The Offices of Collins Investigations rest in the darkness of night, settling deeper into its worn foundations. Out of the darkness, a sound disturbs the stillness, starting soft and growing louder with each moment. Soon, it takes the form of an ever loudening high performance engine, piercingly interrupted by the shrill screech of brakes and tires rounding a corner too quickly. The windows of the building are suddenly bathed in light, flooding the offices within a xenon glow as the engine is suddenly cut and the doors of the building burst open…
Esther hurries into the office carrying an unconscious Samantha like a prize buck she had just shot. Which to be fair, she had. She manages to haul the torpored woman’s frame up the stairs and into Sam’s room, She is followed into the office by Nicole, getting off a phone call and sending a text message to whomever she had just called.
Esther’s sense of unease grows as Sam feels something a little less than dead, but not by much, a feeling she remembered from some of her hunts. She turns to look at Nicole as she enter’s Sam’s room.
“So, now what, Nik? Should we call that back-alley doc that fixed her jaw?”
“I put in a call for Dr. Sabine, but all I got was his voice messaging, so I am also trying to reach him by text.”
Nicole sets her phone on the dresser and starts looking over Sam.
“I am concerned, have you seen this strange mark on her forehead?”
Esther angles the lamp to see better.
“Odd…is that a bruise?
“I’m not sure…I don’t remember seeing it before that insane..whatever departed” Nikki gently prods Sam’s face.
“Sam, can you hear us? How are you feeling?” Samantha lays there, impassive as when she had collapsed back at the church.
Nicole’s frown deepens. “What is more concerning is I can’t seem to establish any connections with her thoughts– it’s as if she were in some deep trance.”
“Or a coma.” Esther replies, “But if we take her to a hospital, they would probably call the police…”
“That is why I wish Sabine would return my call.”
“Maybe you could go to him?” Esther offers. “Do you know where he’s staying?”
Her brows furrowing slightly, Nicole tries to recall. “He was staying at the Collinsport Inn, but I understand he checked out when some gentleman from Providence arrived. A Mr. Burroughs. I think he’s moved into some bread and breakfast, either in the village or on the outskirts, but all I have is the number to his mobile.”
Nicole’s hand trails from Sam’s face to her hand, lifting it and feeling it. “Esther, could you check? She seems cold to me – but then again, everyone seems cold to me – except when…” her voice trailing off leaving her thoughts unspoken.
“Of course, Nik.” Esther lays the back of her hand across Sam’s forehead. “ She’s a bit cold, but I wouldn’t say deathly”
At that moment, Nicole’s phone rings loudly startling both of them, the ringer going off 5 times before she can find the answer button on the screen.
“Doctor Sabine?” She answers hurriedly.
“Collins? What’s going on? Do you know what time it is?”
“I have an emergency– one which I can’t take to hospital for various reasons, so I am in need of your services again. As quickly as possible.”
There is a brief pause,one could almost hear Dr. Sabine taking a centering breath before responding.
“Is it the ferret kid again?”
Nicole almost smiles “Yes it is she.”
“Ok, I’ll be there in 30. What’s the problem?
“I would speak more, but seeing as this is a mobile, I would rather discuss it with you in person. Can you stop by the office?” Nicole replies.
“Yeah, I’ll be there soon”
“Thank you, I shall cover any fee handsomely.” Nicole disconnects the call and looks to Esther. “Okay, Sabine is coming. He said it would be about 30 minutes.”
Esther nods, “Okay, I’ll go get the space heater and bring it up.
Nicole paces the room worriedly, tapping her phone in her palm, the pale light from the screen casting Caligarian shadows upon the walls.
“I am more than amazed that Sam had a vestige of Hastur within her – which is odd as I thought he had found himself another vessel– but then he may actually place a bit of himself in whomever sees the Yellow Sign.” She says to herself, trying to allay her concerns by thinking out loud. “I admit, I am not all that versed in the one who is not to be named…He never discusses him…”
“For someone who must not be named, you sure did name it a few times.” Esther remarks as she returns and starts setting up the heater.
