Alexandra felt this wind carry her feet as she burst into the old house after hearing the single gun shot from the gun filled with 6 blessed silver bullets that Carolyn used to attempt to kill Barnabas for his role in Leopold's murder.
Alex wasted no time in getting into the old house and dashed through the darkened hallways all the way down to the room where Barnabas, Kimberly and her mother Carolyn were laying after the gun went off.
Barnabas slowly lifted his head, allowing the flickering candle light to hit his gray skin. He looked up and saw Alexandra in total shock as a small crimson river of blood carved it's way towards Alexandra's feet.
Barnabas got up and instantly looked down to check himself and see where the blood was coming from. He was unharmed, Kimberly who lay unconscious on the floor after hitting her head in the fall had blood on her too but it did not belong to her, it was all Carolyn's.
"What's happened?" Alex said kneeling down next to her mother, blood circulating her knees.
"She tried to kill me....with this." Barnabas said kicking the gun over to Alexandra with his foot, not allowing any part of the blessed silver to touch exposed skin.
"Mother? Mother wake up. Wake up mother!" Alex said tapping the side of Carolyn's face.
But Carolyn could not be woken, she was inches from death, the cold air from the sea now seeping in from outside into the hallways and into the room slowly swirling around Carolyn's limp body that psychically was at Collinwood but soon would be spiritually was lifted away to somewhere no one alive could explain.
In her mind Carolyn could hear Alex's voices echoing further and further away.
Barnabas slowly lifted his head, allowing the flickering candle light to hit his gray skin. He looked up and saw Alexandra in total shock as a small crimson river of blood carved it's way towards Alexandra's feet.
Barnabas got up and instantly looked down to check himself and see where the blood was coming from. He was unharmed, Kimberly who lay unconscious on the floor after hitting her head in the fall had blood on her too but it did not belong to her, it was all Carolyn's.
"What's happened?" Alex said kneeling down next to her mother, blood circulating her knees.
"She tried to kill me....with this." Barnabas said kicking the gun over to Alexandra with his foot, not allowing any part of the blessed silver to touch exposed skin.
"Mother? Mother wake up. Wake up mother!" Alex said tapping the side of Carolyn's face.
But Carolyn could not be woken, she was inches from death, the cold air from the sea now seeping in from outside into the hallways and into the room slowly swirling around Carolyn's limp body that psychically was at Collinwood but soon would be spiritually was lifted away to somewhere no one alive could explain.
In her mind Carolyn could hear Alex's voices echoing further and further away.
***IN THE UNKNOWN PLACE***
It was perfect all white. Light surrounding everything. Yet there was nothing. Simply whitness, and Carolyn walked alone. She heard no sounds. Just complete and utter silence all around her. She looked down and the white had completely surrounded her body, from the ground to the air. It was as if she were standing in white cloud of nothingness; there was no up there was no down. Just blank.
"You've made it." A voice said from behind her. "You've finally made it."
Carolyn turned around and to her surprise, there standing dressed just as Carolyn remember her: demure pastels and perfectly quaffed hair and droplet pearl earrings dangling from her perfect ears was Carolyn's mother Elizabeth Collins-Stoddard who died over 15 years ago.
"Mother? Is that really you? Where....where am I?" Carolyn said confused.
"You're nowhere, yet you're everywhere, darling. This is where we go when we leave the psychical. Well...it's the first place we go. Oh I've missed you Carolyn." Elizabeth said embracing her daughter.
"Leave the psychical? Do you mean.... Have I died?" Carolyn asked with tears in her eyes.
"In a way, yes. And I've come to make sure you're entrance into the unknown is peaceful, and quiet." Elizabeth explained.
"I don't understand, this wasn't meant to happen. I only wanted to stop Barnabas. This isn't right, I have to go back. Maybe I'm inside the mirror again! Or maybe it's all a dream." Carolyn said looking around for a way to leave.
"It's no mistake, it has happened." Elizabeth said taking Carolyn's hand. "Come we need to wait here." She said bringing Carolyn to a different place in the white space.
"I remember. I was ........ I had a gun and I accidentally fired it. I was shot, wasn't I?" Carolyn said finally remembering her last moments as Elizabeth moved her further into the void.
"We don't talk about how we leave the psychical here, Carolyn. It's irrelevant. All that matters is that when the light finally comes, that you walk towards it. Once you're inside you're free." Elizabeth said.
