A Ship Without Sails

Chapter 25

"Ms. Blackburn? Your family is here to pick you up."

"Thank you," Shayna said to the nurse. She smoothed out the black babydoll dress, checked that the white Peterpan collar was flat, tousled her hair, and slipped on one black ballet flat. I am SO ready to get this cast off, she thought, annoyed.

"Come on, Shaye!" Daisy shouted from the car. Shayna grinned and hobbled over, climbed in, and slammed the door.

They reached their house quickly, and Daisy helped Shayna in and up the stairs. "Which dress?" Daisy asked, pointing to two black dresses. One was a simple shift dress with ¾ length sleeves. The other was a gown that would have been worn by Marilyn Monroe, that went down to the calves and had a sash at the waist.

"The shift dress, for sure," Shayna decided. The second was too garish, loud, bold for the occasion. Daisy sighed, and said, "I knew it, but didn't want to accept it. I loved that other one."

"Wear it for Halloween," Shayna suggested. "Be Marilyn Monroe's ghost or something."

"True," Daisy giggled. The sisters shared a moment they had never had together: being friends. Shayna left Daisy to change, and went to her own room. It had felt like forever since she had been in it, but it comforted her to see all of the familiar objects in the right places.

"Girls! Time to go!" Mr. Blackburn's voice floated up the stairs.

"Okay!" Shayna replied, getting up on her crutches. She met Daisy in the hall, surprised by her sister's appearance.

Daisy's face was completely made up, complete with bright red lipstick and winged eyeliner so sharp, it could have been the cause of death. "Isn't that a little... much?" she asked cautiously, ready for Daisy to flare up.

"Is it? I didn't think so." Daisy checked her reflection with the front camera of her phone and sighed. "Oh, well."

They got back into the car and an eerie silence fell over the mourning family. It followed them throughout the funeral and until Shayna was back at the hospital.

"How was the funeral?" Julia asked gently when she came for her visit. She sat in her usual chair and held her clipboard and pencil ready. Shayna didn't respond- her mouth forgot how to open and make noise from staying silent for so long.

"How do you feel, Shayna?" Julia tried again, setting her clipboard on her legs. A look of genuine concern crossed her face. "Are you alright? Does anything hurt?"

"I'm okay..." Shayna croaked. Her voice cracked at the end and she swallowed, trying to choke down her suspicions and nagging thoughts of Kurt and her relationship with it.

Julia's gaze remained on Shayna's stricken expression as she scribbled something on her clipboard. "Why don't you sleep?" she suggested.

"No!" Shayna cried. "I'm not sleeping! I have nightmares... someone is pushing me over and over again, Kurt keeps leaving me, Daisy is killing Kerry... I get no rest when I sleep nowadays."

Julia's writing hand went into overdrive as she recorded Shayna's every word. The quiet scratching sound of the pencil on paper was strangely melodic and Shayna took deep breaths in between Julia's sentences.

"The doctors had noticed your sleep patterns were rather... irregular. I can ask them to give you something to help you sleep better," Julia finally offered when she had penciled in her last details. She looked up at Shayna, her deep brown eyes, usually dancing with mischief and secrets, wide with worry.

Shayna was tempted to say yes, but she hated the feeling of being drugged. It reminded her of being under the river water, on the rocks, wondering when she would wake up and be saved. She never wanted to feel that helpless again. Then she thought about how she felt so in the dark about how the investigation was going, how confused she was over Kurt's feelings, and how she felt guilty for suspecting Daisy, and realized that she was completely helpless once again.