“Yes — I must admit, I was surprised to have to confront him tonight. I had no idea that he or some vestige of himself had possessed Sam. I was more than certain he had shown her the Yellow Sign, yes—but possession?” Nicole catches a slight grimace on Samantha’s face as the room begins to warm.
Esther places her hands on her hips, looking down as she thinks. “ Well, all this is a bit beyond me, but is there any way to, I don’t know, go in there and check? See what kind of damage is going on?”
“That’s what I’m hoping for with Sabine. If anyone has a background in this kind of soul possession it would be him. He’s some kind of a retainer with the Providence Occult Underground.”
Almost as if on queue, a sharp rapping knock can be heard from downstairs. Nikki whirls around, “Oh, Esther that is him now — at the door.”
Esther is already heading out to the landing, “ I got it, Nik.”
Nicole turns back to Samantha, taking her hand in hers. “Sam– Dr. Sabine is here, things will be better soon, I am sure..” She says, almost more to comfort herself as she hears Esther and Sabine exchange a quick greeting at the door before coming up the stairs.
“Doctor Sabine, so good of you to come so quickly on such short notice. This is your patient Sam, you remember her, surely?” Nicole greets the doctor as he steps into the room.
Sabine shakes her hand as he sets his bag on the edge of the bed. “Of course, How could I forget the kid? Teeth healed up nice and fine I see.”
Nicole nods, “She healed nicely from that attack– but this is something a bit… something more arcane.”
“Hmm, I see..” Sabine frowns slightly and begins to check her vitals and inspect the mark on her forehead.
“We found her in an old chapel,” She explains, “ At first I thought she was only merely infected by the effects of having seen . . . the Yellow Sign; but tonight—I found that she had been possessed by a vestige of Him that is not to be named. I had to drive him out—and that’s for another discussion—and in so doing, she seems lost now in some deep trance.”
“Mhmm, I see..” Sabine’s voice trails off as he gingerly probes at a mark on Samantha’s forehead.
Nicole leans over slightly, also looking at the mark, which looks similar to the yellow sign, only made of bruise with crimson scratches over it. “Yes, that appeared as he departed.”
“I see and, the one we dare not name, did it have anything to say? Anything about a vessel or something of that sort?” Sabine asks her, while flashing a light into Sam’s eyes.
“Well, it cackled in an insane laugh and threatened that he would be back.” She replied.
“Ah, so no Grand Scheme revealed or anything useful then.” Dr. Sabine looks up at Nicole to confirm the lack of information.
“Well — I have been given information that He is using a vessel by the name of Louis Castaigne, and that he is renovating an old theater into a dinner club, in which he intends to perform a play, which I strongly suspect is one that was performed only once before, long ago in Paris.” Nicole stammers just slightly, Sabine’s question having caught her off guard. “Of course, this Castaigne is now on my list—but I have at the moment, a more pressing matter of concern—”
“Ugh, that guy. Yeah, I’ve been hearin’ about that guy.” Sabine remarks, consulting a small notebook from his bag. “For cosmic beings that mankind ought not know, they sure can still act like petty children. I guess what they say about the host shaping the spirit and all…”
“If it’s of any help Doctor, I did have to use an Alko verse . . . from the ninth chapter of the Necronomicon to make him depart from her.” Nicole adds, hoping it helps diagnose Samantha’s condition.
“Right, well, the good news I can tell you is that she’s still in there” Sabine turns and reaches for his bag. “Her soul hasn’t been wiped. Or displaced. The bad news is that while ol’ nameless is gone from the body, the influence is still there. Somewhat. The mark is ‘ex’ed out, not removed.”
“So what do we need to do to get her back?”
Sabine starts pulling out not medical equipment, but Arcane supplies: Two bricks, chalk, a string of beads, and a flask filled with a thick sounding liquid. “Well, we’re gonna have to do what Freud could never even dream of. We have to go in there and fish her back out.” He says as he starts marking the bricks with the chalk. “Her conscious mind is obviously not available, but her unconscious is intact. Anonymous left some pretty hefty…let’s call them firewalls in place, but we can get around that if she helps us halfway. Is there something around, some object that she might have a particularly strong attachment to?”
