"Sarah?!" Lydia exclaimed.
Sarah didn't pay any attention, "WHY?" she screamed. "Why did you do that to me? To Emily? How could you?" Daniel, rubbing his face, stared up at her in disbelief.
Stephan came quickly to her side, "Sarah, it wasn't his fault. That was a long time ago--"
"Shut up!" she pushed him away, "You weren't there. You didn't see what happened. You couldn't possibly know what it feels like to watch your only child frightened and in pain and not be able to help her. To have your true love die in your arms knowing that he is leaving you in a life of hate and abuse."
Daniel stood back up and walked around to her. "Sarah. I tryed to stop it. I tryed so hard." He carefully placed his hands on her arms, "Don't you think that I saw all the pain he was causing you and Emily? Don't you think that I tryed everything in my power to save you even if it meant defying everything I stood for?"
Sarah's eyes glistened in the light as she gazed into his eyes. She reached up her hand to brush away the strands of hair that threatened to cover them. She shook her head slightly, "Then why did you attack him again? Why couldn't you have just let me go?"
A single tear slipped down his cheek, "I couldn't let you risk your life for mine. I wasn't worth it."
Sarah's facial expression softened causing her to look angelic. She placed both hands upon Daniel's face, "Joseph?" she whispered, "If you weren't worth it, do you think that I would have done it in the first place? You are worth every moment of my exsistence."
"And you, Molly, are worth every breathe of mine. That's why attacked him."
Sarah's lip quivered as she solemly rested her head on his shoulder and began to cry. Daniel ran his hands through her dark silk like hair as he to began to let his tears flow freely.
Lydia grabbed Stephan's hand, "Come, let's give them some time alone. Will talk to them later." Stephan nodded in agreement as he followed Lydia out of the apartment.
Sarah layed in her bed thinking quitely. Her mind was wandering with thoughts about this week's sessions. She and Daniel had visited Paris in the early 1700s. His name was Jean, a French aristocrat with a lust for power. Her name was Gabrielle, a young Spanish woman who knew very little French but talked only to Jean because she, "...found him a ruthless man with a hidden, gentle soul..."
Basically, like most of the women of this millenia, felt that she could change him. Unfortunely, eventhough he claimed he loved her dearly, he feared to lose his rank in society or more precisly feared that his father would have him killed if he continued on this "...ridiculous escapade..." Therefore, Jean requested that Gabrielle be sent off to England and never saw her again.
They also encountered lives that they did not live together. Daniel visited the 1800's in India were he was the son of an English scientist searching for cures and vaccines for wide spreading dieasies. One day he, his name being Jeremy, and his younger brother we're playing in the jungles. He lost his brother during their game. He returned home hoping to find his brother had returned there but he had not. After being scolded and slapped for his irresponibilty, Jeremy returned to jungles that night in search of his brother. After some time he came upon the near by lake. To his horror his little brother's body lay floating in the water. He had drowned and Jeremy blamed himself for his death.
Sarah visited the 1920's in New York City, America. She was an 18 year old girl named Michelle who was romatically involved with a charming young man. He turned out to be a gangster in the bootleg business. After some time he began to beat her. Finally, he offered her to a pair of cops in exchange for their silence. Michelle fought all night as the two men had their way with her. They left her at the foot step of her apartment. She wearily made her way up the stairs, through the apartment, to the kitchen, and finally to the bathroom. There she filled the tub with hot water and stepped in. After washing herself for awhile trying to get the filth off and out of her she lay in the water for moments thinking to herself. She then took the knife she had gotten from the kitchen and slit both wrists and the insides of her thighs.
When Sarah had awoken from that life she was crying and screaming so violently that it took both Daniel and Stephan to hold her down, barely.
But, something else also occupied Sarah's mind. The little girl, Emily. Sarah, being only 19, now had the memory of a daughter. A beautiful child whose eyes she could never forget. She wondered if she had encountered Emily's soul other than that life. Maybe she has met her in this life. No, that couldn't be possible. Sarah would remember seeing those eyes. Eyes of bright and gold starbursts. Unforgetable eyes.
A small knock came at the door breaking her thoughts. "Come in."
Daniel walked into the bedroom. He stared at Sarah for a moment. She wasn't facing him. Instead she was looking out the window. "And what are we thinking about?"
Sarah turned her head to him and smiled, "Oh, not much. What's up?"
"Lunch is ready."
"Oh, okay, I'll be down in a minute."
