Colin MacGregor

They heard the running of the faucet for a few minutes, then she stepped out and pulled on socks and sneakers. With a raised eyebrow at the dog, she stepped through her doorway, careful not to step into the gauze that was Ryan.

Mrrshan padded through the living room where a shirtless Sean had fallen asleep on the couch before following CJ into the kitchen. The brunette looked over at him as Colin's gauze emerged and reformed into his normal jeans-and-sweatshirt appearance.

"While this brews, I'm going to go rinse off my bike. Care to tag along? If not, where's Liz? She can haunt my shoe or something", she said with a grin.

Mrrshan turned a mournful glance on the fridge, then looked back at CJ with a whine.

It was then Sean sat up abruptly - the motion caught the ghost's attention in the look-through from the kitchen to the living room. CJ narrowed her eyes as she watched him as well. The man stood, then walked towards the hallway and the woman's room.

Something wasn't quite right, however, and it took Colin a moment to realize that Sean had projected - his body remained sleeping on the couch.

"Sean?" CJ called as she stepped around Mrrshan and paused at the door. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone skim-sleep before", she said to Colin.

The wisp halted at the door of CJ's bedroom, then abruptly turned, as though he were being yanked back down the hall by an unseen hand, toward the guest bedroom.

"Sean!" she and Colin both called out. CJ instinctively reached for the holster she wasn't wearing and cursed as Colin and the dog took off running for the skimmer's thrashing form.

The skinrider reached his friend's projection just as Sean collapsed with a shriek - of pain or terror, the boy couldn't tell, but the man was clutching his forehead as though trying to hold his head in one piece. His eyes were clenched shut, his body twitching as though being beaten.

The dog started barking excitedly, and Colin manifested to try and quiet him even as he looked around in a near state of panic. "Wha'...wha's going on?"

CJ ran up just behind him and watched in apparent horror as the scene played out before her. "What do I do? How do I stop this?"

"I dinnae know, lass", Colin said, wide-eyed. "Um...try and find wha' happened tae Ryan, calming people down is after being his area o' specialty."

Turning to Sean, but not wanting to touch his friend for fear of intensifying the reaction, Colin's expression grew more concerned.

Ryan emerged from CJ's room, breaking into as he saw the commotion at the end of the hallway. "What is going on?"

Colin turned to look at the hue with an expression of relief. "I dinnae know, bu' look a' Sean, he's having a nigh'mare or summat."

As though feeling the need to add to the confusion, the sound of a ringing cell phone erupted from CJ's bedroom and the ex-detective cursed. "Can you help him?" she asked Ryan.

The man nodded and began humming softly in an attempt to calm Sean's tormented mind.

CJ moved past Ryan toward her bedroom where Colin could just see her scrambling through the pile of bloody clothing. She pulled the phone out and opened it, speaking quietly.

Sean, meanwhile, seemed to be responding to Ryan's efforts, and his frantic struggles slowed to peaceful breathing and Colin let out a sigh to express his relief. Slowly, the wisp stood and stumbled back to his body, still lying on the couch, where his projected form re-merged with the physical.

Ryan and Colin followed him to ensure the man was over whatever fit had taken him, and nodded to each other in satisfaction as his breathing became regular snores.

"That was Kate", CJ said quietly as she rejoined them in the living room. "She says..."

"What now?" CJ groaned as she walked slowly towards the foyer. Colin noted that she had picked up her holster while she'd been in her room, and now the skimmer carefully slid the Beretta out and into her hand as she peered through the peephole.

Colin squinted at the woman as she peered through the peephole and shrugged before un-manifesting and sticking his insubstantial head through the door to see what she was looking at.

Rather disappointingly, she was looking at nothing. There was no sign of anyone - neither on the steps nor even in the parking lot of the condo complex. The only movement came from the winter wind whipping a gust of skittering leaves past on the sidewalk. As Colin began to draw his head back through the door, however, a file-folder sized manila envelope lying at the base of the doorway caught his eye.

It appeared to be nothing out of ordinary stock, simply a normal inter-office mail style, though it was a little beat up from use. Scrawled in red sharpie on the upper-left corner were the letters "T&S".

Colin pulled his head back through the door and looked over at CJ with a frown "Nay good can come o' tha'. I think Mrrshan's prob'ly ready tae go ou' anyway, so ye may as well open the door."

CJ shrugged, opened the door and looked down. Seeing the envelope, she picked it up and let the dog run past her and out into the small, carefully maintained lawn.

Colin stood in the doorway where he could keep an eye on the dog while still seeing what CJ found in the envelope. "Could i' be a trap?"

The skimmer carried the envelope into her living room and sighed. "It seems to be from Terril and Squibb, so I think a trap is at least possible. Unfortunately, I think we need to know what's in it." She proceeded to press her finger into the flap and pull the glue apart.

The ex-detective jumped up from her seat, gun in hand and spun around to see the hue giggling. She shook a finger at the banshee, an angry expression on her face. "So help me, Ryan..." She let the threat trail off and turned back to the envelope as Sean stirred on the couch.

The wisp sat up with a yawn and ran a hand through his sleep tousled hair. The light glinted off of the ring through his right nipple as he stretched his arms over his head and looked to see what CJ was handling. "What'cha got? It ain't hate-mail, is it?"

CJ paused and looked at Sean. "You okay? Did you know you were throwing a weird fit in there? Like in your ghost form?" She frowned. "And what do you mean, hate mail? I'll have you know I'm a very well-liked person."

"Funny...one would think that if you were well-liked there'd be some kind of addressing or writing on the outside of the envelope other than the handwritten 'T&S' in the corner there."

CJ waved a hand dismissively and slid the single sheet of paper out. "It's a note, handwritten. 'Meet me in Piedmont Park at 9 this evening. I have critical information for you about the future. Blackbird'."

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DON'T LOOK BACK

Last Updated: February 13, 2004 by Blake Sorensen

Nightmare

3 December, 2003