Chapter Twenty-One – Ebony

Every time she closed her eyes she was there, laughing at her, mocking her for trying to escape. She was cold and heartless, pure evil and she taunted Ebony for her weakness. Frequently she would hear the woman with the emotionless eyes whisper things, horrible things that Ebony desperately tried to block from her memory, but remained there, seared as if by a red-hot iron.

After her episode in her bedroom the day before she had finally relented to Java’s and Siva’s pleas. Of course, by that point they weren’t taking no for an answer. They left Seal Beach immediately, Siva calling a hotel on her mobile on their way there to book a room for them. They had driven all afternoon and all night and now finally they had arrived back in the city, a city that did not hold a single pleasant memory for Ebony.

“We’re here.” Java announced pleasantly as she eased her dark blue sedan into the hotel parking space that was designated for their room. “I’ll go see about getting us check in. You two just wait here.”

Ebony nodded, staring vacantly out the window and into the near empty parking lot. Both of her sisters had tried to talk to her about her episode, asking her why she had wanted to gouge out her eyes, but Ebony couldn’t answer them. She didn’t really understand it herself.

“How you feeling, kiddo?” Siva asked gently after several long minutes had ticked by, the only noise in the car coming from the young toddler still sleeping in her car seat in the back with Ebony. “Any better?”

Ebony shrugged, fighting the natural resentment she felt towards both her sisters. She had fought so long to be respected as an independent adult, yet these fugues as Siva called them had not only demolished all of Ebony’s hard work to gain respect, but had reverted her back to a child’s role, both her sisters doting on her more than they did Mocha.

“Look, Ebony,” Siva began slowly, her brows knitting together in concern. “When we get into the hotel I have some names I want to read to you. See if any of them sound familiar.”

“Names? What names?” Ebony murmured listlessly.

“Names that you’ve been saying in your sleep.” Siva supplied, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears. “I’ve been writing them down whenever I could and I think that maybe, just maybe they might help us unravel this whole mystery.”

“Mystery.” Ebony let out a humorless chuckle. “Is that what you’re calling it now? No longer Ebony’s episodes or whatever.”

Siva opened her mouth to answer but was cut off when Java opened the car door and informed them they were all set and could unload all their things in the room now. They had not had much time to pack but each of the sisters had brought a suitcase resulting in an extremely full trunk. Mocha’s clothes, toys and other things had been crammed into Ebony’s suitcase since her was the least full.

Once inside the room Java immediately went to work in making it home, setting up Mocha’s playpen in one of the corners and hanging some of her blouses in the closet that had been provided for them. The room only had two beds and Java had already ‘volunteered’ to share her bed with her daughter leaving Siva and Ebony in the other.

“This is nice.” Ebony commented dryly as she took in the typical hotel décor. The curtain were a muted flora pattern of blue, green and mauve, the green being the exact shade as the carpet and the print being the exact same as the bedspreads. There was a TV and a small kitchen which Mocha immediately found far more fascinating then the toys Java had set out for her.

“I’m going to go to the grocery story we passed a few minutes ago.” Java announced, giving Ebony the impression that this was something she and Siva had planned when they stopped at the last rest stop. “Mocha can come with me. She loves grocery shopping.”

“That sounds nice.” Siva said with a forced smile. “Don’t forget to pick up some peaches and hot chocolate. They’re Ebony’s favorites.”

“I don’t need peaches.” Ebony rolled her eyes. “Or hot chocolate for that matter. Look, if you just want to get out of the hotel room so Siva can do her psychoanalysis of me, go ahead, Java. Just say it straight, okay?”

A tight-lipped smile crossed Java’s face and she nodded. “Alright,” She shot Siva a helpless look. “I guess Mocha and I will be back in a bit, then. Come along sweetie, we’re going shopping.”

Mocha giggled happily as she toddled over to where her mother crouched waiting for her. Java swept the little girl up in her arms then turned to the door. “Say bye to Auntie Siva and Aunt Ebony.”

“Buh!” Mocha waved to them as Java stepped through the door, causing a fleeting smile to cross Ebony’s lips. Both Java and Siva had been concerned about having Mocha around Ebony for fear that she would have another episode while the young child was around, but strangely it seemed that Mocha gave Ebony a peace that she did not have when she was not there. The woman with the stripe across her eyes was no longer haunting her when Ebony gazed at Mocha.

“Ebony,” Siva broke into Ebony’s thoughts. Her older sister had already retrieved what looked to be a leather-bound journal from her luggage and had a pencil poised and read to tick off any names Ebony might know or phrases that would sound familiar to her. “Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Ebony flopped onto the bed Siva was not seated on and kicked off her shoes. “Let the games begin.”

