Effie

Chapter Nine

A few weeks had passed and Effie hadn't heard anything or seen Patricia. She only hoped that Patricia wasn't coming up with a scheme to get her to seem crazy. 

She was sitting at her window when a knock sounded at the front door. She heard her father's footsteps walk past her door and the sound of the front door opening. 

"Hello, Dr. Cohouln," she heard her father greet the man. "Won't you come in."

"Thank you, Mr. Richmond." 

Effie waited until she couldn't hear their footsteps before she got up and walked out of her room. She stuck towards the living room, where she figured they would be meeting at and leaned up against a wall. She could hear cups and plates clattering. 

Father must have fixed him some tea, she thought to herself.

"What did  you want to talk to me about, Mr. Richmond?" Dr. Cohouln asked her father. 

"Well, it's about Effie."

"Is there something wrong with her?" Dr. Cohouln's voice was laced with worry. "Is the boot not working for her?"

Effie could almost see her father slowly shaking his head. "She's been acting strange lately. I haven't asked her or said anything to her mother about it, but I'm starting to worry. She's my baby girl and I don't want to send her to a nut house, but I don't know what to think anymore."

"What is she doing?" She heard Dr. Cohouln shift in his seat and a cup being put down. 

"She's," her father paused. "She's talking to herself. Yelling at herself. I've walked by her door and heard her talking and crying. I wanted to go in and comfort her, but then she started yelling at something, or someone, to get out. She won't even tell us what is going on. Before any of this happened she would tell us everything, but now she won't." She heard him sigh. "I don't know what to do. Should I talk to her?"

There was a pause as if Dr. Cohouln were thinking about what to say next. "Leave her alone for a couple of more days. I know that that's probably not what you want to hear, but I advise that you do that. She could just be experiencing head trauma that's making her talk to herself. Besides, she's an only child. There's no one her age around for her to talk to." He paused before continuing. "Does she have any friends?"

Effie knew for certain that her father shook his head. "No. She doesn't get along with the children at her school. She's tried before and we have tried, but we couldn't get her to make friends."

"Then, take my advice. Leave her alone for a couple of more days then talk to her. If her odd behavior continues then let me know and we'll have to talk about some arrangements." 

Effie heard the shuffling of feet and clanking of cups and plates. She hurriedly-as fast as her boot would let her go-ran into her room and quietly shut the door. She leaned against her door, closed her eyes, and sighed. Her father's worried and he's actually thinking of sending her to an asylum. She wished she could tell him and her mother what was going on, but she didn't think that they would believe her. They would begin to think that she was really crazy and deserved to be in a nut house. 

She walked over to her bed and sat down. Placing her head in her hands she began to cry. How is she going to convince her parents that she wasn't crazy? 

She heard the front door open and close.

"Patricia!" Effie yelled out.

She felt the bed beside her give a little and a small voice say, "Yes?"

"Were you sent to an asylum?" Effie didn't look at her.

"Yes, I was."

"Did you want to be sent?" Effie choked a little on her words. She was afraid of hearing what her answer would be. Patricia gave Effie weird answers that she felt the opposite of. 

She felt a hand behind placed on her shoulder. "I would be lying if I told you no."

"Of course, you wanted to go." Effie shrugged her hand off and stood up. She started to pace in front of her bed. "The thing is, I don't want to go. I want to convince my parents that I'm not crazy, but that won't happen because of you!"

"Then why are you still talking to me?" Patricia fired back. "You do realize that your parents can't see me or anyone else that you can talk to, right? That's why they think you're going crazy. They think you're talking to no one! You heard what your father said out there."

"You listened in on their conversation?" Effie was just as guilty as she was for eavesdropping on someone's conversation, but Effie didn't see Patricia anywhere. 

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Yes, I listened in on their conversation. I choose when to show myself to you. You might not always get to see me, but I'm always around you. You can't get away from me, Effie. You could try to ignore me and try to not talk to me, but I'll always be here." Patricia stood up and walked in front of Effie. "Mark my words. I will make you go to that asylum and I will make sure that you suffer the same treatment that I had."