Georgina's Story Read online

  As Keith watched on in terror, Dr. Stitts straightened and then turned to Dr. Patterson. He nodded once, and the latter reached over and grabbed what looked like two miniature plungers. He held one to each of Chase's temples.

  There was a second nod and Dr. Stitts flicked a switch on a small machine that looked like an old-fashioned radio beside Chase’s bed.

  Keith felt sick. Sick and helpless. In his mind he imagined the lights in the entire hospital dimming moments before lightning bolts shot out of Chase’s eyes.

  But, thankfully, neither happened. There was a slight hum of electricity in the air and the tiny hairs on the back of Keith’s neck stood on end.

  But the lack of theatrics didn't make it any less painful for him to watch his daughter's eyes slowly close before her entire body started to tremble. It wasn't a grand mal seizure episode, but more like a shiver in response to a cold breeze.

  The entire thing lasted mere seconds before Dr. Stitts flicked the switch off and Dr. Patterson removed the paddles from her head.

  After setting the paddles down, Dr. Patterson gently dabbed Chase's forehead with a gauze pad. From behind the glass, Keith could see his daughter’s chest heaving as she breathed deeply. But that wasn’t the worst part.

  The worst part was the fear in her eyes.

  They’d done their best to explain the procedure to her and why they were doing it. But she was eight years old for Christ’s sake; she couldn’t have possibly understood much, if any, of what they were saying.

  And this broke Keith's heart.

  Dr. Stitts leaned in close and started speaking again. Keith tried to read the man’s lips, but he was too fraught to make out anything specific.

  When the doctor reached for the paddles again, Keith had had enough.

  He grabbed the door handle, but this time when Detective Rainsford tried to intercede, Keith used his free hand to shove the man backward. The act was so surprising that the detective stumbled.

  Just as Keith started to open the door, however, he heard footsteps approaching from behind and quickly whipped around.

  Kerry was running toward him, her face twisted into something unrecognizable. Behind her, the mayor, his own face red, struggled to keep up.

  "Close that door, Keith," she ordered. "Close the damn door."

  Keith's sadness and frustration were momentarily overtaken by fury.

  He let go of the door, but not because Kerry had told him to; he did it because he needed his hand to point at her.

  "Your fault!" he screamed. "You said it was my fault? My fault? Because, why? Because I had a few afternoon beers at the fair? Really? It’s my fault? When you were the one running off to have—” he lowered his voice, “—sex with the mayor?"

  Something in Kerry's face broke, and the mayor stopped moving forward.

  "Keith, please—" Kerry pleaded.

  Keith was well aware of the sudden reversal of roles and that for all their sake’s he should calm down, but he was overtaken by his rage.

  In a matter of three weeks, his perfect life—his perfect family that included a faithful wife and two beautiful young girls—had completely collapsed. In its place was a car wreck of existence. His wife was fucking the mayor. One of his daughters was missing, while the other was being electroshocked in order to rearrange her memory so that she didn't hurt herself.

  No, Keith’s family hadn’t collapsed; his entire world had crumbled.

  His heart pounded so powerfully that he felt the cross between his shirt and chest start to bounce.

  And God? What of Him? Praying and doting on Him all these years, worrying about what would happen in a life after this one, where did that get me? It got me here, that’s where; it got me to this place, a place I can’t even recognize. A place I don’t even know if I want to live in anymore.

  His face purple now, he jabbed his finger in the air like a lance.

  "This is all your fault!" he screamed. Detective Rainsford had recovered from his stumble and was slowly sidling between Keith and his wife. "If it weren't for—"

  And then something happened. The electrical hum once again filled the air, and Keith felt such a sharp pain in his temple that caused his knees to buckle.

  If it weren't for Detective Rainsford grabbing him beneath his armpits, he would've fallen to the floor.

  Chapter 24

  Georgina had only been upstairs twice during the entire three weeks that she’d spent at the house. Which is why, when she finally made it through the trapdoor, she couldn’t immediately find the bathroom. The first door she opened led to a room that contained a single vanity.

  With her stomach still threatening to explode, she was about to close the door when she heard speaking from inside. Confused—the room was empty—Georgina leaned her head fully into the room and listened.

  The words weren’t coming from this room, she quickly realized, but the walls were so thin that the voices from the adjacent room were coming through loud and clear.

  It’s Brian… Brian and Tim.

  Again, she moved to close the door, when she heard something that caused her to freeze in place.

  "What about the other girls? The ones who got away? Riley’s sister and the other one?" Tim asked.

  Georgina held her breath as she waited for the reply.

  Chase… they’re talking about Chase.

  "They don't know nothin’. They don’t know where they were, and they don't know who they were with," Brian said.

  Chase could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and she tried her best to silence it. This was important; this was something she needed to hear.

  “But they got away, Brian. They—”

  "I guess it just wasn't to be. Maybe they'll come back…" Brian paused and, in her mind, Georgina could picture the big man nodding. "They always come back, sooner or later."

  When another silence ensued, this time for nearly thirty seconds, Georgina started to back out of the room.

  But Tim's voice drew her back.

  "And you're sure this is what Mama wanted?"

