Karen D. Badger - Yesterday Once More (10 page)

Jess crawled to the nearest chair and used it as leverage to climb to her feet. With a final venomous look at Maggie, she limped from the room. Maggie stood rooted to the spot as she listened to the sound of the door closing and the squealing of car tires. When she was satisfied that Jess was gone, she calmly put the poker back into its holder and pulled the tattered pieces of her shirt together. Then she turned around and slowly walked down the hall to her bedroom.

Jordan watched the scene from the floor. She was concerned about the emotional state Maggie was in, but thankful that she had been able to influence the outcome. As she watched Maggie walk away, she pushed herself into a seated position and dragged herself back to her chair. Exhausted, Jordan laid her head down to rest.

* * *

Kale sat back and studied the diagram on the screen. Satisfied that he had a workable design, he saved the file and then shut down the computer. Before calling it a night, he circled the machine once more and admired the upgrade he’d installed.
It just might work.

Kale opened the kitchen door and called out. “Jordan?”

There was no answer. He ran to the living room and found Jordan lying on the floor, unconscious. “Oh, my God. Jordan!”

Kale knelt by Jordan’s side. He rolled her onto her back and gently patted her cheek. “Jordan, Jordan, wake up.”

Jordan’s eyes fluttered open. “What... Kale, what is it?”

“You’re on the floor. Are you all right? Did you fall from your chair?”

Jordan grabbed Kale’s arms and pulled herself into a seated position. She looked around in confusion. Slowly, she recalled the events of the evening. “Kale... Maggie... she was attacked. The chair wouldn’t move. I... I climbed out of my chair to help her.”

Kale sat back on his heels and looked at her. “Maggie?” he said in disbelief. “Jordan, I’m worried about you.”

“She was here. I swear to you.” Jordan was disoriented. She looked around the room for Maggie.

Kale rose to his feet. “Okay, wait a minute. We need to get you off the floor.” In one movement, he lifted Jordan from the floor and gently placed her on the couch. Then he sat down beside her. “I think you need to get some help. You’ve become obsessed with this dead woman. I’m really worried about you.”

“No. It’s real. I swear to you, it’s real.”

“Jordan...”

Jordan placed her hand on Kale’s arm. “Stop. Please. Let me prove it to you.”

Kale looked skeptical. Jordan retrieved all the volumes of Maggie’s diaries from the end table. She shuffled through the books until she located the one she was currently reading and handed it to Kale. “Okay, before you open that, let me tell you about this last vision. I was sitting here reading the diary you’re holding, and my eyes started to droop, so I decided to quit for the night. I closed the book, placed it on the end table, and I laid my head on the pillow. Seconds later, this woman comes into the house and calls out for Maggie. The woman was obviously a lesbian—”

“How do you know?”

“She was very butch. Anyway, she came into the house looking for Maggie. Maggie came out of her room and the woman—Maggie called her Jess—this woman started to grope Maggie, trying to convince her to have sex. Maggie said no, but Jess wasn’t taking no for an answer. She started manhandling Maggie. She pushed her against the fireplace and started ripping her clothes off. Maggie struggled, but Jess wrestled her to the floor and pinned her there.”

Kale interrupted Jordan’s description. “Let me guess. This is where you come in.”

Jordan grew animated. “Yes, it is. I tried to move my chair toward them, but for some reason, it wouldn’t move. Maggie was obviously in distress and needed help, and Jess was stronger than she was. I tried several times to reach her, but I couldn’t. Finally I gave up on the chair and climbed down to the floor. I dragged myself over to them, and when I was within reach, I grabbed Jess’s leg and dug in with my nails as hard as I could. When Jess couldn’t stand it anymore, she yelled out and released her grip on Maggie, who was able to free herself. Jess lay on the floor holding her injured leg while Maggie got up and grabbed the fireplace poker. After one good whack to Jess’s leg, she convinced Jess to leave. Then Maggie went to her bedroom. That’s all I remember.”

