“Oldies again, dad? Gosh can we play something that’s I don’t know…of this century?” Andrea asked, mocking the radio station blaring through the car’s sound system.
They were surrounded by nothing but an endless cluster of trees, trees so huge that even if it had not been pitch black outside they would have blocked any access to sunlight. The wind howled against Andrea’s father’s old blue Honda causing it to slightly sway even under her father’s capable if not extremely cautious hands, while the rain pulverized the rust stained car making the ability to see anything almost impossible.
“Hey, this song’s a classic. They don’t make music like this anymore,” her father teased as he moved to crank the volume louder. He grinned, his features all that much more handsome as he noticed the grimace on Andrea’s face.
“It’s classically old, that’s what it is, and they don’t make music like this cause no one wants to buy it,” she said while checking her reflection in the visor mirror. She fixed an imaginary flaw even though her makeup remained unblemished, her skin perfectly smooth, her blue eyes so like our fathers free from worry. Her glossy red lipstick immaculately applied, her long blonde hair falling gorgeously around her heart shaped face, and her teeth toothpaste commercial white.
“Hey, how’s your sister?” her dad asked, his fingers reaching to crank the volume down, his voice filled with concern.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Marie was supposed to be here tonight.”
She smacked the mirror back in place with a snap, turning mocking eyes towards her father. “Yeah, well little Marie failed her Chemistry test, and although she told our fucking loser of a step dad that she was having trouble in that class before the test he brushed it off as he always does, and now she’s stuck babysitting the brat. And of course mom stands by being completely oblivious to … to well about anything.”
The rain pounded against the windshield, the windshield wipers barely keeping up with the down pour, and yet still through all the thunder you could hear my father’s weary sigh. “You shouldn’t talk about your mother like that.”
“Why not? Hell, it was kind considering the shit she says about you.”
“Don’t curse, its not attractive,” my dad replied while laughing at Andrea’s eye roll.
“Anyways, I just don’t see why we can’t stay with you dad? I mean I’m seventeen and Anna Marie is sixteen we won’t even be in your way,” she pleaded, her blue eyes filling with tears.
My dad turned towards her, his hand wiping at the tear rolling down her cheek, “You know if I could I would, but I have a record. And your mom was quick to use that against me. I’m lucky I get to see you two one weekend a month.”
“But maybe-.”
“No Andrea, we’ve been over this. No judge is going to give a convict custody over a mayor and his wife. Plus you live in that huge house and you got your own car, and private school. Can’t be all bad?”
Andrea turned towards the window to hide her streaming tears, focusing on the falling rain and the silent forest surrounding them instead of her depressed reflection.
He just had no fucking idea.
“What the hell-, What the hell is that in the road!”
The car jerked to the left, the rain making it slide as if the wheels were instead skates on ice. Andrea turned towards the windshield, her heart pounding in her chest as whatever caused her father to swerve seemed to be coming towards them that much faster. The car spun, the sound of screeching tires filling the silence, trees became a blurred vision surrounding them. You could hear their screams pierce the air as the car hit something in the road causing it to descend from the ground, helplessly flipping over completely. Glass flew over their skin, raining cuts and bruises around Andrea’s beautiful blue eyes. The car continued to slide chaotically as If controlled by the devil himself, dislodging a huge piece of glass from the windshield, hurtling it towards her father’s terrified form still trapped within his seat belt.
“Andrea -” was the last thing her father screamed as the glass cut into his throat rendering him speechless midsentence while decapitating his head from his lifeless body. As the sound of metal bending and glass smashing filled the car the last thing my sister saw was the sight of kicking hooves as they collided with her beautiful face.
“No!” I screamed as I rose to sit up in my bed. Sweat poured from my body, my heart pounding in my chest, my head hurting as if repeatedly bashed in.
“Nice to see that you’re finally awake,” a voice called out to me and finally my vision cleared.
At last it was not a forest, a blood soaked highway, or my sister’s wounded broken face that I saw, but in its replacement I took in the meagerly furnished white room, its walls blank of any personality, a small barred in window in its corner, and a table containing a plastic pitcher of water, and a small white cup.
Slowly I allowed myself to fall back onto the mounds of white pillows while trying to dissipate the dizziness and nausea plaguing my battered body.
