Jason slammed down his wine glass angrily. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. The little woman sat before him, head hung and shoulders slouched like a whipped puppy, making him feel bad for yelling at her, but he was still too angry to apologize. He wanted to punch something!
"Do you have any idea what I had to do to get you that job?!"
Annie was crying now, her head in her hands.
"I'm so sorry. I wanted this so bad and already I got reprimanded. I didn't mean to,"
Her older brother leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, and looked away. He tried to keep quiet so he wouldn't say anything he would regret.
"I can't return for two weeks..." Annie said quietly.
"That means you're practically fired!"
Annie bit her lip and stared down at her steak. She wasn't hungry anymore.
"In the meantime I have to work from home. I have to observe Mr. Vincent Cole..."
"Bloody murder, you will not!" Jason exclaimed, standing up. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at them. He said down again, and tried to play it off. "It's one thing for you to be giving medical attention to patients in a hospital and another to be following a madman around the countryside unprotected. I'll speak to the headmaster tonight and tell him you're quitting, and we'll move to a different area and start over."
"No!" Annie cried. "I like it here! For once in my life I'm really, really happy. Don't make me leave. I can't!"
Jason rubbed his hands on his napkin before standing up again. He looked around the room as if for the last time, taking everything in and really studying it. He turned towards his little sister and gave her the same studious gaze.
"Pack up," he said softly, but firmly. "We leave on Friday..."
Annie stood up and pulled his sleeve.
"Please!" she begged. "I finally have friends here and found somewhere I love."
Jason frowned at her, and shook his head. "You embarrassed me," he said. "I don't want to stay here."
Annie watched her brother's back walk away from her. Whenever she needed him most, he always walked away. Sitting down, she hung her head. Everything was falling apart...
YOU ARE READING
The Dollmaker
Mystery / ThrillerAnnie, an asylum doctor, is required to investigate a reported madman, but the man in question is said to do odd things like sketch the dead and carry around dolls. Reluctantly, she investigates him until one day she is caught. Held captive, Annie b...
