Sidney Sheldon - A Stranger in the Mirror

The following morning, Jill made an appointment at the beauty parlor. She was exhausted, and under the warm, comfortable hum of the hair drier, she dozed off, and the nightmare began. She was in bed, asleep. She could hear Toby come into her bedroom in his wheelchair… creak…creak . Slowly, he got out of the chair and rose to his feet and moved toward her, grinning, his skeletal hands reaching for her throat. Jill awoke screaming wildly, throwing the beauty shop into an uproar. She fled without even having her hair combed out.

After that experience, Jill was afraid to leave the house again.

And afraid to remain in it.

Something seemed to be wrong with her head. It was no longer just the headaches. She was beginning to forget things. She would go downstairs for something and walk into the kitchen and stand there, not knowing what she had come for. Her memory began to play strange tricks on her. Once, Nurse Gordon came in to speak to her; Jill wondered what a nurse was doing there, and then she suddenly remembered. The director was waiting on the set for Jill. She tried to recall her line. Not very well, I’m afraid, Doctor . She must speak to the director and find out how he wanted her to read it. Nurse Gordon was holding her hand, saying. “Mrs. Temple! Mrs. Temple! Are you feeling all right?” And Jill was back in her own surroundings, again in the present, caught up in the terror of what was happening to her. She knew she could not go on like this. She had to find out whether there was something wrong with her mind or whether Toby was able to somehow move, whether he had found a way to attack her, to try to murder her.

She had to see him. She forced herself to walk down the long hall toward Toby’s bedroom. She stood outside a moment, steeling herself, and then Jill entered Toby’s room.

Toby was lying in his bed, and the nurse was giving him a sponge bath. She looked up, saw Jill and said, “Why, here’s Mrs. Temple. We’re just having a nice bath, aren’t we?”

Jill turned to look at the figure on the bed.

Toby’s arms and legs had shriveled into stringy appendages attached to his shrunken, twisted torso. Between his legs, like some long, indecent snake, lay his useless penis, flaccid and ugly. The yellow cast had gone from Toby’s face, but the gaping idiotic grin was still there. His body was dead, but the eyes were frantically alive. Darting, seeking, weighing, planning, hating; cunning blue eyes filled with their secret plans, their deadly determination. It was Toby’s mind she was seeing. The important thing to remember is that his mind is unimpaired , the doctor had told her. His mind could think and feel and hate. That mind had nothing to do but plan its revenge, figure out a way to destroy her. Toby wanted her dead, as she wanted him dead.

As Jill looked down at him now staring into those eyes blazing with loathing, she could hear him saying, I’m going to kill you , and she could feel the waves of abhorence hitting her like physical blows.

Jill stared into those eyes, and she remembered the broken vase and she knew that none of the nightmares had been illusions. He had found a way.

She knew now that it was Toby’s life against hers.

34

When Dr. Kaplan finished his examination of Toby, he went to find Jill. “I think you should stop the therapy in the swimming pool,” he said. “It’s a waste of time. I was hoping we might get some slight improvement in Toby’s musculature, but it’s not working. I’ll talk to the therapist myself.”

“No!” It was a sharp cry.

Dr. Kaplan looked at her in surprise. “Jill, I know what you did for Toby last time. But this time it’s hopeless. I—”

“We can’t give up. Not yet.” There was a desperation in her voice.

Dr. Kaplan hesitated, then shrugged. “Well, if it means that much to you, but—”

“It does.”

At that moment, it was the most important thing in the world. It was going to save Jill’s life.

She knew now what she had to do.

The following day was Friday. David telephoned Jill to tell her that he had to go to Madrid on business.

“I may not be able to call you over the weekend.”

“I’ll miss you,” Jill said. “Very much.”

“I’ll miss you, too. Are you all right? You sound strange. Are you tired?”

Jill was fighting to keep her eyes open, to forget the terrible pain in her head. She could not remember the last time she had eaten or slept. She was so weak that it was difficult to stand. She forced energy into her voice. “I’m fine, David.”

“I love you, darling. Take care of yourself.”

“I’m going to, David. I love you. Please know that.” No matter what happens .

She heard the physiotherapist’s car turn into the driveway, and Jill started downstairs, her head pounding, her trembling legs barely able to support her. She opened the front door as the physiotherapist was about to ring the bell.

“Morning, Mrs. Temple,” he said. He started to enter but Jill blocked his way. He looked at her in surprise.

“Dr. Kaplan has decided to discontinue Mr. Temple’s therapy treatments,” Jill said.

The physiotherapist frowned. It meant he had made an unnecessary trip out here. Someone should have told him earlier. Ordinarily he would have complained about the way it had been handled. But Mrs. Temple was such a great lady, with such big problems. He smiled at her and said, “It’s okay, Mrs. Temple. I understand.”

And he got back into his car.

Jill waited until she heard the car drive away. Then she started back up the stairs. Halfway up, a wave of dizziness hit her again, and she had to cling to the banister until it passed. She could not stop now. If she did, she would be dead.

She walked to the door of Toby’s room, turned the knob and entered. Nurse Gallagher was seated in an easy chair working on needlepoint. She looked up in surprise as she saw Jill standing in the doorway. “Well!” she said. “You’ve come to visit us. Isn’t that nice?” She turned toward the bed. “I know Mr. Temple is pleased. Aren’t we, Mr. Temple?”

Toby was sitting up in bed, propped upright by pillows, his eyes carrying his message to Jill. I’m going to kill you .

Jill averted her eyes and walked over to Nurse Gallagher. “I’ve decided that I haven’t been spending enough time with my husband.”

“Well, now, that’s exactly what I’ve been thinking,” Nurse Gallagher chirped. “But then I could see that you’ve been ill yourself, and so I said to myself—”

“I’m feeling much better now,” Jill interrupted. “I’d like to be alone with Mr. Temple.”

Nurse Gallagher gathered up her needlepoint paraphernalia and got to her feet. “Of course,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll enjoy that.” She turned toward the grinning figure on the bed. “Won’t we, Mr. Temple?” To Jill, she added, “I’ll just go down to the kitchen and fix myself a nice cup of tea.”

“No. You’re off duty in half an hour. You can leave now. I’ll stay here until Nurse Gordon arrives.” Jill gave her a quick, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here with him.”

“I suppose I could get some shopping done, and—”

“Fine,” Jill said. “You run along.”

Jill stood there, immobile, until she heard the front door slam and Nurse Gallagher’s car going down the driveway. When the sounds of the motor had died away on the summer air, Jill turned to look at Toby.

His eyes were focused on her face in an unwavering, unblinking stare. Forcing herself to move closer to the bed, she pulled back the covers and looked down at the wasted, paralyzed frame, the limp, useless legs.

The wheelchair was in a corner. Jill moved it over to the bedside and positioned the chair so that she could roll Toby onto it. She reached toward him, and stopped. It took every ounce of her willpower to touch him. The grinning, mummified face was only inches away from her, the mouth smiling idiotically and the bright blue eyes spewing venom. Jill leaned forward and forced herself to lift Toby by his arms. He was almost weightless, but in Jill’s exhausted condition, she could barely manage it. As she touched his body, Jill could feel the icy air begin to envelop her. The pressure inside her head was becoming unbearable. There were bright colored spots before her eyes, and they began to dance around, faster and faster, making her dizzy. She felt herself starting to faint, but she knew that she must not allow that to happen. Not if she wanted to live. With a superhuman effort, she dragged Toby’s limp body onto the wheelchair and strapped him in. She looked at her watch. She had only twenty minutes.