  "Mama always wanted us to have a big family. You know that. She said family is everything. When you got family ain’t nothin’ else matters. Without family, nothin’ has meaning. That’s why she saved us."

  A heavy sigh.

  "Yeah, but these girls, they're not real family. I mean, Georgina—"

  "No! Her name is Riley. The girl’s name is Riley!"

  "S—s—sorry," Tim recanted. "With—with Riley, you see how upset she is."

  "She'll get over it. They always do. Remember how Sue-Ellen was when she first came here? Remember you followed her home after the fair? And her parents… her parents left her alone in the house with their dog. A big dog. That ain’t right. These dogs… these dogs may seem friendly, but they can just snap at any moment. She was five, Tim. And Melissa? Her mama was high on pills half the time. Sleepin’. Neglectin’. That ain’t no life; that ain’t no family. Shit, her daddy was worse. You seen them scars on her back. We saved her. We save all of them."

  Another sigh, only this time Georgina couldn’t tell who made the sound.

  Her mind was spinning, and that, in addition to the pain in her stomach, made her feel nauseous.

  "Yeah, I know. They're better off here, I'm sure of it. But with Georg—er, I mean Riley…"

  "What? What about her?" Brian answered, sounding angry now. "You think she's better off with her folks? Her dad was drinking while his two daughters wandered around the fair alone. Alone. And her mom? Worse. Worse. You think she cares about family? She was off with the mayor, cheating on her husband. Betrayin’ her family. She was gonna leave him, you know; I could tell. She was gonna break up that family, send the kids off to some orphanage. Riley’s better off here. That’s a fact."

  "Yeah, but—"

  "But, what? Let me ask you something, Tim. You seen any cops out there? Any cops walking around, lookin’ for them missin’ girls?"

  "No. I mean, I saw them for the first f
ew—"

  "Yeah, for the first few days, sure. But after that? How long ago did Riley come here?"

  "I dunno, three weeks?"

  "No, not three weeks, Tim. Twenty-six days. Twenty-six days the girl’s been missing, and they've already given up on her. We are Riley's family. Her real family doesn't give a shit. They only care about gettin’ drunk or gettin’ laid. We care about her. And here? Here she shall be loved. Riley will be loved more here in twenty-six days than she’ll get her whole life with that messed-up family."

  Georgina was shaking so badly now that her hand slipped on the door handle and she stumbled into the room.

  "What was that?”

  Georgina's eyes went wide, and she backed out of the room at the same time she heard another door opening.

  Without thinking, she bolted for the trapdoor. As she slid on her knees, desperate to get out of sight, she heard Sue-Ellen call after her.

  "Riley? What’s wrong? Riley? Riley?"

  Chapter 25

  "Get off me," Keith demanded. When Detective Rainsford didn't immediately let go, he continued to struggle. "I said, let me go!"

  Keith still wasn't sure what had happened, why he’d collapsed, why his head felt swollen and as large as a hot air balloon. He tried again to break free, but Rainsford refused to let go.

  Just when he was finally feeling steady on his feet, he caught sight of Mayor Lupo and his anger sent him off balance again.

  “You—”

  The door to hospital room five suddenly opened and Dr. Patterson peered out.

  "What's going on? Is everything—"

  "There's something wrong with Mr. Adams. I think—"

  "Leave me alone," Keith shouted as he backed away from all of them. "Just leave me the fuck alone, all of you!"

  Dr. Patterson recoiled.

  "You’re flushed, Mr. Adams. Maybe you should see a nurse. We’re almost done here, and—"

  But Keith didn't want to see a nurse. In fact, he didn’t want to see any of these people. The only person he wanted to see right then was Georgina and she was gone. She’d been taken from him. As Chase had been. Chase, his eldest daughter who was supposed to be looking out for Georgina but hadn’t. She’d abandoned Georgina, left her behind.

  No, a soft voice in his head said. It's not her fault. She's just a little girl, too. It's Kerry's fault. It's the mayor's fault. It's your fault. It's your fault. It's your fault! It's your fault! It's your fault!

  "It's my fault!" he suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs.

  Dr. Patterson’s face went from confused to deeply concerned.

  He stepped forward.

  "On second thought, maybe I should take a look."

  "It's my fucking fault!" Keith yelled. When Dr. Patterson turned to Detective Rainsford and gave him a subtle nod, Keith was suddenly overcome by an idea.

  The idea that these men were intending to strap him down like Chase, only they wouldn’t be giving little baby shocks like the ones they were giving her. For him, they would do something different. For him, they’d fry him like he was in the electric chair.

  They wouldn’t just scramble his memories, he knew, they’d turn him into a fucking vegetable.

  "No!"

  Just as Detective Rainsford reached for him, Keith spun and started to sprint down the hallway. Still light-headed, his movements were ungainly, and he bumped into a nurse and sent a tray of disposables flying.

  She cried out, but Keith didn't slow.

  He didn't slow even as he passed past reception or when he slammed his palms into the door and exited into the evening air.

  He barely stopped long enough to jump into his car and start the engine, and he hadn’t caught his breath by the time he made it home.

  This had to end.

