House of Dreams : Part II

Again, all the characters in this story are not mine.  I'm borrowing
them from 1013 Productions.


Scully heard him stumble through the room and fought the sense of sleep
that had taken over.  She felt like she was drugged, as she opened the
door and saw her partner climb up the balcony.
'Mulder !' He heard his partner's voice behind him.  'Mulder, listen to
me.  You don't want to do this.  Mulder, get down from there.'
He seemed to awaken his strange dream, yet at the same time the voices
continued to shout  to him.  As he tried to pull himself back, something
hard pushed him in the side.  He lost his grip.  'Scully !'
She seemed to shout his name at the same time.  Somehow her hands
grabbed his right wrist.  He felt the pain as all the might in her grip
clamped on to him.  'Hang on, Mulder,' she said, but her body and
strength could not hold him.
'I can't hold on ..' Her voice sounded desperate as she lost grip.
Somehow Mulder was able to grab hold of the wood, and pulled himself
up.  Scully's hands helped him up.  Then, as his feet reached steady
ground, the voices became louder and harder.  They shouted at him now.
He pushed his hands against his ears.  'Leave me alone !' he shouted
just as loud as they had shouted.
'Mulder .. !' Scully's face was in front of him but he didn't see her.
He pushed her away as he tried to get control over himself.
'Leave me alone !'  Now his hands were on her shoulders.
'Mulder ..' she repeated.  'Mulder, it's me.  It's Scully.'   As she
touched his face, she realized something was terribly wrong.  He had a
fever.  His eyes were unnaturally large.   There were bruises on his
arms.
Somehow she got him to relax.  His body now seemed to calm down and
seemed to collapse, as if tired of the struggle against himself.  His
chest had relaxed, his hands didn't move anymore.  His eyes were closed.

