“You know, Linda. It’s been hard since we lost Michael.” She sat in the diva with unease and clenched her fists together while arched forward, avoiding eye contact. “You can lay down, Sarah” And so she did, facing the ceiling feeling as comfortable as she would feel down in a hospital bed. “It’s just, I don’t know what to do anymore” She sighed.
“What about?” The old woman took a seat on her armchair crossing her legs and raising an eyebrow.
“Oh don’t act like you haven’t seen the news, it’s all over the place.”
“It’s not my place to stalk my patients, Sarah. This is an environment where you are the one to bring, and choose whether or not we discuss things.” The answer somehow didn’t please Sarah, who now tapped her fingers impatiently. Having the silence continued for too long, Linda wrote something down and rested the notebook on her lap. “I can assume, however, that something happened to Gabriel, is that right?”
Sarah nodded whilst still avoiding eye contact, the only ones who could see the droplets of tears forming in her eyes were the abstract paintings on the wall. Or at least she thought so.
“Sarah?”
“Yes,” it sounded like her voice had barely passed through the lump in her throat
“Okay. Would you mind elaborating on it?”
“You know how things are, after his father,” Sarah gulped, “he… Well he thinks it’s my fault.”
“And what makes you think he blames you? Has he ever said that?”
“No, no… Of course no…” Sara dried her face on her sleeve and proceeded, “It’s just that, when Michael was still here, Gabriel was this little angel, I swear he was the best child any parent could ever wish for. But…” a pause, “now, I feel like every time he misbehaves or talks back to me he’s trying to get to me. Oh god, am I a terrible mother for thinking this?”
“No, Sarah, again, you are not a terrible mother for thinking that way.” Said Linda. “And again I’m beyond sorry for your loss, it’s never easy to lose someone you love. It is common for parents to feel guilty or blame themselves when their children misbehave or act out. This doesn’t mean your son is in fact trying to punish you. We’ll work towards finding more effective ways to cope with the challenges you are facing as a parent now that you’re a single mother.”
“I lost my parents at a young age but back then I had already met Michael. I think that for the first time in my life… I’m alone.”
“Precisely, Sarah, and how does that make you feel?”
“It’s hard to say, all I know is I’m scared. Since the day Michael shot himself I’m scared for my life, he was my anchor he was my… Well he made me feel safe and now…”
“And now?”
“And now nothing does… If I had a problem I would go to him, something small, something big, he was the one I’d go to but now? Who’s here for me now? And right when I needed the most”
“Is that when something happened to Gabriel?”
“Last weekend, I tried to follow your advice and, I mean, I’m not saying it’s your fault” Linda nodded for her to continue, as she was saying “non taken” without saying a single word. “This girl from church, Joyce, had been inviting me and Gabriel to her parents’ club ever since she found out what I was going through, said I needed to breathe a little, take some time from all the stress.”
“Do you think she was right?”
“It’s not for me to say, Linda. All I know is that I took Gabriel there and…” Sarah inhaled. “We arrived there early in the morning. Gabriel wasn’t really easy that day so I tried to give him space, we headed to the pool and..” Linda cleaned the tears that were forming behind her glasses and sat up. “I abandoned him”
“And, what do you mean by “abandoning him”?”
“The girls from church said It was fine, that I should let him be so I applied some sunscreen and let him go, you know? I just wanted him to have fun on his own” Sarah started a quiet sob and looked at Linda, as if she was trying to explain herself. Linda nodded, giving her space to continue. “Then I lost him, I got distracted, I… I let loose. I started looking for him everywhere, I entered the male bathroom and…” she took a big gulp of air “That fucking monster!” Sarah burst out in tears and sobbed so loud and desperately that it sounded like she was rewatching the whole scene. Linda got shivers down her spine. “Gabriel was on his lap and he, he was…” Sarah sank her face into her hands and cried more. Linda got up from her chair and sat by Sarah’s side, hands on her lap. “It’s okay Sarah, you don’t need to keep going.” Linda gently touched Sarah’s shoulder, with the intention of a comforting gesture, but Sarah fell aside and buried herself in Linda’s arms for a tight hug sobbing even more on the old woman’s shoulder.
“My baby, my little baby, how could someone do something like this?”
Linda hugged Sarah even tightly, she could almost feel the pain burning through Sarah’s skin, the thought of it even happening to one of her beloved children made her mind tremble. She hugged the sobbing woman as she calmed her down.
[…]
“Goodbye Sarah, don’t forget to text me when you get home, okay?” the old woman hugged her once again.
“I will.” Sarah nodded and breathed in with a minimal smile.
“Again I’m sorry for the sudden change of the office’s location; the mason said the infiltration was so bad the whole place was coming down if we didn’t reform it right away.”
“It’s okay, it’s just a couple minutes more of a ride. But promise me you won’t stay here working until late at night; this neighborhood can get quite sketchy.”
“Thanks for your concern, Sarah, I actually don’t have many patients today so I will be fine. Drive safe!” Sarah entered her car and drove off; Linda watched as the red escort turned the corner. She admired the grayish street, illuminated by the dim autumn sky, took a couple of deep breaths, and headed back inside.
