Untitled: Ch. 3, Pt. 3

James hesitated.

“James,” Mollye looked up, locking her eyes to his.  “Please, trust us.”

This time, the words struck James like a hammer.  Myriads of thoughts raced through James’ head.  He tried to swim through them, to figure out what was the truth, what was a lie, and what was clouded by emotion.  The whole thing didn’t sit right with him, and something inside told him that this story would have a horrendous ending.  But, he couldn’t believe his mother would be taken so easily.  After all, she knew Jared for much longer and much deeper than he did.  She may see something he could never see.  He trusted his mother, almost to a fault.  The confidence she held in her eyes about the truth behind the man who appeared in the rain was unmistakable, and was final blow to James resistant resolve.  

“I won’t make any promises, mom.  I will try to talk to him, but no promises.”

“Thank you, James.  Thank you so much.  You don’t know what this means to me.”  She hugged him, relief in her heart.  James sighed.  He couldn’t help but feel he was a bit of a sucker, but it was obviously of importance to his mom, and that made it a little easier to swallow.  He couldn’t stand letting her down, but he also couldn’t bring himself to trust Jared.  He sighed deeply and started to push out of the hug.  In his head, he fought continually with the fact that his mother was so accepting of this practical stranger.  It seemed so unlike her to jump at that chance to trust someone so readily.  Deep down, she was still as innocent as a child, not jaded, but naïve.  He was always of the opinion that this would end up getting her hurt, no matter how much it hurt him to think so.  He couldn’t understand how she could let herself trust a man she had not seen in so long, someone who, for all she knew, wasn’t really her husband, and he decided to voice his apprehensions about it.  

“I don’t know, James.  Deep down, something tells me it’s okay, that there’s no reason to worry.  It’s how I felt the day I walked down the aisle with him.”

“But you don’t even know that it’s really him!”

“James!” She found herself yelling in anger, but couldn’t figure out why.  She stared at him for a moment, wide eyed and confused.  

“I’m sorry, but it needed to be said,” he said, cautiously breaking the silence.  Mollye sighed.  

“You’re right.”  She paused.  “I hate it when you’re right.”  She smiled and motioned to the door.  “He’s waiting.  It’ll be easier if we’re all together.”  James nodded.  She turned to walk out the room, and James put his hand on her shoulder.  She glanced back.

“I want you to be careful, mom.  I don’t want you to get hurt.  I just can’t shake the feeling that this is going to end all wrong, no matter how much I don’t want it to.”  Mollye’s shoulders sank.  “Just promise.”

“Okay, James.  I promise,” she said, shaking her head.  She was disappointed that he distrusted Jared so deeply, but found herself suddenly torn between all the promises she had made.

They walked out of James’ room together, leaving the door open behind them.  As they entered the living room where Jared was waiting, James found himself unable to look at the man, much less make eye contact.  He sat in the chair across the room from Jared, looking only at his mother and the ground.

“James?”  Jared finally broke the silence, James finally looked up.  “God, how I’ve missed you.”

“Spare me the pleasantries.  I promised mom I would talk to you about the dreams, nothing else.”

Mollye voiced her disapproval of his tone and James fell silent.  Jared forced a weak smile in an attempt to ease the situation a little.

“Then tell me.  What is it that has you hating me?”

James motioned as if to say something, but remained quiet for a moment longer.  After taking a deep breath, he decided to talk.  

“Recurring dreams.  I’ve been having them since I was 7.”  Jared’s expression became that of anger and hurt.  “There’s a few of them, but it’s always the same.  Not so much dreams as nightmares.”  He paused when he noticed he was starting to shake.  “I- I can’t do this.”  He started to get up, but before he could, Mollye was at his side.  

“James, please.  You said you’d try,” she begged, looking him strait in the eyes.  

“I’m trying, its so hard.  He looks just like in the dreams.”

“Please.”  

James turned to Jared, fear apparent in his eyes.  “Its your face,” he said meekly.  “It was so vivid in the dreams.  You- it was crisp and clear, not fuzzy like the others’.  And the eyes, they had so much hate in them.  The lips were snarled and the hair was messy.  He grabbed my arm and threw me to the ground.”  He began fidgeting nervously.  “All the others there just stood and stared, no matter how much I cried for help.  They just stood in the shadows.  I struggled to get away, but every time, the man was too strong.  I tried to run, I tried to fight,” James’ voice became shaky.  “Every time, I was overpowered.”  He suddenly looked directly into Jared’s eyes.  James was on the verge of tears.  “The expression on your face was so cruel, like you were enjoying it.  Humiliating me.”  James felt suddenly as if he were experiencing the dream again.  He fell silent, stunned.

“Then what, James?”  Jared asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.  “I want to help.”

“James, it’s okay.”  Mollye attempted to comfort him.  He finally tore his gaze away from Jared and found himself staring into Mollye’s eyes.  He reached a hand out to touch her, almost as if he didn’t believe she was there.

“I can’t.”  As if awareness of his surrounding struck him, he jumped and batted Jared’s hand off his shoulder.  “Get away!”  He jumped up from his chair and ran out of the room, grabbed his keys, and headed off into the passing storm.

“JAMES!”  Mollye screamed after him.  Jared sprang up to go after James, but Mollye stopped him.  From where they were, they could both hear the door of James’ car slam, the engine start, and the screech of his tires as he drove away.

“Let him go, he needs to clear his mind.  Those dreams, they really hurt him.”

Jared shook his head.  “How long has it been?”

“Four years or so.  But-“

“Four years?!”  Jared asked, half scared, half angry.  “Mollye, we have to find him.  If they try to get to him again, they could find out I’m here.  I have no doubt that Sarek wants me dead, and I honestly don’t know how far he will go to get to me.”