"I...I don't understand...Slider, did I hear you right...did you say Todd is gone?"
"Yes, you heard me right...and I wish to hell I didn't have to tell you this!"
"Gone...not there...well, then where? When did he...leave?" she stumbled over the words, her mind desperately trying to latch onto any scrap of information that would mean she wouldn't have to panic.
"We had finished the session as I told you before on the phone. I was in my office doing some work, and he was supposedly reading in his room. I fell asleep...maybe for about half an hour. He left, Tea...simple as that."
"Simple? Oh no, Slider...no, I don't think so! There's nothing simple about him leaving!" she exploded. "He had to have had a reason. What happened today, Slider...tell me what happened in that session!"
"Hold on, Tea...that's confidential...but I can tell you that I'm not aware of anything we discussed which would lead him to do this. Something else must have triggered his...disappearance."
"There has to be some mistake...he wouldn't leave now! Do you realize ...if Del finds out," her voice lowered almost to a whisper, "...Santo Maria ...he doesn't stand a chance!"
"I know...it doesn't make any sense. He was fine this morning...and Tea, we did have an understanding. He wanted to do this for you."
"Well, we've just got to find him, that's all," she said vehemently -- her need to act now taking over even though she was shaking like a leaf inside.
"You've been with him, Slider...you've seen how he is now...where do you think he would go?"
Suddenly Slider felt his stomach lurch as if the breath had been knocked out of him.
Idiot! The reason he left was there...right in front of me...and I didn't see it!
He couldn't even speak the terrible thought out loud...not to her, and not even to himself.
...but I still have to consider it, even if it is the worse-case scenario...
~~~~~~~~~~
I don't have much time...he could be finding out I'm gone now...
Getting on the elevator had been strangely automatic for him -- as if he was being propelled by some all-controlling force.
He knows the number...
The doors suddenly parted, and another man stepped into the elevator. With a friendly look, he spoke.
"Going down?"
"Uh...yeah, sure."
Whistling softly to himself, the man punched the button for the lobby level. The doors opened again, and he politely motioned for Todd to exit the elevator ahead of him.
"Uh...changed my mind."
"Well, have a nice day," the man nodded to him and left the elevator.
Changed my mind...right...so now what? Where the hell am I going?
The doors remained open, and Todd saw a shape at a distance hurrying toward the elevator. Looking quickly at the buttons again, his eyes honed in on one number...eleven.
Smacking the button with his palm, he stepped back, feeling the trembling of the floor beneath him. Within moments, the elevator thudded to a stop. Hesitantly he stepped out and cast his eyes up and down the hallway.
Which door? Does he know that, too?
~~~~~~~~~~
"Slider...maybe he just had to take a walk. Of course, that's it...he can't stand to be cooped up for too long," Tea said as nonchalantly as possible considering that wild thoughts of Todd's whereabouts were now ricocheting like mad through her mind.
Maybe, Tea...nice theory...but I sincerely doubt it...my instincts are telling me something different...I think I know exactly where he went!
His voice level swiftly modulated down a notch as he tried to speak soothingly to her.
"I'm sure you're probably right, Tea. I'll go take a look around the building. He could just be restless and needed a change of scenery. Just sit tight until I know something, okay?"
Sit tight...and do nothing...don't think so, mi amigo...not exactly my style...
"All right. I guess we shouldn't get too alarmed just yet," she again punctuated her words with phony confidence in an attempt to mask her incredible need to scream.
"Just find him, Slider...and call me back immediately when you do!"
After she set down the phone, her hand slapped down hard on the counter -- the sting of the slap against the tiled surface not even phasing her.
"No...something else had to have happened! Slider was doing his best to reassure me, but he forgets that I'm a lawyer, and I always know when anyone is feeding me a load of bull."
Shaking her head and staring out into space with troubled eyes, she finally voiced the physical ache that had now welled up inside her.
"Querido, why...why ...we were so close..."
~~~~~~~~~~
Sherry leaned into the make-up mirror and ran a stick of plum lip gloss carefully over her lips. Tossing back her glossy black hair, she critically assessed her reflection in the dresser mirror.
Enough already...that will do...as if I could care how I look now...
Her appearance lately had not conveyed her habitual, strict attention to detail, and she was almost positive that it hadn't gone unnoticed by her coworkers that she had not been her usual self of late. Her doctor friend, Jerry, had even questioned her mood recently.
