Sleepwalker (50 page)

To help reflect on everything that’s happened.

One thing for certain that remained was his memories. Pam had explained that most of his experiences would be forgotten, and she had the scientific theory to back it up. It seemed not to matter. Everything was still there, as clear as day.
Did she lie to me? Maybe she really didn’t know. Or maybe something unforeseen happened after I left?

He stirred the sauce one last time before settling down on the living room couch. He watched football for a half hour before finding himself nodding off...

...and Richard
Sparke
, the all-new family man fell asleep. At first it was an uneventful sleep, just the way he liked it. For the past year he enjoyed this very form of drowse, this dreamless slumber where his subconscious mind, free of all voices, went to sleep along with the rest of his body, and then he would awaken in what seemed like minutes but was a full eight hours of pure uninterrupted rest. He would rise from bed, wash, get dressed, and head off to work as a schoolteacher at the Michael P. Slater Elementary School. Often times Tom, the principal, would question his still yet unexplained leave of absence, but Richard would claim personal issues and simply utilized a month’s worth of sick days to offset the time he’d missed. And then he’d come home, play with Debra, eat dinner with the family, kiss Julia good-night before heading into the bedroom to make love to Samantha, sometimes fantasizing about Pamela, and then he would fall asleep only to repeat the process over and over again.

Richard
Sparke
, family man. Pleased to meet you.

But now, in this afternoon snooze, things changed.

Richard had a dream.

He dreamed of the man in black.

At first it was a shape, an odd haphazard image that carried no discernible threat. But soon the image grew into that of a man, dressed in black, wearing a mask with holes at the eyes and mouth. Richard tried to scream. He couldn’t. He tried to run. He couldn’t.

And soon the blue light came. It filled his dreamscape like it had so many times in the past, at first floating above the couch where he lay and then settling down in the center of the living room. Am I dreaming, or am I awake? he kept asking himself over and over again, trying to shutter his eyes but finding it did no use because the light burned its way through his lids anyway, making him watch as the man in black tripped through, reached his hands down towards Richard, wrapped his fingers around his neck, started to squeeze, squeeze, squeeze...

Richard startled awake, hyperventilating. Tears sprung from his eyes and coursed down his sweat-laden face.

He sat up on the couch, listening to himself breath, in, out, in, out, keeping still, looking, watching, waiting...

“No, it can’t be...”

From over the side of the couch the man in black jumped up, hands reaching over the arm and grabbing Richard by the shirt. With his other hand he pulled his mask off. Jesus Christ, he was the spitting image of Richard. “Hey,
Sparke
. It’s
showtime
!”

Richard brought his head forward, slamming it into the man in black’s head. His nemesis cried out and fell backwards. Richard scrambled out of the living room and into the kitchen. He grabbed a knife--the big steak one--from the butcher block on the counter

(
Déjàvu
, all over again)

and waited there, gasping, poised for defense.

One second passed.

Someone from behind grabbed him, an arm around his neck.

“Don’t move.”

He knew the voice. “Pam?”

“He’s not as smart as the other one.”

“What? How did you get here? What the hell is going on?”

“
Shh
...”

“What is this?” Richard whispered tersely.

“It’s not over. I’m here to help.”

“Jesus Christ, who the hell is he?

Quietly Pam led Richard into the basement, shutting the door behind them. Once downstairs, Pam reached into her knapsack and removed the portable time-trip unit.

“What the fuck, Pam? I thought you said you were going to destroy everything?”

“I was going to. Until
he
showed up.”

“And just who the hell is
he
?”

“He’s Richard
Sparke
, the homeless man. The drug addict from the alley, remember? He was never killed. We’d completely forgotten about him because he was never a threat at the time. He was on death’s door right from the start, and we all figured he’d be dead without our help. But that never happened. No, instead, all this time he gathered information and knowledge and abilities from all of you through bleeding. He healed. And became smart.
Very
smart. Eventually he found a way to get through. I tried to stop him but I couldn’t.”

Richard was in a panic. Above, the cellar door crashed opened. Footsteps came slowly on the wooden steps. Then, a gunshot rang out, tearing out a chunk of the knotty pine wall at the bottom of the steps.

“Jesus Christ, Pam! What the hell are we going to do?”

“We need to get away from him. Then, we have to kill him. After all, there can only be one Richard
Sparke
.”

Richard looked at Pam with utter disbelief.

She hugged him, and in that moment Richard got the impression, that despite the precarious circumstances, she was very happy to see him.

He was happy to see her too.

“Let’s go,” he said, grinning.

Pam smiled back. She pressed a button on the unit.

The blue light came.

And then, they were gone.