'Mulder,' Scully said.  'Do you hear me ?  It's me, Mulder.'
He opened his unnaturally large eyes, unable to focus.  She felt his
pulse.  His heart raced like crazy.
'Mulder, listen to me. Concentrate on my voice.'  He looked at her and
nodded his head.  'What's going on ?' he asked.  His throat seemed to
close up, he coughed as Scully saw the blood in his mouth.
'My god,' she said in disbelief.  Her scientific brain seemed to search
the answer for his symptoms.  Then she suddenly realized it : he had
been given poison.
His eyelids closed again.  Scully got up and ran to the bedroom to grab
her cell phone.  As she dialed 911, she couldn't get through.  The storm
was at its highest.
As she came back on the gallery, Mulder opened his eyes again and looked
at her feverishly.  'Scully, what's happening to me ?'
Calmly she stroked the hair out of his face.  'You're going to be fine,
Mulder.  There's something wrong, You're very sick.  We need to get you
to a hospital, but you're going to be fine.'
'The faces -'
'What faces ?'
'Can't you see them, Scully ?  They're everywhere ! Behind you, they're
looking at you.  Can't you hear the music they are playing?'
'No, Mulder.  Be calm, relax.   It's a dream.  The fever.  You're going
to be fine, I promise.'
'No .. no.  I'm not dreaming, Scully.  They're in me, you have to stop
them.  Stop them from talking to me ! I can't stand the noise.'
His hands again firmly tried to push her away, but she stopped him by
holding them against her body.  'Mulder, you have to listen to me.  You
have to calm down.  Try not to move, whatever is in your system will
spread faster if you move.  I think you're poisoned, Mulder.'
More bruises on his throat, and arms.  He was bleeding from the inside.
'Where's the pain, Mulder ?'
'My stomach,' he said.  'I can't -'
He closed his eyes.  'Mulder !' she said, softly slapping his face.
'You have to stay awake.'
He looked at her and repeated :'I can't.'
A soft voice besides Scully.  'Miss Scully ?'
'Lily ?'  Scully startled by the sudden appearance of the young woman
who had somehow managed to get in the house, and up the stairs without
the FBI-agent to notice.  'Lily, what are you doing here ?  How did you
get in ?'
'I couldn't make it home,' she said.  'The storm was too forceful.  I
barely managed to get back here.  I found the door open, and I came back
...  I came back to see .. him.  He tried to kill himself, didn't he ?'
'No.  I think he's poisoned.  I need to call an ambulance.  We have to
get him to a hospital.'
'You won't get through in this storm.  Let me help you get him on the
bed.'
'No, he needs to be in a hospital.  He won't make it otherwise.  There's
nothing I can do for him.'
'No, miss Scully.'  Lily's hand was on her shoulder as her fierce eyes
seemed to pierce Scully's.  'You need to stay here, don't you ?  You
cannot bring him to a hospital, because he's already dead.  Bring him to
the bed.'
Scully got up and said hesitant :'I think you're right.  Let's get him
to the bed.'
'Yes.'  Lily's strength seemed to work for the both of them.   'Let's
get him into the bed.'
As the two of them helped Mulder on his feet and helped him into the
bedroom, Lily's eyes rested on Scully's face.  'You cannot help him
now,' she said.  'We all have to make sacrifices, and he is one of
them.  You know what's more important for you, don't you ?'
Lily's monotone voice worked as a trance on Scully.  'What is most
important for me ?'
'This place.  You need to stay here to be happy.  If you don't stay
here you will never be happy.  He is the only thing that stops you from
being happy here.'
'He doesn't like this house.'
'He doesn't understand the meaning of it.  If he dies - whn he dies -
you'll be happy.'
Scully looked down on Mulder's restless body.
'He's seeing those who were here before,' Lily said.  'The ones who
chose to sacrifice their lives to be with you now.  He is standing in
the way, just like Caitlin was.'
'What happened to Caitlin ?'
'They pushed her.  She had to go.  She was given the same he has been
given.  He should have jumped off the balcony too.  But you stopped
him.  Now he will die a slow death.'
'He needs to get to a hospital,' Scully repeated.  'I cannot do anything
for him here.'
'No, he doesn't.'
'The coffee,' Scully said.  'The dinner.  What did you put in it ?'
'It doesn't matter.'
'No, it dos matter ! He's my partner - my friend.  I can't let him
die.'
Lily grabbed Scully's arm.  'He's already dead.'
'No !' Scully freed herself from Lily's touch.  'What did you give him
?'
'Poison.  Rat poison actually.  I bought it in the store. Said I needed
it to kill the rats in the stables.  But he was the rat, and now he's
dead.  Those bruises - the blood in his mouth - he's bleeding to death
from the inside, and there's nothing you can do about it.'
'No.  No.'  Scully grabbed Mulder's arm.  'He's not dead yet.  He still
has a chance, but you have to help me.'
Lily shook her head.
'If he dies, I will nver come back here, I swear.  That's what you
want, isn't it ?  That I stay here.  If he dies, I'm leaving for good.
If he lives, I'm coming back.  If he dies, I will go to jail, just like
Tom Wilcox went to the psychiatric ward.  They will accuse me of killing
him, and lock me up.  The same thing happening all over again.  Caitlin
died, Tom got locked up.  If Mulder dies, I'm going to go to jail.  Is
that what you want, Lily?'
Lily seemed to be hesitant for a few moments before she said :'I don't
want you to go to jail.  You need to stay here.'
'Then help me !  We have to get him out of here.'
Lily stood there for a few moments, as if she had to weigh the pro's and
contra's of her actions.  Scully saw her slow movements.  The daze that
had surrounded Scully seemed to fade slowly.  Her passion for the house
faded as she watched her partner lie on the bed.
'all right,' Lily said.  'I'll help you.'
'Okay ..' Scully sighed.  'Lily, I need your help to get him to my car.
We need to get him to the hospital immediately, okay ?  Will you do
that, Lily ?'
'Yes ..' the woman said.
Scully bend over her partner.  'Mulder,' she said, softly slapping his
face.  'Mulder, wake up.'
Mulder opened his eyes.
'Mulder, we need to get you to the hospital.  You have to get up,
Mulder.'
'I can't ..'
'You have to !'
Firmly she grabbed him under his arm, and pulled him up.  Lily grabbed
his other arm.  Somehow they managed to get him up.
'Now slowly walk down the stairs with us, Mulder,' Scully said.  'Step
by step, okay ?'
Slowly they walked down, step by step.  She saw her partner's eyes close
regularly, but every time managed to get him awake again.  As in a
trance Lily was holding his right arm.
Wind blew next to her.  Suddenly the front door opened with a bang.
Scully startled as the strong storm seemed to pull her legs from under
her.  Mulder fell forward.
'Mulder !'  She grabbed him again, pulling him up again.  As they got
him to the door, Scully realized her car was parked in the garage behind
the house.  'Damn it,' she said out loud.  'I have to get the car
first.  His car .. where are the keys. Mulder, where did you leave the
keys ?'
He wasn't able to respond.
Carefully Scully sat her partner down, and put her hand underneath his
chin.  'Mulder,' she said.  'I have to get the car.  Stay awake, you
hear ?'
He nodded his head as the voices started speaking to him again.  He
closed his eyes for a moment, somehow recapturing the first images he
had seen not so long ago, when he had first entered this house.  The
dancing couples.  The soft music that began cheerfully but then turned
into something dangerous.  The clock chimed.  He opened his eyes again
to his partner's voice.  'I'm fine,' he said.  'Go get the car.'
Scully lifted herself up.  'Lily, you stay here with him.  And try to
reach 911 again.  Here's my cell phone.  Dial the number and push that
button.'  Lily nodded and watched her leave the house.  Then Lily's hand
dropped the cell phone to the ground, and Lily's face turned towards the
sick FBI-agent watching her.
As she bent over him, she said :'Whatever she does, it's too late for
you.  You're going to die, Fox Mulder, because you couldn't leave things
as they were.  You shouldn't have tried to get her away from here.'
Mulder stared back at her.  'What did you put in my food, Lily ?'
Mulder asked.  'Did you poison it all ?  Did you poison her too ?'
Lily said nothing.

