The Eyes of a Lamb

Game Changer

Clarice was in the pit, the darkness pooled around her as the cold feel of nothing but stone and dirt underneath her feet surrounded her. She huddled her arms close, shivering from the torrent of water that bastard had thrown down on her, leaving her wet and cold all night. There was no way she was going to dry off down here, it was too moist.

She sniffed loudly and tried to find the stone wall of the pit so she could sit and rest a while before he came back. And then she heard him, the scraping of the wood door above her as the echo of feet reverberated through the pit walls and down to Clarice.

"Ready to come out now?" Jame's voice said above her, the deepness of his tone hinting at a slight joy or amusement at her peril.

Clarice didn't answer him though, staying silent.

"I could do worse you know" he said "I could leave you completely in the dark."

Clarice looked up at him, the spotlight above his head darkening his features to her.

"I could close the top of the pit" Jame's voice sounded out "And not open it until next week. Does that sound good to you?"

Clarice still didn't answer, just huddled deeper in side of herself.

"Alright then" Jame said with a laugh "We will have it your way."

Clarice saw the movement of the board, like an eclipse over the sun as darkness started to move in all around her. Clarice could feel her body shaking...her nerves shot as she tried to huddle closer into the light, terrified of what the dark would bring.

"See you later" Jame's voice echoed out.

Clarice could fell the parts of her body breaking out at the seams as her voice screamed out with all her might...

"NO!" Clarice shrieked into the night as she stood up in bed, her whole body covered in cold sweat as her fingers loosened on the covers she had been holding so tight that her knuckles were as white as the moon.

Quickly she turned on the light and got out of the bed, her legs shaky as she tried to walk off the nightmare. Clarice glanced at the clock and saw it was four in the morning. She needed sleep...and the nightmares were not helping her any. Sighing as she sat back down on the bed she realized who she wanted to talk to right now, but quickly dismissed it. She was getting too close to Hannibal Lecter, getting too close to all of this. It's exactly what Jack Crawford and Will Graham did not want for her, and she knew what both of them would be telling her to do right now.

Clarice looked over at the home phone she rarely used and thought about how late it was. Would anyone be up? Probably not. But it was worth a shot.

She called Will Graham first, just to reassure herself that it was the right choice of action. The ringing of the phone sounded until a click was heard and a muffled "Hello" coughed over the speaker.

"Will" Clarice said as she heard her voice crack.

"Clarice?" Will said automatically alarmed "What's going on, are you hurt?"

"No...no just..." she said "I had a nightmare...in fact I've had several the last couple of nights. But tonight...Will I think I should get off the case."

"What? No" Will said "You can't get off the case, you are those girl's only chance."

"I know" Clarice said "And call me a coward but...I'm getting too close, you of all people know what that's like."

"I know" Will said "I know that you are getting too deep, and forgive me for saying this but I think if you really need to step back, go talk to Lecter. He can steer you in the right course."