~~Young~~

Chapter Twenty

   And still yet she opposed leaving the two of them alone, but one kind hand on her arm and Josephine convinced her otherwise.

   Yes, there was only one creature capable of such things.

   When they were alone Gage pulled Sera’s necklace from inside his coat pocket, a sudden pang in his heart he could only attribute to her absence hitting him as soon as his fingers wrapped around the bauble. He missed her. He missed her lips on his, he missed running his fingers through that soft curtain of hair, he missed the silky feel to her skin, the way she seemed to laugh only for him, or the way her eyes lit up when she saw him. He missed everything about her and…and somehow he did not mind that. He liked knowing that a part of him yearned for her when they were apart. It would make their reunion all that much sweeter when it came.

   But first he wanted to know why Josephine would give such a bleak token to someone she claimed she loved. He held it out in front of her and watched as the corners of her eyes turned down. In a life without words she understood his actions. And perhaps it was better that way, then nothing could be overheard by the ears he knew were listening on the other side of the door.

   With a sigh she beckoned him to her bed and pulled up its skirt, gesturing to a large cloth box.

  He pulled it out for her and set the heavy thing on her bed. Opening it up he saw it to be filled with papers. On top a mix of letters written to her from Sera and some recent pictures. Hand written letters, he should have expected as much from her. He ran his fingers over the script with a faint grin. He would know those scrawls anywhere even if she hadn’t signed the bottom. He still had the picture in his mind of that one word written in her notebook, attractive. From the beginning she had found him attractive. Well then that only evened the score.

   Each letter was filled with the typical mundane prattle about Sera’s classes and social life…and occasional love life which Gage was not going to show this child his jealously over. The tone of each letter was very reassuring, as if to tell Josephine that Sera was doing well and she had nothing to worry herself over. The photographs reinforcing the statement as all seemed to find Sera at happier moments, both with her as the focus or amongst her peers. Several of the faces Gage himself was able to pick out of those closest to Sera.

   But she wasn’t fooling anyone, not Gage and apparently not Josephine either as she frowned or shook her head at the pictures. She knew it was all a lie. Yet by the letters Gage also knew she said nothing about it. She kept her suspicions to herself he assumed for Sera’s sake. She knew the role she played in Sera’s life and played it well.

   None of that explained the necklace though, and he held it up once more. In response Josephine dug a little further in the box to pull out a manila folder thick with papers. She handed it over with an urgent gesture, on the side it read “S. Turner”. It was Gage’s turn to frown. It was a psychologist’s notes over years of sessions. Each set of notes ending in the psychologist alluding to Sera’s severe depression and possible bi-polar disorder. Mentally unstable, those words were used over and over again. Fear of a future catastrophic and unrepairable breakdown, incidents of self-harm or self-ruin...one particular date was underlined in red as if of significant importance to the doctor. It was the very last entry, beneath it read:

   Sera is locked in a severe case of denial of her mental issues. She not only refuses to believe there is anything wrong, but that the profile she projects is that of a normal healthy young woman. If this should continue it is very possible the two halves of her psyche will split leaving her unaware of the other’s presence.

   When this happens, because I do believe it is inevitable, then there will be no choice but to institutionalize her.   She refuses all medications that could help curb her more destructive nature because of her belief that she is mentally stable. Yet at an institution she will have no such choice. It may, perhaps, be better for her then to be placed in a facility where under constant supervision