Siva frowned, suddenly flipping through her notebook. She stopped after she had passed three or four pages, her frown deepening. “Ebony, why’d you say that?”

“Why’d I say what?”

“’Let the games begin.’”

“I dunno.” Ebony stared at Siva peculiarly. “It’s a common expression.”

“I know, but…” Siva trailed off, shaking her head. “Never mind. Let’s go over these names and then I’ll read off these other things and see if they sound familiar to you at all.”

“Great.” Ebony stated with overly-dramatic enthusiasm.

“Okay, the first name,” Siva hesitated, drawing her lips together in a fine line, “Jay.”

Ebony immediately shook her head. “Nope. Never heard of him.”

“Alright.” Siva shrugged. “Amber?”

Again a negative response.

“Danni.”

“Boy or girl’s name?”

“I don’t know. You said it, remember.” Siva grinned suddenly. “I don’t know how its spelled.”

“Well, either way I don’t know anyone by that name either. List some more.”

“Alright.” Siva continued down the list, stating the names Zoot, Salene, Spike, Axl, Alice, Tai-San, Moz and Cloe all with negative responses.

“Sorry, Siva.” Ebony told her sister genuinely. “None of them sound even remotely familiar to me. Though they are awfully odd names for people. Spike? You sure that’s not a dog?”  

“I’m positive. You kept telling him that you weren’t going to beg.”

“Oh, so I was the dog.” Ebony chuckled.

Siva joined Ebony in her laughter, though Ebony could tell the joy did not reach her sister’s eyes. Ebony knew Siva was extremely concerned for her and she wanted to help, she just didn’t know how. She didn’t feel ready to tell them about the strange woman who looked so much like her and haunted her every thought. Not yet anyway.

“Are there any other names?”

Siva nodded. “Bray?”

Ebony’s heart turned cold as she and Siva locked gazes. “You know I know Bray’s name.”

“I know.” Siva pursed her lips. “You’ve also said Trudy and Martin.”

Ebony looked away, suddenly feeling as if she was going to be ill. “Are you sure? How did I say their names?”

“Well,” Siva let out a weary sigh and Ebony knew she had been trying to protect her from these unpleasant memories, “You said both Bray’s and Trudy’s names quite frequently. You connected Bray’s name with Amber and Danni several times and Trudy with Jay’s. Martin you only said twice and both times it was in the same sentence as Zoot.”

A shiver raced down Ebony’s spine as she mulled over Siva’s words. If she hadn’t known better she might have thought Amber or Danni was one of Bray’s ex-girlfriends, but Ebony knew for a fact that Bray had only dated Trudy before he dated her.

“Do you think we should try and get in touch with them?” Siva asked quietly.

“No!” Came Ebony’s immediately response. “Never. We can’t. I want to avoid involving the Fieldings in this mess as much as possible. I think we’ve caused each other enough hurt already, don’t you?”

Siva nodded. “My thoughts exactly.” She hesitated, turning a page in her book and scanning it quickly. “Would you like to go over these phrases you’ve said now?”

“Why not.” Ebony found herself studying the ugly flower pattern of the bedspread. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“Surrender to technology.”

“Nope.”

“Mall Rat?”

“You mean the Kevin Smith movie?”

“I don’t know.” Siva confessed. “But you said it several times, singular and plural so I don’t think it’s the movie.”

“Then no.”

“Okay. Zoot be praised?”

“That’s the name I was saying, right?”

“That’s the one.”

“Doesn’t sound familiar to me either.” Ebony sighed wearily wishing that something in Siva’s little book would sound familiar to her. “What else have you got?”

“Power and chaos.”

Ebony sat upright, an icy chill filling her instantly. “Wh-what did you say, Siva?” She stammered as all the color drained from her face.

“Power and chaos.” Siva repeated. “Does it sound familiar to you?”

“I-I don’t know.” Ebony stammered out, wrapping her arms around her legs as she pulled them up against her protectively. “Yes but no. I don’t know. They sound a little familiar but…”

Siva nodded. “That’s alright. Don’t try and place them. I can tell they scared you just as much as they scared me.”

“They sounded familiar to you?” Ebony shot Siva a hopeful look.

Siva shook her head. “No. No, they didn’t. It was just the way you were saying them. You kept repeating them like a mantra, half the time screaming and half the time nearly in tears. And what was worse,” Siva set her notebook down, “You kept crossing your arms above your head like this,” Siva quickly demonstrated, “when you said it.”

“Power and chaos.” Ebony murmured the words, crossing her arms above her head like Siva had shown her. “Power and chaos. Power and chaos. Power and chaos.” Suddenly, the hotel room didn’t feel quite so nice.