Kale looked skeptical. “How is that explanation supposed to convince me you aren’t losing your marbles?”

Jordan pointed to the book in Kale’s hands. “Open the diary. What’s the date on the entry where the bookmark falls?”

Kale looked at the diary. “July 9, 2008.”

Jordan did the calculations in her head. “So that means Maggie was twenty at the time she wrote that particular entry, right?”

Kale nodded.

“Okay, now scan through the books until you find the year 2010.”

Kale threw his hands up. “For crying out loud, Jordan, what exactly are you trying to prove here?”

Jordan inhaled deeply to contain her frustration. “In the vision, Jess said that Maggie was a twenty-two-year-old virgin. If she was twenty-two, it would have been the year 2010. The bookmark is on an entry dated 2008. Don’t you see? I haven’t gotten to the year 2010 yet.”

Kale closed the diary and threw it onto the table in obvious frustration. “Listen to me. All this proves is that you haven’t read past the year 2008. You said yourself that you became drowsy while reading. You could have easily fallen asleep and dreamed the attack.”

“Bullshit. Why don’t you believe me? Remember the last dream? Remember there was an entry in the diary that described the dream in detail? I didn’t read that entry until after my dream. Give me some credit here. I’m not some crazed whacko obsessed with a dead woman!”

Kale looked concerned. “Jordan...”

She interrupted him, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Please, keep an open mind... for me.”

Kale looked at the diary, took a deep breath, and smiled at Jordan. “All right, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I’ll read the diary tonight. Okay?”

Jordan smiled, wiping the moisture from her eyes with the back of her hand. “Thanks.”

Kale leaned in and kissed her forehead, then lifted her chin with his fingertips. “You’re welcome. Now it’s time for both of us to call it a night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night.” Jordan watched Kale retreat to his bedroom. Then she transferred herself to her chair and headed to her own room.

* * *

Jordan was awakened by a movement at her side. Convinced it was Maggie, she lay as still as possible and feigned sleep. Suddenly, she found herself wrapped in strong, male arms. She opened her eyes to look at Kale. “Is something wrong?”

Kale met Jordan’s gaze but remained silent for a long moment.

“Kale, you’re scaring me. Is something wrong? Why are you in my bed?”

“I owe you an apology.”

“An apology? Why?”

Kale switched on the lamp on her bedside table.

“Listen to this.” Kale held the diary between them so Jordan could follow along as he read.

August 10, 2010. My day really sucked. It started out okay. I went to class and then drove Mom and Dad to the airport. They flew to Florida today to make sure their condo is in order before moving down there for the winter. I had just gotten home and changed my clothes when Jess arrived. The second she realized I had the house to myself, she was all over me. She ridiculed me for being a twenty-two-year-old virgin. She thinks it’s odd that I’ve known about my sexuality for six years now but have yet to have sex with a woman. Hello? Just because I knew at age sixteen that I liked girls doesn’t mean I want to jump into bed with every lesbian I meet. I just haven’t found the right one yet. Giving myself to someone is a sacred thing for me. It has to be the right someone, and Jess just isn’t it.

Anyway, Jess wouldn’t take no for an answer. She got pretty rough and pinned me against the fireplace, and then she tore my shirt open. Before I knew what was happening, she’d wrestled me to the floor and started groping me. I thought she was going to rape me right there and then, but all of a sudden, she got a really bad cramp in her calf muscle and let go of me.”

Jordan said excitedly, “That cramp! That was me digging my nails into her calf.”

“Jordan,” Kale said carefully, “listen to yourself. This happened almost one hundred years ago. You couldn’t have been there to influence the attack. I’m ready to admit there is something odd going on here, but we need to be realistic about this.”

“I was there. I know I was. Look, I can’t explain it.” A silence descended over them as they lay side by side on their backs looking at the ceiling. Their reverie was broken by Jordan’s body shaking as she sobbed.