Nicole strides over to the chest of drawers and after a moment of digging, steps back to the doctor, handing him a jeweler’s eyepiece. “From what I understand, she has always kept this close until recently.” She tells him.
“Esther, do you know of anything else she would’ve been attached to here in the offices?”
Esther ponders a moment before answering. “Umm, maybe her ferret? I haven’t seen it in awhile, but I think it might be around?”
Nikki takes a quick look under the bed. “Come to think of it, I have not seen the ferret in days.”
Sabine takes the eyepiece and begins threading it into the string of beads. “Ok, try to find the rodent. If anything, it may be a comforting face when she wakes up.” He says as he places the beads around Samantha’s neck. “Oh and Nicole, I’m going to need you to help. You’ve got the touch.”
“Anything you need me to do, just tell me.” Nicole replies as the faint sound of a running sink can suddenly be heard coming through the door. “Who is running water?”
“On it Nik,” Esther immediately heads for the lobby, hand surreptitiously checking her sidearm.
“Alright, I think we are ready to start.” Sabine says, handing Nicole one of the marked up bricks. “You might’ve tried and failed to reach into her mind in this state before. I want you to try again, holding the brick to her temple, ok?” He demonstrates using the other brick himself on the side closest to him.
“Dr. Sabine, do you know how badly her mind has been affected?” Nicole asks, hesitating on starting again.
“Well, I ain’t exactly got an MRI machine lying around, so we’ll have to do it the really old eldritch way.” He replies flatly.
Out in the lobby, Esther approaches the bathroom and takes a breath before opening the door slowly. She steps in, quickly clearing the corners before catching sight of Samantha’s ferret, wrestling with the shiny sink knob in a futile attempt at rodent theft. It stops and stares at Esther with an expression of clear annoyance.
“Heeere Mik…Miyu…” Esther starts and stops, thinking to herself ‘Dammit what was the damn thing’s name again?’.
“Here girl…boy…thing?” She tries again with outstretched hands.
The ferret looks between her hands and the faucet and pounces with a hiss.
Back in the room, Nikki takes the brick and looks at it for a moment, then at Sabine, before she steps closer to Samantha. She places the red firebrick against her temple and speaks now in her low, hypnotic, vampiric voice, “Samantha . . . hear my voice . . . my voice. . . . you will listen to no other. Only my voice. Speak to me.”
Sabine holds his brick on her other temple, while checking her pulse.
Nicole continues her probe. “You will hear me . . . and obey. Do you understand? You will hear my voice and you will obey . . . my voice . . . my will . . . your will . . . is my will — and so you will speak to me. Now.”
Nikki pauses and looks up as the walls begin to shimmer and facet, becoming more and more like a translucent prism. She can see Esther running back through the lobby and up the stairs, trying to not get bitten by a squirrely ferret.
“SAMANTHA BROOK, DO YOU HEAR ME!” Nicole calls out, and there is a tremendous grating sound as it seems the entire building nods in reply before fading into a blinding light.
“Nik! What is…” Esther’s voice is lost to the light before she could reach the door.
“Sabine! What is happening?! Nicole turns to the doctor, who is sitting with his eyes closed in the ever increasing brightness, a picture of serene meditation.
“Just focus on her mind. Don’t think about controlling it, or will is your will or whatever, just think about her. What makes Sam, Sam. And let her reach out to you.”
Nikki nods and takes a breath. “Sam, I am here.” And she lets go, falling into the light.
Nicole opens her eyes and finds herself falling slowly through what she can only describe as Alice’s fabled rabbit hole. Random objects and debris fly past her as she approaches a group of floating islands. She turns to narrowly avoid a rogue flying snooker table and ends up accelerating violently in a perpendicular direction, landing roughly on an island turned on its side. She picks herself up and takes a moment to gather her bearings, which is somewhat difficult as she is not used to standing “sideways”
“Doctor Sabine! Where are you?” She calls out as the island slowly drifts and turns, rotating her upside down.
