Episode 14:
I'M WATCHING YOU
"My sister is the one in the hospital," Michael Donovan said with a bit of venom in his voice. "Don't forget that."
"What exactly are you saying?" Rand Boyd stepped back to look up at Michael. His blue eyes glinted with emotion. "You don't trust her, do you?"
"Why would I trust her? I don't even know her. Neither do you," Michael said. "It's just a little too convenient that she's shown up now, in the same town where Angela grew up, don't you think? It makes me wonder what she really wants with Angela."
Michael was taking Alex's sudden appearance more than personally, and his BS radar was out in full force.
"What's your problem? Are you fighting all of Angela's battles now? Appointed yourself protector? I had no idea the two of you were that close."
"She's my sister. We protect our own." He knew where Rand was going with this. Michael had no interest in Angela in a romantic sense. He merely felt an obligation to take care of her. It was something his mother expected of him.
"But you're not close?" Rand asked, skeptically. "You could have fooled me." Rand turned then said, "Maybe you're even fooling yourself."
When Alex Maxwell returned from the restroom, she and Rand left leaving Michael to think about where his priorities were truly focused.
***
The first thing Angela Seraph became aware of was the intense beeping off to her right. It sounded like an alarm clock, but the tone was muted, as if trying to push through a thick pad of gauze. When she opened her eyes, the room looked almost as blurry as the sound.
An immediate pain erupted in her head. She bit down hard and her tongue throbbed from the pressure. The tinny taste of blood spiraled in her mouth.
Everything in the immediate vicinity was white save for the bit of blood she wiped on her fingertips.
A nurse came into the room wearing a navy blue smock. "How you doin' honey?" she asked sweetly. "Have you decided to wake up and tell us a few things?" She looked at the black woman blankly.
"Where am I?" she croaked.
"Honey, you're in University Hospital. It's one of the best facilities this side of the big city."
She smiled as she attempted to sit up. No thoughts raced through her head, not even worry. It was almost as if she'd become detached from everything.
"What happened to me," she asked fingering the gauze wrapped around her head. She had an intense felling she wouldn't like the answer the nurse offered.
"Train wreck," the nurse said simply. "And man was it a doozie. Nearly leveled the new ball field Doc Donovan helped pay for. But I doubt he even knows about that. When he saw you lying here, he went white as a sheet. The staff is all a buzz with the thought that you're his long, lost sister." The nurse stopped her wild gesturing and leaned in close. "That true, honey?"
Obviously, the nurse wanted the first scoop on the spiraling office gossip.
"I don't know," her voice edging toward panic. "I can't remember!"
***
Doctor Michael Donovan returned to University Hospital with a wealth of feelings weighing down his mind. He saw the nurses down the hall locked in conversation, but he wasn’t in the mood to chit-chat. Before he could think the thoughts as to what to do next. He found himself standing outside of Angela’s hospital room.
A black nurse ran up to him and eased herself in front of the doorway. “You really don’t want to go in there, Doc. Housekeeping hasn’t had time to clean it up yet.”
Her eyes were round and he could tell that she didn’t want him to walk inside the room.
“What happened?” Michael asked gruffly. “What happened to Angela?” He forced his way past her and stepped into the room. What he found wasn’t what he was expecting. The walls were filled with wild writings, scribbled paintings and sequences of numbers. It looked like the chalkboard of a mathematician struggling to figure out a tricky equation.
“She just went crazy. Said she couldn’t remember, grabbed her head, weaved around the room screaming in pain. Suddenly, she got real quiet. Then the scribbling began. I had a couple of the bigger orderlies try to stop her but she had an immense strength. They were able to drag her out of the room, but before they could restrain her, she ran away.
Michael had been studying the crazy writings on the wall when the nurse revealed her bombshell.
“What do you mean she ran away?” The expression on his face was one of sudden horror.
“Just that. She shot out the front door like the hounds of hell were on her heels. By the time the orderlies were able to follow, she was gone.”
Michael didn’t remember leaving the hospital. Later, he would attribute it to some sort of mental shock. By the time his mind was registering images again he found himself parked in front of his mother’s house. It was already dark outside. Half the day had escaped along with any chances of finding Angela.
His mother wasn’t home. It was Bingo Night. She had been in charge of it for years. So her house was dark, making the woods behind seem inky black.
The small cabin where Angela lived when she was in Centralia peeked out from behind the main house. Maybe that was why he was drawn here. Why he drove in a daze to this particular spot.
He stood stone still when a scream ripped through the silence. Michael didn’t think, he just ran toward the noise.
***
“What’s the problem with your friend?” Alexandra Maxwell asked.
Rand still was unsure of Alex’s motives but he did agree with her when it came to Carly. She was bad news.
“Michael is overprotective of every member of his family. He was relatively young when their father passed away, became the man of the house early on. Michael is the only father figure Patrick has ever known.”
“Ah, I see. Glorified daddy syndrome.”
Rand flinched. “Michael is a good man. One of the best doctors I’ve ever known.”
Alex listened to his ramblings but she had more on her mind than some hick doctor’s plans for his foster sister.
She had done what she planned to do. She’d found Angela. Now she had to set her plan into action, the sooner the better.
“You want me to talk to him?” Alex asked.
“Why? You are no one to him. You only look like Angela, you aren’t Angela.”
Alex felt that mental hit and let it roll off her shoulder. She contemplated how to get away from Mr. Macho and before she could postulate a good plan, Rand received a mysterious phone call. His demeanor suddenly changed. Before she knew it, Rand had dropped her off at Patrick’s house and drove away.
She had wanted to get away from Rand, but she also didn’t want to be dismissed. There was nothing she could do about that now.
