13 WINDOWS

Chapter 5 Part 1: AFTER-SHOCK

"NINA! NINA!"

Nina Clayborne heard her brother Stephen calling to her as the under-tow pulled at her feet.

Nina was trying to swim out to Stephen. She saw another wave crash down onto him and he was gone. Vanished. And then she saw his face rise up from underneath one more time. He gasped for air. His frightened eyes met hers one last time...and then he was pulled under.

Nina's brother, Stephen, was gone.

Dr. Clayborne had only been practicing as a child psychologist for eight months when she first met Rupert in 1988. She had been working at The Hospital for Sick Children ever since she had graduated, with honours, from the University of Toronto.

Nina had drifted towards this profession because she had lost her own brother when she was fifteen. Stephen, who died when he was eight years old, had drowned in the rough waters off of Bathsheba, on the east coast of Barbados. For years she had blamed herself for his death. She was the one who was supposed to be watching out for him.

Over the years she healed herself with the help of psychiatric doctors and psychologists. In time she found herself increasingly attracted to the sciences of the mind. She had made it her life's mission to aid children suffering from emotional trauma. It was the only way to move on, to use her experience to help others who were going through something similar.

Rupert was a patient of particular importance to the young doctor. His trauma echoed her own. Like her, he was suffering from horrifying delusions after the initial traumatic episode.

Nina walked through the sliding doors of The Hospital for Sick Children into the atrium. She had been notified about Rupert's accident. Rupert had told the police that he had seen his brother and an adult man through his bedroom window. In order to save his brother he had smashed through the window, injuring himself severely in the process.

Police Detective McAllister had spoken to Nina and asked if she could attempt to find out if Rupert's story was real, or a figment of his imagination. They had been unable to find any evidence to support his story, except that his parents had also heard four loud knocks moments before Rupert had crashed through the glass.

When Nina entered Rupert's room she noticed the blinds were drawn. Rupert sat up quickly, and wiped his reddened eyes. There was a long bandage across his cheek, and an even larger bandage around his head. He had been drawing with pencils and crayons. There were three drawings on his lap.

"Hello Rupert," said Nina as kindly as she could. Rupert smiled back.

"It's a beautiful day outside. Let me open up these blinds so you can get some vitamin D," she said crossing the room.

"No! DON'T!" Rupert yelled with his right arm outstretched

She stopped. "Oh. Okay. Don't worry. I won't open them," she said retreating from the window. "Sorry Rupert. Can I have a seat here and talk with you for a few minutes?"

"Yes. Please," he said. He was embarrassed by his outburst. Nina sat down in the small chair next to him beside numerous get-well cards and assorted balloons.

"Well someone is certainly popular, aren't they?" said the doctor trying to lighten Rupert's grim mood. "I heard a clown was in here today. Did you get to see the clown?"

"If I see that clown again I'll be even more traumatized," Rupert said flatly.

The doctor laughed. Rupert smiled even though he wasn't joking about the clown. He was developing a bit of a crush on the doctor. He had been having trouble speaking to other people, especially the police. But there was something trustworthy about her.