“You’ve made quite the entrance here. How about some water while we wait on the doctor to arrive?” A nurse asked, her blue eyes were kind but as I met hers I saw that it was only a façade. As I took in her blonde hair perfectly pulled back into a low ponytail, her thin form clothed in the regulation white scrubs, her name tag suggesting her name was Holly Summers. She appeared as if she was no different than any other…and yet I could sense this was not true.
“Here we go,” she said kindly, her hand reaching out towards me to help me sip the cool liquid, which seeing as I had not much choice I complied all the while my eyes never moving from the red aura surrounding her body, as if a hidden hostility, anger only I could see. Something inside me told me to be wary of her kindness, to be careful who it was I trusted, and as she leaned closer I saw a quick glimpse of those soulless evil eyes the perfect replica of the demons that had attacked me staring back at me before they returned back to those joyful baby blues.
I gasped, my hands reaching to push away from her before I could control it causing the cup and its pitcher to empty its contents all over her perfectly starched uniform.
“What the hell! You fucking little-,” she spat out, her external expression finally matching her inner thoughts as she advanced towards me.
“Holly, what are you doing?” A voice called out at the doorway. Another nurse walked in followed by two more and yet my eyes were only captivated by the first. Her long honey brown hair surrounded her tan face. Her grey eyes showed true compassion, she too was dressed in identical scrubs and yet around her I saw nothing but white light causing me to finally sigh in relief. My eyes fell to her neck grateful to see a replica of my own cross.
Forcing that phony smile upon her lips once again Holly turned towards them, “Nothing of course. I just had a little accident. Why don’t I just go get a mop for this?” I watched her leave with baited breath.
In wary silence I observed this woman bend to pick up the discarded pitcher and cup, “my name is Maria. Welcome to Clover Dale. I’m guessing this was not exactly the way you pictured coming here, am I right?”
I remained silent, my eyes falling to the many bandages that covered my cuts.
“It’s okay. It’s really nice here once you get used to it. I’ll just run out and get you some more water.”
I wanted to yell for her to stay and yet my mouth felt lodged shut, and quickly I found myself trapped with the remaining two. My eyes swiftly traveled towards them but their expressions were of extreme boredom, their minds seemed as if to be on other more important things and around them a color of dull gray.
And then I knew, they were as insignificant to me as my arrival here was to them and for that I was grateful.
My eyes moved towards the window, the sight of the dreary rainy afternoon did nothing to lift my spirits, and yet still I dreamed of a day when I too could escape here and be as free as the birds I could hear beyond these walls.
“God I hate this job. Surrounded by these crazy freaks all day is not my idea of a good time.”
My eyes flicked back to the two nurses wondering who had spoken, and yet still their expressions were unchanged; their eyes like my own were on the dull view.
“How the hell am I going to pay rent this month? Joe still doesn’t have a fucking job and yet still has his hand is out every pay day. I so don’t want to have to sleep with his brother to get the money again, not that Joe even cares he’d pimp me out to a freaking crack head if they were paying.”
My eyes swung back to the two knowing there was no way someone would say something like that out loud, especially not in front of a stranger. I don’t care how crazy they assumed I was.
“If I wasn’t doing the head doctor here I’d have quit long ago. He’s not really my type, and his actual size leaves a lot to be desired but hell I can’t be fired, and he does keep me in nice things. I just hope his psycho wife doesn’t find out. Christopher would have a fucking fit if that cow ever tried to divorce him.”
My eyes rounded in shock, my mouth falling open to gasp as I stared at the pretty blond nurse who remained completely oblivious to my glance as she inspected her nails, and yet I couldn’t retreat behind my mask of indifference. Her words were clear as crystal, her worries, and her secrets spoken without artifice, and yet her mouth never moved.
“Maybe I should leave Joe for his brother I mean he does have more money, but I love Joe and we do have two kids together. Not to mention his brother’s drug dealing shit. Do I really want my kids surrounded by that?”
I could clearly see the brunette had not spoken and yet her thoughts were so easy to understand it was if she had said them out loud.
What the hell was wrong with me?
“Sam, Brittany, could you two go help with the patient in room twelve? Their having a bit of a difficult morning,” Maria asked as she returned pushing a mop in with her while holding the pitcher and cup.
The blonde rolled her eyes and yet followed orders, her silent words following her slow descent away from us, “God I fucking hate this place! Stupid piece shit probably soiled herself again, and who the hell will have to clean her up! Me!”
The door slammed shut on their thoughts as I watched in guarded silence as Maria stooped to clean up the mess.
“The doctor will be here soon. He just had to attend to another patient.”