"Mother I'm not ready to be here...this is a mistake!" Carolyn said terrified.
"There are no mistakes Carolyn. I wish this were...but you have come here for a reason. I know that there has been much tension surrounding you in the physical but now you're able to let that all go. Nothing here can hurt you," Said Elizabeth.
"But what if I'm not ready to let it go. There's too much at stake, mother. Can't I go back. Just for a little while! I'm not ready!" Carolyn explained.
"That's not up to me Carolyn. It's up to the fates that control when and where our time begins and ends. Once they decide -- it's done." Elizabeth said.
"And what about Alexandra? Jack's gone and now me....she's all alone. I can't stay here. Please, I can't stay." Carolyn said heartbroken over leaving Alex so suddenly.
"These things aren't always planned. Alexandra will be alright." Elizabeth said cuddling her daughter.
"Are you here alone? Where's Daddy and David?" Carolyn asked curious of the way things worked.
"Daddy is here too...somewhere. I was chosen to greet you first, once the light comes to take us back, you'll see everyone. Except David." Elizabeth pointed out.
"Why not David?"
"Darling, David is not here. He belongs still to the psychical. He has been all this time. His time has not come. Look...there....the light is coming! Are you ready?" Elizabeth said putting her arm around Carolyn.
As Carolyn looked on towards the light in slight confusion over Elizabeth's revelation over David, she saw small crack in the white background revealing a speck of light that was growing larger and larger, like a single star that was getting closer and closer and brighter and brighter as it came nearer. Carolyn dried her eyes from small tears that rolled down her fair skin and smiled at her mother who was comforting her as she began to walk her towards the the opening sphere of bright white light.
"If David is alive I need to go back and...." Carolyn said trying to delay the inevitable.
"You're here Carolyn.... that is all there is." Elizabeth answered.
As Alex's voice began to turn back the hands of time, the sphere of Light Carolyn was waking towards suddenly began to shrink back into a the darkness that once surrounded both Elizabeth and Carolyn.
"Will I ever see you again?" Carolyn asked holding both of her mother's hands in hers.
Alex saw the gun go off backwards time, the bullet retreat back into the silver piece her great great great Grandfather once owned. Then the initial scuffle of Kimberly and Carolyn over the gun, then Barnabas jumping back into his coffin. It all went backwards all while her powerful scream reverberated through time and space.
***COLLINWOOD***
Kimberly finally came to and rubbed her head where the bump popped up from her fall during the fight over he gun. She then noticed the stain of blood on her hands from where it seeped out of Carolyln's body.
"Oh my god, is she ok?" Kimberly said crawling over to Carolyn and Alexandra.
"She's dead." Barnabas said coldly.
"He's right, I don't feel a pulse....oh, Alex I'm so sorry." Kimberly said now sitting next to Alexandra who had Carolyn's head in her lap.
"No, this is not how my mother is supposed to die, I won't accept it!" Alex said, the tears streaming down her face.
"There's nothing you can do Alex." Kim said stroking her hair.
"Alexandra, your mother is gone from her body, that is true. But As we did in the seance we can still pull her back from the brink. But it's up to you." Barnabas said reluctantly giving Alex a clue to use the powers she inherited from Claudia to pull Carolyn back.
"Barnabas, what are you talking about?" Kimberly scolded.
"There's nothing you can do Alex." Kim said stroking her hair.
"Alexandra, your mother is gone from her body, that is true. But As we did in the seance we can still pull her back from the brink. But it's up to you." Barnabas said reluctantly giving Alex a clue to use the powers she inherited from Claudia to pull Carolyn back.
"Barnabas, what are you talking about?" Kimberly scolded.
Alex took Barnabas' queue and carefully placed Carolyn's head on the floor as she got up from the ground. She looked over and Barnabas who didn't make a move and Kimberly who was still on the ground looking over Carolyn's body.
Barnabas looked over again at Alex and Alex looked at Barnabas as if to say he was ready for whatever magical spell she had cooked up. This time she wouldn't use Angelique's book, just her instincts and magic from deep inside her soul, a soul that had bee tortured for weeks over Chris, and Claudia, and her father, Alex pulled from that tortured grief and took a deep breath.
