Part 17 (1/2)
”Probably not,” the nurse said. Then, noticing the cuts on her knee, ”She didn't...do anything else, did she?”
He means ”did she touch me down there?”
”No, well, I mean, she sort of scratched me up...all over.”
The nurse nodded, as if considering all of it. ”Sometimes, she does some inappropriate touching.”
”I'm sure that's not what it was.”
He shrugged. ”Business as usual,” he said. ”You probably just upset her a little, and that's enough for her to go full throttle. Ever since her son's death.”
”Her husband,” Julie corrected. ”Her ex. My husband.”
”Oh. I'm sorry,” the nurse said. ”I'm sorry to hear that. I can't believe I got it wrong. Well, it really gets her going, sometimes. Probably you just reminded her of some bad stuff. And she never really sleeps much. She wanders sometimes, at night. Just wanders, and thinks someone's following her. She thinks someone is trying to kill her.”
When Julie looked up at the doorway, the social worker stood there with a slight frown to her face.
”I'm afraid I have to ask that you not make these kinds of visits,” Gigi Kaufman said. ”Whatever you said in there upset her tremendously.”
Chapter Thirteen.
1.
That night, Amanda Hutchinson awoke from a deep sleep that had been completely dreamless. She found that the restraints on her wrists had been loosened, and she easily slipped out of first one, and then another. Then, she sat up, working on the restraints on her ankles.
Her room, dark except for the patch of light from the hall, her door just half-shut, had been cleaned up, and overturned chairs had been righted. She listened for orderlies or nurses in the hall, but there were none.
She got out of bed and went to the window, looking out on the moon glow across the lawn and trees.
And then, she heard the voice in her head. A voice she had managed to block-that the warm fuzzies had blocked-and that she had thought would leave her alone.
But it was that woman. Julie. Coming to her. Pus.h.i.+ng at her. Making her remember things that were best forgotten.
2.
After she'd written the note, she went into the small bathroom and took off her clothes. She turned on the shower, making sure it was as hot as she could get it. She got under the water, and let it burst against her scalp, trying to wash memory from her, clean the past out.
Instead, his face came back to her, inside her mind, opening her up for other memories, breaking down doors she had let the warm fuzzies seal up.
She slammed her head against the tile of the shower stall.
Again.
And again.
Until she felt the blood dripping down along her face, down her shoulders and b.r.e.a.s.t.s, into the drain at her feet.
She kept it up as long as she could, bas.h.i.+ng her head into the tile, trying to lock every door she had before someone tried to pry her open.
When she heard one of the night nurses calling out, trying to open the bathroom door, but she had jammed it so it couldn't open, Amanda Hutchinson drew her bloodied head back and slammed it as hard as she could against the tile.
The last things she heard were a sharp crack, and the cry of the nurse as the bathroom door flew open.
Amanda sank down in the shower stall, resting her head on the cool floor by the drain. Her vision weakened, and the throbbing in her head went from burning pain to a frozen numbness.
She felt her consciousness fading. She tried as hard as she could to open one last hidden door within her mind, and let go of the flesh.
Chapter Fourteen.
1.
”You went to see who?” who?” Mel nearly shrieked. ”Take off the sister hat and put on the friend hat,” Mel nearly shrieked. ”Take off the sister hat and put on the friend hat,”
Julie said.
”I'm wearing the smart hat. What in G.o.d's name were you doing there?”
They were driving around looking at real estate listings in Forest Lake, because Mel was still thinking of buying a place nearer Julie-”but not so close that I see you every day,” Mel had said.
”Look at that one.” Julie pointed to a small house at the edge of a hillside. ”Look, it must have a view of the lake in back. Write down the realtor's number.”
”Why the h.e.l.l did you go down there? What good would it do?”
”Quit yelling at me.”