I looked back towards the door, her eyes following my movements.
“Oh don’t worry Anna, Holly isn’t coming back. I sent her to do something else. Sometimes her bedside manner can leave a lot to be desired, but we’ll keep that just between us, ok?”
I watched her finish cleaning, humming a song to herself as she returned the pitcher and cup to the table while glancing at the falling rain.
“God I wonder if what they said about this little girl is true. I mean there is no way this girl could have caused that much damage in such a short amount of time she’s been here. Plus they had her sedated and strapped to the bed so how did she get released anyway?”
Her fingers rose to grasp the necklace around her neck, a nervous twitch we seemed to share.
“I hope Doctor Foster can get to the bottom of this because no person deserves to spend the rest of their lives trapped behind these walls… but all the blood ...those poor people-.”
“Maria, how’s our patient doing?”
At the deep voice suddenly filling the room, and breaking into Maria’s thoughts we both turned towards the two men slowly making their way inside. The middle aged doctor was handsome, but already he was starting to get a gut around his waist. His dark hair was expertly styled, and yet I could see it was starting to thin. His thin lips held a smile that had a tinge of fakeness about it, and his brown eyes held the intelligence of a man who knew his job well, the conceit to believe only he knew best, and the ignorance to not understand anything beyond what he believed to be true. Around him was gray with small specks of red.
Aww shit.
“She’s pretty quiet but seems to be doing well. I’ll just leave you to it then, and I’ll check on her later,” she sent a smile to me over her shoulder while quickly leaving me to fend for myself.
The doctor took a seat on my bed looking at the file on a nearby table while my eyes traveled to the man behind him.
“Oh, Anna don’t mind Officer Daniels. We just want to get to the bottom of what happened when you arrived. By the way I’m Doctor Foster, but you can just call me Christopher.”
The officer remained just inside the door with the appearance of calm, and yet I could tell from his gaze that he wouldn’t believe a word I told him, and that if possible he’d rather I’d be chained in a chilly dark cell rather than the comfort of this bed. I had known many policemen over the last couple of months, many of which I had rather forget.
“Okay, well your wounds look like their healing properly. We’ll take the stitches out on your deeper cuts in a couple days. You do know you’ve been in here for three days, right?” the doctor asked.
I guess from my clueless expression he gathered that I didn’t know.
“Well you lost a lot of blood but-.”
“Okay, now that we know that she’s well enough to talk how about we get to the bottom of what happened that night?” The officer said, finally voicing his own impatience.
The doctor glanced back at him then moved so that the cop could take his seat. All I saw around Officer Daniels was red.
“You were brought here by two men from Greenwich. You were heavily sedated, and strapped to a fucking bed. They brought you in from the basement entrance, and you made it to the lobby. Do you want to fill in the blanks after that?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I whispered trying to remain calm when all I wanted to do was cower somewhere in a corner.
“Like hell you don’t know what I mean! They have you on camera!”
“Well then you should already know what happened.”
He rose, his arm sweeping out to knock the pitcher and cup to the floor, the sound of it crashing to the ground echoed off the walls.
“Don’t get smart with me you little bitch! There were four people with you that night! Three attendants and one nurse! Nurse Sandy Daniels, does that name ring any bells to you!”
Aww shit must be one of his relatives!
He moved closer to me, one finger pointing dangerously accusingly towards my face, “Now you are going to tell me what happened, or I am going to make you tell me what happened!”
I glanced towards the doctor for help, but I found him just standing there lounging idly by as if not a care in the world.
“I- I don’t know what happened,” I pleaded.
“You don’t know what happened! We saw them wheel you in. You were strapped to the bed! We watched them argue, and then suddenly there you are behind them free as a fucking jay bird! Then swiftly the lights start to go out. They follow you into the lounge! We can hear the screams; can see the glass windows smashing as if someone took a bat to them! And then nothing! Fucking nothing as if someone suddenly decided to cut off the damn cameras! And now you sit there telling me you don’t remember a damn thing! That’s complete bullshit!”
“I’m so- sorry but I don’t remember.”
“Tom maybe she really doesn’t-,” the doctor started, finally trying to offer me some help but quickly he was silenced.
“Oh Christopher, stay the fuck out of this! The only reason your even here is because of all the shit I have on you! This is my sister we’re talking about! So if you want to keep your own ass out of jail I would suggest you stay out of it!”
