Samuel

Chapter 11

Many days passed by giving their way to months with little gain for Director Namirah. Pouring over the daily briefings, she pressed her staff near to their breaking point. Under immense pressure from her many direct line supervisors, the Director worked tirelessly to find the source of the mysterious emanation so many days ago.

Thinking to herself, the Namirah growled, "How could this person just disappear? There must be something!"

Scouring over the measurements, the data stated the spike of energy pulsed in the Midwest yet quickly diminished before they could triangulate its origins. The hustling of footsteps outside her brightly lit office continued to resonate within her room as her door remained open to all staff who held updates.

Continuing to herself, the Director stated, "It's unfathomable that a triad this powerful just disappears without a trace!" Twirling her hair with her finger, uncharacteristically, the Director's body tensed as her frustration mounted. "This can't be her. It's impossible. The energy signature is all off."

Gritting her teeth, standing on the cusp of fury, Director Namirah turned her attention to the importance of this individual containing the three domains.

"If I can find them, then Liddah's presence will continue to be obscured." Considering this person's future after being captured, Namirah's face softened. "Not much of a future. Shaped and warped to the Twelve's whims."

Namirah turned her attention to screens bolstering multicolored pinpoints throughout the world. Some larger than others, while many more arrived each day. Never a triad, mostly one domain or two. This find would prove paramount to others as all resources pooled to find this new weapon. A weapon that could be warped before they truly knew who they were. Much like a young child.

"A child...." The Director mused.

Suddenly, the block in her mind, lifted as different memories swelled within her thoughts. Sitting back, she placed her hand over her mouth in surprise while thinking hard.

"Of course. Just like Liddah! This one must still be a child." Namirah told herself.

Racing to grab her phone, the Director bellowed into the line, "Get me the Vice President! Tell him I have urgent news!"

---

Connection, something he longed for daily, his home life, less than desirable, feeling immersed in a sea of strangers, the boy remained in isolation in an invisible torment. Every time he gazed upon them, feeling nothing but cold emptiness, he asked himself who are these people to me? Why do they evoke such nothingness?

With his sibling Kyle and Janet, this apparent family, along with his adopted parents Megan and Franklin lived in a small, three-bedroom house on a quarter-acre lot. A tight space for all five of them but they made do as much as they could.

No matter how hard he struggled to understand and perceive his previous life with his biological parents, Samuel met with nothingness. No memory approached his summons despite how hard he tried with attempts to jog his memory. Absent visual images of pictures or faces met him, only deep despair, while an agony bled through his soul.

Taken back to the picture of him in another room surrounded by insects, Samuel forced his mind to home in on the image of the corpse in front of him, investigating it deeply for any facial features, which could jog his memory. The husk, of the apparent man, discolored and disfigured by the masses of insects ingesting its flesh, proved unidentifiable. Perseverating provided nothing but loneliness and despair while the feeling of familiarity gnawed at Samuel.

His existential crisis continued to build within him the more he interacted with the Walkers. The father, a blue-collar worker at a local automobile plant, often came home smelling of brandy and cheap booze. Taking his aggression out on the mother, he seemed to have enough to pass upon the children. Desperate to attain the pleasure of his father, Kyle, the eldest son, often, attempted to prove to his father his worth by alerting him of any rules broken in the household.

Often acquiring the ire of his father, Kyle passed this pain onto his younger sister and many times Samuel. At first, this started with pushing his sister down, while Samuel often woke with spiders placed in his crib. Bitten and riddled with itchy bumps, Samuel experienced this torture often before it evolved to having his mouth and nose covered. As darkness bloomed in his gaze, Samuel saw the redheaded Kyle grin with teeth missing in his smile, an intense pain embossed on his eyes, sad and distant, resonating with his own anguish as it cascaded into Samuel, moment by moment.

Swallowing his own pain, Samuel questioned himself with limited ability. Wondering to himself, as he lay in his crib hours on end, alone, detached from his adopted family, "What is this? Why am I here? Why so much pain?" Swimming in agony, in tremendous distress.

As the days passed by, Samuel lay in his crib feeling the darkness of the room could no longer hold him. As his body strengthened with each passing day, he left the basement to discover what the rest of his building looked like. As soon as the family slumbered, as quiet settled upon the home, Samuel climbed his tiny body down from the crib.

As his small frame walked about the home, Samuel felt his rash against his diaper scream with each petite stride. Giving in to his senses, Samuel's irritation faded away as he took in the full habitat. Stenches and stains surrounded the hovel as he moved silently in the dark. The low light of the streetlamps bled into the window as shadows wreathed him in darkness.

Stepping into the bedrooms of the Walker family, Samuel watched curiously as he listened to their deep breathing, sometimes getting close to their beds, he remained inquisitive like a small guardian. As he watched, listening hard, Samuel heard voices, distant, yet clear as conversations.

Thinking to himself, Samuel considered, "What is this noise?"

Stepping closer, silently, craning his neck, Samuel leaned in, attempting to listen attentively to the series of voices emanating within Janet. Considering what he heard, Samuel, unnerved by the cacophony, covered his ears with unease. Struggling to shut out the noise growing louder and louder, unchanged by his intense pressure placed on his tiny ears, the voices intensified, taking over all stimuli around him.

Samuel's eyes flickered amber straining to endure the torturous waves of noise emanating from Janet's mind. Realizing holding his ears did nothing to quell the insufferable blare of unordered sounds and images passing by his mind's eye, Samuel cradled his head as he groaned slightly. As the pain enveloped him, Samuel's eyes fluttered before his tiny body crumpled to the floor with a soft thud.

The sounds inundating him immediately silenced as Janet's eyes blinked awake. Sleepily, she looked around the darkened room as her pillow cradled her small head. Unaware of what broke her slumber, her eyes heavily closed as sleep welcomed her lovingly.

As quickly as it was silenced, the sights and sounds of Janet's thoughts continued in Samuel's mind as he writhed involuntarily on the stained carpet. The rolodex of images cycled within the toddler as Samuel, compulsorily cycled through the stimuli struggling to make sense of things while a thin trickle of blood dripped from his earlobe.

---

Shortly before morning, Samuel awoke renewed by the massive information downloaded from Janet's mind. Groaning, lifting himself up, Samuel grimaced as his mind ached, and his body screamed in agony. Feeling the need to sleep more, he lumbered out of the room towards his crib and closet, his limbs pulling him down. Two tons of brambles pierced his flesh, dragging him along. Each step pulled, nearly, everything from him.

Thinking to himself, Samuel groaned, "Such pain. It's almost too much."

Passing a lit hallway, Megan Walker watched as the toddler stumbled. Mistaking his groan for babbling, she observed as she sipped on her morning coffee. Moving towards his crib in the depths of the house as she prepared to start her day, she blinked as her fatigue clouded her mind.

Thinking to herself, she mused through a yawn, "Oh, it walks now. That'll make things easier."

Thanks for everything everyone.  :)