Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 42
© Denise Bossarte
The Glamour stood frozen in
place, his face registering shock as he recognized the girls who walked up from
behind Grace to surround her on the dock. Grace was pleased her plan to take
the Glamour by surprise and unsettle him was working. Now maybe they would have
time to confront him.
Everyone stood and stared at each other before the Glamour
decided to speak.
“No, it’s not possible. I killed you all myself. How can you be
here?”
“We ‘ere ‘cause we come for a bit of reckin’,” Sabra replied
taking a step toward the Glamour, putting herself at the front the group.
The Glamour continued to shake his head in disbelief, bewildered
by what he was seeing and hearing. Then he closed his eyes and his whole body
started to spasm.
“What happnin’? Why he shakin’ like dat? He havin’ one of dem
seizures or somthin’?” Sabra asked, looking over her shoulder to address Grace
with the question.
“I have no idea,” Grace assured her.
All at once the Glamour’s eyes flew open again. Grace saw they
had shifted back to gray, a perplexed and scared gray.
The Glamour looked around, appearing to try an orient himself to
where he was and who they were.
“Where am I?” he asked in a hesitant voice. “Who are you?”
“I alreda done tole ya. We ‘ere for a reckin’!” Sabra answered.
Grace stepped forward and placed a cautionary hand on Sabra’s
arm.
“Let me talk to him, Sabra. This is the other one.”
Sabra appeared to consider defying Grace, but held her tongue.
Grace crooned like she would to a startled animal.
“Robyn, I’m Grace. You are here at my parents’ boat house. Don’t
you remember coming here?”
Robyn looked distressed at what she asked.
“No, I don’t remember that. The last thing I remember was
standing in the bathroom looking into the mirror. How did I get here? And who
are all these girls; they look familiar.”
Sabra had enough jumped to
interrupt.
“Sure we look familiar ya muther fucka. We da ones dat ya done
mentalized and kidnapped. Da ones ya tortured and killed. Don’t try ta lie
othawize!”
“No, no!” Robyn cried. “That is not possible. I never did
anything like that. I would never do anything like that!”
“Whacha mean to be lyin’ to us about whatcha did to all us,”
Sabra retorted as the other girls voiced their anger.
“No, no,” Robyn pleaded with her, holding his hands up to defend
himself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I remember seeing you all on
the street but I never did anything to you, none of you.”
One by one the girls chimed in, shouting at Robyn, demanding he
stop lying to them and take responsibility for the hurt he gave them.
Robyn sank to his knees, raising his arms to cover his head at
their verbal assault, making moaning sounds as he did so.
The girls stopped shouting as they saw Robyn’s reaction,
confused about why their tormentor all at once transformed into this cringing,
nonthreatening person.
Sabra turned to Grace.
“Why he actin’ like dis? I thought dat he put up a fight or
somethin’. But he just sittin’ der cryin’ like a baby.”
Grace looked with pity down at the huddled figure.
“This is the person who ‘mentalized’ you but not the person who
tortured you, Sabra,” she explained. “The Glamour has used Robyn to help him do
all the hurtful things. But he wasn’t the person who hurt you or the other
girls. He doesn’t even realize what’s happened to all of you.”
“Ya sayin’ we aint gonna get to confront da man who did dis ta
us?”
“I’m not sure, yet. Give me a second to find out,” Grace
offered, motioning for the girls to stay behind her as she inched toward Robyn
where he was cowering on the ramp.
“Gracie, be careful!”
Danny called out to her. “It all might be
a trick!”
“I know, I know. I’m going
close enough to see his eyes then I can find out if it is Robyn or the Glamour
playing possum.”
“Robyn, would you look at me, please?” she asked. She knelt down
in front of him, but maintaining a distance between them to keep herself out of
easy arms reach.
Robyn raised his head out from beneath his arms.
“You don’t recognize these girls beyond seeing them on the
street?”
“No I don’t,” Robyn whispered, and Grace almost didn’t hear what
he said.
To Grace’s surprise, Robyn continued his voice growing louder as
he spoke.
“It’s the bad man, isn’t it? The bad man in my head who asks me
to use my powers and makes me go to sleep afterward. He’s been getting louder
and louder, and I can’t get him to go away!” Robyn’s distress was plain on his
face and in his voice.
Grace’s heart went out to
the child-like man sitting there. Grace couldn’t imagine what happened to Robyn
to drive him to a point of creating another personality to save himself. She
couldn’t image having to know someone else was in control. She didn’t know when
Robyn discovered the Preserver’s presence. But his gentle nature was finally
rebelling at what the Preserver was doing by allowing him to recognize
something was wrong.
Grace wasn’t sure how much longer Robyn would be with them
before the Preserver returned. She decided she needed to get answers from him
and fast.
“Robyn, can you stop the bad man in your head? Can you keep him
from doing the hurtful things?”
“No, he’s too strong, now. He’s louder all the time, and making
me sleep all the time.”
Robyn looked at Grace with desperation. “He won’t stop, will he?
He won’t stop and will keep making me do those awful things!”
It broke her heart to say it, but she wouldn’t lie to him.
“No Robyn, he will not stop doing the awful things. I’m sorry,
but I don’t know how to make him go away and leave you in peace without hurting
you, too.”
Robyn nodded, the tears flowing down his face.
“I’m losing anyway, I can feel it. I won’t be around much
longer; the bad man will make me go away.”
“I’m so sorry, Robyn,” Grace replied not knowing what else to
say, not able to think of anything she could say to comfort him.
“But you can, right? You and the others came here to stop him,
didn’t you?”
Grace was surprised at how perceptive Robyn was about why she
and the girls were there.
“Yes, Robyn, you’re right. That’s why we’re here. But to stop
the bad man, I must kill him. I must kill you, too.”
Robyn looked up at her face. The trust and relief she saw there
struck Grace to the core.
“Good,” he said with a sigh. “If it means you can stop him, yes,
ok.”
Tears flowed down Grace’s cheeks at his acceptance.
“Are you sure, Robyn? Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes, please help me stop him. I don’t want him hurting anyone
anymore and I can’t do stop him myself.”
He reached out a hand to Grace in supplication and repeated
“Please!”
Grace forced herself to her feet, reaching to pull her pistol
from the holster at her side. When she committed herself to kill the Glamour,
Danny had called it an execution. His words had not affected her because she
pictured taking out the man who had tortured the girls. But Robyn was almost a
child. When she pulled the trigger she would in truth be executing him.
Right as Grace was pulling the pistol from the holster, Robyn’s
eyes changed to a brown color. With a roar, he leapt to his feet, charging her
and knocking her backwards down onto the wooden surface. The force of the
impact kicked the pistol out of her hands and over the edge of the ramp and
into the water.
The last thing Grace heard before her head slammed against the
ramp was Danny screaming her name.
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