Clearly not happy Dr. Foster remained silent moving back towards the door.
“Now enough games you fucking psycho! What happened to my sister?”
I shook my head in quick denial of whatever horrible images he thought about me that I saw reflected in his eyes, tears coming to my own.
“Oh, still won’t talk? Look that memory shit may have worked on the cops and jury and judge who didn’t electrify your ass for trying to drown your little sister but it sure as hell won’t work on me! This is your last chance; tell me what happened to my sister!”
“I don’t know. You have to believe me!”
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to play,” he rose from his seat reaching towards his belt. My heart hammered inside my chest at the sight of his gun.
“No, Tom you can’t shoot her!”
“Chris shut the hell up. I’m not going to shoot her! How dumb do I look! Now get your ass back over there and make sure no one comes in!”
I watched in horrified silence as the doctor did as he was told, and the cop turned back to me. He smiled gruesomely at the fear that was apparent on my face, his hand once again reaching for his belt. As his fingers went to unbutton his pants, sliding down his zip, his other hand moved to slide back my covers I saw that what he planned to do was much worse.
I began to struggle against him but he was too strong, and quickly I found his body pinning me down, his hands covering my mouth. Tears fell down my cheeks as I felt his cold fingers travel up my legs, working their way up my gown. Still the doctor did nothing.
“Now are you going to tell me what happened, or am I going to have to make you?” He whispered into my ear, his fingers gripping my panties underneath my gown.
Then suddenly my body went lax, my mind calm, my tears instantly drying up.
He had removed his hand so that I could speak, “You must be referring to the pretty brunette that was accompanied by that cocky prick you call Andy.”
He backed away from me slowly, retaking his seat at the edge of my bed. His expression was one of amazement, and I could tell the sudden calm chill in my voice rattled him.
“What did you do to my sister?”
“Nothing.”
His anger returned with a vengeance, his hand reaching into a folder I hadn’t seen behind him, throwing a multitude of photos, each more gruesome than the last on the bed before me.
“You fucking call this nothing! My sister was-.”
“Your sister was attacked. Her face cut repeatedly, her clothes ripped from her body. An expression of complete horror on her face. You found her nails ripped from her skin from where she tried to crawl away. Pieces of her hair were found tucked in several different places found among the crime scene, and patches of exposed skin on her scalp where it had been ripped out from the roots.”
I watched as he started to cry knowing he pictured everything I said happening to his sister, and yet still I continued.
“You found that her ribs were cracked in a multitude of places, bruises marked her skin all over, not to mention the many burns. And let’s not forget the bites. So many bite marks graced her skin it looked as if dogs had taken to eating the flesh off her very bones.”
“Where is she?” he whispered.
“You mean where is what’s left of her?” I mocked.
“How could do that to someone?” He whispered his voice so thick with tears.
“What makes you think I did? You will find her buried near a maple tree; a bloody hand print marks the tree you want to find.”
He rose quickly, redressing himself as him and the doctor moved hastily towards the door.
“Oh and Officer Daniels,” I whispered.
“What,” he spat back over his shoulder, pausing at the entrance.
“You’ll find after further examination of her body that it was impossible that I did anything to her. You’ll see that the scare tactics you had in your pants planned for me were the same thing Dear attendant Andy had planned for your sister, as did the others have a… small taste.”
His eyes rounded in shock at my words then quickly with a stunned Dr. Foster hot on his trail they left me in silence.
As the door slammed shut it was like a sudden weight was lifted from my shoulders, my breath completely left my body, and I quickly lay back upon the pillows trying to get my burning lungs to operate once again. I gasped, my eyes blurring with unshed tears, and then finally I was free. Free from whatever hold there was on me. My throat became unclogged and quickly I inhaled the stale air that seemed to consume this room.
“Gosh just breathe. It wasn’t that bad! As usual you’re forever the fucking drama queen!”
My eyes swung towards the voice coming from my right, the sight doing nothing to help with my breathing. There lounging nonchalantly against the windowsill body dressed in a short blue jean mini, a red crop top with the words top bitch going across her chest, black high heel boots, blonde hair streaming from her head, make up expertly applied and with a bored expression stood Andrea.
My dead big sister.
She glared at me with slightly amused big blue eyes, “What? One of us had to get rid of him! And seeing as you certainly were in no shape to fend him off I had to take over! Instead of freaking out you should really be thanking me.”
Thank you Andrea for proving to me that without a doubt I really am freaking crazy!
