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  "It's only television," Todd whimpered to Jason whose head gently dropped.

  "Todd," Jason said, "I am very sorry about your wife, but I need you to take your pills so that I may-"

  "You may what!?" Todd shouted out, turning around to face Jason with trails of tears rolling down his cheeks, "Stay here and HELP out everyone!?" Jason sat quietly, still fading away as Todd stepped closer. "Is that what you WANT!? Because I will tell you what WE want! We don't want YOU!"

  "What are you talking about?" Jason asked subtly. The burning pain in Todd's head slowly began seeping down into his eyes which Todd frantically began to rub. The rest of his face and head came under control of the pain as well while his blood began to boil.

  "NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE!" Todd bellowed, baring his teeth and revealing veins in his head and throat. Todd instantly lunged for the door and threw it open before quickly hurling himself down the hall and out the lobby doors in a single dash.

  "No one wants you here!" Todd cried out into the darkness of the night while the whistling of an artillery shell filled the air before a rumbling explosion. Todd stumbled down the main stretch of pavement in a direction that he didn't care to acknowledge. His eyes still filled with tears and his throat and head pulsated with pain from all sorts of natural and self-inflicted aches.

  The moon penetrated Todd's shield of tears with gleams of light while his ears filled with enclosing barrages of non-stop gunfire in retreat. In a short period of time, as Todd continued to stumble back and forth from sidewalk to sidewalk in pain, soldiers began flooding the street from the direction of the barricade.

  "Fall back damnit!" called an unidentifiable officer. A numerous amount of men in uniforms brushed by Todd as they fled the scene, firing off a few dozen rounds towards their barricade before turning and running straight into town. One soldier ran head-long into Todd, knocking him backward and eventually falling onto the sidewalk. In seconds, the retreating men had vanished almost as soon as they had appeared, and while guns continued to fire and shells continued to hit the bare ground in the unseen distance, no enemy soldier took the ground that had been left undefended by those in retreat.

  Suddenly, a scream emanated from a house nearby. Todd opened his eyes, with what might he had left, and gazed at the ancient house of which had been watched over, endlessly, by Bobby Doleman. Then, as if on cue, Bobby himself, still equipped to the teeth with gear that you find in a cereal box, fled from the house through its deteriorated front doors and ran down the sidewalk. His silhouette disappeared into the darkness as quickly as his image had emerged.

  "Helen," Todd mumbled as he crumbled face down on the sidewalk in agony, "its all television." He outstretched his arms and crawled a few feet down the sidewalk before coming to the edge of a store. Todd then stumbled to his feet like a drunk and fell forward into the alleyway between two buildings. His hands and knees met the wet slop littering the ground. With a final effort, Todd pulled himself further into the dark alleyway before reaching into his pocket and extracting a container half-filled with tablets.

  "No one," Todd gasped, half conscious with pain from withdrawal, ". . . wants you here." He twisted off the lid of the container, which spilled its cargo across the ground, before collapsing flat against the damp earth in throbbing pain and numbing exhaustion. The sound of gunfire in the background grew evermore silent as the stars above the town hid behind thickening clouds. Within the time it took to close his eyes and block out the sounds of the town, Todd drifted off once more into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 12

  A peaceful ray of morning sunlight blazes through the thin curtains of the living room and light up the many dancing specks of dust around the window. A car passes the front doors on its way down the road to reassure everyone of a bustling system beyond household walls. Warm breezes passed through open windows in each corner, allowing comforting scents to fill the house.

  "I love you," Todd softly says without moving his lips while turning his head to face Helen as she sits relaxed next to him on the couch. Her hair brushed his as she leans closer to him and tightens her grasp around his hand. Another car drives by, but its effort in diverting attention away from the two lovers fails.

  "I love you so much," Helen said. Her eyes met his as he tries to speak; in an attempt to express himself. "I'm not great at sharing my feelings." Her reply hangs by the tip of her tongue as the two cuddles closer. Helen's lips speak for her. Another breeze flutters through the house, but this time it brings an end to Todd's breathing and begins to choke him. His eyes widen as he looks down in his arms only to find Helen having disappeared.