She paced calmly back to the room she was ministering Sarah’s therapy in, she opened the door, sat at her armchair, and crossed her legs.
“You can come out now.” The giant mirror on the wall rotated along an axis on one of its corners, revealing itself as a two-way mirror. From the poorly lit room behind the gigantic piece of glass, two men in suits came out; they sat at the diva with unease and made eye contact with Linda.
“So?” Linda tilted her head and raised one of her eyebrows.
“We would like to ask you a few questions, if it’s okay with you, ma’am.”
“Well, go on, I don’t have all day.”
“How long have you been treating this wo…”
“Sarah, her name is Sarah.” Linda said, adjusting herself on her seat.
“Right… How long have you been treating ‘Sarah’?”
“Three months, she came for the first time because she was trying to cope with her husband’s suicide. Now she visits me regularly so I can help her raise her son now that they’re alone.”
“Are you aware that Sarah Highland has changed addresses at least six separate times in the past semester?”
“Yes, I’m aware, she told me her job requires her to move a lot.”
“Did she ever mention missing people during her time here?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Do you have reasons to believe Sarah Highland has some kind of suspicious, threatening, or violent behavior. Inside or outside this office?”
“No I don’t”
“Have you ever felt threatened by Sarah? Did she ever make something that made you feel unsafe?”
“No, never! Where the hell is this going?”
“We have reasons to believe Linda is behind a series of people going missing across the country.”
“And I have reasons to believe you two are imbeciles who think their distinctives are toys and invaded an extremely hurt woman’s therapy session just for the heck of it. Kidnappings? Sarah isn’t a maniac; she’s a grieving mother. It’s ridiculous for you to even suggest that.” Linda shook her head. “This woman has been going through so much pain; she’s under so much pressure. You could never understand what she’s going through, and honestly? If I saw a disgusting man raping my 6-year-old children, kidnapping would be the least of his concerns.”
“Wait, what did you say?” The younger guy looked at Linda with utter shock.
“Yes, I’d kill the motherfucker, are you going to arrest me for this?”
“No, the 6 years old part.” He was still trying to make sense of it. “Gabriel isn’t 6 years old, ma’am. He is 16.”
[…]
The creaking wood announced Sarah was walking down the basement stairs; she touched the light switch, and the dusty room was lit by a warm lamp. At the corner of the room, a naked boy slept, handcuffed to the boiler. She walked to him and kneeled at his side, taking a long glance at his sleeping body. There were wounds everywhere, cigarette burns, shallow cuts, deep cuts with homemade stitches, bruises, and so on. Sarah reached him with her arm and rocked him awake gently before he woke up in a burst, sitting back and trying to scream, only to realize it was meaningless.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Sarah touched his shoulder in a gentle pat. “It’s okay, really…” She brushed her hand on his swollen shoulder, trying to calm him down. “I brought something for you to eat; do you want that?” She raised her hand with a paper bag to the boy who nodded scared. “I need to remove this first then.” Sarah removed the boy’s gag; the room now could hear his heavy breathing, combined with pain groans. She noted a big wound on his chest that was not exactly healing well. Of course, she’d have to re-stitch it. She got up and walked to a cabinet to grab some supplies and the boy automatically laid down; he knew it’d be worse if he didn’t. Sarah then walked back with the same thick sewing needle and old yarn, kneeled in front of his pale slim body, and started evaluating where to start.
“You know, I don’t hate you, Elijah.” And the first hole was made; the thick needle pierced through the edge of the wound making the poor boy’s body contort in pain. Sarah bit her lower lip and tilted her head delightedly. She pulled the needle, making the dusty yarn scrape the inside of his skin. “Did you know I’m letting you go as soon as these wounds heal?” A silence. “I said: Did you know, Elijah?” Sarah stuck her fingers on one of his wounds and threatened pressure.
“You always say that, but you always make more, you’re so evil!” The raspy voice in his throat sounded used to overcoming the lump.
“Don’t call me evil!” Sarah smacked his head with an open palm and used her fingers to hold locks of blonde hair; she sat him up and threw him against the wall. “Look, I even brought you something to eat.” She grabbed the paper bag and emptied the content in front of him. A deep brown mass fell down.
“What is this?”
“What do you mean, what is this? It’s his shit.” The boy’s blue eyes widened in horror. “Well, I figured since you love him so much, and wanted to turn him into a shit packer just like you. You might as well eat, his, shit.”
“Please don’t, I already told you I’m so sorry for what happened if you let me go I will never ever talk to Gab…”
“Don’t say his NAME.” Sarah tackled the boy sticking up two fingers on his chest wound. The boy’s shrieking and kicks only made Sarah more eager; her teeth clenched and her heart beat fast, she started spreading her fingers inside the wound. When the struggling stopped, Sarah stood up. She kicked the unconscious body. “NO ONE.” She kicked the unconscious body. “MESSES.” She kicked the unconscious body. “WITH MY.” She kicked the unconscious body. “DEAR.” She kicked the unconscious body. “GABRIEL.” She kicked the unconscious body’s head. These faintings were getting a little too often; how inconvenient.
Soon enough, she’d have to get rid of him one way or the other.
At least he wasn’t messing with Gabriel anymore, Sarah was just protecting him. She’s a good mom after all.