…………………………………………………………………
I quickly scooted back against my pillows, my eyes never leaving the person standing before me. “You’re not real! You’re not real. You can’t be here.”
“And yet I am,” Andrea said simply as she continued to lounge against the window, inspecting her fresh manicure.
“No! No you’re fucking dead! You were wearing that outfit before you got in the car!”
“Okay, it’s not like I’m disagreeing with you. I am dead.”
“Then what their saying is true! I am crazy!”
“No, that’s where you’re wrong. You’re the sanest person in here. You do realize that doctor is doing the nurse and that he’s married, but what you don’t know is that his wife is doing the crooked cop he’s friends with,” she replied with a laugh while moving to flounce on the end of my bed. It was so similar to all the other times she’d come home late from some party and snuck in my room to gossip that I almost relaxed.
Well almost.
“I know he’s doing the nurse, but why did I know that? Why could I hear all their secrets and thoughts? Was that you too? Could you always do that?”
She rolled her eyes at my shocked expression, “No Marie that was all you. It was amusing to watch though. You’d be surprised at the things that you can do.”
“No, no! I don’t want to be surprised! I want to go back to the way things were! I want to be in my own room listening to Paramore on repeat and having you yell at me to turn it down! I want to hope that mom finally gets a clue and kicks Rick to the curb and then have my hopes dashed when she never does! I want to wake up early yell at you for hogging our bathroom and then go to school and be bored out of my mind for those endless hours! I want to be normal again,” I yelled tears running down my cheeks.
“Well I hate to break it to you Baby girl but that just ain’t happening.”
I glared at her retreating form as she moved to glance out the window on the door, taking a peek out into the hall.
“I get it now! You’re simply a figment of my imagination.”
She smirked back at me before turning back to look out into the hall, “one of your attendants is completely hot. Ten bucks on if he’s doing one of the nurses or one of the patients here?”
“I mean because you can’t be real. I’ve been through a seriously traumatic experience and my only way of coping is to manifest my idea of the last time I felt safe and loved,” I rationalized, my hands shaking even as I spoke.
“You know that’s complete shit, right?”
“Andrea shut up.”
She laughed, skipping back towards me, her blonde hair floating around her, “when’s dinner around here?”
“Why? Are you hungry? Cause I didn’t think people scrapped off highway 61 got hungry?”
Her blue eyes flashed back towards me and instantly I knew that look. She was about to snap. “Look I’m here to help! You think you could have handled that cop who had you pinned to the bed, or were you hoping in vain that the doctor would suddenly get a conscience and come to your rescue? Cause I got news for you little Anna that was never going to happen! Officer Daniels would have had his way with you and still you would have not been able to tell him anything! And do think he would have felt even an inch of guilt over what he would have done to you?”
She moved closer, our eyes only inches apart.
“Let me answer that for you. No! You are not the first he’s interrogated that way, and you sure as hell won’t be the last! I protected you as only a sister should, just like I always have and always will.”
She moved back, walking over to glance out the window while completely ignoring my scared expression.
“Where were you then?” I whispered.
She whipped back around to face me, “Where was I when?”
“Were where you that night in the lounge? You knew what had happened to that nurse, what those men did to her when even I didn’t know, so where were you when those things were tearing at my skin, cutting me, burning my flesh? I cried out for someone, anyone, but no one came.”
Her blue gaze was sad, filled with tears of her own, “Anna you don’t know what it’s like on this side. I came as quickly as I could, but there were so many of them, and you had already passed out. The only thing I could think to do was convince them to leave you alone, and that’s when they entered those men’s bodies.”
My eyes quickly met hers, “So you saw them too! What are they! Why are they after me?”
She froze then quickly mentioned for me to be quiet just as the door to the hall was opened, and Nurse Maria stood before me.
“Did I hear you speaking to someone?”
“Umm…” I looked back to where Andrea stood, but my sister quickly shook her head no. “No I wasn’t speaking to anyone.”
Maria looked blankly into the empty corner then glanced back at me strangely. “Because if you feel like someone else is in this room you should know you can tell me.”
I shook my head frantically, “no, there’s no one here but you and me.”
“She’s lying. I clearly heard her speaking to someone before I walked in.”
“O...kay, well Doctor Foster feels you’re well enough to be moved to your new room, so let’s get to it,” she moved back towards the hall grabbing a wheel chair I hadn’t seen behind her. She placed me gently into its seat, her eyes purposely ignoring the once again split pitcher.