  They had been the perfect family, the ideal American unit.

  But that was all over now. It was all ruined, destroyed.

  And it was his fault.

  And he had to pay.

  Chapter 26

  Convinced that Brian and Tim were following her, Georgina simply dove through the trapdoor, not even bothering with the three or four steps. She landed in a heap, but quickly leaped to her feet and started to run. She ran so quickly that she nearly bowled over Melissa who was standing near the end of the hallway.

  "Riley?”

  Georgina cast a furtive glance over her shoulder, but the trail of dust that she’d created made it impossible to see but a few feet behind her.

  "I want to go outside," she gasped. "I need fresh air."

  Melissa looked at her for a moment, blinked twice, and then started to open the door.

  Come on, hurry, Georgina silently pleaded. Hurry!

  But just as Melissa started to open the door, revealing another staircase that led upward, she hesitated and looked past Georgina.

  "Fresh air," she croaked.

  Brow furrowed, Melissa moved to her tippy-toes but, evidently not noticing anything of interest, she shrugged and opened the door.

  Evidently, Brian and Tim hadn’t followed her. But their voices had, in the form of an echo inside her mind.

  …they left her and her sister alone… they gave up looking for her after only a day or two… this is her family now… she’s better off here…

  "Come on Riley, up here," Melissa said, gesturing towards the stairs.

  Georgina didn’t need to be asked twice. It did, however, take her several tries before her foot found the first step.

  The tears in her eyes were making it difficult to see clearly.

  Chapter 27

  Keith didn't calm down during the entire fifteen-minute drive from the hospital to his house. If anything, his anger increased.

  Every single blink, every time his eyelids met and there was that nearly imperceptible moment of darkness, he saw a horrible image.

  Georgina, screaming for her parents.

  Chase biting down on the rubber mouthpiece as electricity flowed through her brain.

  Kerry’s head thrown back in ecstasy, the mayor hovering over her, sweating, grunting.

  The front tire of his Toyota Corolla rode up the curb and the front bumper clipped the mailbox with Adams emblazoned on the side in red type.

  Keith didn’t notice either. He parked the car askew on the driveway and then hopped out.

  After flinging the front door open so aggressively that the doorknob dented the drywall on the inside, he ran upstairs. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the photographs on the wall leading to his bedroom.

  Photos of the family.

  Keith raked his hand along the wall, knocking the portraits of all of them—head shots of Georgina, Chase, himself, and Kerry that had been taken a few months ago—to the ground.

  When his hand reached the final photograph, the only group photo of all of them, he struck it so hard that it flew across the hall, eventually landing on its front, smashing the glass.

  They weren’t a family anymore.

  They were broken.

  And he was to blame.

  Keith entered his bedroom and went immediately to the closet. He threw empty shoeboxes to the ground and then reached as far back as he could. His fingers eventually grazed up against a briefcase. With a grunt, he swept it off the shelf, barely getting out of the way as it careened to the floor.

  Swearing loudly, he picked the case up and retreated to his bed.

  There were two number dials on either side of the handle, and he quickly rolled them to the number of his favorite scripture: 21-24.

  The latches snapped open and Keith slowly opened the case.

  Inside, lying in a foam cut out was a Glock 22. Beside the gun, in its own compartment, was a clip. Without hesitating, Keith pulled both out and then jammed the clip into the gun. The bedroom filled with the sound of a metallic click.

  He blinked and there was Kerry’s face. Another blink and her eyes rolled back. Another blink and she was biting her lower lip.

  Another, and her mouth opened in a
gasp.

  Tossing the case aside, Keith slipped the gun into the front of his pants and made his way back down the stairs and out to his car.

  Someone has to pay for what happened to my girls, he thought as he stepped over the broken mailbox with Adams scrawled across the one side. Someone has to pay for what happened to my family.

  Chapter 28

  The stars were out; the sun was still setting, but the stars were already out.

  Georgina could see them twinkling down at her.

  "You sure you're okay, Riley?" Melissa asked as she squeezed Georgina's hand.

  She nodded. Not because she was okay—she most definitely wasn't—but because she couldn't find any words to speak.

  "Then I want to show you something," Melissa said, tugging Georgina's hand.

  Like a leaf in the wind, Georgina allowed herself to be led. As she moved through the tall grass, her eyes again landed on the beautiful tulip.

  I wonder what Mama was like, she wondered incomprehensibly. I wonder if she would've left her children alone at a fair, if she would've stopped looking for Brian and Tim if they'd gone missing.

  "Come on, hurry," Melissa whined.

  Georgina's eyes drifted from the tulip to the edge of the forest, and when she realized this was where her sister was leading her, she started to resist.

  Just mere hours ago, Georgina would have done anything to get away from this place, to run back… well, to run anywhere but here. But things had changed since then.

  Sensing her apprehension, Melissa dropped her hand and then reached up and cupped Georgina’s face in a surprisingly gentle gesture.

  "It's okay, Riley; it’s okay. I have something special to show you."

  Georgina nodded. There was something inherently trustworthy about Melissa, something caring in her face and voice, something that reassured her that this girl, her sister, would never leave her.