She looks up (down?) and sees a bridge connecting two larger, more stable looking islands and wills herself to teleport to it. Only she somehow misses and lands in the tall grass near it.
“Nicole? I’m down here!” Sabine calls up from a cliff ledge a small distance down and away. “Shit, this is more chaotic than I thought it would be.”
“Nik!” Esther calls out from a pagoda on a nearby island. “What the fuck just happened?”
“I…” Nicole pauses watching the ferret jump from Esther’s coat and fly away like a miniature chinese dragon. “I do not know…”
The three of them pause taking in the unearthly archipelago, dotted with buildings and landmarks and littered with the treasured detritus of a full life; set adrift in a sea of dark imposing clouds of roiling liquid granite. Silent flashes of light throwing everything into stark relief, but never providing the relief that only thunder brings.
The tall grasses, trees, and scattered debris blow and wave in a nonexistent breeze that somehow manages to carry the sound of distant, almost maniacally happy laughter over the periodic grumbling roars of the islands colliding with each other.
Nicole reaches down and grasps the doctors hand and focuses again, this time managing to land her and the doctor on the pagoda next to Esther.
“Well, it looks like you’ve got that teleporting thing under control. To be honest, I’ve only ever done this once before.” Sabine muses.
“At least my powers still work here. Are you alright Esther?” Nicole asks, looking her over in concern.
“Gah! Yeah. I’m ok Nik.” Esther jumps as Nikki appears right next to her. “This isn’t like that desert, is it?”
“No.. This is . . . wait. ” Nikki’s finger reaches up to her temple and she looks around, “This is Sam. This is her mind. Sabine, I do not know what you did with those damned bricks, but somehow we are inside Sam’s mind.”
“Then they did what they were supposed to do!” He calls back to her, having wandered a small distance to inspect a waterfall.
For a brief moment, the incessant giggling on the wind is overtaken by another voice:
“Get down from there! I mean it, get down from there! We have a lot of shit to do and not much time to do it!”
Esther’s turns, facing in the direction of this new voice and sees a figure, standing at the base of a ferris wheel, calling up to it.
“Nik..Who is that?” Esther points to the figure while looking back to Nicole. She and Esther both try to get a better view of the figure who suddenly turns and locks eyes with them, freezing in place.
“What the bloody hell is she doing here?” Nikki snaps, “It’s that bodyguard of Catronia Kaye, Agent Nine.”
Almost as if in a reply, the figure mutters, her voice echoing through the strange space. “Oh great! More of them!”
“How is that possible? Are you sure?” Esther asks doubtfully.
The strange woman starts walking towards them, gliding through the air. Her short cropped red hair is definitely in the same style as Agent Nine, but her armored stealth suit and visor seem to be older models. And her face…Nicole stares intently. Her face bears a passing resemblance to Agent Nine’s but it looks more like…
“Sam? Sam, is that you?” She asks incredulously. “No, you can’t be..Who are you and what are you doing here?” She demands.
“I could be asking you the same thing.” The woman responds, an eyebrow arching high. Even her voice is similar to Samantha’s. Similar, but with a different cadence and an almost British tilt under her prominent global accent. “But, if you must know, I live here.”
“You..’live’ here?” Nikki asks incredulously, confused how someone could live in a place that didn’t exist, but was merely a projection of someone’s mind. “And may I ask, just how long have you…lived, here?”
Doctor Sabine, walks around this woman, fascinated by her existence in someone else’s mind.
“As long as I can remember, to be honest,” She replies, relaxing slightly. These intruders don’t seem as murderously intentioned as the last one…
“And what, precisely, do you remember?” Nicole pushes, wanting more answers.
“I remember the answer to the other half of your first question. I am Agent Five.”
Nicole takes a half step back. “Agent Five? How the hell does Sam know you? And where is Sam?”
