Invisible

JANE S.

SHE STRUTS INTO THE ROOM, looks at me as if she knows the whole story. Mark’s gotten to me, I wanted to kill myself because I was tired of him not giving me enough attention.

It’s all face value wisdom, total bullshit.

“Hello, Emma,” she says as I slowly start to sit up. She smiles her evil smile as she makes her way toward me, sits on the foot of the bed.

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask, frustrated, “Institutionalized? Living with my father?”

“I don’t suppose there’s any other choice but to institutionalized you, especially since I can’t seem to help you.”

“Jane, you can’t help me because you have no idea what I’ve been going through. All you see is a teenager who cuts herself, which is extremely narrow-minded if you ask me.”

“Oh, well, why do you cut yourself?”

I close my eyes, prepare the words. “Jeremy raped me.”

Once I look up at her, her expression changed, the evil eyes turned pretty, somehow innocent.

“What?” she asks, astonished.

“Last year, the day before I met you, my step-brother raped me. That’s why I started cutting myself.”

She blinks, takes a deep breath. “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Yeah. Since I’m not in the mood to tell the entire story, neither do I.” I start picking at the bandage on my wrist, Jane almost instantly noticing.

“Don’t do that,” she says calmly. I glare at her.

“What now? Are you going to send me to a mental hospital?”

“Are you still living with Jeremy or Mark?”

“No. I was sure Mark would have told you by now, but Jeremy’s… well, he’s in an intensive care unit, but after that he’s probably going to prison.” I hesitate, “I moved in with Ali and Jack.”

She nods. “I think it may be best for you to stay with them… They seem to be a good place for you to be… But what I don’t understand is why you’ve done this now.”

“The person I told kinda… left. I guess it depressed me enough to want to do this to myself.”

She’s silent, her eyes slightly angered. I stare into them.

“Did you tell Mark?”

“Yes, and he didn’t believe me… which is another reason why he started sending me to you.”

“He didn’t mention that at all to me.”

“Figures.”

Jane sighs, stares at the window. I guess she really doesn’t know what to say for once.

“I’m sorry,” she says after a while.

“For what?”

“For not paying attention… or trying hard enough. Honestly, I just thought you were—”

“I know. It’s fine.”

She frowns as she stands up. “I understand if you want to talk to someone else. I can refer you to—”

“Won’t be necessary. I can still talk to you, especially since you’re listening to me now.”

Her expression doesn’t brighten, doesn’t show any relief that I’ll still be paying her to listen to me. She walks toward the door.

“I’ll have them release you. When do you want to start working this out?”

“Next week sometime, I guess.”

She nods, disappears behind the door. I don’t know why I feel so relieved, why comfort is taking over so quickly.

I guess this went way better than I had anticipated.