DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters are the property of Paramount Studios and Viacom. The story content is the creation and property of Djinn and is copyrighted (c) 2000 by Djinn. This story is Rated PG-13.
Banshee
by Djinn
The woman screeched again. Dark
hair wild as she paced the chamber, muttering over and over. McCoy
turned up the volume to hear what she was saying.
Her voice, normally so precise, was erratic
as she repeated, "Keep him away. Keep him away. Keep him away."
McCoy shook his head. Such
a waste. She had never been the same since the violence she suffered at
Spock's hands, the mental trauma.
The woman stopped to look up at something
only she saw. "Don't hurt me." She cringed and batted at imaginary
hands that reached for her face. "Get away from me!" She ran to the
wall, crashing into the pads, falling to the soft floor. She clawed at the
wall, trying to tear the padding away, desperate to get away from the specter
that haunted her.
McCoy turned at the sound of a door opening,
nodded grimly at Kirk. The doctor turned back to the window.
Kirk asked, "No change?" They both
jumped as another scream rang out. Kirk's expression went hard at the sight of
the woman. Hatred seemed to be his only emotion.
McCoy noticed his expression. "She
didn't deserve this, Jim."
"She killed Spock."
"Only after what he
did to her."
"She knew what she was doing. She did it
willingly. She took a risk and it didn't pay off."
"He traumatized her."
"He wasn't himself."
"Neither was she, Jim."
Again the woman screamed. She rushed the
viewing panel. Pounded on it with her fists.
"Keep him away from me! Keep him away."
McCoy studied her again. She had taken on far
more than she was ready for, and Spock had extracted a terrible price for it.
He knew that what she had done was wrong but she didn't deserve to suffer like
this. Nobody did.
"She'll rot in here," Kirk vowed.
"She killed Spock and she will pay."
"She is paying, Jim. Look at her. She'll
never use that fine mind again. She'll never make a joke or anticipate an
order. The woman we knew is gone. What's left is nothing more than a shell. A
totally insane shell doomed to live the violation she suffered and the
retribution she exacted over and over again."
The woman suddenly calmed. She turned grimly
to the spectre. "You hurt me. You hurt me so
bad. You'll never do that again." She pulled out an imaginary phaser. Her
laughter rang out as her ghostly nemesis fell. Then she screamed in misery.
"Spock! No, Spock no! Don't die. I love you. Don't die."
She crumpled in a ball stroking imaginary
hair. "I just wanted to love you," she moaned. I just wanted to do
what I thought you wanted. I would have given you anything. Why did you have to
hurt me? Why did you have to hurt me?" She lay shaking on the floor,
weeping and calling out his name.
Then she was still.
McCoy looked at Jim. "It just starts all
over. I've been here two hours. I've seen this play out a dozen times."
Sure enough the woman stood and wailed over
and over again. Then she muttered repeatedly, " Keep
him away."
"Haven't we seen enough, Bones?"
Kirk turned and walked out of the room.
McCoy gave the woman one last look. He knew
she was terminally insane and likely to stay that way.
"Goodbye Christine," he whispered
as he turned and walked away.
FIN