NOTE: I do not own, and am not profiting from, the Halloween characters.
I do own Macie Myers.
Macie Alexandra Myers sat quietly at her small wooden writing desk in her room at the Haddonfield School for the Disabled. The tiny blonde girl did not look eighteen. The wheelchair in which she sat engulfed her. Years of institution life had made her thin and wan. The doctors and nurses called her the China Doll because she looked so fragile.
Whatever may have been wrong with her body, it did not affect her mind. According to all the psychological and intelligence testing that had been done, her mind was a cunning machine, a steel trap, from which no knowledge, once acquired, ever escaped. Had the circumstances been different, she might have one day gone to Harvard. But the circumstances were not different, and so she was here instead. And she hated it.
It was no secret why she was here. After her brother went berserk and killed her oldest sister, Judy, her grief-stricken mother had lost all interest in caring for her other children. They had been left to fend for themselves while their mother wallowed in her grief. Their father was no better, drowning himself in drink. When they were killed in a car accident, no one was surprised. Her older sister, Laurie, too young too care for a five-year old with cerebral palsy, was eventually adopted by the wealthy Strode family, but they hadn't wanted Macie. They never said why, but she knew it was because the Strodes didn't want to be saddled with "damaged goods." She was placed here by the state pending adoption, but that day never came, so she grew up here.
As she grew older, she began to ask about the whereabouts of her older brother. No one had wanted to tell her, but finally a sympathetic cleaning woman had let it slip that he was at the Haddonfield Hospital for the Criminally Insane. She tried writing him but had never received any answer. Maybe they never taught him to read or write there. She missed him. They had played only with each other growing up, as if they understood that they were both different. She doubted she would ever see him again, though. The newspapers said he'd butchered Judy, and his kind would never be let free.
Outside her room, the noises of the school/hospital sounded the familiar routine medications and bed checks. A med-cart rolled by, trumpeting its passage with a grating squeak. A moment later, the steel door to her room opened, and pleasant-faced Nurse Janice popped her head in.
"Don't stay up too late, Macie," she chided, "you've got graduation practice tomorrow."
"I won't," she said, smiling sweetly. She would be graduating from the high school division in three days. Damn diploma probably isn't worth the paper it'll be written on, she thought bitterly.
"Goodnight," said the nurse, closing the door behind her.
She was almost in bed a few hours later when she first heard the sound, a small tapping on the window. She turned to look but saw nothing, only the dark night sky. She pivoted her chair back toward the bed and pulled the covers back. It came again, louder and more insistent. Curious, she rolled to the window and pressed her face against the cool glass.
Nothing. No, not exactly nothing. Something round and white floating out of the darkness. A face. She recoiled in momentary shock, but soon peered out again. The face was still there staring back at her. Who was it? Was it some pervert hoping to see her naked? If it was, he certainly didn't seem disappointed that she wasn't. In fact, he seemed to waiting for her. She had no friends beyond the antiseptic walls of this hospital, so who could it be? She looked into the eyes behind the mask, searching.
Recognition came in a rush, filling her with giddy excitement. Her brother had come to take her away from this place. She written to him endlessly, pleading for him to rescue her, but he never had. She thought he couldn't understand her, but she was wrong. He was here now, and he would make everything alright. She pulled frantically at the window, but it had long ago been nailed shut.
"I can't open it," she cried in disappointment.
The figure slowly raised his hand and motioned her away from the window. She smiled. Her brother was going to break her out! She moved away from the window and covered her face seconds before the glass exploded inward and her brother began his methodical climb through the window. Her face broke into a radiant grin and she opened her arms wide in joyous greeting.
"Michael," she said.
Macie Alexandra Myers sat quietly at her small wooden writing desk in her room at the Haddonfield School for the Disabled. The tiny blonde girl did not look eighteen. The wheelchair in which she sat engulfed her. Years of institution life had made her thin and wan. The doctors and nurses called her the China Doll because she looked so fragile.
Whatever may have been wrong with her body, it did not affect her mind. According to all the psychological and intelligence testing that had been done, her mind was a cunning machine, a steel trap, from which no knowledge, once acquired, ever escaped. Had the circumstances been different, she might have one day gone to Harvard. But the circumstances were not different, and so she was here instead. And she hated it.
It was no secret why she was here. After her brother went berserk and killed her oldest sister, Judy, her grief-stricken mother had lost all interest in caring for her other children. They had been left to fend for themselves while their mother wallowed in her grief. Their father was no better, drowning himself in drink. When they were killed in a car accident, no one was surprised. Her older sister, Laurie, too young too care for a five-year old with cerebral palsy, was eventually adopted by the wealthy Strode family, but they hadn't wanted Macie. They never said why, but she knew it was because the Strodes didn't want to be saddled with "damaged goods." She was placed here by the state pending adoption, but that day never came, so she grew up here.
As she grew older, she began to ask about the whereabouts of her older brother. No one had wanted to tell her, but finally a sympathetic cleaning woman had let it slip that he was at the Haddonfield Hospital for the Criminally Insane. She tried writing him but had never received any answer. Maybe they never taught him to read or write there. She missed him. They had played only with each other growing up, as if they understood that they were both different. She doubted she would ever see him again, though. The newspapers said he'd butchered Judy, and his kind would never be let free.
Outside her room, the noises of the school/hospital sounded the familiar routine medications and bed checks. A med-cart rolled by, trumpeting its passage with a grating squeak. A moment later, the steel door to her room opened, and pleasant-faced Nurse Janice popped her head in.
"Don't stay up too late, Macie," she chided, "you've got graduation practice tomorrow."
"I won't," she said, smiling sweetly. She would be graduating from the high school division in three days. Damn diploma probably isn't worth the paper it'll be written on, she thought bitterly.
"Goodnight," said the nurse, closing the door behind her.
She was almost in bed a few hours later when she first heard the sound, a small tapping on the window. She turned to look but saw nothing, only the dark night sky. She pivoted her chair back toward the bed and pulled the covers back. It came again, louder and more insistent. Curious, she rolled to the window and pressed her face against the cool glass.
Nothing. No, not exactly nothing. Something round and white floating out of the darkness. A face. She recoiled in momentary shock, but soon peered out again. The face was still there staring back at her. Who was it? Was it some pervert hoping to see her naked? If it was, he certainly didn't seem disappointed that she wasn't. In fact, he seemed to waiting for her. She had no friends beyond the antiseptic walls of this hospital, so who could it be? She looked into the eyes behind the mask, searching.
Recognition came in a rush, filling her with giddy excitement. Her brother had come to take her away from this place. She written to him endlessly, pleading for him to rescue her, but he never had. She thought he couldn't understand her, but she was wrong. He was here now, and he would make everything alright. She pulled frantically at the window, but it had long ago been nailed shut.
"I can't open it," she cried in disappointment.
The figure slowly raised his hand and motioned her away from the window. She smiled. Her brother was going to break her out! She moved away from the window and covered her face seconds before the glass exploded inward and her brother began his methodical climb through the window. Her face broke into a radiant grin and she opened her arms wide in joyous greeting.
"Michael," she said.