Barnabas looked over again at Alex and Alex looked at Barnabas as if to say he was ready for whatever magical spell she had cooked up. This time she wouldn't use Angelique's book, just her instincts and magic from deep inside her soul, a soul that had bee tortured for weeks over Chris, and Claudia, and her father, Alex pulled from that tortured grief and took a deep breath.
With her exhale she let out a bewitching scream of a banshee that broke windows and sent out vibrations all across Collinwood shaking the buildings and the trees, causing a vocal wave the burst through all time and space.
Suddenly everything started to move backwards within the ripples of sound coming from Alexandra's scream. Kimberly moved back to the floor, Barnabas then sat down, and then went back into his position on the floor next to Carolyn and Kimberly all while Alex's scream caused the minutes to track backwards, the hours to tick counter clockwise, and soon she was seeing everything that happened before Carolyn was shot--all in backwards motion. All before Carolyn died.
She was turning back time to stop the shooting from happening to begin with. And it was working.
***THE UNKNOWN PLACE***
As Alex's voice began to turn back the hands of time, the sphere of Light Carolyn was waking towards suddenly began to shrink back into a the darkness that once surrounded both Elizabeth and Carolyn.
"What's happening? Why is it going away?" Carolyn's asked her mother.
Elizabeth smiled and took her daughter Carolyn by both hands "The only reason the light would begin to retract is because it is no longer needed, darling, you got your wish!" Elizabeth said with tears in her eyes as she looked around the darkness and saw that indeed the light was dimming and Carolyn would be able to go back, thanks to Alex.
"I don't understand!" Carolyn confessed. "What does that mean?"
"Carolyn! You're being called back! You can go back to your life in Collinwood!" Elizabeth said excited for her child. "Take this as is your chance to make things right. Make things better for everyone in our family." She added.
Carolyn felt a sadness for leaving her mother, but a relief that it looked like she was going back to Collinwood all at the same time.
"I wish I could take you with me. Collinsport isn't the same without you." Carolyn said still wiping the tests from her cheek.
"Oh my time has come and gone. I'm no longer needed in that world, but don't worry, I see everything. I'm there, all around you. This is Your time, but Carolyn remember, our family's legacy is paramount you must protect it at all costs. No matter what." Elizabeth said, her words resonating deep inside Carolyn.
"That's what Barnabas was doing wasn't he? Protecting us." Carolyn realized.
"He has his own way of doing things doesn't he." Elizabeth smirked
"Will I ever see you again?" Carolyn asked holding both of her mother's hands in hers.
"You will. But hopefully not for a very very long time. Carolyn, you are the torch holder of our family now, you and David. Remember .....you're family." Elizabeth said as she reached in and pulled Carolyn in for a hug.
As they embraced Carolyn slowly began to fade from inside the darkness and away from her mother's arms. Soon all that was left was a ghostly Elizabeth standing alone with tears streaming down her face.
As they embraced Carolyn slowly began to fade from inside the darkness and away from her mother's arms. Soon all that was left was a ghostly Elizabeth standing alone with tears streaming down her face.
***COLLINWOOD***
Alex saw the gun go off backwards time, the bullet retreat back into the silver piece her great great great Grandfather once owned. Then the initial scuffle of Kimberly and Carolyn over the gun, then Barnabas jumping back into his coffin. It all went backwards all while her powerful scream reverberated through time and space.
Then she followed, as her mother crept backwards down the hall and out of the old house where she got the gun, in that moment Alex stopped the screaming spell and time resumed.
Carolyn started her walk towards the exit of the old smoking room inside the main house to see Barnabas but was stopped by Alex.
"Don't do this mother!" Alexandra said stepping in her mother's way.
"Don't do this mother!" Alexandra said stepping in her mother's way.
"God! Alex you startled me. What are you doing? Following me?" Carolyn said in a gasp as she didn't see Alex come in behind her.
"Just hand me the gun. Hand it to over." Alex said reaching for the gun behind Carolyn's back. "Whatever you do, do not do what you had in mind. We've come so far and I've already lost Daddy, I cannot lose you too. You're all I have left, and....and if we're going to live here in this place then I want to have you as long as possible. So, just hand me the gun mother." Alex said in the most mature moment of her whole life.
Carolyn took the gun from behind her back and looked at it and then looked at her daughter who was in tears in front of her. She could see that something inside Alex was telling her to do this, having no memory of what hadn't happened yet, she complied and handed over the gun to Alex.
