Inside the Asylum (Book 1)

Chapter 5 - Robin?

"Robin?" I asked feeling very confused, looking at Daniel who looked just as confused as I felt.

"Who is Robin?" I asked staring at the I called my mother waiting for her to answer. After what felt like a lifetime, she suddenly broke the silence.

"She is your sister, she is the daughter that I need, the one that is that is normal! Unlike you pair! And that's before she's a few years old!" Mother looks beyond pleased with herself as she looks between Daniel and I's shocked faces. Her mechanical laugh rang through my room.

Red.

That's all I could see.

Just red.

How could she have another child?! With another man! When both of her other children were locked up in a psycho centre; well, one of them. The other was there for a few days and escaped.. but still. She had never cared for me but I had no idea what she had been like with Daniel the last few years, or the last 14 years really. The way they looked at each other now made me feel more connected to him. He stood staring at our mother in disbelief waiting and wanting an explaination. Mother on the other hand, stood looking overjoyed, laughing at us.

"Wait but how can she be our sister? Surly she is our half-sister? I mean if dad's not been around for 10 years." Daniel spoke trying to hide his anger.

"Oh sorry, did I say a few years old? I meant she's 13, and trust me when I say I'm more proud of her than either of you. She actually listens to me!" The words were spat at me like they were poisonous.

"Thirteen?" Daniel looked beyond confused and angry.

"How can you have a 13 year old? I was raised by you and dad, so how did I not see another child in the house?" Watching mother I noticed that she for the first time in my life, looked uncomfortable.

"You never saw her because I hid her away. After a few years I realised it was too dangerous to keep her in the same house as the pair of you, so I moved her to our holiday home. There she was looked after by our servants and I would visit her at least once a month. She soon learned when we would be going there as a family, and she knew she had to act like one of the maids. She served you dinner hundreds of times and neither of you realised there was a resemblance between you and her, even as you grew up. She used to ask me when you would find out about her and I used to tell her I would tell you when the time was right. So now you know." Mother finished silently gaping like a fish, trying to get all the air she didn't realise she needed; the corners of her twitching mouth creating a half smile. Her emotionless eyes boring into Daniel's soul. She knew her words had got to him. She knew he felt bad, for he little sister he never knew even existed, even though he knew nothing about her. I stood in shock. A million thoughts went through my head, but all was concealed. Unlike Daniel, I could hide my emotions, so when my horrendous mother looked into my face, she saw boredom, but on the inside, I was screaming. With nothing else to say my mother and brother both walked to the door of my cell and left almost silently.

The door slammed shut. Click... Snap. The lock was bolted back into place. Mindlessly my feet wondered the padded room. For what felt like hours I walked in numb circles not sure what had just happened. My thoughts were still racing at a million miles an hour. I walked to the corner of the room, to my spot. I sat down and tried to shut my mother's words out. It isn't my fault I never knew about her after all! I must have repeated that exact thought in my head a hundred times that day.

My eyelids felt heavy. My head went silent as I got a few hours peace.

In those few hours not even my dreams disturbed my peace. Until the door opened again.