Monday, January 18, 2016

Series 2/Chapter 3: PANDORA'S BOX

The full moon had revealed Collinsport's hidden demons once again. A werewolf, secretly hidden away by his own father was now seeing his own life was a sham, that he'd been lied to about what he was, where he came from, and what he was meant to be. The feeling of betrayal swam through his veins like a raging river. Christopher was completely confused and upset. He threw the photos at his father and grabbed his coat from the sitting chair next to him.

"Where are you going?" Victor asked following his son to the front door.

"Don't! Leave me alone. Just...leave me alone!" Christopher said jumping into his own car and locking the door.

He picked up his phone and text Alexandra: "I need to see you. Now."

****

Kat and Loomis were writing up paper work at the police department on what they saw the night of the  fire at Collinwood when another police officer walked over and handed Loomis a missing person's form from a small town about 60 miles away from Collinsport.

"Whats this?" Loomis asked.

"Doesn't the guy in the photo look like the body that was pulled out of the bay a few weeks back?" The cop asked.

This caught Kat's interested and she stood up and snatched the paper from the cop's hands. It did look like same man Carolyn, Alexandra, Caleb and Leopold identified as Jack Thorne.

"Well, well, well. Either Jack Thorne has a twin brother  who happens to be a missing homeless man  named Frank Moore, or the Collins family have some explaining to do." Kat said.

"You're serious." Loomis said dryly.

"Yes, I am! From the beginning I've been saying something was odd about Jack's supposed suicide, and now we actually have some proof that there was some kind of cover up. Look for yourself Loo!" Kat said handing the flyer form back to Loomis.

"Wait wait wait! Let's just calm down, ok Kat, how are you going to prove any of this? You can't just go in there accusing this whole family of...I don't know what? What are you accusing them of exactly?" Loomis asked skeptically. 

"What you don't believe there's something fishy going on here? Look at this photo, I mean the guy we pulled out of the bay was a little water logged and gross but it's definitely the same guy.  I'm not sure Jack Thorne is dead Loomis. And if he is, where is his body? It wasn't the guy we fished out of the bay, I feel it in my gut." Kat explained. 

"Maybe you need to get a little more info from your boyfriend." Loomis teased. 

Even if he was teasing   her, Kat knew Loomis was right, if she was going to get anywhere with her theory that the family was hiding something she had to break Caleb. 

As Loomis got up to file their paper work Kat called Caleb to set up s meeting, and Caleb who was dealing with the mess his mother Kimberly had gotten him into needed a distraction. 

"I'll be home in an hour. Meet me there." Caleb's voice said over the phone. 

Kat left Loomis a note and snatched her jacked from the back of her chair and zoomed out of the police station, gun in holster.

****

At Collinwood, Carolyn and Alexandra were still in the Blue Room as dusk approached. The night was creeping in, the perfect time for Leopold to make his appearance. He came into the Blue Room and felt a strange vibe coming from Carolyn and Alex. Being that they had just survived a fire the night before, he figured it was all part of the trauma and didn't think twice.

Claudia,  however, knew that he would sense something strange in the room now that she was possessing the body of Alex and decided it was the perfect time to make her exit to avoid detection.

"Leopold! You don't have to stand at the door, please come in." Carolyn said, ushering Leopold over.

"How are you two feeling this evening? He asked as he sat across from them, starting to notice  something different about Alex, just as Claudia predicted. "Are you alright Alexandra?" He asked, squinting his eyes, as the energy from her aura began to glow red.

Alex nervously smiled and stood up taking a stack of magazines back to a coffee table on the other side of the room. "Never better!" She quickly shot back. "I have a friend coming over to see me in a few minutes. I'm going to meet him out side. I'll see you later." Alex said kissing her mother on the cheek.

"Is she alright?" Leopold questioned Carolyn once Alex was out of the room.

"I think so. She's probably just tired. Last night was...it was insane!" Carolyn said with a laugh. "We were talking about some old family stories, so maybe that put her off too. I want to thank you for everything too Leopold. You saved our lives!"

"It was nothing, really.  No matter what. You're Jack's family and Jack is still a part of me." He said with a forced smile, his pale skin almost glowing in the setting sun light.

Even though Carolyn knew their time together had ended, and she was legally a widow, she still loved Jack, and Leopold having Jack's much younger face, a face that reminded Carolyn of their younger years made it all that much more bitter-sweet.  Could she ever let go of Jack's memory knowing that he was living just outside her door in the old Collinwood mansion behind the main house? Only time would tell.

As the two made small talk over tea and Carolyn explained some of the details of the reconstruction of the East wing, Kimberly, freshly discharged from the hospital, made her way into the Blue Room much to Leopold's delight, and Carolyn's disdain.

"Carolyn have you spoken to Caleb. Something's happened." Kimberly said without even a hello.

"Whats happened?" Carolyn asked worrying for her cousin.

"He came to see me at the hospital and Victor was there."

Carolyn knew this day would come, a day she promised Caleb's father David she would do her best to protect Caleb from.

"You told him, didn't you?" Carolyn said standing up to face Kimberly.

"He walked in on Victor and I talking I had to. He was starting to put two and two together. I had no choice but to tell him." Kimberly explained.

"Leopold, will you give Kimberly and I some privacy." Carolyn asked coldly.

"Of course." Leopold said, as he made his way to the door and hid around the corner to listen.

