Sisters First
Jeanette wasn't looking at the doctor before her because he was boring.
She didn't always flirt with people because she wanted them to flirt back or for it to go anywhere but she always liked to see their reaction. This doctor just completely ignored any flirtation she tried on him, however. At first that was a game, too, but soon she understood that it was not one that she would be winning.
"Jeanette," the doctor said. "How are you feeling today?"
Jeanette leaned back in her chair to study the ceiling. It wasn't very interesting, either, but it wasn't supposed to be. Maybe she could make it interesting. There were some cracks in it. "Why do you always have to ask me the same questions every day?"
"Asking how you are is something that needs to be asked every day since the answer will change every day," the doctor said.
"Really?" she asked. "Nothing changes in here."
"Do you think so?" the doctor asked her, sounding altogether too interested in the fact that she was bored. How bored must he be?
"Yes. Why? Don't you think so?"
"I must confess that I do not but then I encounter many patients who always make sure to keep things fresh for me," the doctor said.
Jeanette laughed. "Isn't that sweet. The lunatics are amusing you."
"I didn't say that," the doctor said reprovingly.
"I read it between the lines," Jeanette said.
"It wasn't what I meant," the doctor insisted. "I hope you know that I do not believe that you are a lunatic."
Jeanette finally deigned to drag her eyes away from the ceiling and towards the doctor. He had a name but she couldn't be bothered to remember it. He was losing the hair on his head and was compensating but growing a thick bushy mustache that was not appealing. He had glasses but she hadn't seen him wear them; they were always in his hands or on his desk.
"Oh, doctor, I'm well aware I'm not crazy," Jeanette said. "I shouldn't even be here."
"Now, Jeanette, you know that the court said you had to be here," the doctor reminded her.
Jeanette rolled her eyes. "Because my sister convinced everybody that I'm the one who killed our father when it was obviously her."
"Ah yes, your…sister," the doctor said slowly. "Your father had been molesting her before she shot him?"
Jeanette shook her head. "It wasn't molestation and it was me."
The doctor raised his eyebrows. "He was molesting you and so your sister shot him?"
"I told you it wasn't molesting," Jeanette said, annoyed. "It was an accident, really."
"He was accidentally having sex with you?" the doctor repeated.
Jeanette nodded. "Yes, actually. I know that sounds a bit unlikely but it's true. I had fallen asleep in Therese's bed. He really thought I was her. Normally the sex is their thing."
The doctor leaned across his desk, writing furiously. "I see. And how did you feel about this mistake?"
Jeanette shrugged. "Well I was certainly surprised! He hadn't ever looked at me that way before and I knew that he really wanted her."
"Did you try to correct him?" the doctor asked.
Jeanette shook her head.
"And why not? Did you think he would stop if you did?"
"Of course he would have," Jeanette told him. "If he had been interested in me he would have made a move on me instead of Therese."
"So why didn't you say something?" the doctor asked.
Jeanette thought back. She had been taken quite by surprise. She hadn't meant to fall asleep in Therese's bed but she'd been lying in it to mess up Therese's perfect job making it up to annoy her and she had just gotten so comfortable and Therese was still out for once that she hadn't felt like moving. It wasn't the first time she'd woken up to the feeling of lips on her neck but it had never been her father before.
She'd just been so confused at first. That wasn't right. Why was he…oh. He must think she was Therese. She had heard the two of them going at it when she was right there often enough but she had done the decent thing and pretended to be asleep to give them the illusion of privacy.
Why hadn't she said anything? He hadn't wanted to have sex with her.
"Maybe I was just curious," Jeanette said finally.
"Curious?"
Jeanette shrugged. "Therese never liked sex. She thought it was vulgar and crass but she always wanted to be a good girl and obey her daddy. It was an amusing contradiction and I just wanted to understand."
"And did you?"
Jeanette smiled coldly. "I've had better. And I can't say I thought much of the ending."
"You're ready to talk about that?" the doctor asked soothingly.
Jeanette shrugged again. "Oh, why not? It's not like she needs protecting since everyone seems to think it was me and she's content to let me rot in here."
"Oh, that's very good! You don't need her to protect you anymore, no," the doctor told her. "You know what your father did to you and if you could just face the fact that you killed him-"
Jeanette made a disgusted noise. "I didn't kill him."
"After what he did, no one blames you," the doctor insisted.
"He never meant to 'molest' me," Jeanette said. "I made him think I was Therese. It's not very reasonable to blame him for me pretending to be my twin sister, is it?"
The doctor looked disappointed. He still wanted her to claim responsibility for Therese's murder but it was simply not going to happen. "Very well, Jeanette. Tell me what happened to your father."
"Therese came home late. I don't know what she doing out that late. It's really not like her. She saw Father lying with me and I guess she just snapped. I saw her come in, you know, and her face stayed blank the whole time. She calmly took in the scene, left the room, and came back with his gun," Jeanette explained. He wouldn't believe her but it was what had happened.
"Did you try to warn your father?" the doctor asked.
"Oh, of course not! Then he'd have known I wasn't Therese and we weren't done yet."
"Did you want…Therese to find out about the sex?" the doctor asked.
Jeanette bit her lip. "I wasn't really thinking about it but I think…maybe…yes. She always acted so high and mighty since she was the favorite. Well he couldn't even tell the difference between us."
"Did you want to kill your father?" the doctor asked.
Jeanette narrowed her eyes. "Of course not. I'm no killer. When she came into the room again I barely had time to realize that there even was a gun before she fired into him while he was still in me. He died with a smile on his face, though. At least I gave him that. And then she pulled him off of me and it hurt and I thought she was going to kill me, too."
