"I guess I'm not the best at taking advice..." I tell Suzanne's mother as I begin to walk away, but before I leave I turn back to ask "Suzanne, you coming?"
"Mom...I have to go" Suzanne says to his mother in a sad tone
"You just got back here. You can't just leave" she replies with shock
"Well, sadly that's where you're wrong..I can. We need to do something first so this can all be over mom. I'm sorry" Suzanne responds and comes with me to the car.
"I hope it's worth it" Suzanne's mother mutters underneath her breath
We start to drive in the direction that Suzanne says she believes is the place her mother was talking about. I felt an uneasy move through me. Was my mother long gone? Had she completely lost her mind? I questioned everything. What didn't Suzanne's mother want me to see? I was uncomfortably anxious and the feeling did not subside.
"I think this is it" she says confidently, "Do you want to go inside alone?" she asks
"I think that'd be best...I'm not sure in what condition she is in and I don't want it to startle you" I tell her
"If you need me I'll be here for you" she says softly
"Thank you" I respond with a half smile as I leave out of the car
I walked over to the building with white everything. White walls, white doors, and as I go further the inside is also white. It's so bright it is almost blinding. I don't understand the purpose of the color, but if it's plan is to remove their patient's eyesight it's working pretty well.
"Hello, I'm here to see Helen ...Johnson" I say, unsure if she's registered with my father's last name
"What's her relation to you?" the woman behind the counter says to me
"She's my mother" I respond
"You have any I.D. on you?" she asks me, sorting through some papers
"Look, I really need to see her. What do I have to do to prove to you that I'm her son? I don't have all day" I tell her, losing my patience
"Hmm...some son you must be. No one has visited her since she arrived, your name is Matthew right?" she asks, typing something into her computer
"Yes, that's me" I continue, "I just arrived from a long trip -- to be honest, I didn't even know she was sent here until about a few hours ago. We sadly hold secrets from each other in this...area"
"Tell me about it" she remarks, hardly understanding the details of my "long trip" - I wouldn't even expect her to know, but quite frankly I think even if she did she probably wouldn't care.
"Her room number is 207 and it's on the second floor. We're letting her provider know that you're coming up. The elevator is around the corner on the far right." she says, hardly looking in my direction
"Thanks" I respond and make my way up to her room. I mentally prepare for anything.
I started counting down when I got to the second floor. It started from 210 and went down to 209..208..and then 207. The door was open and a tall, dark skin man stood outside of it.
"You must be Matthew" he said to me, waiting for me to come forward
"You are...?" I start to say
"Your mother's provider. I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't hurt herself...again" he says hesitantly
"Again? What do you mean again?" I ask out of confusion
"You'll see what I'm talking about..." he remarks and slowly opens the door for me to go inside as he follows, closing the door behind him.
It pained me to see what followed. My mother sat in the fetal position with a white wrap straps around her to keep her steady. Her skin looked a type of sickly yellow color and her hair darker than I had ever seen it.
"Mother?" I call out to her
"...Matthew? Is that you?" she continues, "I don't want to look - I think I'm hearing the voices again" she cries
"No, no. It's me. I'm right here, just look at me. You're not hearing things" I plea to her
She slowly turned her head in my direction. Her eyes widened and a soft smile crossed her face. A scar lay on her cheek and her eyes looked weary.
"It is you...You are alive" she says with tears streaming down her face
"What happened to you?"
"She, one night, began rapidly clawing at her face. We have yet to figure out why but she kept yelling "they won't leave me alone" over and over again" the man whispered in my ear.
She is not insane. She is in emotional pain, that's true. However, if the reason she was put in here is because she's hearing voices in her head then I must belong in here too.
"Where's Sammy?" she asks me urgently
"I -- we are very close to getting him back mother, don't worry" I try to comfort her
"We need to bring him home..." she says
"I know and he will be soon" I say to calm her down
Someone knocks on the door suddenly.
"Hold on a second" the man says, walking over to open the door.
I didn't know who to expect at the door, but when I saw who it was I felt my stomach drop to the floor.
"Matthew Johnson, I am so glad to see you here" Sheriff says with a smirk on his face
"What are you doing here?" I ask, anger bursting inside me
"I'm here to arrest you for kidnapping my daughter" he responds and I lose all feeling in my body.
"Wha - What are you talking about you insane freak?!" I yell at him
"You stole my daughter away from me. She has been gone for months and every link to her disappearance has something to do with you" he shouts at me
I had almost forgotten Suzanne was declared missing for almost as long as we've lived here. He was crazy to link her leaving to me when he knows she left with her own free will. This was his way of getting back at me.
"You have some nerve doing this to me" I tell him, "I'm not going to prison"
"Well we'll have to see about that now won't we?"
YOU ARE READING
The Forest
TerrorMatthew and his family move to Seattle in hopes of starting their lives fresh in a new place. What the family doesn't realize is that the home they bought is the next door neighbor to a forest that is assumed to be haunted. Matthew is curious about...
