughter seemed to fill his head.

"Your Noah doesn't exist anymore." The low voice seemed to lack an origin an Jesse put his hands over his ears in hope of not hearing. Convinced the something terrifying was coming to kill him, he suddenly jumped out of bed and rushed for the backdoor, unable to turn around. His only thought was to get as far away from the station as possible. He needed to tell somebody what was going on, somebody that would believe him and that wasn't influenced by the "false" Noah. He needed to get Jimmy.

Barak sneered at the disappearing figure that headed for the stable. The boy would die before he reached town, he would see to that. He would just enjoy the chase a bit first.

To be continued Chapter VI