Silence, Sea & Sky by Anonymous
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Contents Silence, Sea & Sky ..................................................................................................................... 2 x-libris.xf-redux.com Silence, Sea & Sky by Anonymous Return to main book page Silence, Sea & Sky Title: Silence, Sea and Sky Author: Anonymous Rating: R Classification: XA Disclaimer: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully, Walter Skinner and the X-Files and X-Files characters are the property of 20th Century Fox, Fox Broadcasting and 1013 Productions. No infringement is intended. Summary: Mulder and Scully investigate the disappearance of a young girl who may be the fourth victim of a serial killer and complications ensue when Mulder believes that the girl’s sister has psychic abilities. ––– His eyes. That was all she could think about as she held the sobs back, tried not to let him see how he was affecting her. She knew she was going to die; that was a foregone conclusion. But her strength was the only thing getting her through and she’d be damned if she’d let that go just for a moment of release. So she stared defiantly at him, into those crazy eyes, and willed herself not to shudder. She remembered that Summer at the lake, when Brad and Will had taken her out on the boat and the storm had hit. It was terrifying, to be in the middle of that fury and still be able to keep her wits about her and help Brad haul an unconscious Will into the boat. And the trip back…she concentrated on that memory, on the terror that kept her going that day. She had enough terror today but it served only to incapacitate her, turn her into a child. She didn’t know what he wanted; if she had she certainly would have given it to him. But something deep inside her knew. The evil that we fight is an ironic evil; it lives in all of us. https://x-libris.xf-redux.com/story/silence-sea-sky/ 2/36 x-libris.xf-redux.com Silence, Sea & Sky by Anonymous She closed her eyes. Where had she read that? His harsh voice made her open her eyes again. His madness was apparent as he gazed at her and he moved forward tentatively, as if he was somehow afraid of her. Which made sense, she thought tiredly. She just wanted it to be over now. Please, just let the suffering be over. Her eyes widened as he reached up with his rough hands and untied her. Her arms prickled as the blood coursed through them and she carefully rubbed her wrists, staring with huge eyes at this man, this monster. He looked at her for a long moment but he didn’t see her as a person. He saw her as…she blinked. She didn’t know. Did he know? She was startled when he slid a notebook across the rough-hewn table, even more surprised when it was accompanied by a dull pencil. She looked up at him. “I need them to know you’re here,” he said in that hateful, guttural voice. She stifled a whimper. She wasn’t the writer; Brad was. What could she possibly say? She knew she was going to die but they…they probably held out hope. She should reassure them, because she knew they were thinking about her pain and when she was gone, they would have enough pain of their own without wondering if she had suffered her last moments in abject terror. She licked her cracked lips and straightened her shoulders. She would tell them not to worry, that she would be going to a better place. Slowly, afraid to startle her captor, she picked up the pencil in a swollen hand and opened the notebook. Angela Harper was thirteen years old. *** Dana Scully watched her partner closely but his face betrayed no emotion. If she didn’t know him so well she wouldn’t have noticed the tiny tremble of his hands, the dull look in his usually expressive eyes. Scully looked down at her hands, which had been twisting the hell out of a napkin for the past half hour. She heard a sigh and looked up. Mulder carefully replaced the document in the folder and looked at her. He spread his hands on his desk, pressing the palms into the blotter. Steadying himself. Scully wanted more than anything to tell him that they should just give up this case but she knew he wouldn’t agree to that. Not now. Hell, it probably wasn’t even an X-File but once again, Mulder’s experience in this area led the ISU straight towards him. Of course, the first thing Mulder zeroed in on was the potential of an X-File. “So, Scully, judging by the look on your face, you don’t believe in the possibility of paranormal activity in this case,” he said easily. Scully’s mouth quirked. “In this case, Mulder?” she asked slyly, hoping to jar him out of his mood. His slight smile told her that she was unsuccessful. Dammit, she thought, he doesn’t need this. Hell, WE don’t need this. “We’ll have to talk to the sister, see what she remembers of these ‘encounters’,” he said, getting to his feet and stretching. He glanced at her. “Feel up for a trip to the country?” Scully rose as well, discreetly tucking the file into her briefcase. She’d rather Mulder didn’t use it as reading material on the plane. “For you, anything.” Mulder raised an eyebrow at her. He was getting awfully good at that, she thought. It was disturbing. https://x-libris.xf-redux.com/story/silence-sea-sky/ 3/36 x-libris.xf-redux.com Silence, Sea & Sky by Anonymous “Anything, Scully?” “Don’t call me on it, Mulder.” *** Scully looked around her apartment, a standard practice she utilized before she traveled. She envied Mulder; all he had to do was grab his keys and he was ready to go. She checked her laptop, making sure there was an extra battery. Laptop, battery, overnight case…suit bag. Right. Scully opened the armoire door carefully and peeked in, grateful that her physics degree allowed her the ability to be able to stack boxed precariously on the world’s smallest shelf. Suit bag. Got it. Suits? Damn. Her favorite tan suit was at the cleaners. They WERE going to the country…Scully carefully hung two navy suits and spent the next fifteen minutes rummaging around for shoes that matched and all that other crap men told women they needed to wear. Finally she sat down on the bed and stared blankly at her mountain of bags. My God. Mulder was going to kill her. The sharp knock on the door startled her and she resisted the impulse to grab her gun. She hadn’t needed her gun when answering the door in…months, she supposed. It was Mulder, of course. Scully checked the time and looked at him. “I’ve still got two hours,” she said. Mulder looked down. Oh shit. She grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, shutting the door. “What happened?” she asked in a low voice, one that she generally used when trying not to startle rabid animals. Mulder sank down on her sofa and rubbed a hand over his face. He looked at her bleakly. “I moved the flight up,” he said quietly. “There’s been a…” His voice trailed off as he looked at her. She sat down, suddenly worried. “You okay?” she asked. He nodded. Right, like she’d believe THAT, she thought. “There’s been a strange development and…they want us down there as soon as possible,” he replied, his voice somewhat steadier. Scully felt a cold prickle of fear at the back of her neck. “What kind of development?” Mulder hesitated and Scully flushed. Dammit, why did he always hide stuff from her? He must’ve gotten a whiff of her anger because he straightened and looked at her with those earnest hazel eyes. “I’m sorry, Scully, the local cop in charge wouldn’t tell me much and I – I just don’t know what to tell you. Suffice it to say, the sister has had another episode and in this one…” Scully didn’t need to finish the sentence but she did. “She’s dead,” she said flatly. Mulder looked startled. “Not…exactly. She had a vision about a letter that her sister wrote.” https://x-libris.xf-redux.com/story/silence-sea-sky/ 4/36 x-libris.xf-redux.com Silence, Sea & Sky by Anonymous Scully frowned. Why was Mulder parceling it out this way? “What kind of letter?” “A letter that just arrived this morning.” *** Scully perused the file on the ride from the airport to the small Kentucky town. Mulder drove, as always a little too fast, and whistled tunelessly to whatever was on the radio. It never mattered what he was listening to; the whistling was always the same. Scully had learned to blot it out. Angela Harper, thirteen years old, from a modest but close family, a bright, above-average student. Two brothers, one sister, parents still very much in love. Parents devastated. Father a teacher, mother a homemaker. Nothing remarkable about Angela. She seemed like one of a million sweet little girls. And she’d been missing for ten days, ostensibly taken from her driveway by what Mulder believed to be a serial killer. This man had abducted two other girls in a similar manner. One had been buried alive and one had been strangled, and it was Mulder’s belief that he was also responsible for the drowning death of another missing girl.