4:13pm
"Peter, it was just a dream," Anton tried unsuccessfully to calm the shaken man.
"No, Anton, you don't understand. It was... different. Worse. Much worse." His voice was still shaky, but not as bad as before.
"Are you okay?" Lindsay asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Linds."
Lindsay ran a damp cloth across Peter's forehead, carefully over the bruise he had from being punched by Jaime. He was running a fever and did not feel so good.
"I think you should rest for a while. Seeing... whatever you did left you drained, it seems," Anton suggested.
"Yeah, you can say that again. I think I'll roll over and sleep now..." Peter groaned. Matt was the first to leave, getting up from his perch on the chest at the end of the bed. Everyone else followed, Lindsay patting him on the shoulder and turning out the lights as she left.
Peter fell asleep within minutes. 
"Peter? Peter," Lindsay shook him awake.
"Oh, hi," he groaned sleepily and looked at his watch. The digital numbers read 8:58pm. He had slept nearly five hours. "Come for a statement?"
"Yeah, something like that. Do you mind?"
"Not if it'll help get rid of this thing..."
"What did you see, anyway?"
"It was the same thing as always, it was just so... so vivid. It was unbelievably real."
"But no different from the others. That's weird."
"Why?"
"You were horrified. You should have seen the look on your face. It was sad, really."
"Thank you, so much," he said sarcastically.
"You getting up soon?"
"I guess I should, shouldn't I?"
"Well, there's nothing for you to do, so it doesn't really matter."
"You wouldn't just want me to come for no reason? You don't enjoy my company?" he feigned hurt.
"Yeah, sure. See you later." Lindsay left him to wake on his own.
Peter got out of bed and stretched. He straightened his shirt and jeans, then left the room. He walked out to the Mobile Lab where he found everyone in the conference room, listening to a tape of something. He walked in and heard his own voice coming from the speakers. "What's all this?"
"We're going over the descriptions of your nightmare," Matt told him.
"Okay... When did you get it on tape?"
"When you told us."
"I suppose you got the second one on tape, too?" he said, getting increasingly angry and glaring at Lindsay.
"Pete, we have to try and figure out where all this is coming from, and we needed a description of the nightmare."
"Sure, but you could have asked or at least told me that you were taping it! You know I would have agreed if you had asked. Why didn't you?"
"You were going paranoid! I didn't want to risk your mental health. If you had known and gotten deeper into the case, you might have gotten worse."
"You've been going behind my back the whole time, haven't you?" He was getting furious.
"Pete..." Matt started.
"I saw Claire scanning for radiation when I left this morning. What, you think Andrew would let me stay in his house if it was leaking radiation? You didn't clear it with me first!"
"I don't have to clear anything with you! In case you forgot, I'm the Case Manager here, and you work for me. I'm trying to solve this case."
"What, I'm just another case to you? It figures." Peter stormed out of the conference room and went outside. Lindsay followed him out and managed to catch up with him down the road.
"Peter, we're just trying to help," she said to his back. He stopped for a moment, but said nothing and kept on walking. She left him to be alone.
Peter kept walking... and walking... and walking. No one saw him until two days later. |