Daniel began to turn and walk out of the room, but stopped and looked back at her, "Sarah, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Daniel," she sat up and sat crossed legged on the bed, "I'm as fine as I can be."
He sat on the edge on the near her, "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked cautiously.
Sarah shrugged a bit, "I don't know. It's just that..." she trailed off. Daniel waited to see if she would decide to finish. Finally, she looked at him, "I hate these sessions. I hate the way I feel when it's over, but...but I'm addicted to the knowlegde I gain from it. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. I mean, you...you have to have noticed the change in yourself since this began."
Daniel sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I've noticed and I know what you mean. I hate these sessions too, but I think they've been helping over come a lot of the phobias I've had, just like Lydia said they would." He looked down at his hands, "I'll tell you this though, if Ben, Chris, or my family were to see me now, they would know something's up." Sarah gasped a little and quickly swung her legs over the bedside. "Oh, God. What?" Daniel asked worriedly.
Sarah didn't turn to face him. "I forgot. Ben emailed me a couple of nights ago. He said that he and Chris were planning on visiting in a couple of weeks."
"What?"
"And that they might bring Heath."
"Sarah!"
"I forgot," she twitched.
Daniel fell back on the bed exasperated, "Well, this is just perfect. Just fucking perfect."
"Do you want me to email him back and tell him not to come?"
"No. That will just sound really suspisious and then my parents might show up as well. Besides, after we told Heath about 6th St, he's been dieing to come."
"Then what are we going to do?"
Daniel placed his hand over his eyes and sighed, "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"If there's one thing I know about Ben Gillies, it's that he always comes up with his own conclusions. He'll just think that it's you that caused my transformation."
"Me?" Sarah asked confused, "How would I cause your transformation?"
Daniel sat up and turned towards her, "How would you cause my transformation?" he smiled and moved closer to her. "The way you have already started to cause it. Your smile, your laugh, your eyes," he got a mischivious look, "Your moves."
He began to lower her back on to the bed and started to kiss her neck. She giggled a bit. "Didn't you just say that lunch was ready?"
"Yeah, so?" he continued on her neck and began nibbling it as well.
"So," she bit her lip, trying not to squeak, as Daniel had discovered, to his amusement, she did from time to time. "Doesn't that mean that Amy and Mike will be waiting for us?"
"We can be quick."
Sarah laughed and gently pushed Daniel off of her, "As much as I would love to break our record, lover boy, I think we better go downstairs before they really start making up stories." Sarah got up from the bed and began walking towards the door. Before she reached it she noticed that Daniel hadn't gotten up yet. He was still lying on the bed face down. "Daniel, what's wrong?"
"Nothing...too big. Just give me a couple of minutes to, umm, calm down."
Sarah surpressed her laughter, "Serves you right."
"Shut up."
Sarah smiled and went downstairs.
"Hey, Sarah. You think you can give me a hand with this?" Kelly called from across the empty club, carrying a large box.
Sarah ran over to her and quickly grabbed the bottom side of the box as it looked like it was about to drop at any moment. "Whew. Thanks."
"No problem."
“Hey, Sarah. There’s someone here to see you,” James yelled from across the club.
Sarah turned around to see Lydia standing near the bar. She helped Kelly set down the heavy box before moving over to her. “Hey! What are you doing here?” Sarah asked as she hugged Lydia.
“Well, I tried to call you at your house, but you weren’t there and neither was Daniel, so I figured I would just show up here.”
“Oh, yeah. He went Round Rock with my brother to pick up some stuff. He’ll be back in a few hours. What’s up?”
James placed two cups of tea in front of the woman, “Here you go ladies. It’s on the house.”
Lydia smiled, “Thank you,” She returned her attention to Sarah as she grabbed her cup, “Can we talk in private?”
Sarah looked at her curiously, “Umm, sure. Let’s go sit over here.” She led Lydia to a small table in the far backend of the club. The two sat down quietly. Lydia took a small sip of her tea and quickly looked over her shoulder to make sure that no one was coming over. Sarah stared at her for a moment before finally speaking, “Lydia, is something wrong? What is it?”
“Nothing dear. Really. Umm, oh, before I forget, we’re not going to have a session tonight. Stephan went to pick up his niece in New Mexico. He’ll be back tomorrow morning.”
“Oh that’s right. He said something about her coming to stay with him for a while. I thought she was flying in though.”
“Yes, she was supposed to but the flight was cancelled so Stephan offered to pick her up instead.” “Her name is Laura right? How old is she again?”