"Anything going on in your life I should know about?" he had said mildly as he watched her methodically putting away some medical supplies in a cabinet.
"No, not really," she lied as convincingly as she could, and hating that she didn't feel like bringing Jerry in on her personal problems. He had been a good friend, but even unflappable Jerry would have raised an eyebrow at the unusual story she would tell him.
Poor Jerry. He would certainly be upset if she left the hospital now. She had to admit that she would miss his little quips and teasing as well as the working relationship they had successfully maintained these last few years. Maybe she wouldn't quit just yet.
All she really needed to do was change her address and hope that she could gracefully exit out of the past four years spent in this building with a certain blonde, blue-eyed man.
Whatever else has happened....I will miss you...
Glancing at the clock on her dresser, she shook off the thoughts that threatened to close in on her and forced herself to concentrate on her plans for the day.
Steady, girl...it's all over...just have to forget...
~~~~~~~~~~
Nick was here this morning...that cagey way of his...I heard him in Todd's voice...
Slider winced at his remembrance of their morning session when Todd had leveled a question at him that had all the earmarks of one that someone else would have asked him.
It's just as I said...everything is in its place...full integration...but he isn't ready...
Was there anything worse than realizing that he had not read the signs -- even with all his experience?
I was hoping that it would be slower...that he would have the time to master it...
Some thought must have driven him away...something forced him to leave even though he had promised me that he wouldn't...
Something...or someone like...Nick...
~~~~~~~~~~
Eleven twenty-three...
A new number popping into my head. Perfect! Just another day in the life of Todd Manning...or is that Nick Manning? A bunch of information coming at me that I didn't want to know. So this means, what? That any move I make from now on will be linked with his knowledge..his memory?
It was all beginning to make some kind of bizarre sense to him. His motivation for leaving Slider's apartment was defined by a side of him that wanted very much to come here.
Somewhere down this hallway is a door with that number on it and behind it is a woman that he loves.
...but...I am Nick...and he is me...
...I know you thought I would never come back, Sherry...you thought wrong ...
~~~~~~~~~~
Climbing two steps at a time, Tea raced up the penthouse stairs to change her clothes. Throwing open her closet door, her eyes searched the rack of clothes as she tried to fight off her rising hysteria.
My black pants...where did I put them? Got to throw some things in a suitcase. I'm not just going to sit around and wait...he's in trouble!
If I hurry, I can catch an afternoon flight...Slider and I can look for him. If Del calls my service, I'll just tell him I had to go out of town on business...let him think what he will...
What am I saying? I don't know what to do...
~~~~~~~~~~
Swearing more than a few times under his breath, Slider closed the front door of his apartment.
Of all the...where was I this morning? But I do know where. I was too busy congratulating myself on getting this far, but I didn't even pause and look behind that cool exterior of his...
I thought I had him. I thought we could just ease back into his new life, but Nick had other plans. He can't be separate entity anymore, but he still has an agenda, and he's not about to give it up yet...there is someone out there who is calling him back...
The first place he will go...no question whatsoever. He'll go to Sherry.
~~~~~~~~~~
There she is...
Todd effortlessly blended in behind a large palm plant as just a large, dark shadow filtering through the leaves.
Will she know me?
Still secretively watching her with eyes flickering bright with curiosity, he slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding.
Everything...her voice, her eyes, her hair...the feel of her body beneath mine...I remember everything...
Only a short while ago...you and I...we were almost...lovers...
Sherry, it's me...I didn't leave you...I'm right here!
As the woman walked down the hall in the direction he was hiding, his heart beat rapidly, and a bead of sweat trickled down his brow.
She was now only a few feet away from him, waiting for the elevator. She had not seen him. Her dark eyes stared straight ahead but never seemed focus on anything in particular.
A few more seconds...and you can see me again...
~~~~~~~~~~
Slider ran to the elevator, his thoughts racing and his mind debating whether or not to sprint up the stairs.
This is all my fault...he needed to be watched every second! I thought I could rely on Todd's commitment to Tea to keep him here...with me...in therapy...
...but Nick...he's still there...haunting his soul....
What he knows now...that he and Nick are one and the same...that could push him right over the edge...down into the black hole of insanity...
Sherry...once again you may be face to face with the man you thought was erased from your life forever...
God...gotta' hurry!
~~~~~~~~~~
Todd sank back further behind the plant as the raging vortex of his mind assumed control of him and both sides of his personality faced off in a psychological field of battle to decide which side would reign supreme in his life.