We began our slow movement from my small white confined room, my eyes meeting the corner that once held my sister and yet now there was nothing there.
Nothing at all.
“How about we take the long way and I give you the tour?” Maria asked, her voice kind, but her words washed over me as did the introductions I ignored, the rooms she pointed out, and the views from the barred in glass we passed. We paused just outside the lounge, my eyes taking in the police tape surrounding it; it’s boarded up windows, and the pictures of the four people who never made it out of there alive.
“Don’t worry your room is no where near here,” she whispered as if sensing my unease.
We quickly continued down a series of corridors as I tried to ignore the other patients we passed until finally we came to yet another white room, only difference with this one it had my name on the door. She wheeled me inside its bland walls, its small window barred from the outside showing the same dreary view as the last, its little white covered bed with a tiny wooden bedside table, and yet in the corner lied a small naked wooden desk and chair.
And this was to be my new home for the unforeseeable future. It seemed so bleak that if Maria had not been standing there I would have cried.
I moved to sit on my bed, my curls hiding my expression, my fingers clutching my necklace, and my gaze staring at my shoeless feet.
“Why don’t you get settled in? You should rest, and before you know it it will be dinner time. I’ll bring you something really good before my shift ends.”
I watched as she turned back my covers like my mother used to do when I was small, back when she actually cared. I climbed inside, tears slipping from the corners of my eyes.
“It’s going to be alright Anna,” she whispered rubbing the curls back from my face. “Oh I almost forgot! I noticed you don’t particularly like the dark, so I figured you wouldn’t be a fan of lights out.”
My gaze rose to hers, my mind and body almost in a panic.
“Relax Anna, I brought you this.”
I watched as she bent towards the floor behind the beside table. It was only as she moved to straighten up that I noticed the night light she had plugged in, its shape the body of a guardian angel.
“Maybe she will help keep away whatever scares you lurking in the shadows,” she pushed back a few stray curls from my face then rose to walk towards the door, “this too shall pass Anna.”
The door closed with a resounding click behind her making me feel completely and utterly alone once again, but then my eyes fell to the angel beside my bed and I prayed that maybe someone was really looking out for me up there.
Squeezing my eyes shut I let sleep claim me, and as I fell deeper into slumber it was only then that I heard someone say, “You know what Anna, I really like her.”
And I realized I’d never be truly alone.
……………………………………………………
“So Anna, can you tell me something you remember about your childhood?” Dr. Thompson asked, his beady green eyes inspecting me like a scientist inspects a new species. His thick brown beard unknown to him still had pieces of bacon in it from breakfast, his once white shirt was crumpled and stained with coffee as it wrapped around his rotund form, and tiny beads of sweat trickled from his rapidly receding brown hair falling in small paths down his face.
I had been here a week now.
The majority of my cuts had healed mostly, my gowns had been replaced with white jogging pants, tees, and white tennis shoes, and Doctor Foster had been replaced with Thompson. Something for which I was grateful for, seeing as the mere image of the head doctor brought back painful memories of Officer Daniels. Not that Doctor Foster wasn’t still around from what I picked from the brains around me; he just wasn’t my doctor anymore. And there were no more visits from the officer either, now that they had found his sister’s body.
“What is it you want to know doctor?” I mocked. I had slowly trained my mind to pick and choose when I wanted to listen in on other’s thoughts, and could now stop it from controlling my every waking moment as it once had.
“Did you once have an imaginary friend?”
“No.”
“You never saw anyone who only you could see?”
Clearly he had spoken to Maria. “No.”
And I hadn’t. Not since the night I woke up here. Andrea vanished completely as if smoke against the wind, and I wondered if her appearance had more to do with the drugs they had me on than her actual reappearance back into my life.
“Did you make friends easily?”
“No.”
“Loner, apparent difficulty dealing with others.”
I watched him scribble those exact words onto his pad. “You had an older sister, I believe?”
“Yes.”
“How was your relationship with her?”
“Like any other sibling. We fought over stupid petty things and got along other times.”
“Do you remember being in the hospital that night on September twenty second?”
I swallowed with difficulty, but kept my composure, “Vaguely.”
“Do you know what happened to your father, your sister?”
Visions of my father’s decapitated head, blood gushing from his neck, my beautiful sister’s crushed in face flashed before my eyes before I could stop them, and I quickly closed my eyes trying to forget.
