Chapter 2: Pleasantries and Peacock Feathers
After all the police had given me their 'sincere apologies' then I was left alone in a police cruiser while Robert talked to someone from social services.
"Darling, I'm afraid this is where I leave you. This nice lady says that we can't take you to our home, and that you will need to talk to a guidance councilor. She will find you a nice family to live with. I'll miss you Speedy." Robert said to me after he walked over and crouched down between my legs that were hanging out of the cruisers door.
And with that, he leaned over, kissed my forehead, and took my hand.
I walked in silence to the service worker. When we reached her, I was shaking. They thought it was because I was cold, and ushered me to the van that would take me to the office, where I would live for the next four weeks.
As I approached the doors of the office building, I had a passing thought. 'What if my new family doesn't like me?' But I just shook it off. I figured if I ignored it, pushed it back to the very edge of my mind, that it couldn't possibly come true.
The first session with the shrink was scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Normally, he had these days off, so he was amazingly crabby. This didn't make me feel any better about seeing him.
His name was Dr. Kalski. He was a short, middle aged man with a beer gut. On top of the round head, was a shock of graying blonde hair. In the middle of his pudgy round face, were two beady brown eyes that seemed to see nothing.
I sat down on the couch in Dr. Kalskis' office and waited for him to begin.
"So, you are the survivor of the "Minnesota Massacre"? How does that make you feel?" He drew out the words until they were little more than a whisper, and he had to draw a new breath for each word.
Slowly I turned my head, going over what he just said in my mind. How DID it make me feel? Sad. Lonely. Pathetic. Lucky. Heartbroken. Depressed.
"Actually, I haven't really thought about it much. I try not to. It overcomes me when I do, and I end up hyperventilating, screaming, or rocking back and forth. Back and forth, back and forth. Back. Forth." I started out of my delusional state and looked at the doctor. He staring at me like I was mentally unstable. Maybe I was.
"Maybe today's not the best day. Goodbye." And with that he got up and left. I sat there in that office until someone came and found me.
"Dear, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost." The woman shuddered and looked down at me.
"I'm okay. Just a little tired. Could I go to sleep?" I asked in the most pathetic voice I could muster.
She looked at me, felt my forehead, and nodded her head.
"Of course honey. I'll bring you to your room. It's right this way." Well, apparently it wasn't, because we ended up right where we started.
"Oh my, hmm, well, I'll just ask someone." She smiled down at me and walked down a hallway.
She never came back for me, so I decided to wander around for a bit. The hallways were all bare except for the occasional picture painted and copied over and over again. The carpet was the kind where, even if you spilt something on it, you wouldn't be able to tell.
The rooms behind the doors were just as drab. Boring furniture, mottled carpet, the rundown look.
Behind some doors were the sleeping figures of children, one of them was snoring loudly, and the girl in the room next to them was awake.