“Yes, it’s Laura. She just turned seventeen I believe.”
“Tell me again why she stays with him.”
“Well, they are very close and she stays with him from time to time. You see her parents are art investors and they travel a lot, so since Stephan’s brother in-law is an only child and Stephan is the only sibling his sister has they send Laura to stay with him. Plus, he lived with his sister and her husband for a while and while he was there he would baby-sit for them. Laura grew a close bond with him since he practically raised her so they figure it seems only natural that she stays with him while they are away. She’s just more comfortable with him.”
“That makes sense. So all you wanted to tell us is that there won’t be a session tonight?” Sarah asked sipping her tea.
“No, not really. I did want to talk to you about something before our next session, but I was hoping that Daniel would join us. I guess you can just discuss this with him later.”
“What is it?”
“Since, your first session, your first real session, has there been anything on your mind that you can’t seem to shake?”
Sarah raised her eyebrows and sighed, “Umm, actually, now that you mention it there has been something.” Sarah leaned in closer, “I can’t stop thinking about Emily, my daughter. I mean it’s just that I think about it and well you claim that you and I have met before and I’ve apparently met Stephan. Of course, I know I’ve met Daniel, but her….I just wonder. Have I ever met her more than once? I mean she hasn’t been in any of the other lives that I’ve encountered and I know that I haven’t met her in this one because she had eyes that I could never forget. So, like I said I just wonder if there were any other times that I’ve met that soul.”
Lydia nodded, “I figured that you would. Most people always wonder about what happened to their children in a past life. Well, as far as I know, you’ve encountered her a few times more, but I’m not sure of the significance of the relationships.” Sarah bit her lip as she pondered on that thought. Lydia continued, “The reason I was asking about this is basically to prepare you.”
“Prepare me? For what?”
“Well, let’s just say that you did encounter Emily’s soul again. How do you think you will react?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah sighed again, “I’ve never really thought about it.”
“You see, I’ve seen this happen to other people before. They encounter a soul that was once their child or their mother or father and they automatically began that bond again. The child wants to stay with this person and the person wants to keep that child. It’s difficult for the child’s parents in this life to deal with something like that.”
“I’m sure.”
“So, I just want you and Daniel to prepare yourselves. I mean in case this happens. More than likely it won’t. It’s just that sometimes they person still looks the same and has the same attributes and things. Anyway, just think about how you would react and that you have to keep in mind that although she was your child in a past life she is not your child now. That’s difficult for some people to cope with but they have to remember that we are all souls and we can’t let our human emotions from other lives interfere with the ones we have now. Do you understand?”
Sarah nodded solemnly, “I understand.”
“Good.” Lydia looked at her watch, “Well, I have to go. Be sure to discuss this with Daniel, please.”
“Yeah, I will,” they both stood up, “Wait, Lydia. Why did you seem so anxious to talk to about this? What was the importance of knowing this now?”
Lydia shrugged slightly, “It had just occurred to me this morning and I thought I would tell you about it while it was still fresh in my mind that’s all.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll tell Daniel and I guess we’ll see you tomorrow,” Sarah stated.
“Okay, Hun,” Lydia hugged her quickly, “Bye.”
“Bye.”
As Lydia was walking out of the club, Amy walked up to Sarah, “Who was that?”
“Oh, that’s just a friend of mine. She, umm, likes to talk about my stories and stuff.”
“Where did you meet?”
“At the book shop near Barton.”
“Oh, cool,” Amy nodded, “Do you think you can help me and Kelly with some more of these boxes?”
“Sure.”
“So I talked to Ben today,” Daniel brought up while they were eating dinner.
Sarah looked up, “Oh yeah? What did he have to say?”
“Umm, he and Chris are coming next Tuesday. They’re going to bring the girls and Heath.”
“Does this mean Amy and I are going to have to move out?” Mike joked.
Daniel nodded, “Yeah, actually. Umm, you see we don’t have all this money that people think we have so this trip is actually putting Ben and Chris in debt. Which also means that they probably won’t be going back to Australia anytime soon. Which reminds me, Sarah. You might want to take on two jobs because I’m not going to be able to pay for myself anymore. Sorry, beautiful. And the guys wanted to know if you could get them jobs at Mystique.”
By this time Sarah and Mike were barely on their chairs trying to conceal their laughter. Amy was just staring at Daniel like he had completely lost it. “What?”
Daniel giggled, “Amy. I’m kidding.”
“Oh. I knew that.”