Five’s jaw tightens in a slightly pained expression before inhaling deeply. Meanwhile Esther nudges Nicole and reminds her. “Um, Nik, we’re in Sam, remember?”
“But there should be, I would think, somewhere an avatar of her mental image of herself . . . ” Nikki says, looking back at Esther.
“If it’s ‘Sam” you want, the feckless idiot is on the Ferris wheel.” She gestures to the structure behind her on its own island. “Spends all day on the damn thing, like some sort of hamster.”
The background track of maniacal giggling is punctuated by a loud “WHEEEEEE” as Samantha Brook comes into view for a few moments before the wheel carries her back up.
“Well that answers that…” Esther sighs sardonically.
“SAM!” Nikki calls out, trying to get her attention, and getting a flailing handwave in return. The silent lightning changes patterns as the cloud sea begins taking new forms, seemingly creating images of Nicole in rather revealing positions. Seeing the clouds, she is aware it’s an image in Sam’s mind, serving almost as a verification that she was in fact on the Ferris wheel. Esther meanwhile, tries to pointedly ignore the clouds while Doctor Sabine gazes at them intently, partly fascinated at the machinations at work partly wishing he had his camera.
“For a vampire with all sorts of mystical training that managed to catch her fancy, you’re not very bright are you?” Five needles Nikki teasingly.
In response, she rounds on the agent. “Yes, well, be that as it may—what I do not understand, is you. Why would you be here— and why are you living in her mind. Rest assured, I will figure out why.” She snaps before teleporting herself to the spinning wheel.
“….Because it’s my mind too…” Five mutters quietly into the sudden nothingness where Nikki had been standing.
“So um, How many people call this mind home?” Esther asks, breaking the momentary silence.
Agent Five clears her throat and ticks off on her fingers. “There’s me, the twit, and then the ugly bloke’s been here ever since that night at the cemetery.”
“Is the ‘ugly bloke’ still here?” Esther looks around cautiously, still on alert.
“Nope, He fucked off in a flashing bolt of light not too long ago…did put a seal on the main island right before he did though.”
“What do you mean, the ‘main island’” Sabine chimes in, his academic interests piqued.
“It’s amazing, how literal a mind can be at its core…” The Agent nods over in the direction of a large island, with a giant throne behind a large circular magic seal. “Ever heard the term ‘Seat of Consciousness’?”
Meanwhile, Nikki has managed to settle onto the same bench as Samantha on the wheel and is trying to get her attention and focus.
“Sam, look at me dear.” She chides encouragingly. Sam for her part does look at Nicole, but she is practically vibrating, thrumming with a desire to pounce upon Nicole. A few more flashes of lightning through the clouds illustrating her desires as the others pass by on their way to the main island.
“Good, now I want you to take my hand, can you do that?” Her voice is warm, coaxing, gentle, and Sam, slowly entwines her fingers with Nicole “umm..ok.”
“Very good, now Sam, I want you to look into my eyes, can you do that for me please?” Nikki’s eyes begin to darken as she starts to draw on her powers. Samantha fidgets a bit uncomfortably, but then lifts her head to gaze into those succulent eyes.
The trance is broken as Agent Five’s voice cuts in harshly. “Nicole, I must advise you against doing that. You try to ‘fix’ her and take her back now, you’re just going to have a dry humping adult sized baby.”
“I do not need your.. What I need is to speak with Sam at the moment!” Nikki snaps at Five before turning back to Sam. “Please Sam, look into my eyes…”
“Nik! I don’t think that’s the Whole Sam!” Esther calls out to deaf ears.
“Now Sam,” Nicole continues, gazing into Samantha’s eye, “Do you remember when we first met?” Samantha merely shakes her head “No” and tries to scoot closer, causing Nicole to lift a brow and smile gently.
“Why don’t you ask her ‘bout the first time you two slept together? She loves talking about that.” Five cuts in sarcastically. If looks could kill, there would’ve been a withering crater where Five was standing.
“So Agent Five, that seal, what would happen if it was to be removed?” Esther asks Five, trying to focus her away from Nicole.