  "I love you," it echoes forever with a sincerity beyond the dreamer's gasp.

  Todd springs up in his bed, noticing the old smell of the carpet. After identifying his location, he wiped the tears from his eyes. A slight smile crossed his face he felt, an appreciation for the dream as he laid his head back on his pillow. Before closing his eyes, he said, "I love you too, Helen."

  Chapter 13

  The next morning was like no other that Kinston had seen for a long time. The sun had risen but not one rays of gold could break the thunderclouds overhead. Lightning brightly streaked across the sky, shortly thereafter accompanied by a booming crash of thunder. The black shadows overhead opened up and released an ocean of a downpour, filling the town with pools of rainwater. Large droplets fell straight down through the humid air in thick sheets, limiting any field of vision to a few yards. Another energized crash of thunder filled the town, awakening all eyes to the result of the metamorphosis that had taken place the prior night.

  In the tight alleyway between two buildings, Todd lay undisturbed by the dark morning's chaotic weather. The rainwater tumbling into the alleyway from up above had already formed into a running stream which flowed out into the streets and down into the drainage system. Todd, with his face half submerged in the water, choked and gurgled as he tried to breathe through his nightmare. Nearby, a pair of boots came wading through the water.

  "Hey!" a man called to Todd through the hard rain. A rain boot quickly nudged Todd, "Hey! Todd!" With a muddled response, Todd lifted his head from the rushing water and looked up through his sore eyes. The man standing next to Todd kneeled down and looked at the soaking visitor from under his umbrella. At the same time, Todd lifted his arm and rubbed his eyes in efforts to see more clearly and eventually squinted hard enough to just make out the facial features of the Deputy through the raindrops.

  "Oh . . . ummm, Deputy Greenrange," Todd mumbled, trying hard to sit up and remember what the Deputy's new name had been, "I passed out . . . I'm really sorry." Todd's headache was miraculously gone and had only left a numb feeling in its place.

  "What is wrong with you Todd?" asked the Deputy as he stood back up only to tower over Todd with his huge umbrella. Todd looked up and squinted again to find that the Deputy was dead serious. "My name is Deputy Harris. You know that!" Todd squinted harder and almost choked at the sight. Deputy Harris was no longer wearing a cowboy hat or the attire of a Western star. Instead, the Deputy wore the standard dark blue police uniform for officers in town, and that included the thickly printed KINSTON POLICE FORCE written across the badge on his chest.

  "Wha?" Todd gasped, looking down and simultaneously hearing a car roaring by on the flooded street.

  "Are you okay Todd?" The Deputy asked as Todd jumped to his feet, stumbled around a bit, and then brushed past Deputy Harris until emerging onto the sidewalk. Todd's vision drastically improved as he observed the change which had occurred overnight.

  Lying flat before Todd was the waterlogged streets of Kinston where all the shops and houses had, aside from being saturated with apocalyptic amounts of water, radically changed. There were no ideal writings or welcoming signs in store windows. Gone were the large stands of fruit and vegetation which sat outside the doors for trustworthy people to shop. All the doors were shut, the windows were bare, and the outer appearance of each structure was dull with only profit a
making appeal.

  A car suddenly flew by on the street, drenching Todd's already soaked pants. He followed the car with his eyes only to behold another dozen cars parked on the edges of the street. There were living humans in the driver's seats; normal people, such as the ones all of a sudden walking the watery sidewalks with rain boots and dark umbrellas. No one in sight was dressed in a costume, or danced around with a crazy hype, or spoke with a unique dialect. The air was heavy, the streets were filled, and the town of Kinston was like any other booming, metropolis-wannabe.

  Todd turned left and right, helplessly attempting to spot anyone possessing the distinctive quality that he had come to know Kinston for holding. Beyond the endless business suits and monotonous outfits, Todd looked off down the street and caught sight of something. It was a house surrounded by people of whom he recognized as encircling the geriatric trunk the day before. They had none of the same costumes on, but they all surrounded a house with a hole in the side of it, and within that hole was a car of which they were all attempting to extract using cables, winches, and teamwork.

