Butterfly Dreams (6)

(A sequel to The Strange Story of Mr. Black and Ms Gray.)

They had died when helping thwart a plan to undermine the government of the United States. Now Ben and Susan have returned from the dead and they must bring that government down. Standing in their way are Michael Black and Michelle Gray, the bodies of whom they now occupy.

-(The Story begins HERE)-

They Walk Among Us
It had taken us more than a year to accept and to adapt to the momentous changes in our lives. Most traumatic had been the identity crises, conflicts in our minds that had never been fully conquered. If the line between who we had been in the past and who we were at present had been blurred before, it had been all but erased by the recorded images.

Our very existence was a result of the natural order of the cycle of life being defiled. What right had we to cheat death without the intervention of God? Yet, we had tried to justify that right as His will. However, there were others only too willing to usurp powers that belonged solely in the hands of a Supreme Being.

The peripeteia of the events of the day had startled us, and had caught us off guard. Wrestling with matters of morality was an issue we would have to deal with later.

"How can we fear death," Michelle whispered, "when they walk among us?"

Squeezing my hand she reached with the other to shut off the computer when something caught her eye. She deftly struck a few keys and zoomed the image even closer. "What the ...?"

Realizing where she was concentrating I stared at a curious blue marking on Ben's hand.

}ị{

"My God," I cried, "It looks like a ... butterfly!"

"A blue butterfly!" Michelle asserted.


It was with numb reflexes that I answered the telephone without looking at the caller ID screen, "Hello?"

"Michael, what in the hell is going on?" boomed the frantic caller.

"Stu," I said upon recognizing the voice of my former boss. In all of the confusion we had not thought about contacting him. "We ... we were trying to sort out an ...ah ... incident before giving you a call."

"Incident?" he sputtered. "I've been monitoring the police bands all morning. So don't you go patronizing me!"

"Stu, Michelle here. There's not a lot we can tell you at this point. We ..."

"Bloody hell!" Stu roared. "That's the Sunny Dale Nursing home! Police cruisers ... an ambulance ... and your corporate chopper on the lot! It's on the Channel news!"

"Stu!" I shouted. "We cannot discuss it now, not over the phone. Meet us at the Attic in a half hour."

In spite of his cries of protest I hung up the phone. A puzzled look on her face, Michelle moved next to me and asked, "You think the phones are tapped?"

"Ours, no. Stu's, perhaps," I replied. "I just think it would be wise to exercise a little caution. I mean, if they could kidnap Rosie right under our noses ..."

My words were cut short by the ringing of the phone. I eyed the screen and before picking up the receiver announced, "It's Brock O'Day. I'll put it on speaker."

"I hope you two aren't holding back anything. The shit's hitting the fan and it's one hell of a mess!" he bellowed.

"We have our suspicions, Brock, but nothing concrete. Are there any new developments on your end?"

"That would be an understatement" he quipped. "I tried to call Faye but there was no answer. If she's so worried sick about her sister, why wouldn't she answer?"

"Uh ... I can't explain your wife's actions," I said. "Maybe she's on her way to the nursing home?"

"Guess again. I called our neighbor, Mrs. Steinberg, to see if she would check on her."

"And ...?" Michelle queried.

"You ready for this? She saw Faye leaving the house with two men. They got into a black sedan with government plates and drove away." He paused for a moment and added, "Before you ask, she appeared to be leaving with them ... willingly."

( To be continued 3/12 with ...

Bodies of Evidence )
№ 1928