The cold wind seemed to hold Scully back as she made her way to the
garage.  She knew time was running out for her partner.  She didn't know
what Lily had put in her partner's coffee.  She just knew it was
responsible for everything that had happened her.  She wished she had
never seen this damned house !
It seemed to take forever before she reached the garage.  As she tried
to open the gate, it didn't cooperate.  'Damn it !' she shouted again.
The gate opened.  She got in her car and tried to start the engine.  It
failed on her.  This can't be happening, Scully thought.  This is a
freaking nightmare.
The car finally started.  Careless Scully left the garage and drove to
the front door.  As she got there, she saw something in Lily's hand, as
she bent over her partner's motionless body.
'Mulder !'  Scully's scream echoed through the darkness.

Mulder knew it was not a poisoned dream when he saw the images around
him.
'Who are you ?'  he said.
Whispering voices spoke amongst each other.  He even recognized some of
them from the pictures in the old newspaper.  'Why me ?'  he said, as he
looked at Lily.  'She wouldn't come with me, you shouldn't have killed
me.'
'It's been a long time since anyone lived here,' Lily said.  'Now that
the house has a new owner, we need her and those who come after her to
stay here for good.  They said it was a mistake to kill Caitlin.  Tom
never should have left his room that night.  Everybody blamed him but he
didn't do it.  We, all of us, got punished for what we did.  It's time
to reclaim this house as ours.'
'You all killed yourselves,' Mulder sighed.  'You gave up every right
you had to this house when you did so.'
'You don't understand,' Lily replied.  'We did it - all of us - to stay
here forever.  That's what we were told.'
'All of us ?'  answered Mulder.
Lily looked down on him.  'You must die.  That's the only way she will
stay.  You must die.'
The whispering voices became louder.  They surrounded him.  Mulder felt
his feverish body go limp as he was pulled on the floor.  Lily's right
hand went to her left pocket as she got out a syringe filled with a
white substance.  'Don't be afraid, Fox Mulder,' she said as she
prepared to give him the injection.  'You'll be one of us soon, and then
you will be with her forever.'
The voices seemed chant.  He tried to fight her off, but the invisible
hands held him.   'Scully ...' Her name was the last thing he said
before he lost the battle against darkness.

