Lo! Death has reared itself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim west
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest
These shrines and palaces and towers
Time eaten towers that tremble not
Resemble nothing that is ours
Around, by lifting winds forgot
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.

The cigarette dangled from numb fingers, she was too tired to bringit to her mouth. She leaned back further on the sofa, trying to block outthe shrill buzzing of the phone. She knew it was Jarod, she just couldn'tbear to talk to him at the moment. She was too tired, too torn up by everythingthat had happened in her life, too disappointed. Too sad, she didn't wantto hear his voice...; She would wait it out, see if he stopped callingher.

Two am she finally picked up the phone, bringing it to her ear and listening,waiting.

"What took you so long?" Jarod joked, but she only sighed. "I was beginningto wonder if something had happened to you...;"

"Did it ever occur to you that I just wasn't home Jarod?" she questioned,and heard a muffled laugh.

"Yeah right. You just got back from Texas, where you found yet anotherdead end. You would have stopped in at the Centre, got home, poured yourselfa stiff drink, lit up a cigarette and ignored the phone for a bit. Thenyou would have had a bath, trying to escape, but the annoyance of the phoneringing wouldn't have let you relax. You'd get out, wrap yourself in thatgiant fuzzy blue bath towel, get another drink and slip into bed afterputting on that sheer white nightgown. Then you'd listen to the phone fora few more hours, willing it to go away but not quite wanting to unplugit. Finally it gets on your nerves so much that you answer it, am I right?"he asked, and Miss Parker frowned.

"Wrong Ratboy...; I'm not wearing the white gown, I'm wearing the blueone, so there!" she hissed, but couldn't help but smile as he explodedin a fit of laughter.

"Goodnight Jarod." She murmured, hanging up the phone. And spent thenext few sleepless hours wondering why he didn't call her back.

No rays from the holy Heaven come down
On the long night time of that town;
But light out the lurid sea
Streams up the turrets silently-
Gleams up the pinnacles far and free-
Up domes- up spires- up kingly walls-
Up shadowy long-forgotten bowers
Of sculptured ivory and stone flowers-
Up many and many a marvellous shrine
Whose wreathed wreathed friezes intertwine
The viol, the violet, the vine.
Resignedly beneath the sky
The melancholy waters lie.
So blend the turrets and shadows there
That all seem pendulous in air,
While from the proud tower in the town
Death looks gigantically down.

She took the next day off, driving in her car and finally arriving ata park with a lake. She got out of her car and went to sit on a park bench,not quite sure why she was there. She watched the people around her, childrenlaughing and playing, parents fondly looking on, young couples acting shyand in love, old couples sitting or walking together, hands held and loveshining from their faces.

She'd never been given a chance. She'd always obeyed Daddy, even ifit meant giving up her future, any hope for happiness she might have had.A thirty-four year old woman who wasn't getting aany younger, who had noskill that didn't include doing something illegal and a twisted familywho refused to let her go. She'd tried once, and Tommy had died for it.And as deeply as her past was twined with the Centre, so was her future.Even the one person who could possibly help her, Jarod, wouldn't let themout of his life. He could have disappeared, left no breadcrumbs and searchedfor his family on the quiet. But instead he led them all in this stupidlittle dance, twisting and turning from their grasp at the last moment.

No, he couldn't help her, he too was still hung up on that hell hole.And that left her relying solely on herself, like she always had, and shehad no idea how to escape. Stuck with her empty life and her terrible,terrible secret. She had never had the will to leave the Centre before,never had the energy. But now she knew. She had found out yesterday, Angeloslipping her a Manila folder with a sad smile, three words tumbling fromhis mouth, "time's almost up". She had had no idea until she had read,then re-read the contents of the folder, late at night in her dark office.And now she had the will...; just not the way.

What would she do? Knowing what was coming, what would she do? Go intohiding and search newspapers for any news on Jarod? Hurting when they stopped,knowing the Centre had finally retrieved him? Not captured, retrieved.Captured was a far too humane word for the Centre. She felt the wind beginto pick up, clearing her eyes and realising that most people had left dueto the dark storm clouds which were hovering overhead. She felt the firstdrop of rain spatter on her hand. She stared down at it, blinking in surprisewhen a second drop followed it. Rain. Such a simple thing, it happened,weather or not she stayed with the Centre or not, things would occur. Babieswould cry, tides would change and people would die. Sometimes even withoutthe Centre's help. But most importantly, whatever happened, life wouldgo on. Suddenly she felt very insignificant. Who would care? Who wouldknow? She pondered these thoughts, the crumpled Manila folder and it'ssecrets clutched in her hand. She had to find Jarod. But not in the wayshe had always tried to before...; she had to find him as his friend, notas his huntress.

There open fanes and gaping graves
Yawn level with luminous waves;
But not the riches there that lie
In each idols diamond eye-
Not the gayly-jeweled dead
Tempt the waters from their bed;
For no ripples curl, alas!
Along that wildernessof glass-
No swellings tell what winds may be
Upon some far off happier sea-
No heavings hint that winds have been
On seas less hideously serene.

On the other side of the lake a lone figure stood, dressed all in black,fiddling with a remote control that directed a small sailboat that wason the lake. With the wind picking up he was finding it hard to directthe small ship back to the shore, and by the time it reached him rain waspelting down, stinging his skin as it was carried on an icy wind. Tuckingthe boat under his arm he began to run, jogging the path around the lake,back towards his car. He stared at the ground, trying to protect his eyesfrom the wind and rain that tore at him.

As he jogged up the embankment a patch of mud caused him to slip. Regaininghis feet, he rose carefully, staring in shocked dismay at the figure thatwas before him. Miss Parker. His first instinct he gave into, to dart hiseyes around, looking for a team of sweepers, but there were none. His secondinstinct he forestalled, the urge to run. She was soaking wet, tremblingwith cold and something else, her eyes red rimmed.

"Parker? Are you alright?" he asked, gazing into her troubled blue eyes.She stared silently at him, clutching a Manila folder to her chest likeher life depended on it, her face crumpling with pain and fear. Tentativelyhe stretched a hand out, meaning to take the folder from her, but the notionwas quickly dispelled when she flinched away from him. He dropped his hand,staring in amazement as she reached out her own hand, brushing it tenderlydown his cheek.

"Don't let them find you Jarod. Disappear, find your family by all meansbut for gods sakes you've got to disappear. Don't ever let them find you."She whispered, her voice made harsh by tears. He looked blankly at her,shocked by her words. His huntress, telling him not to let them find him?She shook her head, making a sound of inarticulate rage as she did, turningher eyes back to glare fiercely at him.

"Don't you understand Jarod? It's already too late, but at least makea life for yourself before...;before...; you have to be understand, youhaven't got much longer Jarod!" she growled, but all he could do was standfrozen to the spot, not understanding her urgency.

"Damn you Jarod, go! Now, before it's too late! Find the happiness Inever had, you never had, whatever, but go!" she cried, and slowly, slowlyhe began to back away, her fear touching something inside him.

"GO!!! " she shrieked one last time, and suddenly her fear consumedhim, filling him, forcing his tired legs to move as he scrambled up andover wet ground, running like his life depended on it, leaving the wet,shaking figure alone once more as he dashed to freedom.
 
 
 
 

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Part 2