She Hunter

Chapter 4: It's Always Twilight's Fault

Mr. Stead eventually did come to see me about a week after Carter’s first visit. He was obviously less than pleased with the idea of a crazy emotionally retarded orphan being back in his son’s life, but to his credit, he made no mention of his personal feelings on the matter. Ever the professional, he asked me countless questions about my stay at Caswell Memorial Hospital, and avoided the details of what put me there in the first place.

He explained that it would be easier to get me out before my estimated release date if I could provide him with any evidence of mistreatment or unprofessional conduct.  Luckily for me, misconduct of the staff was so incredibly frequent; I barely needed to utilize my newfound talent for lying. Although I did find the motivation to embellish several aspects of my relationship with Dr. Metzing. It was really too easy.

The days and weeks crawled by, however, and I realized that legal proceedings tend to take much longer than I had hoped. We would be lucky if I could get out by Christmas, and it was barely mid-October. This brought about the unpleasant business of prolonging my deception with Carter. He visited constantly, nearly three or four times a week. It passed the time, but I hated the gnawing feeling in the back of my brain that I constantly had to ignore. I think that most would call it guilt, but there was too much going on inside my head to label it, so I mostly just preferred to think of the growing discomfort as a side affect of Her.

“What are you thinking about?” his voice broke into my thoughts so smoothly, almost as if it belonged there. Almost as if we were a couple of normal teenagers playing Monopoly for the sake of enjoyment, rather than to pass time in a government operated mental health facility. I reply as if that were the case. Why not prolong the fantasy for him? Why not give him one good moment to think about once I’m gone?

“Nothing much,” I smile at him as convincingly as I can. He raises an eyebrow at me, pressing me to continue. “Just getting out of here. How nice it will be to go back to…well, normal.”

I swallowed back bile at the thought of me actually choosing to dishonor my mother’s memory by forgetting. By being “normal.” But I have to pretend that I care about my own future. I have to pretend that I’ve given thought to my own desires and accomplishments and dreams if I want to really pull this off. You have a plan, Charlie. Don’t even think about deviating. Just another little lie, and he’s smiling at me again like he’s completely proud of me.

“Good,” he squeezes my hand. “I’m so glad you’re looking forward to this as much as I am. I know it won’t be easy, but I’ll help you get some of your life back. I promise.”

His words are making me uncomfortable, so I roll the dice to keep the game moving. He glances down at our joined hands, and I’m suddenly aware that his thumb is drawing random little patterns on my upturned palm. There’s fluttering in my stomach and my mouth is feeling a little more dry than usual, so I pull my hand from his grasp and reach for my little horseman piece on the Monopoly board and move it forward three spaces. Get a grip, Charlie. It’s just Carter, a guy you’ve known forever.

He withdraws his hand with an awkward clearing of his throat and reaches for the “Bank” to hand me two hundred dollars for passing “Go.” I smile gratefully and continue to make small talk with my best friend for the next forty-five minutes until visiting hours are over. Emotional crisis averted.

When the lights start to dim in the visiting room Thomas stands up from his corner, and tucks his copy of “Twilight” under his arm, looking extremely relieved. I stifle a giggle and smile at him as he approaches, acutely aware of the dark look that Carter throws his way when he lays a hand on the small of my back. I roll my eyes at Carter and flash him an over-large cheesy grin as he cleans up the game and turns back to give me a one-armed hug to say goodbye.