Kale tossed the diary onto the nightstand and took her into his arms. “Please don’t cry.”

Jordan burrowed her face into Kale’s shoulder. She gasped for breath. “I feel so helpless. She died so young. Why? Why did she have to die? She was my age, Kale. She had so much life yet to live. My heart is breaking for her. It’s just not right.” Jordan’s shoulders shook violently as Kale held her close.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you. Let it out, baby. I’ve got you.”

Several long minutes later, Jordan relaxed in his arms. He loosened his grip on her. “Are you all right?” he asked softly.

Jordan took a deep breath and nodded. A shudder ran through her body. “What’s wrong with me? I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

“You’re not losing your mind, Jordan. You just have the softest heart of anyone I know.”

Jordan started to cry again. “I swore I would never let myself feel like this again. After Susan left me, I vowed never to open my heart again.”

“Talk to me about Susan.”

Jordan wiped the tears from her eyes. “There’s not much to tell that you don’t already know. She was a nurse at the physical therapy office.”

“I have to be honest with you. I didn’t like her very much. I watched her pretty much run your life for two years. I guess I don’t know what you saw in her.”

“It wasn’t as bad as all that. In the beginning, she made me feel special. I’m disabled—my dating opportunities are pretty limited. There aren’t many women out there interested in a relationship with me. Susan was different. Who’d have thought she liked me being dependent on her? As you know, she split after the first implant was successful. She broke my heart. I loved her, I needed her, and she deserted me. So I decided to never open myself up to that kind of hurt again.”

“Never say never, Jord. There’s someone out there for you, someone who will treat you with the love and respect you deserve.”

“I don’t know. Look at me. I’m infatuated with a ghost.”

“Come here, you,” Kale said.

Jordan snuggled into his shoulder. Kale pulled the blanket over them both and kissed Jordan on the temple. “Go to sleep, Jordan.”

Within moments, they were both snoring softly.

* * *

The research team was waiting when Kale and Jordan arrived at the lab in the morning. The department head had scheduled a briefing in the conference room to update Jordan on the status of the new implant. As they entered the room, the other members of the team stood and cheered. Peter Michaels walked to the front of the room and shushed the group. He smiled at Jordan. “Dr. Lewis, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re glad to have you back.”

Applause broke out again. Peter waited patiently until the room was quiet. “As I was saying, welcome back, Jordan. In your absence, we’ve been working hard to perfect the new implant. I think we’re less than a month away from testing it on a human subject.”

“That would be me,” Jordan said firmly.

Kale chuckled. “Tell her yes, guys. Take it from me—you don’t want to make her mad.”

The team members laughed, and Peter assured Jordan that she was indeed the test subject. “All right,” he said, “let’s get down to business. Jordan and I have briefly reviewed the new implant’s function. Now it’s time to iron out the details. Lights, please.”

For the next two hours, the research team talked about the status of the new implant and worked out a detailed roadmap for developing the self-powered energy unit. At the end of the meeting, each team member had been assigned a task and a strict schedule.

Peter closed the proceedings. “Okay, party over, folks. Let’s get back to work. You too, Jordan.”

Jordan grinned, happy to be working with the team once more.

Jordan spent the rest of the morning running tests on the prototype implant in a lab monkey. Around mid-afternoon, Peter stuck his head in the lab. “Jordan, do you have a moment?”

Jordan smiled at her mentor. “Sure. What’s up?”

“I’d like to talk to you in my office.”

Jordan frowned. “Okay, but I feel like I’m being called to the principal’s office. Are you giving me detention?”

Peter’s smile looked forced. “Now, Lewis,” he said with mock sternness.

Peter closed the door to his office and sat down. There was an open folder on his desk. He picked it up and pulled out a piece of paper. “Your test results came back this morning. Your thoracic series looks very good, but your white blood cell count is elevated. As you know, that generally indicates an infection.”