Patrick’s house was located down the street from his mother’s. Alex heard the same scream Michael did. Usually, a noise like that wouldn’t draw her attention, the big city was filled with screamers but she was drawn to this particular sound. It sounded like her own voice.
Angela.
A figure ran across the street from beside a parked car and into the woods behind the house.
Alex’s curiosity and not her best intentions got the better of her and she set out to follow the figure.
“What are you doing?” she asked herself. “You need to follow the plan.” As she scanned the dark woods, Alex flashed back to the day of the train wreck.
She remembered looking down at Angela who was sitting next to her old lover, the Irish dancer, Rayne. It was almost too perfect. Before she could heave her purse at the scene of the crime, Rayne awoke and looked from her to Angela and back.
“Twins,” he said with surprise. “I never would have guessed.”
“But then again,” Alex said with hatred. “You were never that creative.”
“Is that how you got to old Thompson? You did it with the help of your look-a-like?”
Alex had made the mistake of indulging her indiscretions with J.T. Thompson, a very powerful man in Washington. The man who had already set one of his goons after her.
“I’m not the one who has issues with J.T. Thompson,” she said accusingly. Before she could finish her thought, a section detached from the wall barely missing her and landing on the Irishman.
***
Michael had never allowed himself to get that close to Angela. He couldn’t afford the distraction. Career was his main goal in life… or, at least, it used to be.
“Angela?” He called out. “Are you out here?” There was no response only a cool breeze rustling the leaves of dark bushes all around. The effect was a bit creepy. He stopped and listened and yet still could hear nothing significant.
***
Angela stilled and listened. She could feel someone out there. This was a sensation she’d experienced various other times, almost as if she was sharing skins with another person. An anger welled up inside of her, an anger she knew wasn’t hers. She had never felt such a rush of sudden emotion before.
“Where are you?” Angela called out. “I know you’re there.”
Alex stepped out from the bushes startling her. “You’re the one…” Angela said. “The one from the train. They thought in the hospital I was you.”
“And they’re going to go on thinking that. I can’t afford for Thompson to catch me. So, instead, I’ll let him catch you.”
On the train she’d seemed different, happier. It wasn’t until before the explosion that she realized what Alex was up to.
“I… I wasn’t responsible for that. You asked me to talk to him. You were the one who…” Angela couldn’t bring herself to reveal the truth.
“We’re one. Can’t you feel it? You’ve known all along what I was capable of yet you did nothing to stop me.”
“I didn’t! I didn’t even know I had a sister… much less a twin!”
“Our family is busting at the seams. Daddy sure did get around. I’m not the only one out there, you know. There are more of us. We’re all special in our own way. I have an affinity with numbers. Any numbers. Social security numbers, phone numbers, bank account numbers…” she paused. “Nuclear launch codes.”
Angela gasped.
“I’m blackmailing the Vice-President. He knows I know the codes, but his cronies won’t accept that their security can be breached. So, he’s trying to deal with me in his own way.”
“Are you saying he blew up the train? The Vice-President?”
“What can I say. The man has resources and lousy aim.”
“Why are you doing this?” Angela inched backward and found a steep drop off behind her. Fear clutched at her chest. Dead Man’s Cliff.
Alex peered behind her newfound sister.
“Quite a fitting end, don’t you think? You fall and kill yourself. The authorities find you and I get what I want. The VP gets what he wants and we’re all happy.” She smiled and Angela could feel the relief pouring off her in waves. She really was going through with her plan. “Everyone’s happy. Except you, because you’ll be dead.
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” A hulking figure appeared behind Alex. His scowl deepened. He’d heard everything Alex had said.
Alex laughed. “Foster brother to the rescue, eh? Or maybe there is more between you.”
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Michael said. “Because if you kill her, I kill you.”
His threats didn’t seem to effect her. “Oh, I believe you, but I doubt I’m your biggest problem. The VP has already sent his goons down here. I’m sure Centralia’s favorite son won’t be far behind. Hard to believe someone from Thompson’s own hometown could target the government.
“What is she talking about?” Michael asked, apparently he hadn’t heard that part of Alex and Angela’s conversation.
Angela’s voice quivered. “Alex has the governments nuclear launch codes. She’s threatening the Vice-President.”
“This is crazy.” Michael didn’t plan on ending his day this way.
Alex grabbed a hefty looking log and waved it at Michael, then got a good shot to his mid-section. He grabbed the log when she came at him a second time. He forcefully pushed backward sending Alex hurtling into Angela. Angela, who was already close to the edge lost her footing and grabbed for the closest object. Her hands clawed at empty air.
“Michael,” she screamed. Alex regained her footing just as Angela fell in a spectacular arc over the edge.
Michael roughly pushed Alex aside and dove toward the cliff ledge reaching for Angela. He managed to grasp her forearm before she completely disappeared over the side. The action nearly pulled her arm out of its socket.
Angela was near hysteria. I don’t want to die, she thought as her body slammed into the side of the cliff ledge. She screamed as a broken limb punctured her side, then her head collided with a larger branch knocking her unconscious.
Michael felt himself slipping forward over the loose dirt. “Oh, God,” he cried out. “Help me save her.”
Those were the last words he spoke before slipping into the darkness over the side of the cliff.
Alex could only watch helplessly as they plummeted over the edge. Michael’s rough push had hit its mark. A branch was embedded in her back and pushed out the front of her body. It was all over for her. She knew it, but that didn’t stop her from trying to escape. She was nearly home free. Alex stumbled a few yards on the path and fell face forward onto the dirt. Her eyes stared blankly ahead.
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