Chapter XIII

he crescendo of the scream ended with the plaintive wail of a woman in extreme mental and physical distress.  The ensuing sobs told of heartbreak, of losing someone so dear and close to you.  The hurt and anguish of the soul is poured out in weeping such as was heard in the darkness.  William was sure he had heard the voice before.

Not only that, it rekindled a faint recollection of someone he'd heard scream in the not too distant past.  Who could be in such turmoil of misery?  What could possibly be so bad as to make a person carry on in such a manner as this?

William did not know they had been returned to the same warehouse building he'd been in before.  Instead of the huge warehouse portion, he was in the laboratory section.  In this section were the small containers in which they were now housed.  He chanced a call and heard Sharon's voice respond.  "William, are you OK?"

"Yes, you?"

After she responded, he asked "who's doing all the wailing?"

"That's Melinda.  I did not know it, but Connie Ellis was Melinda's sister.  Her and I were just talking about the girl in the warehouse, and you had recognized her picture in the office.  Simultaneously, I recognized her as a close friend, actually, one of my classmates.  When she inquired as to her name, I simply responded with Connie Ellis, and she went into hysterics.  I only found out the connection a minute or so ago.

"How did you know Connie without knowing Melinda?" Will asked.

"Melinda is about four years older than Connie and I.  When she graduated from High School they moved to a different part of town.  She left home about the time Connie started going to the High School I attended.  I knew her, but we never hung around together." Sharon explained.

She paused while another round of weeping and distress was heard, this time more of a quieter, more controlled nature.  A quiet mumbling could be heard from the direction in which the wailing came.

"She also had different interests than me," Sharon continued, then paused again.  William wondered about her but said nothing and simply waited.  He knew she would start again when she finished reflecting.

Finally, she began again.  "We graduated the same year, but I don't remember ever having a class with her.  She was a beautiful girl, having deep brown hair.  And very popular.  Wherever you saw Connie, you saw a group of kids.  Very nice to be around, very respectful, very smart . . . " 

At that she paused, reflecting again and studying all she knew about Connie Ellis.  After a few minutes she began again.  "Then I heard she'd married, moved and within a short time, her husband died.  That was the last I'd heard about her until I saw her picture on the wall of Dr. Kny-pel's office.

All was quiet after a few minutes, when she asked, more out loud than to herself; "I wonder how she could have ever gotten mixed up with a loser like Dr. Kny-pel?  What a sad situation, and what a sad way of life.  I feel he was probably abusive in more ways than one."

The sounds coming from the direction in which Melinda was placed swelled and sank in volume.  William could hear her as she mourned for her sister, but couldn't figure out what all the mumbling was about.  It was broken with sobs and wails, then pure outright weeping.  He could not hear what she was saying, but she kept it up for what seemed like hours was only less than an hour.  Finally, she quieted down.

William sat quietly after asking Sharon what she was doing.  He was quiet after he learned she was 'praying.'  He sat in the darkness listening to the sounds coming from her direction.  Thinking to himself he wondered why anyone would pray like that.  All the prayers he'd ever heard were prayers like blessings over food, invocations and the like.

The quietness descended like an unwelcome fog over the whole place as she finished.  She finished by saying "I love you Lord, Praise Your Name Jesus, and Thank You Master."

Will, again, not knowing what to do, crossed himself.  He then said "amen."  He paced around the little container for a few minutes wondering what to do, what was to become of them, how they'd ever get out of this mess, or, if.  He began to reflect back over his own life, and, there, all alone in the stillness of the darkness, felt loneliness like he'd never felt it before.

The waves of loneliness washed and subsided over him again and again, like the never ceasing waters of the ocean.  There was a hungering that settled over him as well.  He wanted something better than the life he was living.  He thought he'd found it all when he found his beloved Sharon, but now, as he reflected on his life, he realized even as much of a part of his life she was, there was still something missing.  There was a longing in his life that even she could not fill.

As wonderful as she was, she could not fill that hunger in his soul.  She could not fill that longing that he was beginning to see could only be filled by a Higher Power.  There was something about Melinda that he could not understand.  She had a fullness, an air of happiness he'd never seen in anyone.  She was not a bubbly sort of person, but, there was something in her life that he would like to experience.

William didn't even realize that it was even possible for him to experience the same thing she seemed to exude from her very being.  A joy, an aura of well being, even though the problems evident were overwhelming, she seemed to have this joy, laughter, happiness . . . life.  He really didn't even have a way to explain it.  All he knew is what he saw in her life.

And he had only been around her a few very short hours, and had only known her for about a week now.  But there was something about, something she had, something she had experienced . . . that William wanted to experience for himself.

The training William had experienced via the hypnosis and the computer had certainly sharpened his mind, had afforded him the ability to think and do things in a way which few (if any), people had ever experienced.  But, most of his ability was only realized under the influence of hypnosis, therefore, under normal circumstances, outside of hypnosis, he was pretty much the same person.

He thought about his business deals in which he stood to make millions, but, they seemed so far away and insignificant now.  They did not have the importance in his life they had when he an Sharon lifted off in the Piper.

They were comfortable, but not well off.  His and Sharon's collective business college would certainly take them to untold riches, but he didn't care for that now.  He was extremely worried over what would happen to Sharon if he were to lose his life, but even more worried as to what was going to happen to her afterward.

These were scenarios in which he had no control.  And, these were conditions over which he had never had control, neither were they brought on by bad choices on his behalf.  He had never heard the passage of scripture in which situations of this sort are merely a fact of life, and is sometimes merely what life hands you, or, is dealt to you.

But, he realized for the first time in his life that there was something certainly missing in his life.  And he was beginning to think what was missing was God.

Sometime in the darkness, he sat down on the padded floor, and then lay down.  Using his arm as a pillow, he eventually slept.  But it was not a peaceful sleep.  It was a sleep in which he was chased by unknown culprits that wanted something he had.  But the part that bothered him the most was the feeling of a Sentence of Death.

Why was it ever so present?  Why could he not shake it?  Was it because he had unwittingly and against his own will, had a hand in the murder of three men?  Was it actually murder?  Or execution?  Was it justified?  Was it even justifiable?

There were numerous questions which had never been answered in Williams mind about this whole Crawley Caper situation.  But, after the trial in which he was exonerated, he wanted nothing more to do with the entire situation.  That was the reason he had quit his job, and had decided to open his own business.  He wanted to distance himself from the whole mess.

But, he had learned he was the recipient not only of the properties owned by Gilroy Hastings, but, was now the owner of the Title Search Company created and developed by the late Roy Planter.  He did not want that business, and had set about selling it within a week of the trial.  He had turned the entire business and all it's dealings over to his lawyer, Lane Wardlow, to settle it once and for all.

If he was unable to sell it, then make it a company owned by the employees.  If unable to do that, dissolve it.  It had too many connections to a part of his life with which he wanted nothing to do any longer.

But the death sentence hung over him.  It was as real as the noose that hung from the ceiling above him.  Ever present in mind.  Why was it there?  Why could he not shake the chill of it?

Was the feeling of a death sentence the effects of the noose?  Was it just because he'd seen so much death?  Because he'd effected death upon a soul himself?  Or was it something deeper, greater than his whole being?  It seemed as if it was greater than the entire world.

The feeling was ominous, ever present, and ever growing.

And it seemed as if the grim reaper were right in the little cell with him as he considered his situation.  Yes, death was very close, and he was about to see it again, only in the most violent manner yet.

Time was running out for someone William didn't even know was there in close proximity at that very moment.  The grim reaper would score again this day.

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