'No !' Scully's hand hit the syringe out of Lily's fingers.  It fell on
the floor and broke.  The fluid spilled all over the marble floor.
'What did you do to him ?!'  Scully's experienced hands touched her
partner's throat.  He was still breathing.
Lily sat numb on the floor.  Scully picked up her cell phone.  The
battery lay somewhere else.  Impatiently she clicked it in again and
dialed the emergency number.  Again she could not get through.
The motor of the car was still running.  'For goodness sake,' Scully
shouted towards Lily.  'You don't want to be a murderer ! Help me !'
Lily stood up and looked at Scully.  'We're losing you,' she said
softly.  'Aren't we ?'
'I don't know what you're talking about.  Help me, Lily.'
Lily turned around and walked up the stairs.  The clock chimed as she
reached the balcony.  There she stood numb.
Scully knew she couldn't get Mulder in the car by herself.  She tried to
awaken him.  At long last he opened his eyes again.
'No ..' His hands still fought the invisible forces that had held him.
'Mulder, it's me.  You're save.  But you have to help me, Mulder.  I
can't get you out of this on my own.'
'We won't make it,' he said.  'They'll kill you too.  You've got to get
me out of this house.  They'll get back at you too.'
'Mulder, listen to me.  You've been poisoned.  Whatever you are
experiencing or seeing was caused by the poison you were given.  It's
all a dream, Mulder.  A nightmare.  You have to work with me here.'
Mulder let himself be pulled up by his partner.  His legs shook as he
grabbed the car door.  'I'm not feeling too good here, Scully,' he
sighed.  'I guess you might have been right this time.  I should have
minded my own business.'
Scully had left the car door open, but the wind closed it.   As she
opened it again, Mulder looked over his shoulder.  Scully had shut the
front door tight, but through the windows he could see Lily on the
balcony.  She smiled at him faintly.  There was something in her smile.
It's as if she knew something they didn't.
Scully opened the backdoor and helped her partner in.  'Come on,
Mulder,' she said.  'You have to lie down in the back and stay still.
You mustn't move.  The more you move, the more the poison will find its
way through your body.  We don't have much time.  I don't know how much
she gave you.'
'Scully...' He silenced her by putting his hand on her face.  'Just save
my life, will you.'
Despite everything she smiled nervously.  As she closed the backdoor
Mulder closed his eyes and slipped away again.
Caitlin, he thought before he passed out.  Now I know what you went
through.

The road was completely dark.  None of the lights were working.  Of all
the things that already went wrong, Scully thought.  How the hell am I
going to find the hospital ?
Over and over she tried her cell phone.  It simply didn't work.  She
drove fast, regularly taking a look in the back.  All of a sudden she
stopped.  He wasn't breathing !
She got out, opened the backdoor and checked his pulse.  He ws
breathing.  She sighed with relief.  Again she got in, driving even
faster now.
Something hit the front of the car.  The steering wheel slipped out of
Scully's hands.  Impatiently she tried to get control of the car again.
She drove over something.  She didn't have the time to stop and see it.
In the car lights faces seemed to appear. They went through the window.
Scully screamed, then held her breath, and laughed nervously.  'Jesus,'
she said.  'This night is getting to me.'
Then flashlights came towards.  A car seemed to swirl off the road,
towards her.  Suddenly Scully realized sh was the one driving on the
wrong side of the road.  At the last moment she turned the steering
wheel fast.  The car lost its balance on the road and landed in a
ditch.  Scully felt the airbag open and save her from hitting her head.
The car stopped abruptly.
The other car stopped too.  Then Scully saw it - the flashlights on top
of it, out of order due to the shock of the crash.
Scully turned towards Mulder.  He had fallen off the seat.  He was
unconscious.
'What the hell were you doing, lady ?'  A man in a police uniform
appeared and opened her car door.  Scully grabbed her badge and held it
up to him. 'I'm Agent Scully with the Bureau,' she shouted against the
noise of the storm.  'My partner has been poisoned.  We need to get him
to the hospital right away. '
'Poisoned ?' The cop said with disbelief, as if he couldn't believe that
in his town something like this could happen.
'It's a long story,' Scully said.  'We don't have much time.  Mulder's
dying !'
Over the radio the cop whose car she almost hit called the local
authorities and hospital in Quonochontaug and informed them they were
bringing Mulder in.  The transfer of Mulder's body to the police car
didn't take too long.
Scully sat next to him in the back of the car as the cop drove fast to
the hospital.  In the meantime she told the entire story.
'Lily Marsh ?'  The cop said.  'That is impossible.'
'Believe me, it was her,' Scully said firmly.  'As soon as I know Mulder
is all right, I'm going after her.  She's probably long gone by now.'
'Somehow I doubt that,' Quinn Brown, the cop said.
Scully wanted to ask him what he meant with that remark, but the car
stopped at the emergency exit of the hospital.  Within a few moments
Mulder was transferred to a stretcher and brought inside.
Scully stayed in the room as they examined him, and started the
treatment for poisoning.  She knew the chances he would make it were
extremely slim.  Within a few hours of digesting, he had already
suffered internal bleedings.
'Prepare the OR,' someone said.  'We're losing him.'
Scully followed them as they brought her partner into the operating
theater but was stopped at the door.  Through the glass she watched as
they continued saving his life.