  "No," Todd whispered, "Oh no. Please, God." His body contorted before flinging itself down the sidewalk towards Kinston's hotel. His shoes splashed through the endless line of growing puddles littering the sidewalk. The pedestrians in his way, as he flew recklessly through the crowd, looked on in fright and alarm as if witnessing a primitive beast rip through a bureaucratic land.

  With thoughtless and unbreakable determination, Todd shot across the street where cars instantly squealed and splashed to avoid hitting the careless man. His sights zeroed in on the hotel and he sprinted for it before bursting through the doors. A couple broke away from their intended path with a shriek as Todd shoved them to the side. The old lady at the desk looked up from her romance novel and gave Todd a conspicuous look, but before anything could escape from her lips, Todd fled down the hall towards his room.

  "Jason!" Todd shouted at his open door as he finally reached his room; treading wet footsteps the entire way, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Todd stumbled through the open doorway and searched each corner and cranny before his eyes even moved. "Jason!" Todd cried. The room was the same as when he had left it the night before, but there was no teddy bear.

  With a few blinks of disbelief, Todd lunged towards his suitcase and shoved his hand inside to find pills. He pulled out empty containers after empty containers until finally, he found one still half full of tablets. Hastily, Todd pulled off the cap and poured the remaining tablets into his mouth. The heavy dosage caused Todd to choke on half while the rest slid down his throat.

  "Jason!" Todd screamed again, littering the floor with saliva-covered pills. He jumped over to the closet and threw open the door before thrusting his hands in and wildly throwing every blanket and pillow about in search of his companion. "Jason! Where are you!?" Todd dropped to the floor and looked under the bed; still seeking what his already convinced mind believed was possible.

  Todd then stood up and looked around the room once more. His eyes were drawn to the miniature houses on the desk shelf. The ceramics began to mock him with their joyous colors and obvious excitement. It was then that Todd saw the cathedral and immediately turned and ran out the open door, which swung gently with the sudden gust of wind

  Nearly out of breath, Todd ran out of the hotel lobby and began sprinting down the sidewalk. Todd crashed dead on into a man carrying a grocery bag. Fresh produce and canned goods flew everywhere as both men landed hard on the flooded pavement. Curse words blasted from the man's mouth as Todd lifted himself up and charged back down the sidewalk through more pedestrians. Before long, Todd had run into another man with a briefcase, and then a woman carrying a brown paper bag. They both reacted with enragement upon their collision tumbling to the growing puddles below.

  "Todd?" asked a familiar voice as he picked himself back up from the ground. He turned and found, beneath another bland umbrella, a stout man with a gentle face and distinct facial hair on his chin. It took Todd a moment to realize that it was Mike without the costume or the make-up. Mike looked Todd up and down and grew fearful. "Todd," Mike said, "Are you okay?"

  "Mike," Todd gasped, before thoughtlessly continuing, "Have you seen a teddy bear?" Unsurprisingly, Mike took a step back and then looked from side to side as if searching around, but kept his eyes cautiously on Todd the whole time.

  "No, ummm, sorry Todd," Mike replied with careful sympathy, "but we can look together. Maybe we should find Sheriff Meyers first. He can help us" Todd caught onto Mike's game and quickly ran away towards the cathedral. Mike, in turn, fled also, but in the opposite direction in search of the Sheriff.

  "Jason!" Todd shouted as he came upon the locked gate of the church tower, "Please come back!" Todd gripped the bars of the gate and thrust them back and forth before noticing the padlock. His eyes scanned the ground for a tool but only found a rock amidst the surrounding bushes. Todd picked up the baseball-sized rock and smashed it down on the gate's padlock, but it didn't work

  "Todd!" called another familiar voice from the street. Todd turned around, with the rock still in his hands, to find Sheriff Meyers and two of his officers running towards him with Deputy Harris in tow, "Stop that Todd and come with me. You're not well." Todd immediately turned back to the gate and hit the padlock as hard as he could; instantly breaking it into pieces. Todd rushed through the gate and ran up the stairwell towards the top of the tower. Sheriff Meyers and his fellow officers followed Todd with increasing determination and speed.

