Eliot Strange and the Prince of the People

36) My Carli

Santa Claus maintains his cool which is impressive since my blade is on his throat just above his carotid artery. There is a tiny pinprick of blood on his neck going south. I fight hard to maintain my cool too, inside my brain there's a battle between slitting this man's throat and controlling my trembling hands.

I take a deep breath, and I win. I'm all business. Turns out, I can kill a person up close if necessary. I am my father's daughter.

But, something is not right about this scenario. My assumptions outside the door had Jack attacking (raping, God forbid?) Carli. Carli was is danger and my actions were appropriate. Now that I am inside the room, there is no Jack and the man that is here does not appear to be a threat. He sits in a chair facing Carli like they were chatting. Only, Carli is crying. Why is she crying?

Carli wipes her eyes and blows her nose. She is a complete mess, but she convinces me during the last of her crying jag to put my knife up. I apologize to Santa Claus whose real name turns out to be Dr. Simon Bouchard. Carli explains that Dr. Simon is a psychiatrist.

"Eliot, stop please. He is helping me," she says.

Dr. Simon Bouchard is a real professional who obviously had violent patients in the past because he does not bat an eye even with a knife to his throat. He slowly reaches up, and puts his hand on the knife blade and guides it away from his throat. "I'm Dr. Simon. I specialize in trauma. I'm helping Carli." He pauses to gauge my reaction, and when I don't stab his eye out, he says to Carli, "Carli, you seem to have a great support here. I think you are right about your cousin, Eliot. I'm going to let you two talk, and we can continue this session later. Is that okay?"

Dr. Simon doesn't wait for Carli's answer. Maybe Mr. Cool-as-a-cucumber realizes he almost had his throat slit by a crazy cousin. And right now, I do feel crazy. My hand is shaking so bad, I drop the knife. My God, I almost killed a man without asking questions.

"Are you okay?" asks Carli who is no longer crying.

"Yeah, just glad you are..."

"Okay, I'm okay. I'm going to be. Dr. Simon is helping me, Eliot."

"Are you sure?"

She nods and pauses like she is making a decision before she speaks again. "Something terrible happened to me, Eliot. Before, back at school, after the lights went out. I couldn't tell you about it. It's too bad. Jack has been helping me. And now, Dr. Simon says he can help me too."

I have heard the stories from survivors. I know what could, and did, and is still happening. Chaos breeds crazy. Women and children are not safe.

This world won't stay like this. It can't. It just can't. If it does, they'll be nothing left worth winning.

I go to Carli and bury her in a hug. We don't say anything for a few minutes. We just hold each other and sort of rock in a rhythm that is at least comforting to me. Carli finally says, "I must be a mess. I need to wash my face."

I look at her perfect face. "You look beautiful, as always."

"Thanks, Cuz."

"Where's Jack?" I ask.

"He went to get some breakfast. And, by the way, the group that brought us here, thinks he is Torin. We could not convince them otherwise. They literally said - you don't think we recognize our own prince? We just went with it. I guess we can sort it out now. Torin is with you, right?"

"Yeah, he's in the kitchen. But, I think he is making sure we can trust them before he lets them know for sure."

"Smart man. So you guys got away? How about Uncle Joe and Aunt Jane? Are they safe too?"

"I don't know," I say because I really don't know.

When we arrive in the kitchen, the only one still sitting at the table is Leia. "They went to grab some grub," she says.

"Good to see you again, Leia. I heard you had a narrow escape. Almost hanged, huh?" I say before I realize how incredibly insensitive I sound. "Bastards."

Leia nods, and I am guessing she is like Carli and doesn't want to talk about it, too traumatizing. If we had time to think about it and process it, I feel sure we could all use the help of Dr. Simon Bouchard. We all have PTSD. The only people who don't in this crazy world is the crazies with One Nation, but if I had to bet, some of their "recruits" are not ok either.

Speaking of the crazies, Leia brings up their leader. "Your dad got him. He shot General Nation."

"I heard that."

"Don't know if it was good enough. It was all so fast, what happened. It was a close call. I was just trying to get out of there, before. Before, you know." Leia makes a cutting motion across her throat. "Your fiancé, Patrick, he saved me. He's the bravest person I've ever met."

"Not my fiancé," I try to explain for the hundredth time.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Leia says. "But still a good kid. Let him down easy if you can. He told me thinking about putting that ring on your finger kept him alive. He's a fighter, young, but still a real fighter."

She sounds like she has a little hero worship going on. Let him down easy, she says. No pressure. I never broke somebody's heart before. I don't know how. I never had a boyfriend before, much less a fiancé.

I guess it is time to face the music. I go looking for Patrick.