A couple of hours later Scully had fallen asleep in a couch outside the
small ER-area of the Quonochontaug-hospital.  She had called Skinner and
had told him the whole story.  He promised to get the first plane in the
morning, and would arrange for transfer of Mulder to a
Washington-hospital.
Then she called Mrs. Mulder, who promised to come as soon as she could.
After that, all she could do was wait.
Then the OR-doctor woke her up, and told her Mulder was in luck.  Except
for a bleeding stomach, he would be fine.  The digestion of the rat
poison had not been complete; he would be a very sick man for a couple
of days to come, but everything looked positive.
Scully followed the doctor to the ICU and looked down at her partner who
had just been transferred from the recovery-room.   She was shocked to
see how pale he looked.  Only now the shock and realization of his
near-death seemed to affect her, and as she sat down on a chair near the
bed, touching his hand, she felt tears roll down her face.
Her dream had been shattered.  She knew now she would never live here in
peace.

As she fell asleep, she dreamt.
She was back in the house, standing on the balcony.  She turned towards
the clock.  The woodwork had just been polished.  Downstairs people in
uniforms looked up at her.
'The guests have arrived, milady,' the butler said as he opened the
large front door.   As he opened the door, the music started to play.
She looked at herself in the mirror.  She was dressed in a long, silk
dress.  Her hair was longer.  Her face was not hers.
People came up the stairs.  A man grabbed her hand and kissed it.  She
smiled at him.  'Ready to party, David ?' she heard herself say.
'As always, my beloved Sophia.'
As they walked down the stairs, and into the pantry covered with plants,
the music became louder.  There were several people now.
The music was cheerful, the crowd's laughter filled the house.
Then the music changed.  It became more moody.  The people, 30, maybe 40
of them, turned towards David who had taken place on the steps.  'It is
time to cherish the moments of our lives,' he said.  'And to thank the
one who made it possible for us.  Let's hail him, for this is our last
day on this Earth, to take place in his kingdom.'
The voices became monotone as they said hail to the one they admired.
David looked at the bottles of wine.  'This is our final drink,' he
said, as he poured himself another glass.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her up the stairs.  She didn't know if
she wanted to go with him like that.  She was afraid.
He turned towards her, and kissed her on the mouth.  'I know you are,'
he said as if he had read her mind.  'But we shall go, as we have
promised him when he gave us this house.  And the sacrifice of our lives
is what we are deemed to give, is it not ?'
He helped her up the balcony.  The world seemed so small below her, even
though it wasn't even that high.  The wine made her dizzy.  'No, no ..'
she said as she wanted to crawl back to safety.
'Yes !' He didn't give her the choice of hesitation as his hand pulled
her over the edge.  She screamed.  Her scream died before she hit the
marble floor.  Her blood spilled all over that marble floor.
She had sacrificed her life for her religion.

