Glass Walls

Chapter 13

A week later dad is admitted to a mental institution an hour away. I plan on visiting him soon so I can figure out about..the freezer. Speaking of that, it's been extremely hard living with grandma knowing her daughter is chilling in my basement. I feel guilty every time I look at her.
She has a right to know and it's selfish I'm hiding it from her just so I don't lose another parent, completely that is.
Ever since I found mom in the basement I've been having awful nightmares.
I've dreamed of her cold blueish corpse crawling from under my bed and croaking my name. I've dreamt dad coming at me with an axe and I've had nightmares of being trapped inside the freezer with mom.
I swear I've had less sleep now than I did living with dad.

It's now Saturday and I ask if I can visit dad. I could see grandma wasn't entirely fond of the idea.
"I love your father but it's been three days since he's been there. Don't you think he needs some time to..settle in?" she says trying to find the right words.
My grandmother isn't a big fan of upsetting people so she often chooses her words carefully. Even with her caution I can still tell she means 'don't you think you should let him settle down so he's less of a nut job?'
I try to avoid letting her know that slightly irritated me.

"No I think he wants to see me." I say remembering his pleading and begging that night.

She sighs.
"Alright dear if you think it's best. Be careful."

I head out to my car, keys jingling in my hands. I knew I'd win. She hates arguing.
  ***
After checking in to visit him I'm escorted to the visiting room. Many patients scour the room talking to family. That's when I spot dad sitting in the corner by himself.
My hearts skips a beat and anxiety flows through me. It's ok, there's guards keeping watch. If he tries to hurt me they'll see.
I walk over to the table and slide in the chair across from him. What do I even say after what happened?
I meet his eyes but immediately look away. There's something different about them. They're calm. An eerie calm, the eyes that belong to a madman.
"Olivia."
I flinch at the sound of my name. His shouts from that night echo through my mind like a broken record. I don't want to hear my name again. Not for a while at least. I even asked Libby to call me Liv for the time being.

"I'm sorry," dad says, "what I did was unspeakably wrong. I didn't mean to hurt you."

"No. An apology isn't going to fix what you did. If you want to prove to me that you're sorry get better. And give me answers." I say sternly.

I sort of feel bad because the look on his face was sad. He doesn't say anything.
"Dad," I whisper, "I know about mom."
His eyes get wide.
"I know she's in the freezer. So please, tell me what happened to her. You didn't really...?" I imply.

He shakes his head frantically.
"No! I would never....I don't know how she got there. After they gave up on the case she appeared in the cellar! I didn't know what to do. I-I threw her in the freezer..." he says with tears in his eyes.

"Appeared? Then who put..her in there?" I ask.
This is crazy! How does a thing like this happen???

"I don't know! I just can't explain it!" he shouts. Everyone in the room is staring at him annoyed. The security guard eyes him.

"I think it's time I leave." I say. I grab my keys and get up.

"Wait! Don't leave! Please just talk to me!" he urges.
I shake my head and head out the door. He's going to be here a while. I can't handle this nonsense. I wish he wouldn't make up crazy stories to cover up the truth. Even if I told the police, which I won't, he'd still wind up here after being diagnosed as loopy. I don't know whether to ignore everything until dad gets out, if he gets out, or keep looking for answers. It's kind of hard to ignore though. I mean my own beloved mother is a corpse in my house. I want my life to be normal but that can never happen so I'll just have to pretend. I'll pretend it's all ok until dad is home.