Here comes Deputy Yew and another person. I haven’t seen the man behind him before. He looks like he was just awakened too, but is fully dressed in a grey business suit and shaven. The expression on his face shows me a man that hasn’t had his coffee yet. Both of the men step into the sheriff’s office behind where the sheriff is standing. “Well, it’s very important in regards to your daughter,” continues the sheriff.
“Then talk to us right here,” snaps Dad.
The sheriff pauses as if to ponder the situation for a moment, and then finally spurts out. “Alyssa was found with the Hawthorn girl. One of my deputies found her carrying her corpse from the forest,” he says.
My mind blanks for a moment at his words. His recap brings the memory back up, masking all sound in the area. I close my eyes as more tears pour out. I remember trying to look at her face while carrying her. I told her we’d make it, that we were almost there, but I couldn’t see her face. Was she dead then or dying? If I’d just run faster. If I was just a minute faster my friend would be alive. I hear static, and open my eyes.
“No… I don’t want you. Go away,” I mutter aloud. I know he can hear me. I open my eyes and look for it, but all I see are looks of worry and bewilderment from my family and the officers within earshot.
“You think she was involved with the disappearance? Shana and Alyssa were like—”
“Sisters, I know. Every summer my niece comes to visit and brings her best friend along with her. I know what that bond is like. Those two are inseparable. They’d take a bullet for each other. I think that may be why Alyssa was able to find her. It’s the only explanation considering that we’ve scoured the woods for days with no luck. Alyssa is the person we least suspect, but we still need to question her.”
“About what? Where she found Shana? She’s speaking gibberish for crying out loud she’s not going to be able to answer questions like that in her state!” says Dad.
“We know, but we need to get all the information we can, so we need to help your daughter. In this office is a psychiatrist, Doctor Filbert, and with your permission we’d like to have him speak with your daughter. This could help us both,” he explains.
A shrink? He wants me to see a shrink? For what? I just watched my best friend die, of course I’m going to be upset, that doesn’t mean I’m crazy! I want to shout it, and I even try to, but all of my anger dissolves into further sadness, and all I can do is hold my mouth open for a few seconds. My parents agree to it against my will. I don’t need a doctor, but there’s little I can do to resist being guided from my seat into a private interrogation room in the back corridor of the building.
As I’m being escorted through the hallway, I see glimpses of him- the static fiend that took Shana from me. Every time he appears I want to scream out of both anger and fear, but each time it’s more anger than fear. He wants me to be afraid, and he’s even more hell-bent on stalking me now. He’s appearing around every corner, every corridor, and every window. He’s not in the interrogation room, though.
I always imagined these rooms were supposed to be mostly white, but this room looks just like every other room in the building. It still has the blue carpeting the rest of the station does, and the walls are more of a beige than white. The table is grey and the chairs are blue metal foldout chairs like we have at our school. Dr. Filbert, the bald shrink, sits at one end of the table, coffee in hand. He motions for me to sit opposite him, but even so the officer escorts me to the chair to help me sit. There is a giant mirror on the wall. That must be one of the one-way windows. I’m sure the sheriff and Deputy Yew are watching, but I’m wondering if my family is too.
Just how many people are interested in how I found Shana? It can’t be hard for them to piece together even without me. I wandered into the woods and found her. That’s far from the truth but still something they can go by.
“Can you tell me your name?” asks Doctor Filbert. I’m surprised by his voice. It doesn’t sound aged or deep or anything you’d expect a man of his stature to have. Instead it’s soft but high, like someone who’s trying to coo a child.
“Maybe I should start,” he continues. I want to cringe at that voice; it makes him sound like a pedophile.
“My name is Dean Filbert. I’m a psychiatrist and I’m here to help you,” he explains. I look down at the table. I can’t watch him when he talks.
“I need you to talk to me. If you want you can tell me what happened in your own words, or I can ask you questions?” he tries. I stare at the table. I feel a wave of static pass through me again. That fiend- he, is watching. I grit my teeth behind my lips.
“Alyssa, how are you feeling?” What kind of question is that? My best friend just died and I’m being haunted by a monster. How does he think I’m feeling?
He says a few more things but I just tune him out. What am I going to do? I couldn’t get Shana out and now the entity seems to be following me. Will he wait until I’m alone and then strike? Is he strong enough to pull me into his domain now? I imagine he is basking in my pain right now. If only I could push my emotions away like a sociopath. If I could not care, then maybe he won’t desire me so much.
I look up and catch a flash of annoyance flit across Doctor Filbert’s face, but he wipes it off. I guess it’s unprofessional for a psychiatrist to seem angry with one of his clients. There’s a knock on the door. “Enter,” says Filbert in that peevish voice. I actually do wince this time. I am surprised to see that Bubbe is the one at the door. Sheriff Fraser is behind her.
“Let me talk to her a bit. I might be able to help,” she suggests coolly. Doctor Filbert sizes Bubbe up before reluctantly agreeing. He waves her in. “In private. That means just the two of us. No one needs to see or hear our conversation. Am I understood?” Bubbe asks the sheriff. Sheriff Fraser doesn’t show any sign of disagreement. He gives her one of those ‘whatever works’ nods and then escorts a now-openly-very-annoyed looking Doctor Filbert out.
Bubbe sits down across from me. I’m wondering what she’s going to say, but she doesn’t speak immediately. Maybe she’s giving them time to clear the adjacent room out. I wouldn’t give them the benefit of the doubt though. Then again Bubbe probably already told my parents, who are making sure there are no eavesdroppers.
“That was a very brave thing you did,” Bubbe starts. I look in her in the eye. “I can’t say I would have let you do it, but you did the right thing. I want you to know that.”
What is she saying? I endangered myself and failed to succeed in my mission.
“You can’t keep blaming yourself. I know you did what you could. I’ve never seen someone succeed in the way that you have,” she continues.
“Succeed?” I ask feebly. She nods her head.
“When this thing takes children, they never return. Shana is the only person I’ve known to come back. You saved her.”
I shake my head. “She’s dead… she died just before I escaped,” I say.
“You’re right, she’s dead, but is that such a bad thing?” she asks.
I look at her with bewilderment. What is she talking about? Of course her dying is a bad thing. “Wha- what are you saying?” I ask.
“I don’t know the details. I don’t know how you did it, but when you went in and found Shana, she was alive. Wasn’t she?” she asks. I feel my head throbbing with the painful reminder. I nod my head.