A hand touched her shoulder.  'No !' She woke up from her own scream.
Scully tried to pull herself away from it, until she realized it was
Quinn, holding a file in his other hand.  'God, you startled me,' she
said.
'So it seems,' he responded.  'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.'
Her eyes immediately sought out Mulder.  He was breathing steadily.
'Your partner is going to be okay,' Quinn Brown said.  'The doctor said
he's strong.'
' I know he is,' Scully smiled faintly.  'Tell me, did you find Lily
Marsh ?'
Quinn took another chair.  'That's what I wanted to talk to you about.
The person who poisoned agent Mulder used a fake name.  Lily Marsh, the
real Lily Marsh, died in 1934 during a mass suicide in your house.  She
threw herself from the balcony, along with a couple of others after
taking a massive amount of poison.  This person, whoever she was,
probably got the idea for the poison from that old story.'
'But who was she then ?' Scully said with disbelief.  'I didn't check
her credentials.  I was glad just to find someone who would take on the
care for the house.'
Quinn opened his file and took out an old picture of a young woman in
her late '20's.  'This was Lily Marsh.'
Scully held her breath as she stared at the picture of the woman who had
been in her house.
'That's also the woman who claimed she was Lily Marsh,' she responded.
'What kind of a sick joke is this ?'
'Are you saying this is the woman that was in your house ?' Quinn asked.

'Yes.  They have to be related somehow.  It might explain a lot of
course.  This is the one you have to find.'
'We'll find her.'  Quinn Brown left her questioning.

Mrs. Mulder arrived at approximately the same time as A.D. Skinner did.
Both of them were shocked to see Mulder in this state, and as Mrs.
Mulder sat down, she said furiously :'Who did this ?'
'We have a suspect, ma'am,' Brown said.  'We will find her.'
Skinner took Scully's arm and pulled her aside.  'What has been going
on, Scully ?' he said.  'I received a memo this morning that you
requested a transfer.  You left a message last night, they said. Why ?'
'It's a long story, sir,' she said.  'But I have changed my mind.  Now I
have to go back to the house, and find out what happened.'
'I'm coming with you,' he said.  'I want to get to the bottom of this.'

Skinner drove Scully back to place where she had abandoned the car that
night.  The abandoned Ford was still on the side of the road where she
had left it the previous night.  It was only now that she saw what
damage the storm had caused.  The things she had hit during the night
were probably parts of trees.  They were all over the road.
Scully had tried to convince Skinner not to join her.  Somehow she
wanted to do this on her own.
She knew however he wouldn't listen to her and go come along anyhow.
Somehow it comforted her knowing she wouldn't have to go back there on
her own.  Last night's experiences did leave her in shock.
The real shock however came as she drove up the house.  It was on fire !

'Jesus Christ,' she heard Skinner say as he made the call on his cell
phone for help.
Scully realized it was too late to try and save anything.  The house was
burning down fast.  Somehow she knew it could not be saved.
She was right.  By the time the fire department arrived, the entire top
floors had burnt down.  When they gained control over the flames,
everything had been burnt down ... except for the staircase and a few
pillars who actually still carried parts of the balcony.  The clock
stood there like a beacon of bad news.
Quinn Brown arrived with the fire department, and helped to save what
could be saved.  'I'm sorry,' he said.  'I hope you had a good insurance
on the place.'
Scully didn't say anything.  For the first time in her life, for a
while, she had the feeling she belonged somewhere.  Now she knew it had
been false hopes.  This house would never had been hers.  It had kept
too many secrets from her.
As she drove back to the hospital with Skinner behind her, she suddenly
realized the fake Lily Marsh might have died in the flames.

Mulder opened his eyes in the late afternoon.
'Welcome back, sleeping beauty,' Scully smiled as she got out of her
chair.
'How long have I been out ?'
'A while.'  She took his pulse.  'But you're okay now.  Skinner is here,
and so is your mom.  They're both outside, your mother was quite upset.'