“Anna I need you to answer the question. What happened to your father and sister that night?”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” I whispered, my eyes still squeezed shut.
“Well I don’t think you seriously have a choice Anna. Anna?” I heard him move closer, but did not open my eyes until I felt his hands close around my arms and physically shake my body with a vicious series of jerks. His expression was angry as his gaze met mine as if he was mad that I wouldn’t allow him to force me into his supposed breakthrough.
He returned to his seat.
“I am getting so tired of this bullshit! First Dr. Foster pawns this head case off on me, I have to deal with her complete silence half the time, and now this shit. She’s as unfixable as all the rest! A fucking lost cause! I should have become an accountant like I always wanted instead of listening to mother and doing this shit! But then again Mother always knows best!”
“Now Anna, what happened to them that night?” he asked although clearly already writing me off as some basket case that was beyond help.
“They were in a car crash.”
With shocked eyes he quickly glanced back up at me, “Yes they were and you-.”
“I was supposed to go out to dinner with them but I was forced to babysit-.”
“It’s great that you bring that up because we should talk about-,” he began only for me to cut him off.
“Andrea and I never miss a dinner with our dad because we rarely get to see him. It was raining that night. I remember watching her wave back to me as she got into my dad’s tiny blue Honda. She was dressed in her favorite black boots, a mini and a red crop top with a denim blue jean jacket thrown over it. I never even saw my father that night. All I remember seeing is her getting into the car, and wishing I was with them as the tail lights disappeared around the corner.”
“That’s good. We’re making progress, but back to you babysitting-.”
“Did you know they went to my favorite restaurant just so they could bring me back my favorite dish, even though it was an hour’s drive away from our house?” I asked, tears puddling against my lids.
“No, I didn’t know that. Did your sister tell you that before she left?”
“No, it was supposed to be a surprise.”
“Well then how did you know-.”
“By the time they drove home it was raining really badly. My dad could barely see through the windshield, but he played down his inner fear and worry by teasing my sister about the radio station playing.”
“Anna, it isn’t possible for you to know that. You weren’t there in the car with them-.”
“My sister was begging my dad, pleading with him to let us move in with him, but he couldn’t. The courts wouldn’t let him. She took her eyes off him for a second trying to hide the tears she knew would upset him and then she heard him curse. There was something in the road.”
“Anna I don’t how you’re making this up but-.”
“My dad swerved to move away from it, but the car spun out. My sister screamed as the car slammed into something on the road, and then it completely flipped. Their bodies being flung around like rag dolls.”
“Anna I want you to stop now.”
“Glass smashes all around them like diamonds littering the air, their jagged edges ripping into their skin causing blood to line the interior. Their screams heeded no help as the car continued hurtling out of control across the pavement. My father screamed Andrea’s name right before pieces of the windshield caved in, slicing his throat open, covering my sister in his blood, and removing his head from his own body.”
“Anna!”
“My sister screamed while tasting his blood on her tongue just as her head turned from the sight to look straight out towards the hooves waiting to smash her face in.”
Dr. Thompson’s skin was sickly pale once I had finished speaking, his pen and pad long forgotten, “How could you know all of that? The police never would have released that much information, not even to a family member.”
“Dr. Thompson Anna’s hour is up. I’m here to take her back to her room,” Maria called out from the doorway.
I rose slowly moving to join her, stopping only to glance back at Dr. Thompson’s dumbfounded expression, “I know it the same way I know that you still live with your mother in that small house of hers.”
His horrified gaze met mine as I continued, “you still stay in that tiny bedroom you slept in as a boy. She still treats you as if you were a child. I also know she lied when she told you you were destined to be a psychiatrist. Destined to help those who need you most, when all you truly wanted and were good at was numbers. You would have been brilliant as an accountant, but she lied to keep you with her in fear you’d take that scholarship you were offered out of state.”
I suddenly smiled, my dimples forming in my rosy cheeks, “bye doctor. Same time, next week?”
Then quickly I continued walking towards Maria completely ignoring the dismayed look on Dr. Thompson’s face.
Lost cause my ass!
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(Okay, I haven’t uploaded for this story in a long time but it is fun to write, and I love how in this kind of story I can make anything happen…. like bringing her dead sister back into the story…. this is going to be fun. Hope whoever reads this story enjoys it and I hope I’m not too morbid or detailed for you. If you have any comments feel free to speak your mind. Thanks for reading.)
Until next time….