Mike patted her on her head gently, “Sure you did.”
“I did! Really, I did.”
Daniel shook his head and laughed again, “No. Ben said they are planning on staying at the Embassy Suites again. He likes it there since it’s practically walking distance to 6th St. Well, at least in his mind it’s walking distance.”
“Is Heath going to stay with them too?” Sarah asked.
“Yeah. Actually, Heath was thinking about bringing Owen, a friend of his, with him.”
“So we’re going to be busy next week?” Amy concluded.
“Yup, pretty much.”
Mike clapped his hands together, “Wooooohoo! PARTY!”
Later that night, Sarah sat on the bed writing in her journal. Daniel sat next to her, “Can I see?”
“Not if you want to be clocked in the head,” she said scooting away from him, “Besides, there’s nothing in here that you already don’t know about me.”
“There must be something since you never let me read it.”
“Don’t worry about it okay?”
“Okay. Okay.” Daniel lay down next to her.
Sarah looked at him and put her journal down, “Daniel. Can I talk to you about something?”
Daniel sat up and rested on his elbow, “What’s up?”
“It’s something that Lydia talked to me about when she stopped by the club today, and it is something that has sort of been on my mind.” She made herself more comfortable, “Umm, do you ever think of Emily, our daughter from the first session?”
Daniel sat up a little, “Yeah. Actually, I think about her quite often. Why do you ask?”
“Well, Lydia brought up an interesting question. How would we react if we were to run into her soul again?
“Oh, wow. I’ve never thought about that actually.”
“Yeah, neither have I but she asked us to think about it. Talk about it I guess.”
“Why?”
“She said that she’s seen some cases were the parent and child souls meet again even if they are total strangers in that life and the bond between them never really died. She said it caused emotional problems and such. I guess she just doesn’t what us to go through something like that, you know?”
“Well, that’s a good reason, I guess,” he sighed, “So, how would you react?”
“I honestly don’t know. I mean I guess my love for her or him would be the same, but I’m only nineteen. I don’t even plan on having children till I’m at least twenty-five. How can I truly love a child that’s not mine, especially if it comes to the point that she or he is an adult in this life? The point is, it would be hard for me to think of her as my child because she would look so different.”
Daniel sat up entirely this time, “Yeah, I agree. I think that I would still care about her, but what if she is like 65 years old? The bond would probably be there, but I think that it would be difficult to think of her as ours.”
“I guess maybe she just wants us to keep in mind that we are not her parents anymore and that if we ever were to meet this soul again to remember that in this life she is not our child.”
“Yeah,” Daniel lay back down and rested his hands over his chest. Sarah sighed and laid down next to him. “I still don’t understand,” Daniel whispered.
“Understand what?”
“Why we are the ones who were chosen to go through this. There are too many people in this world for it to be just us that does this. Why us?”
Sarah lifted her hand to his face and brush away his blonde strands of hair, “I wish I knew, Daniel. I really do.”
“Michelle’s dead. They found her body this morning.”
His legs went weak. He held on to the table to keep from falling. “Dead?” He breathed out. “Jack found her?”
“No. She committed suicide. An overdose on valium.”
Finally he couldn’t keep himself up anymore and he fell to his knees, “W…what? Why? Why would-“
“They called her last night and told her that you were dead. They said that they were coming after her. She feared for Jesse’s life and grieved over you so much that she took her own. I’m sorry, man.”
His breathing became shallow, “And Jesse? Where is she?”
“She’s with Simone. She’s safe but for how long I don’t know,” Leo paused, “Travis, they are looking for you. They want you dead, and if-“
“If they don’t find me…they’ll kill Jesse.”
“Yes.”
“Well, then when Tom comes to meet me I’ll tell him to tell me where they are so that I can surrender myself.”
“He’s dead to. They killed him last night before they called Michelle. They went to him to find her location, but since he didn’t know yours, they killed him.”
“But they knew that he had to meet me today, why couldn’t they just come with him?”
“I guess they couldn’t wait that long.”
He was getting more and more light headed, “He was the only one who knew were they were. How long do I have, before they go after Jesse?”
“Midnight. Travis, what are you going to do?”
“In truth Leo, there’s only one thing I can do,” he stared at the gun that lay on the dresser.
“Travis, don’t be stupid! There has got to be another way.”
“What Leo? What other way? Either way I’m dead!”
“You can come stay with me and Simone. If we have to run, we’ll run.”