'What happened ?'
'I don't know.'  She sat down again and paused.  'The house is gone,
Mulder.  It burnt down early this morning.'
He kept silent for a while.  Then he said :'I'm sorry.  But I'm glad.  I
know what I saw and experienced.  I know that woman tried to kill me,
but it wasn't the poison she had given me.  I saw things, Scully.'
Scully looked at him firmly.  'So did I.  I cannot explain it, nor do I
have the wish to do so.  But the house is gone.  The police think it's
foul play, but they're still investigating.  The insurance company will
pay me back, I won't lose anything.  But ...'  Her voice stopped.  'It
was my house.'
Mulder touched her hand.  'Come back to Washington with me, Scully.
Please.'
She didn't say anything.

As they left him alone to fetch something to eat, the dreams returned.
The voices gathered in the room.  Mulder opened his eyes.  'No,' he said
out loud.  'You're not real, so stop bothering me.'
A face attached to a slim body seemed to step out of the shadows of the
room and came forward.  It was Lily.
'Leave me alone,' he said.  'Haven't I suffered enough ?'
'You know we're real,' her voice said.  'The house is gone now, but
there will be another one, and we will return to it.  Take her with
you.  She doesn't belong here now.'
'Why did you want her in the first place ?  She didn't belong there.'
'We loved her.'
'You just wanted someone to be in that house, is that it ?' Mulder
said.  'Did you get lonely ?'
No answer came as the bodies faded and left him alone.

When she returned that night, he told her what he had seen.
'It wasn't a dream, Scully,' Mulder said firmly.  'There ws something
in that house, I'm sure of it.   We have to go back there.  We have to
find out what happened with it.'
'Mulder, the house burnt down ?' Scully said patiently.  'It's
completely gone.'
'But the spot is still there.  She said they would be coming back when a
new house was being build.  We have to get experts in on it, Scully.  We
have to find out what is out there.'
'Mulder, listen to me !' Scully grabbed his hand firmly.  'It's over.
There's nothing more we can do about it.  I want to forget about it.'
'Scully, please.'
'You didn't leave me to make my own decisions, and you were right.
There was something wrong with the house, but it wasn't the place, it
was what happened in the house.  If Lily had murdered you, I wouldn't
have had another day in my life with complete peace because I dragged
you there, Mulder.  But it was my mistake to make, and I made it.  Now I
want to forget.  So let's go home.  I want to forget this place, and
forget I ever had the dream of a family.  That is not going to happen
now.  I just want to go home.  I'm going to destroy what remains of that
house, and sell the ground.  I don't want to be here anymore.  You were
right, Mulder.  It was killing us.'
He grabbed her hand and kissed it.  She got out of her chair, and bent
over as she kissed his forehead.  Her lips were soft and smooth.  Her
eyes were close to his, as she said :'I want to go home.'
Mulder looked into her eyes and knew she had to go.  Giving in, he said
:'Let's go home then.'

As they prepared to transfer him to the Washington hospital, she sat
next to him in the ambulance.  He looked at her.  They had been silent
for quite some time.  'You know it wasn't a dream, don't you ?' He said
softly.  'That first time in the house - when I saw the people and heard
the voices.  I wasn't poisoned then.  Nor was I when I saw Lily in the
hospital.  It wasn't a dream.'
She looked at him.  'I think we both must be going crazy, Mulder.  How
else could I have spoken to and touched a woman who has been dead for 60
years ?  How else could I have dreamt what I saw of that mass suicide ?
And how else could I have been taken in so easily by the influence of
this place?  My mind - my scientific mind - tells me there must be an
explanation for all of this, but my heart tells me I need to believe
what I saw.'
He knew that feeling of wanting to believe.  He had sacrificed
everything else for it, except for her.   'It takes time, Scully,' he
said.  'But you'll get there.'
With him, Scully thought.  With him ...

'Stop the car !'
'What ?'  Henry pushed the breaks in an impulse as his girlfriend opened
the car door and ran out, not even waiting for the car to stop.   'What
the hell is the matter with you, Lois ?' he shouted as he went after
her.
'This place - this is just what we need !' she yelled.  'We have to buy
this piece of land, Henry !'
Henry looked at the deserted site where there was nothing now, except
for a spot, just perfect enough to build a new house.
'I need to have this place,' Lois said.  'I can just picture a house
here ...'

The End