Psychopathy

Chapter 76- Butterfly

Isabel sat on her balcony, looking out at some of the trees. It was cold, but even under her coat, she could see the chain wrapped around her stomach. She sighed, trying to figure out how things had spiraled so quickly. Normally, she could only see the chains when she did her meditation. But recently, she could see them all day, every day. She wondered if anyone else could see them, too.

Something moved in the trees. She looked out, trying to see what caught her attention. There, between two trees, she saw the faintest sign of movement. It was a child, though from where she was, she couldn't tell if the child was a girl or a boy. The child giggled, looking back into the trees. They bounced on their feet, calling out excitedly to Isabel. Asking her to play. They ran back into the trees, and for a second, Isabel wanted to follow them. Her heart reached out to the child, and her hands drifted to the chain around her stomach.

And for the first time, she felt that maybe, just maybe, she could live with it.

*************

Ciara walked beside Reid, watching the way her breath crystallized in the air. They hadn't gotten to meet the week before because of her appointment, and they were making up for it now. Even in Before, they rarely spent more than two hours with each other, but there they were, approaching four.

They'd gone to the coffee shop first, and then to the park. She'd wanted to skip rocks again, but the lake was already frozen over. When she saw that, her eyes lit up, and she had an idea for something else. Though Reid was skeptical about the idea, he'd followed her to an ice skating rink. Neither of them had any experience ice skating, and it felt as though they spent more time trying to pick themselves off of the ice than actually skating. But by the end of it, their faces were red and their chests tight from laughing so hard.

Since then, they had just been walking around, trying to find the next thing that caught their eye. They'd passed a music store, but Ciara didn't stop. She just curled her fists and kept moving. Soon, she reminded herself, she would have her prosthetics. Her last adjustment was a few days prior, and according to the doctor, she'd officially have her prosthetics just after New Year's. They might have to adjust them again once she was actually using them, but they'd cross that bridge when they got to it.

Akilah was healing, too. The day before Ciara's last adjustment, she'd gone to her own doctor to get her wrist checked out. Her cast was off and she now had a brace, giving her much more mobility in her wrist. Life was going on, Ciara could see that. But in many ways, she still felt stuck in the same place. She had yet to make a decision, and her time was running out. That day marked the beginning of her sixteenth week, and she had until her twentieth began to make a decision.

Nobody brought it up- they respected her to make her own decision and to talk about it when she was ready. Every day, it felt like she had a new decision, but she was committed to none of them. She kept flipping back and forth, and it was confusing, to say the least. She'd even made a list of the pros and cons of each option, but none of them stood out among the rest of them. At this rate, she wouldn't have a decision made by week twenty and one of her options would be completely taken off of the table.

She felt eyes on her, and she stood closer to Reid. She knew this feeling. She'd felt it in Before. She'd look over her shoulder, trying to see who was watching her. Trying to see if James was somewhere in the crowd, watching her. She never spotted him, but for the rest of the day, she would feel those eyes on her. No matter where she went, no matter what she did, those eyes were always on her.

But this felt different. She knew that James was still in prison in Omaha, so it couldn't be him. And this time, there were several pairs of eyes on her. Her gaze darted around, and she saw the origin of the feeling. Several people were staring at her, and she looked down, trying to see what was catching their attention. There wasn't a stain and none of her clothes were out of place or backward. Then she saw a child pointing at her, and then touching his neck, asking a question she couldn't hear.