Susan sat at the desk in the little room, the afternoon sun cast cold shadows across the floor from the bars on the window. She opened her notebook and began to write. She wrote her little brother almost every day and would give the letter to the nurse that assured her she would mail it. But since she had been here, she had never gotten a letter from her brother.
How long had Susan been here? She tried to think. She was sent here in the summer. Fall replaced summer, winter replaced fall. Two years she had been here. Susan laid down the dull pencil and stood up. She Walked over to the window.
Outside it was summer again. She had not once been outside since she came here. Pressing her fingers against the window, she felt the warm summer sun on the glass and she longed to feel the breeze on her face and to walk barefoot in the grass. She wanted to feel the cool blades of grass under her feet and between her toes.
The door opened behind her. Turning she saw the older, heavy set nurse. The nurse smiled pleasantly at her.
"Dr. Hodges wants to see you, dear."
Dear. Susan hated it when they called her that. Like they were addressing a child. She was no child. She was twenty-one. Susan twisted a strand of the blond hair that hung on her gown just above her shoulder, as she walked over to the nurse.
The nurse stepped into the corridor and held the door for her. She stepped out into the corridor and walked with the nurse. Looking at her, the nurse smiled.
"How are you today?"
"Fine."
Going to see Dr. Hodges for her weekly session. As he would always try to probe deeper into her head. Probe, probe, probe. On some occasions she would give him little tidbits. Things about her family, or her boy friend. He also seems to have abandoned her since she came to this place.
'This place.' That kept her locked up, like she was some kind of an animal. Doctors and nurses, giving you pills and sessions. The white uniformed orderlies that acted as policemen when you stepped out of line. Susan felt that she did not belong here.
The nurse stopped outside of a door, with the name plate Dr. Hodges on the door. She knocked.
"Yes." Came the reply from within. The voice sounding like it had resounded from the bottom of a tomb.
The nurse pushed the door open and stuck her head inside.
"Susan, doctor."
She stepped aside letting Susan enter the office, then she closed the door behind her. Susan stood by the door, looking at the balding older man behind the desk. He smiled at her, she couldn't see his eyes behind the glasses that he wore. An open book laid in front of him on his desk.
"Have a seat," he said as he stood up.
Susan entered the room and slid over to the couch that was near the door. This is where she always sat during her sessions. He came around the desk, bringing the book with him. He sat down in the chair that fit his bulky form. He showed her the book.
"Recognize it?"
She looked at the book and nodded. It was one of hers. How did he get that?
"Your parents brought it to me," he said, as if reading her mind. "Along with these."
He opened her file and took out some photos, glancing at them as he handed them to her. Susan took the photos, and began looking at them. Dr. Hodges sat back in his chair, looking at Susan as she looked at the pictures. She looked at him.
"Has my brother sent me any letters?"
"No. Nothing."
Finished looking at the pictures, she laid them down on the table in front of her.
"Those are your brother's school pictures. Your parents thought that you might like them."
He looked at her and smiled again.
"Tell me about that night, Susan. The night with your brother."
There it was. The night before she was brought here. Her mind reeled with the memory of 'that night'. The night she had finished reading that very book he now had in his possession. She closed her eyes.
Susan was back in her room at home. She closed the cover of the book. She lay there looking at the ceiling thinking about the last page. Turning out the bedside lamp, she threw back her covers and got out of bed.
She opened the bedroom door and listened. Not a sound; the house was quiet. Moonlight streamed gently into the hallway. Stepping out into the hall, she closed the door with a soft click and went down the hall to her little brother's room.
Pushing open the door, she stepped quietly inside. Going to his bedside she looked down at him. The moonlight caressed his brow. How sweet he looked lying there. Sweet. Susan softly pulled back his covers.
She climbed onto the bed with him. His eyes opened groggily, and he mumbled as he looked at her.
"Susan?"
Making no reply, she bent down and sank her teeth into his neck. Blood filled her mouth as he screamed. It ran out of his throat and into her blond hair. Splashing onto the bed clothes.
The room filled with light and she heard her mother's screams, then her dad was pulling her off the bed. Blood ran down her chin.
"He was so sweet," she said, as the life drained from her brother.
Susan sat at the desk in the little room, writing a letter to her little brother.
The End
