Part 3 (1/2)

”Look at the trees.”

”Yeah. So?”

”Are they moving?”

”No. So what? There isn't any wind.”

”Actually there is.” I concentrated on the trees. Gave them a time bubble. They suddenly jumped to life. The breeze moving branches and leaves. I released the time bubbles and the trees stopped again. ”I controlled that. Same way that I control the judge here.”

She turned around and looked at me.

”Sheila. This is going to be really hard for you to comprehend. Okay? But we are the only two people up and about on the planet. So in a way, yes, I'm going to free you from this bozo here.”

”Oh thank G.o.d,” she breathed a sigh of relief.

”Sheila. What is the situation here? I swear I won't tell anyone.”

She sank back to the floor. Hugging her knees again. Shoeless. I watched a war fight itself inside her head. Not sure what her internal daemons were but I could imagine that they weren't much fun. Finally she licked her lips, making a decision.

”That son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h blackmailed me. Three years ago.” It sounded like she'd wanted to tell someone this a long time and it came tumbling out of her mouth like water flowing down a mountain. ”He actually was a judge back then. He's retired now. Anyway, my stupid brother got nailed for armed robbery. Guilty as sin. I knew it. Judge knew it. But he was only a kid. I knew the judge's wife. Gertrude. Through the church. I begged her to try and get Evan to go easy on my brother. She agreed to try. She'd known Robby since he was a kid as well. I get a call from the judge the next day telling me that it would cost him his bench if he messed with the court and that he couldn't do it. I begged. I promised him anything. I just didn't know that anything was this.” She spread her arms out, indicating the room. ”I couldn't see my brother going to jail. He couldn't handle it. Finally the judge relented. And true to his word my brother walked. Kept out of trouble too.” Tears were beginning to roll down her face. Tracing through the grime.

”The next week I get a call from the judge politely inviting me into a new position. A maid in his household. Obviously, I tried everything not to do this. It would mean giving up a very good job at IBM. Finally I convinced him that I'd help part-time. And I did. It was a bit degrading to do the housework for them, especially since they didn't pay me. But Gertrude was kind to me and seemed to appreciate the help. Finally he demanded that I quit my other job to become a full time maid. He swore that he was a couple months from retirement anyway, and that he'd squeal on the deal and that my brother would get retried. Not having any choice I quit and became the full time maid around here. The first couple of weeks it was alright. But then one night I found him standing in my room. Telling me that I still had to work off the debt. At first it was just s.e.x. Then the kinky stuff about three months ago. Christ. Videos. Snapshots. I couldn't get away if I tried. He threatened to send it to my *parents* and friends. I didn't even know what was in this room until three months ago. At first he just got off tying me up. Then the bondage got tighter. And longer. And then he. He. Began to h-hit me. Nowhere it would show. But it was for nothing. For nothing. I didn't do anything to deserve this. Oh G.o.d. It hurts. I hate him.”

At this point she just broke down crying. Her gloved hands pressing against her side. Sobbing.

I sat back in the chair, unsure what to do. I hated him too. This was real life. Real time. Sheila was going to have to live with this for the rest of her life. I couldn't do a thing about that. I mentally made a note that when I did restart the world to ensure that this a.s.shole got caught somehow. An anonymous tip or something. For now though I could make things a little righter. At least in this timeline. I didn't fail to see the irony. Here I was fully planning on making her a slave as well. I'd already abused women beyond comprehension. Especially Jane. And I hurt them. Perhaps I really wasn't much better than this p.r.i.c.k. Difference was I knew that the girls would never remember. This guy was doing this as a hobby in real time. Sheila would never forget him. I had to tell Sheila the truth about me though. Otherwise things were going to go off track quickly.

”Sheila? Sweetheart?” She looked up at me with bleary eyes. ”Will you stay here a moment? Not move? I'll be right back. I swear it.”

She nodded. To be safe I narrowed her time bubble and she slipped into a time phase with Mayer. She wouldn't be in the same time phase with him long enough to interact.

I used the key and left the door open. I slowly made my way downstairs glancing through the rooms. Amy was relaxing in the front room. Eyes closed. Cuffed hands lying on her bare stomach. Headphones on. Bare body slowly moving to some unheard music. Listening to something slow on the stereo. Elizabeth looked up from her book as I entered the library. A Tale of Two Cities. I raised my eyebrows and she just smiled. Turning pages two handed, forced by the cuffs. Like a child.

I glanced around and spotted Christi lounging in a leather chair. Holding a Stephen King paperback.

”Christi?” She looked up.

”Break over?”

”Kind of. I've got a really strange situation here and I need your help. And Jane's. Know where she is?”

”Dining room, I think. What's happening?” She could tell that something was unusual by my tone. This wasn't a call to torment her again. Instinctively she just knew. She was serious, not her usual sarcastic self.

”I'll explain it to both of you. Don't want say this twice.”

Christi rose from the chair, her robe twirling around her. She placed the book down on the chair to hold her place.

”Whatcha reading?”

”Talisman. Same one that you let me read when you took Jane. Remember?”

”I don't remember. Any good?” I didn't think that I had even asked what she was reading when I left her alone in the bookstore. Not important.

”Amazing. What's up?”

We arrived in the dining room. At first I didn't see Jane. Then Christi pointed with her bound hands. Jane was stretched out like a cat in the bay window. Her robe open. Letting the morning sun beat down on her bare body. Fast asleep. My kitten.

I wandered over to her. Shame to wake her. But I really needed her. I gently shook her. She mumbled something.

”Urg. Not yet, Mom. Too early for school.”

I just shook her again. This time her eyes fluttered open and she sighed.

”You've come to torment me again. Haven't you?”

”Nope. But I need your help. Okay?”

”What can I do for you?”

I sat backward on one of the dining room chairs. Jane simply sat up on her perch and Christi stood barefoot on the carpet.

”This is a very weird situation. Even I can't believe this one. I'm going to give you the short version. Our host, at least the male side of it, is a former judge.” The girls nodded. ”Problem is. He's worse than me. In real time.” Jane and Christi both had looks of confusion on their face.

”I found a locked room upstairs. Our host likes to play with women. Rougher even than I do. And he doesn't control time so this woman is going to remember all of it.”

Jane piped up. ”What does he do? Kill them?” She was being flippant.

I glared at her. She hadn't seen the display I had.

”Shush. The maid here has been abused by this guy for at least three months.”

Christi went pale as the implications sunk in. She at least knew that she'd forget about this place as if it never happened. ”What did he do to her?” she whispered.

”I just watched him put her through the wringer. Stuff I wouldn't even dream of doing to you unless you really really p.i.s.sed me off. And even then I'd think twice about it. And even if I did do it to you, you wouldn't be traumatized for life from it. You won't remember it when you go back.”

The girls just nodded together.

Jane spoke up. ”What are you going to do?”

”When I restart the world, I'll take care of it in real time. For now, there isn't much I can do.”

Christi looked up at me. A strange glow graced her eyes. She softly remarked, ”You could let me and this girl at him for a while.”

I nodded. ”Actually, that's exactly what I had in mind. But, my problem now is that I need you two to explain our situation to this girl. I really don't want to frighten or hurt her any more than she already is. On the other hand I want her while we stay here. But I'm afraid that a less subtle approach might end up with her in hysterics and completely unmanageable. She knows that I can freeze things, but she isn't in the frame of mind to understand. She's hurt.”

Jane looked at me shrewdly. ”So you want us to help you snag yet another victim?”