"Is that why you came back to Collinsport? To bring more pain to Caleb? Kimberly, when you and David divorced I stayed out of it as best I could. I saw how it destroyed David. We all agreed that your affair with Victor would be kept a secret and even knowin that I've agreed to let you to stay here, for Caleb's sake, but let me make one thing clear: if Caleb even makes the slightest mention that he wants you gone, I promise you, I will make sure of it. Consider this a warning." 

"You've always been one to make things that weren't about you about you and this couldn't be less about you. I just want to tell him my side of things" Kimberly said.

"Fine. Do what you want but when you do, know that truth isn't on your side." Carolyn warned as she walked out of the blue room, pushing Kimberly to one side and not noticing an eavesdropping Leopold hiding in the shadows.


Kimberly was unfazed byCarolyn's threats. She fully expected Carolyn to attempt to poison her son's mind about the divorce, but that had no connection to the real reasons, the mission Kimberly was brought back to Collinsport would all be revealed.

"Are you ok?" Leopold said walking back in.

To him, Kimberly was a vision. A beautiful striking blond who's eyes were like pools of turquoise. He was in love.

"Oh! Yes! Carolyn and I haven't exactly been the best of friends. But that'll change." Kimberly said sitting down on the pale blue sofa.

"She's a very nice woman. I trust that whatever the situation between you will be resolved. " Leopold said as he started to make his way out of the room.

"Hey! Wait! It's been....God...it's been a very insane day. Would you like to get a drink with me? At The Blue Wale downtown? I need to get out for a second." Kimberly asked.

Leopold felt like a child at Christmas, filled with excitement and joy. "Yes! I'd love to!" he said as she smiled sweetly and interlinked their arms.

Kimberly stood up and grabbed Leopold's arm and interlocked it with hers and the two  made their way past the scorched foyer and at the top of the stairs stood Carolyn. Her eyes burned with jealousy. Kimberly had wiggled her way back into her family. Something she knew she had to put a stop to. But could she she stop it before Kimberly and Victor's plan was set into motion? 


****

In the gardens outside of Collinwood, Alexandra waited in the brisk night air for Christopher. She paced back and fourth on the cobble stone courtyard under trees that had been burned by the winter ice and watched from shadows of the trees as Leopold and Kimbelry dashed off to the Blue Wale.

"Alex!" Chris said as he stepped into the other side of the courtyard.

"Hi!" Claudia responded in Alex's voice.

"I'm so glad to see you." Chris said, kissing her sweetly on the lips.

Claudia hand't felt a kiss in a very long time,  but she didn't expect what came with Christopher's. His  was different and powerful. As soon as their lips touched, the memories and events from the night of the full moon flooded into Claudia's mind like a horror picture show. Everything from the fight with this father, to his transformation into a werewolf and  the car accident and seein Leopold in the forest were vivid memories now in her own mind.

Claudia now knew Christopher's abilities. She realized that if she could some how be released from her sarcophagus prison In the cemetery she could use Chris's powers for herself.

"I'm so glad I came to see you. Some crazy stuff happened. I don't even know how to explain it." Chris said.

"I'm glad you're here too. I actually need your help with something." Claudia said in Alex's voice.

"Sure. Ok. whats up?" Chris responded.

"Take a walk with me. Come on!" She said grabbing Chris' hand leading him into the fog.

The two continues to walk hand-in-hand along the Collinwood property; through the various small arces of trees and past the nefarious Widow's Hill.  Claudia was taking Chris to the Collins' family mausoleum. She was going to use him to free her!

The waves of the Atlantic ocean crashed along  the cliff-side, angry and violent. The sky was pitch black and the moon was crescent, only revealing a small sliver of light to guide them along their way, but finally, they reached the shadowy, gloomy grave yard where so many of the Collins family members were laid to rest and where Claudia had been trapped by Leopold.

"What are we doing here?" Chris asked confused.

"I need you to go into the main mausoleum, and open up Catherine Collins sarcophagus." Claudia ordered.

"What???? What the hell for?" Chris said furrowing his brow.

"Chris, I need you to do this, I need you to do this for me!" Claudia said in Alex's voice, a voice that swirled out of her throat like a mystical smoke that curled and surrounded Chris and entered his ears and into his brain.

Chris felt lightheaded and dizzy, and began to blink slowly. He turned to the cemetery and in a daze walked in past several tombstones and grave markers. He walked through the light fog that had now placed itself, hovering gracefully in the cold air at knee length, on the above the grave stones.

Alexandra's body still stood at the edge of the gate, possessed by Claudia's evil spirit, waiting and waiting for the moment Christopher finally released her from her stone prison.

Chris walked into the mausoleum, his eyes darted back and fourth searching, and there, in the corner was Catherine's sarcophagus. He walked over and tried to slide the top off, he pushed and pushed and finally on the fourth try, the stone slid open and a light so bright burst from inside. Christopher screamed and fell to the floor backing away with his hands and feet terrified of what was witnessing.

Like the evils of Pandora's Box, Claudia's body rose from the crypt still in her red dress almost as if she was a sleep, simultaneously her spirit leaving Alex's body like black smoke from a bonfire calling her body to float standing up from inside to the front of the cemetery.

  Chris still in a panic followed and saw the Alex had fainted, he watched in terror as the black smoke of Claudia's spirit collide with the body he had just released from a crypt.

He ran over to cover Alex as the two parts of Claudia, spirit and body, melded together in a burst of white powerful energy and disappeared into the night.

"Alex! Alex! Wake up! Alex!" Chris said as Alex came to, rubbing her eyes.

She looked at Christopher, fully aware of what had happened  during and after her possession.

"Oh God." she whispered. "What have we done?"