One More Troubled Soul

Twenty-Never The Same Person When I Go To Sleep As When I Wake Up

Patrick's P.O.V.

No one could take the case from me. I wouldn't let anyone touch it, not even when I fell asleep and nearly dropped it on the floor of the van. I kept a firm hold on the handle and watched out the window, seeing the streams of lights and cars go by without really seeing them.

Adira is here. She's in the case. I need to get her out.

"Patrick." I jerked at my name and let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding when I realized it had been Andy who spoke. I nodded at him and rubbed at my temples. "Yeah?"

He gestured at the windshield, where a low building complex falling apart sat. A meager little sign sat up above the roof displaying motel in a fading red neon light. "We're going to stay here for a couple nights. It'll give us time to figure out what we're going to do. Joe went in to get a room for us."

I nodded again and sighed heavily. A snore drifted from the passenger seat. Pete had his head resting on the arm of his chair with his feet kicked up on the dash board. I guess him and Joe swapped sometime on the road from that damn warehouse. I glanced down at the case, running a gentle finger along the clasp. It'd be so simple to just flip the lock and open the lid.

"Don't." I glanced up to meet Andy's firm gaze. It was calm, yet wild. Angry, yet gentle. Everything you'd need to be to get the point across that you shouldn't do what you're about to do. He shook his head slightly. "Don't." He repeated softer. "You don't know what could happen."

I don't care, came to mind. Let it happen. I just want my daughter back. She's literally right here. She's in my hands, yet slipping through my fingers. "I can't lose her again." I whispered, my eyes stinging as I felt tears threaten to spill over. I held the case tighter and squeezed my eyes shut. "I just can't."

A knock on the window had us both jumping while Pete kept snoring softly. Joe waved in at us, motioning to roll the window down. Andy reached forward and cranked the window down enough for Joe and his afro to fit into the car. He smiled and held up a room key. "Got us a room for two nights. The lady said there were only two beds, so either two are sleeping on the floor or we're splitting half and half."

Andy nodded, glancing at me before sighing and running a hand over his hair. I never realized how tired he seemed until now. The bags under eyes had never been this deep. Same with Joe. His smile was as fake as the gig we had been sent to. He looked ready to fall over.

Joe leaned in through the window and smacked Pete across the head. The bassist flinched and shot up away from his assailant, swinging his fists wildly. I couldn't see his face, but I heard the annoyed, "Fuck you, Joe." and couldn't help chuckling along with Andy.

Pete was still a bit sore with Joe when we got the lock open on the peeling door. The room wasn't any better, with the paint falling in strips and the carpet stained with only god knows what. There was an unidentifiable smell that made my stomach churn, but I've spent nights in worse places. There was a bed immediately to our right, and another pushed up against the farthest wall. A bathroom door was set into the wall next to it. And that was about it.

Joe flopped down on the nearest bed, and Pete made a gagging noise as something drifted up from the mattress. He waved a hand through the air and nodded. "I'm sleeping on the floor. It looks cleaner than the beds." Joe threw his hands in the air in triumph of getting a bed to himself. Pete shook his head with a chuckle and sat in the middle of the room, resting his chin in his hands.

Andy pointed to the other empty bed. "Sleep, Patrick. I'll take the floor."

I tried to refuse, but found my vision suddenly blurry and an airy feeling in my head. I pressed a hand to my temples and shook my head. "No. No, take the-" a wave of unwanted exhaustion came through me and I nearly fell if Andy hadn't caught me with a hand under my arm.

He led me across the room and helped me lay down, putting the case between me and the wall. "Yes, Patrick. Take the bed. You've been through hell and back." He even pulled the covers up to my chin like a mother tucking in her child. "You need the bed."

I sighed and smiled weakly up at the drummer. "Thanks." He nodded back and walked to Pete, who's eyes have drifted shut. He seemed to be in danger of falling face first, so Andy nudged him awake with his foot and made him lie down. I allowed a quiet chuckle. Andy waved and whispered a night before hitting the lights. With the light filtering through the curtains, I could see enough to watch him lay next to Pete on the floor.

I didn't deserve a friend like Andy. Hell, I didn't deserve any of them. All this happened because of some dumb lie I kept up, a secret I didn't tell that should've been told years ago. Yet they stuck through everything. They could've left me in the tree when I had told them about Adira. Andy and Joe could've made a run for it when Pete and I had stayed in the bushes. Pete could've left me when I was climbing up that tree to see Adira.

What had I even been thinking then? That Adira was the star in the sky and maybe I could take her and keep her? A humourless ha escaped me and I covered my eyes with an arm. How desperate would you have to be to believe she was a fucking star?

Pretty desperate, a voice whispered in my head. A male voice, calm and understanding. Not my own. I was too tired to care at this point, or to even be surprised. If you can stuff people in cases, I'm pretty sure you can talk to people in your head.

Yeah, I said back. Extremely and unnecessarily desperate.

But you had a reason to be desperate, child. An image flashed in my mind, Adira leaning on the tree as she talked to Pete. Before I knew it was Adira. She's a pretty good reason to be desperate.

I didn't answer. I rolled over and stared at the case, the dried blood flaking off onto the bed. I'm going to have to clean the sheets before we leave or we'll give the people here a heart attack. I sighed and closed my eyes, wanting to fall asleep and never wake up again.

But you have to. The voice came again, a slight chuckle in it. You have to wake up to get her out.

I know. I know I have to get her out. I just don't know how with that kid in there, too.

The voice actually laughed this time. A small light came in my mind's eye. Just a light, nothing more. No, Patrick. Not Adira.

I gasped when she flashed from the light. Faie, her long black hair to the small of her back and her brown eyes bright with laughter. I hadn't seen her since her death. Adira looked nothing like her. Though she seemed to share Faie's delicate build you'd find in a dancer. I didn't notice until now.

You need to wake up to get her out.

Get her out? She's gone, she can't be taken out of wherever she went. She died.

And yet...and yet I felt like it could be possible. After all I've been through, anything seems possible right now.

I needed to know. I needed to know who this voice belonged to. I felt the pressure behind my eyes that sleep brought to one who absolutely needed to sleep. But I had to know before I surrendered. Who are you?

It chuckled again and a man replaced Faie. He wore all white with a pair of dark glasses hiding his eyes. He raised a hand with a wide smile. "I'm God, though I much rather prefer Elton."