  "Jason!" Todd cried out again upon exiting the stairwell and making his appearance onto the rain-soaked roof. He leaped near the crucifix and reached his hands out towards the leaking thunderclouds before shouting at the top of his lungs, "PLEASE COME BACK!" Without a moment more, Sheriff Meyers and his officers plowed into Todd and tackled him to the hard roof. With eight different hands holding him down, Todd couldn't tell who had instantaneously stuck the handcuffs on him, nor could he see with the mixture of rain and tears suddenly flooding his eyes. The police officers surrounding him and began to talk and discuss as Todd's lips began to shake and tremble. The constant streaks of lightning over Kinston continued as Todd wept with sorrow while the soaked police officers lifted him to his feet and escorted him back down the stairwell and to the police station.

  Chapter 14

  The doors to the town's police station squeaked open yet again as another meek citizen entered. Their eyes found Sheriff Meyers first, sitting in his chair, as they made their way towards him. The visitors stopped quickly, however, after noticing the jail cell in the corner and its one inhabitant. It was then that they gasped out of surprise and then exited; having discovered the needlessness to warn Sheriff Meyers of the man who had, not too long ago, sprinted recklessly down the sidewalk and knocked over a dozen pedestrians.

  Todd sat on the lone cot and faced the outside wall. His elbows met his knees as he sulked forward, sagging his head between his shoulders. Once more he looked up at the window in his cell with mesh fencing across it. He dropped his head again between his shoulders and watched the droplets of tears on the floor slowly dissipate in the searing heat.

  "Tell me Todd," Sheriff Meyers intimidated, "What were you going to do on the church tower?" Todd sat still and said nothing. Sheriff Meyers quickly acknowledged this and sat back in his chair, continuing leisurely. "Were you going to jump?" Todd knew that keeping quiet was his best chance, but his lips rambled before his brain could control them.

  "No," Todd said loudly, feeding the Sheriff's conniving fire.

  "Then what were you doing on the roof?" A pleasure seemed to emanate from his questions. There was no doubt to Todd that the Sheriff was enjoying this torture. "Can you at least tell me," Sheriff Meyers continued, sitting happily in his chair, "what you were doing here in town with six containers of medication?"

  "It was a long trip," Todd lied. The Sheriff leaned in Todd's direction and folded his hands as his tone changed.

  "It seems
an awful much for any man, no matter the complication." Todd glanced at Sheriff Meyers to find him staring off in another direction, blissfully taking his time with Todd. His prodding questions flew from his tongues like knives, each one carving deeper and deeper, but Todd held his ground. "Have you been abusing your pills?" Sheriff Meyers asked leisurely. Todd lifted his head, but then lowered it back down without a word. The Sheriff knew Todd had taken all the pills, and Todd knew he knew. If the routine in Kinston for the past few hours had not consisted of playing dress-up with clothing that fell from the sky, Todd would have found the Sheriff's sudden metamorphosis to be strange.

  Sheriff Meyers shifted around in his chair before standing up. He looked over at Todd with exasperation before walking around the room; eyeing Todd every once and a while. Then, Todd heard the sheriff pick up his keys and begin walking towards the door. Todd lifted his head and watched as Sheriff Meyers stepped out the front doors, leaving Todd alone in the building. Suddenly, a figure that had been loitering outside the building's windows dashed for the front door and caught it just before it closed.

  A man, whom Todd had never laid eyes on before, rushed into the police station and up to one of the desks in the center of the room. The man was athletically thin and very quiet on his feet. He moved as stealthily as a cat, and his dark goatee signified a mature age. The man fumbled around in the top drawer, knowing exactly what he was looking for, and pulled out a ring of keys.

  "Hey," Todd said gently to the man as he got up onto his feet with interest, "What are you doing?"

  "Please be quiet," the intruder replied as he took the keys and walked over to the jail cell. The dark-haired man threw one of the keys into the lock and opened the door as if he designed the place.