Insanity (Sequel To Madness)

The Call

Wade still sits with me, I guess it's to watch me and make sure I'm alright. But the truth is that I'm not alright, and he knows it. Elise finally went back to the office and gave her report to Shane most likely. She had been taking notes on me after all, and who else would want them? I hope Jack will be home soon, I don't like moping around like this. If he doesn't come back soon, I might have to go looking for him. And if I'm the one who finds the man who killed my child, he's going to face a much worse fate than he would've with Jack. If I'm the one who finds him, he's going to have some hell to pay.
"Hello, Mr. Barnes, are you home?" A voice on the com speaks. So this is how he's going to contact me? Not a very clever move there Shane. I recognize the voice, it's definitely Shane. Wade stands and picks up the com to respond to him.
"Yeah, what do you need?" He asks in a really tired tone. I would expect him to be tired though, he actually needs sleep. He's not fueled by the rage of a mother like I am.
"Is Violet still there?" He asks in a kind, completely nonbusiness tone.
"Yes." Wade replies swiftly. I tuck my head deeper within the blanket because I know what's going to come next.
"May I speak with her? Just for a moment?" Shane begs, his voice sounding distracted and upset.
"I'll ask." Wade says and I hear his footsteps approach me.
"You should at least give him a chance, Violet." Wade says, I can feel his eyes staring at me.
"You know what he did, you know how I feel... Please don't make me Wade. I'm not ready." I let out a croak as more tears start to fill my eyes again.
"If you're not ready now you never will be. Just talk to him, he misses you. And if you change your mind, just don't respond and give it back to me." Wade says. I feel the com slide down my blanket and fall next to my hands. I slowly pick it up, feeling my fingers ache from the pain inside me.
"Hello?" I say in a hoarse voice, pressing the button so that he can hear me.
"Hello, Violet. How have you been doing since you got back?" Shane questions me in a sweet tone.
"I'm grieving and taking some time away from home." I mumble, leaning my cheek on the com.
"Is there anything I can do to help you? Anything at all? I promise I'll help you with anything you want." Shane says in a calming and worried tone.
"I'm sorry to say, but I think the only people who can help me are either gone or missing. There's nothing you can do Shane, there's nothing I can do either." I admit, taking my finger off the button and releasing some of my tears to falls won my face.
"I can send a team to look for Jack if that's what you want. If him being here will help, I'll find him." Shane states sternly. I take in a breath and hold in my tears once more.
"Fine. Send them." I say simply. I stare out the window, it stopped snowing finally. There's probably only an inch or two lying on the ground now.
"Violet... I know you need time to heal, but the house sing the same without you. Mark has been staying here, he's waiting for you too. We miss you Violet, and I beg you to come home. I can help you to heal, Mark can help you to heal. Mark is suffering in our home, he believes he's lost both you and your daughter. Please come back, I think you both need the support of one another right now... At least he needs you, please just think about it." Shane begs. Through all my efforts, I can't keep my tears in anymore and they begin falling, slowly down my cheeks.
"Okay..." I reply, sniffling through all the tears that go all over my face.
"Alright. I hope to see you soon Violet, I hope you'll come home." Shane tells me. I rub my eyes and wipe tears off my face. I stick the com up in the air and I feel Wade grab it to take it away from me.
"She doesn't want to talk to you anymore, sorry Shane." Wade apologizes while he stands behind me.
"Did she hear what I said?" Shane questions with a sniffle.
"Yeah, she listened." Wade says in a kind tone.
"Thank you, and please contact me if anything happens. I'm sorry to leave to suddenly, but I have business. Good day Wade, and thank you for looking after her for so long." Shane says and then the com hangs up with that last word. Wade sighs and sits back down next to me on the windowsill.
"You should eat, or sleep, or just move from the window." Wade says, leaning against the wall while he speaks. I tilt my head at him and give him a shocked look.
"I can't. I'm still drowning." I mumble and try to put on a smile, but my tears come back and my smile falls like my tears.
"Then at least try to swim, now you're not even trying. You're only drowning now because you don't want to do anything else. It's been a week, and it was a great loss. But the pain you feel that's making you drown, Mark is going through it too. But he thinks he's lost both of you, all because you aren't even trying to swim anymore!" Wade shouts and a few tears slide down his cheeks.
"I don't want to swim! I admit it, I don't want to anymore. I want to be dead, lying in a box with her because at least then I would have something. At least then I wouldn't be drowning and being yelled at by you!" I shout back and my voice cracks with the misery coming back to me. I let my face fall into my hands, crying.
"If you want me to stop yelling, then go and help my best friend. He needs you and only you. So if you want to have something again, have him because at least he still wants you. So get up and do something to try to swim, because right now, you're not helping anything." Wade says as he stands up and walks away from me.

It took all my energy to get up from sitting in that windowsill. It took even more to start walking outside. I take one step at a time, keeling my blanket closely wrapped around me. My grip on it could be called a deadly one, and that doesn't stop the strafes I get while I walk. But I don't care what any of them think. They don't know what I've been through, what I've had taken from me. So I continue to walk, slowly making my way closer and closer to my home.