That Girl And her Tiger Tattoo

prologue- crazy? me?

I stepped into the house and was shocked by the sight. A table was flipped over and so we're a couple chairs. Who would rob my family's restaurant? It was small. It wasn't very busy, but then any car hijackers who needed money for the road ahead could've made a quick stop here.
The diner was on the side of the highway, halfway between two towns and right next door to a gas station. We sometimes got some customers from the gas station, mostly truckers hauling wood and lumber between the towns and even all the way across one of the towns to the depot to have the wood sent out. Yup, we were loggers. My family lives in the town to the east, the town called East Woodlands Lake. It's a pretty neat town I guess, or at least tidy. It was clean, no pollution, litter, or criminals. Which is why I was shocked to see the diner in such a mess. I was 16 and was sent to check on the diner because I had my driver's license and always helped out.
"Hello?" I called, checking to see if anyone was still here. Then, I remembered my little brother was waiting in the car.
I turned and ran to the car, throwing open the door.
"Sheesh, Lizzie, what's the deal?" My brother, Karl asked as he turned up the radio even louder.
"The diner's messy, we might've been robbed!" I shouted before climbing into the driver's seat.
He freaked. "What'll our parents do?" He asked.
"Shh," I say as I gunned the engine. "We just have to get home. Now call them," I threw him my cell phone.
He nodded and dialed the number as fast as he could. "Hello? Mom, the diner is a mess. We coulda been robbed. Uh huh. Okay. Lizzie, mom needs to talk to ya."
He put it on speaker so he could eavesdrop before handing it to me. I rolled my eyes and took the phone and put it off speaker.
"Mom? Hi. Yes. Of, course, I'm serious. Dad called and was there only a half hour ago? Well, then, you'll have a small time frame and will know what to tell the police." I hung up the phone and slid it in my pocket.
My brother and I never made it to the house. A logging truck with no logs came at us and swept us off the road. The last thing I saw was the men in the front who appeared to be on fire, but they were laughing. The last thing I heard was Karl and I screaming.
I woke up in a hospital bed the next morning with so many wires I thought I was dead and in a heaven that looked a lot like earth.
I saw the doctors and knew what happened. I remembered everything that happened so clearly. I asked a question, afraid to hear the answer, "Where's my brother."
A female doctor stepped up. "Your brother is not looking so good, sweetie. I'm so sorry."
I nodded. I looked toward the door hoping it would be open. It wasn't. There were bars on the window on the door. I looked around the room. One small window with bars across it. "Where am I?" I asked.
"Honey, you're going to be quarantined,"she replied. "You have a... special condition." The way she said 'special condition' made my blood run cold.
I thought about what to do and decided to play along. "Ok," I said. "Man, I'm tired." I leaned back and pretended to sleep. The only problem, I did sleep.
I woke up awhile later and was shocked to see a lot of people crowded around me. I stared. "What?" I asked. Silence.
"What?!"
"She's insane," one said, as though I wasn't even there. "We have to keep her chained here."
"She's not insane," the woman doctor from before said. "Not in that way. She's been very cooperative."
"Lies!" an old man with a beard said. He looked like he should be a professor at a college or something.
"Umm, still right here."
"She's trying to talk," another guy said. "Too bad she can't."
"Um, you guys..." I began.
Everyone went on ignoring me.
That's when I broke free. I stood up and simply pulled my hands from the chains. I didn't feel it, I was too numb, whether from the medication or from the indignity of not being able to talk, I'm not sure. Or maybe, I just didn't care. I was a crazy, they were right. But, I was going to be a free crazy. I ran and jumped out the window. I hit the ground hard, but got up. And I ran and kept running.
I stopped at the hospital on the way there and pretended to be ok. I didn't talk, just listened until I heard the name Karl Wilson. I followed the nurse that said his name.
She reached a room at the end of a long hall with no other doors and lights that flickered.
I walked in and sat at the end of his bed. I stroked his bruised and gashed face. He didn't move. I whispered, "I'm sorry" and cradled him. Then I let him go and went to the end of the bed. I wiped my tears before reading the clipboard. His diagnosis: brain damage, currently: in a coma
The next thing I read was the scariest of all. It had been months between the time I had woken up for the first time at the mental hospital and the time I woke up again which was now. They had drugged me a lot. It had been my real life then, not dreams where I had been walked down the hall to the bathroom by two tall men dressed in scrubs and been stared at by people dressed in white lab coats. Now I was scared. What had they even told my parents?
Time to find out.
I ran down the hall and out the door to the outside world. I felt as though I burst free as I ran from the hospital and heard the door click shut behind me.
I ran and ran and ran as it began to rain until it was pouring buckets.
Finally, I reached my home and went in. My parents were shocked.
"We didn't receive a call," my mother said.
"We have to call them," my father replied.
"Honey," my mom said, scolding him. "Come here, dear. We have dinner ready. And cookies."
I nodded, not bothering to talk. I didn't want them to think I was actually crazy and send me away.
I smiled as soon as I sat down.
"Here's some turkey," my dad said. "Isn't that one of your favorites?" He asked.
I nodded.
My mother passed me the salt. I smiled and said, "thanks." That's when I remembered I couldn't talk. I felt embarrassed so I bowed my head.
My mom nodded and smiled.
My dad stood. "Well, I think I ought to get more mashed potatoes, I'll be back, Hon."
Mom nodded again, but seemed nervous to be left alone with me. Oh god, she did think I was crazy.
"Mom," I say, praying she'll understand me. "I'm not crazy. Really."
She looked at me, then looked away. "I didn't say you were," she said weakly.
Thank god, she can hear me. "I know. But you think it, I can tell."
"Sweetie, let's not get out of control."
"Mom, I'm not going to. I'm ok. They lied. They were mean to me and they told me I couldn't talk."
"Honey, sit. It's ok to be afraid, dear. No one is being mean. It's just the accident got to your brain."
"It didn't," I say. "They drugged me. They told me lies. They apparently also told you lies."
My father came back in. "Sit down," he says. "Try to relax, Lizzie."
"No," I say. "You called them, didn't you? Please don't lie," I say. "I'm not crazy. And I'm not stupid."
"I never said you were," my mom snaps.
"Oh, don't you bullshit me," I reply. "You treat me like I am, because everyone knows that's what you think. And don't you dare lie, dad. I know you called them."
"I did."
"Exactly. See what I'm talking about, people? Ok, if you think I'm so crazy, why don't you tell me what's supposedly wrong with my brain, huh?"
"You have an aggression problem," my mother says, deadpan.
"And you commit acts then forget about them," my dad asks.
I look at them, shocked. Then I hear the banging on the door.
The door is flung open. "Where is she?" The bearded guy asks.
I throw open a window and bolt. I run and run and run. I stop when I reach the road out of town, turn back, don't see them.
I still can't get far enough away. I keep running until I reach the diner. Then, I collapse behind it, near to the woods. I poke my head out of the bush against the back wall and look around the woods for any signs of danger.
Seeing none, I pop back into the bush and fall asleep. When I wake up, it's morning. I still remember everything I did. So why do people call me crazy again?
I walk round to the front of the diner. Whoa, I hadn't seen in the dark, but there was caution tape all over the front of the diner. Probably because of when the diner had been broken into.
That's when I realized I should still be running and ran down the road to the next town. I was free! And hopefully I'd be considered a stranger there.