“Presumably, I could wrestle that lusty idiot over and we could be ourselves again.” Five sighs looking at the arcane markings.
“Ah, so that would mean you’re Sam’s Super Ego, correct? It’s a pleasure to meet you properly.” Sabine offers his hand in greeting. “Do you remember me by any chance?”
“I remember you doc, and I remember how much I still hate ice cream.” Five shakes his hand. “Can you two help me with the seal? Magic and Runes were always Three and Four’s strong suite, not mine.”
“Without Collin’s help, this might take some time.” Sabine says thoughtfully. “But I can at least start with what I do know.” And he pulls out a notepad and starts scribbling on it.
“It’s all Greek to me, sorry” Esther says.
“I’ve already tried to just visualize it broken, or being strong enough to break it and it hasn’t worked, so any help is appreciated.” Five rubs her temples in frustration.
“Not sure that self-actualization was the best route to try,” Sabine mutters distractedly, comparing his notes to one of the rings. “ Anyway, this is a whole lot of great old bullsh*t right here. I can make heads of a bit of it, but the tails I got nothing. Without Collins’ help this may take some time.”
Five sniffs, slightly, tears beginning to prick the corner of her eyes. “I haven’t seen her in so long…not properly at least, and the first thing she goes after is my damn libido.”
Back on the wheel, Nikki is still trying to “reach” Samantha.
“”It was a funeral. Miss Harker, Medri’s mother. You were there. You came to see me, don’t you remember, or no, wait— You could not remember why you were there, is that right?” She brushes back a lock of Sam’s hair, touching her as she had on that very first day.
“Do you remember me brushing back your hair that day? Just as I am doing now.” She says as Sam melts under her fingers.
“Think back Sam. Ryaad was there, and Dr. Praetorius was there as well —you remember, him now don’t you. That was because you were there too, isn’t that right?”
Five’s eyes flash angrily as she can hear Nicole’s history. “DAMMIT, WE BOTH WERE THERE!” She shouts, turning to look up at that damned spinning wheel.
“There…there was whiskey…” Samantha murmurs quietly, trying to focus on memories that were hers but also weren’t.
Nicole looks over the edge of the gondola at Five and points down at her. “And see that woman down there— I am sure you can see her. She was there too wasn’t she? Sam, she’s always been there, or here, isn’t that right?”
Samantha clings tighter to Nikki, not looking down, but nodding. “Yes”
“I want you to look at her Sam—yes, turn and look down there . . . at her. Tell me what is her name?” Nicole coaxes softly, gently turning Samantha so she can see.
Samantha sighs somewhat dejectedly as she looks at Agent Five. “Her..her name is Sam.”
“Yes, her name is Sam, and what is your name?” Nikki nods, as if confirming one of her own suspicions.
“It…My name is Sam.” She makes a face as if the words themselves tasted bad. Almost imperceptibaly,the roiling cloud sea begins to shiver with tremors.
Nicole begins pushing further. “Yes, and Sam, you were sent to get a scroll, weren’t you, a very important scroll. Only someone tried to stop you, didn’t they?” She pauses a brief moment. “Oh, or,” she points at the woman below, “Was she sent to get it, Sam, down there—isn’t that right.”
Samantha nods quietly, shifting uncomfortably. “Yes…But I helped!”
“Yes, you did, you got it, instead.” Nicole confirms, “But the both of you got it, together didn’t you. Yes, the two of you together, living in here—since then, you two, both of you were able to finish the mission, isn’t that correct.”
“Nooo….” Sam moans plaintivelt. “She says we can’t be done…Says we need to grow old and die with the bogeyman to stop him… Keep him from ever coming back.”
“No one is going to die with the bogeyman, because a bigger bogeyman sent him away.” She comforts her Sam. “Now, I want you to trust me, and hold me tight. Because I know something now that I did not know before.”