“No! I will not run from this. The more I run the more danger I put Jesse into. Michelle told me to get out of this and I wouldn’t listen because I needed the money. But now I have to pay for it with my daughter’s life. No. No, I will not do this. I put her into danger I will get her out.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to wait about twenty minutes. Then call an ambulance and said them over. Make sure that this gets all over the news by tonight. Tell as many people as you can. Jack has to know before midnight.”
“Yeah,” Leo choked out, “You got it.”
“I want you to do me one more favor Leo.”
“Anything.”
“I don’t want you or Simone to tell Jesse the truth. Ever.”
“Alright. We won’t tell her what hap-“
“No, Leo. I mean don’t tell her “The Truth”. Don’t tell her about old souls. Don’t teach her anything and don’t put her through any sessions.”
“But Trav-“
“I mean it Leo. It’s too much to handle. To know the meaning of life and all that, she doesn’t need that okay? Do I make myself clear?”
Leo sighed, “Yeah.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise never to tell her the truth. And I promise to tell Simone to do the same.”
“Thank you.”
Leo swallowed hard, “Well, man. I guess this is it?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you around.”
“You bet.”
“Bye.”
And with that he hung up the phone. He walked over to the dresser and picked up the handgun. He stared at it for a moment. He took a deep breath, “Well, Michelle, I’ll see you soon.”
He walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Daniel awoke with a start, breathing very heavily. “A dream. Just a dream,” he whispered to himself. He turned his head towards Sarah who was still sound asleep next to him. He looked at the clock; 10:23am. He rubbed his face and slowly moved out of the bed.
Daniel sat on the stage in the club watching everyone working. Marissa noticed him sitting there. She slowly walked up to him. “Hey, there. Why are you sitting here by yourself?”
He smiled, never looking up at her, “I’m just waiting for Sarah.”
“Oh,” she nodded, “So tell me, how is this relationship going? Between you and Sarah I mean.”
“It’s good. Great in fact,” he sighed a bit and then finally looked at her, “Marissa, how long have you known her?”
“Sarah? Oh, let’s see. I’d say about seven years, even though we’ve been going to school together since kinder, but we started hanging out in junior high. Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s just that….well….oh, nothing. Never mind.”
“No, tell me. What’s wrong?” Marissa jumped up on the stage and sat down next to him.
“Well, I kind of feel like she’s keeping something from me. I mean, we talk about everything, but there are times I see her sitting by herself reading or something, but I can tell she’s not really paying attention to the book. I’ve asked her about it a couple of times but she just finds a way to avoid answering the questions. I don’t want to push her about it and I’ve been doing a pretty good job about ignoring it, but it still bothers me. I just wish she would tell me her secrets. Anyway, I was just wondering because I thought maybe you could tell me what’s wrong. Do you know of anything that she isn’t telling me?” he asked looking directly at her.
Marissa licked her lips and immediately avoided Daniel’s gaze, “No,” she mumbled.
Daniel turned his body toward her, “Marissa, if there is something wrong with Sarah you have to tell me.”
“You know what’s wrong with her, Daniel.”
“Know I don’t. I understand her emotions, but I don’t get her. What is the secret she’s keeping from me, Marissa? I know you know. I know Kelly knows, and Heather knows. Almost all of you know. And of course you all would because you’ve known her for so long, so please tell me.”
Just then Sarah came running up to them, “Hey, what are you two talking about?” she asked with a big smile.
Marissa jumped off the stage, “Oh, you know, the good old days, things like that. I have to go back to work. I’ll see you guys later,” Marissa turned on her heels and walked away.
Sarah looked up at Daniel, “The good old days? Like, high school and stuff?”
“Yeah, you know how we “old people” are. Always talking about that crap,” he slid off the stage, “Is it about that time?”
Sarah looked at her watch, “Yeah, we better get going.” The two of them walked to the front of the club, “We’re leaving you guys. See you later,” Sarah called out to no one in particular.
“Wait, Sarah,” Tony called, running up to her, “I need you to sign this before you leave.”
She turned to Daniel, “Hang on.” She followed Tony to the bar.
Daniel stood by the door and waited for her when Marissa came up behind him, “She is keeping something from you,” she whispered.
Daniel turned to face her, “What is it?”
“I can’t tell you. None of us can. It’s something personal and it’s something you are going to have to ask her yourself.”
“But she won’t tell me.”
“Trust me, Daniel. In time she will. She’s loves you too much not to tell you.”
Daniel looked over at Sarah, “I hope you’re right.”
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