"Did she threaten to?" the doctor asked.
"No," Jeanette said. "She just gave me a disgusted look and left me to deal with her mess. And then they arrested me because Therese had left. She said that our father had killed himself. Everyone knew he hadn't but she was just so convincing that who would ever believe someone like me over perfect her? Even you don't believe me."
"Well I don't believe he killed himself, either," the doctor said. "Jeanette, I understand that you believe that your 'sister' killed him but that's really no way to get well. You have to come to terms with your actions."
"I have," Jeanette said coldly. "I'm just not interested in taking the blame for Therese's."
The doctor looked sadly at her. "Jeanette, I-"
The door burst open then and a nurse appeared. "Doctor, there's a problem with one of the patients. We need you."
The doctor nodded. "Of course. I'll be back as soon as I can, Jeanette. Wait for me here."
Jeanette just languidly watched him go. He was trying to help, she'd give him that, but he wasn't doing a very good job at it.
The door locked behind him but shortly after that the knob jiggled like someone was trying to open it anyway and then who should walk into the room but Therese? She was looking well and oh so very smug. She wasn't trapped in asylum and thought mad by the world. She had gotten away with everything.
Jeanette glared at her. "What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come see how my deranged sister is doing?" She almost sounded concerned.
"I'm not deranged. You're the one who killed him. And how did you even get out of-"
"Jeanette, I think we both know that he killed himself," Therese said calmly.
"If by 'killed himself' you mean 'had sex with me – by mistake, mind you – and so I killed him'," Jeanette spat. "And the 'I' in that scenario is you."
"This is part of why you're deranged, thinking that either one of us had anything to do with it," Therese told her. "Or maybe you don't think that. Maybe you're just being spiteful and trying to hurt me. It wouldn't be the first time."
"You're the one who is just pretending that the man you murdered out of jealousy up and killed himself. Because of me," Jeanette accused.
Therese laughed. "I wonder if you actually believe that."
Jeanette threw her hands up in the air. "I'm in the right here!"
"Maybe you even really think so but that's just proof that, father's suicide or not, you belong here," Therese taunted.
"And you don't? I wonder why you won't just stay away," Jeanette said. "I'm sure the doctors didn't let you in here. They don't seem to like you."
"They're not going to separate us," Therese said firmly. "No matter what your disgusting proclivities, we are sisters and we're the only family each other has now."
"Thanks to you," Jeanette muttered.
"Oh, why am I even bothering?" Therese asked, sneering at her. "They're trying to take me away from you but it's not going to happen."
"Admit it, you're jealous that father seemed to be enjoying his time with me far more than he ever enjoyed it with you," Jeanette said.
Therese's face became an ugly mask. "You made him miserable. You were always out at all hours-"
"And just where were you that night?"
"And you were with so many boys I can't even keep track of them!" Therese cried out.
"What should I have done?" Jeanette demanded. "Waited around like a good girl for daddy to fuck me instead?"
Therese's eyes narrowed into slits. "How dare you?"
"Oh, wait, if I did that you would have killed him even earlier! Look, you want to have sex with the man then that is your business. I tried it once. You could have done worse," Jeanette said conversationally. "But don't think that you get to do that and then play the modest virgin with me. I don't think I even had any more sex than you did, I just did it with a wider variety of people. And why not? It's my life."
"That's not the same thing at all," Therese hissed. "I was being a good girl and obeying Father."
Jeanette laughed. "Oh, is that what they're calling it these days? You know that everyone here won't stop trying to get me through the 'trauma of molestation'? What do you think they'd do to you if they found out you really were fucking him and that you loved it?"
"They clearly don't know what they're talking about," Therese said stiffly.
Jeanette rolled her eyes. "I figured that one out on my own but if that came out it would really ruin your perfect image, wouldn't it?"
"What I did was being an obedient daughter. You know how much he hated you going around with every low-life with a-" Therese couldn't bring herself to say it.
All things considered, Jeanette found that hysterical and giggled. "Oh, not just them. There were a few women in there for variety. They really know how to pleasure another woman, I've got to tell you."
Therese slapped her across the face then.
"What? That too depraved for you?" Jeanette asked, rubbing her cheek. "Honestly, Therese, your hypocrisy is astounding."
Therese glared at her. "Why did you have to live when Father died, anyway? He didn't deserve it."
"I think you'll have to ask yourself that question since you're the one who killed him but not me," Jeanette said. "You had to know that he thought it was you. You had to know that I knew the truth. So why was it, I wonder, that you spared me but not him?"
For a moment Therese looked lost. "I-I didn't think…" She shook herself. "I did nothing. He killed himself."
Jeanette sighed. "This self-delusion of yours is getting boring."
"Oh, I quite disagree," a new voice said and the both of them spun around to see a strange man grinning at them. "This kind of mania is really quite entertaining."
"Mania?" Therese repeated, scoffing. "You must be mistaken. I am not a patient here."
"Yes, that dubious honor is mine thanks to Therese's lies," Jeanette confirmed. "She really belongs here more than I do."
"Hm," the man said noncommittally, his eyes flicking from Jeanette to Therese and back again. "I do love recruiting."
"Recruiting?" Jeanette asked hopefully. "Could you get me out of here?"
"Oh, absolutely," the man said. "I'm going to take you into a world you've never even dreamed of."
Jeanette felt her smile turn flirtatious. "When do we start?"