Samantha clings tight to her, beginning to grasp through the haze of lust and want what was coming, tears begin to roll down her face… She enjoyed the freedom she had here…
“Now you have to trust me,” Nicole gently brushes the tears away. “But I want you to look down at that woman, can you see her.”
“Yes” she sniffs miserably. The clouds grow more tempestuous, and the lightning grows brighter.
“Her name is Sam and your name is Sam, and you know why you have the same name? That is because Sam, that woman down there is you. And I want you to remember . . . . remember before you saw the sign, before your mind was clouded, divided, against itself.”
Esther glances at the worsening weather conditions and frowns in concern. “I’m…going to check on Nik.”
“That’s a good idea.” Five agrees, her headache worsening as she walks with Esther to the base of the Ferris Wheel.
Nikki holds Samantha tightly, “Remember Sam . . . you were coming to see me and then on the way you saw the sign and you got lost, but now, I have found you again.”
The tears now gentle sobs, Sam mutters into Nicole’s embrace. “I was…we were dying . . . in an alley…
Five grabs at her head, the pain spiking as the seal begins to crack, seeming to unleash both sound and wind as the thunder from the lightning practically explodes across them.
“SAM! SHUT UP!” Five roars up at her.
“Detroit?” Nikki asks.
Another muffled “yes” can be heard barely above the thunder.
“SAM, NO! We DO NOT talk about this!” Five falls onto her knees, her head feeling like it’s about to split in two. More cracks form in the seal as earthquakes begin rolling through the islands.
Esther tries to steady herself. “What’s going on?”
“It’s not me. What’s going on Super Ego?” Sabine calls over, trying to stay balanced.
Nicole grips the gondola stopping it from rocking. “You see Sam — the woman down there is really you, dying in the alley, but you looked up and saw the sign and you became your cover story. You have to go back to her, and you have to wake up, because you are not dying in that alley . . . and the bogeyman has gone away.”
“But..Miss Nikki…Please…” Sam whines softly
Nikki opens Sam’s purse and removes a single playing card. Lifting it so the back is turned to Sam.
“I am going to show you something and when I do, you are going to remember it all, do you understand Sam?”
“I..but…I…Ok, Miss Nikki.” Sam sighs softly, focusing on the card back.
Nikki sets her jaw, looking down at Agent Five and back to Sam, steeling herself. She flips the card with her fingers revealing a Black Jack. Samantha’s eyes constrict to pinpricks as she freezes, her silhouette starting to blur. Down below, Agent Five screams as she begins to blur as well.
‘It is time to go home Sam. Time to go home, to her,” Nikki points to the woman below as she continues to hug Sam. “Because Sam, the woman I am hugging does not exist, she never existed, the bogeyman made her.”
Samantha fades as she flies back, crashing into Agent Five. There is a giant crashing sound as the Seal breaks, shattering into pieces and creating a shockwave forcibly ejecting everyone back into the office. The walls roll back, fading back into dark solidity as the ferret lands on the mattress.
“Sam..Sam can you hear me?” Nicole removes her brick from Samantha’s head and shaking her gently.
Samantha mumbles something and stirs, fading into a comfortable sleep. The mark on her forehead dissolves away. Doctor Sabine takes away his brick from her head and takes back the one from Nicole’s hand.
“And we are back. Esther, Nicole, you good?” He asks.
“Im ok..and I think im all here..” Esther replies.
Nicole looks at the bricks in his hand. “You will have to teach me that trick, Doctor.”
“Maybe some other time. Speaking of time, {Looks at his watch} hardly any has passed. You know how fast electrons fire.”
“Is she going to be alright?” She asks him, watching Sam sleep.
“Yeah, she should be fine. Let her sleep and keep an eye on her. When she wakes, she’ll want to see a friendly face I bet.” He says as he packs up his equipment, stifling a yawn.
Nikki sits on the edge of the bed, gently tracing Samantha’s face with a finger, “Had I not been able to meet them both I would have never known . . . Esther, no wonder Sam has been so erratic. Her mind has been deceived for so long deceived.” She looks up to Esther, her eyes inscrutable. “Sam Brook never existed.”