"I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life, wasn't I?" Carolyn said causally walking over to one of the large brown leather sofas and adjusting the single strand of thick pearls around her neck.
"I was about to make the biggest mistake of my life, wasn't I?" Carolyn said causally walking over to one of the large brown leather sofas and adjusting the single strand of thick pearls around her neck.
"Yes. You really were." Alex answered as she put the gun back in the black lacquered box.
"Your grandmother was a lot like you, you know. She always had a way of making sure I made the right choices in life--I didn't always listen, but something told me I should listen to you now. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for almost going off the deep end." Carolyn said as she looked over at a large painting of her mother Elizabeth.
"What were you going to do?" Alex cautiously asked.
"It doesn't matter now. What matters is.....well, is what matters is that we are going to start fresh from this moment on, ok. Whatever happens here on out, we'll stick together. A mother and daughter team!" Carolyn said enthusiastically.
Alex laughed and sniffed her nose and gave her mother a big tight hug. Carolyn dogged the bullet. Literally.
****
In a darkened hospital room in Bangor, Maine, an illusive member of the Collins family slept in an induced sleep that he had fallen under for weeks. The feeling of calmness at Collinwood and Alex and Carolyn's emotional reunion reverberated through the air and sky all around and into David Collins' room and broke him from his deep medically induced sleep.
He gasped for air and shot straight up in his bed, sweating and panting. His eyes were blood shot, his breath still short, his thick chest heaving for air, it was like he had been asleep for two decades.
He looked around, his mind felt foggy. He wasn't sure he knew where he was, or if he was still dreaming. He carefully got up out of his bed and stepped on to the floor. His big bare feet slowly reaching the ground. He tried to get up but was still woozy from whatever medicine he was under.
It had been a long time since his mind felt clear, and now, it was an odd sensation. It seemed that at every turn in his sessions with Joanna something would set off his memories of this past and Joann would then give him a sedative to relax him, calm him down, and sedate him.
But today was different. She hadn't come in to see him. Maybe she forgot? Maybe something had happened to her. He was locked in this room and his mind was beginning to clear from the dizzying for he had been subjected to for years and years.
It had been a long time since his mind felt clear, and now, it was an odd sensation. It seemed that at every turn in his sessions with Joanna something would set off his memories of this past and Joann would then give him a sedative to relax him, calm him down, and sedate him.
But today was different. She hadn't come in to see him. Maybe she forgot? Maybe something had happened to her. He was locked in this room and his mind was beginning to clear from the dizzying for he had been subjected to for years and years.
He slowly raised himself from the cot he slept on and walked over to a door and turned the knob. It was locked. The door's small square window looked into Dr. Joanna Grayson's office. The office door was wide open and David could see through into a hall way, and in that hallway stood Joanna at a nurses station looking over papers, signing them, flipping to more papers, and signing those.
As David looked though his door window and into the office and through the door that was opened to the hospital hall way, he saw two weary people walking up to the nurses station where Joanna was looking over her paper work. One a stranger, the other a very very familiar face.
It was Caleb and Kat coming to check up on their lead that David had once been at this hospital.
David's eyes watered. He recognized the man's face. But he couldn't say his name, or where he recognized it from, but something deep in his psyche was telling him this was his moment.
As David looked though his door window and into the office and through the door that was opened to the hospital hall way, he saw two weary people walking up to the nurses station where Joanna was looking over her paper work. One a stranger, the other a very very familiar face.
It was Caleb and Kat coming to check up on their lead that David had once been at this hospital.
David's eyes watered. He recognized the man's face. But he couldn't say his name, or where he recognized it from, but something deep in his psyche was telling him this was his moment.
As he stood there pacing back and fourth in this room, trying figure out what to do, it finally came to him. A memory finally broke free from the chains of two decades trapped behind steel doors.
David went back to the small square window on his door and whispered "Caleb."
David went back to the small square window on his door and whispered "Caleb."
And just as he was about to pound on the door to make noise, Sebastian's face popped up from the other side of the small window giving David a cruel scowled look.
Sebastian then smiled cruelly and wagged his finger in David's face, a silent teasing gesture that David had disobeyed the rules then placed a large black card over the window, blocking David's view.
David was trapped.
Sebastian then smiled cruelly and wagged his finger in David's face, a silent teasing gesture that David had disobeyed the rules then placed a large black card over the window, blocking David's view.
David was trapped.