The Wolf & The Lamb

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::TWO::

It's a joke. A sick, twisted joke, She tells herself as she draws her knees up to her chest. Alex is dead, he was executed and dead and she is safe. So why is she shaking so hard? Why is she so terrified? Ms. Norbury returns without any policemen and an irritated expression on her usually serene face, "The damn cops didn't see any point in investigating the murder of a household pet, unless of course you're the Queen or something. Listen, I'm going to take care of you okay? I live right next door, I'll just swing back and forth when I need to." She says, but there is no reaction from Annabeth.

Luanne Norbury bites her lip, she's not stupid. She's seen these signs, and they've been there long before her kitten was brutally murdered. Ms. Norbury has no idea what horrors this young woman has been through, but she knows that something is wrong. She covers her with a blanket and moves to the kitchen, intending to make her some of her grandmother's famous spaghetti and meatballs. She had a patient similar to Annabeth, back when she was a psychoanalyst. A twenty-six year old woman who had been locked inside a basement and practically starved from the age of three to six before she'd been adopted, perhaps something similar had happened to Annabeth?

"Annabeth, you're going to be okay" she tells her gently, laying a hand on her arm. But Annabeth's jaw is wired shut and she merely curls into herself even more, hands still clutching the note. "What is that?" Luanne asks, trying to pry the now wrinkled paper from her death grip. "Alex" she breathes out shakily, and all at once Norbury understands; there's no question about it. Excluding the new trauma of her dead cat, something painful—perhaps beyond reason—has happened to this twenty-two year old.

She sits up slowly, her face red and wet from crying so hard. "Where's baby?" she says hoarsely, "We'll bury her later okay? Honey, who's Alex?" Luanne asks and her brow furrows when Annabeth visibly cringes at his name. "Did he hurt you?" Annabeth stares at the floor, hugging herself. And she looks so small and scared it's breaking Luanne's heart. She shakes her head no, "Can't tell. I can't tell. Mustn't tell" she says, repeating it over and over and rocking herself back and forth. Her eyes are glazed over and she isn't there anymore. "Are you with him right now?" she ask, holding Annabeth's hand to reassure her that while her mind is somewhere dark, her body is safe in the present.

But the moment passes, "Oh uh…thanks for taking care of me like this…I think I'm fine now, you can go" she says weakly, but Ms. Norbury doesn't move an inch. "tell me what Alex did to you" there it is again, the flinch. "He was my stepbrother…" she says, inspecting her nails and swallowing hard. "Did he hurt you?" she repeats. Annabeth looks uncomfortable, "He's a bad man" she mumbles and they both know she's lying. So Luanne pulls out years of training, wisdom, compassion, and patience from her long ago days of psychotherapy. "Can you tell me what the bad man did to you?"

Annabeth shakes her head no, and Norbury knows better than to push her. "A lot of things scare me…" she admits quietly, when Norbury doesn't say anything but she doesn't continue. "We tend to associate traumatic experiences with certain objects, does anything remind you of him?" Annabeth slowly nods, "he's with me every second of every day…killing me from the inside out" Norbury watches as she slowly gets up, facing the window. "You can leave now"

Norbury reaches for her but the moment her fingers brush against her arm, Annabeth recoils so violently she slams herself into the wall. "Please don't touch me, it…hurts" she says. "It hurts to be touched? Annabeth, I know you don't want me to leave" Annabeth shakes her head, "I just want to be alone. Go away" she hisses at her, her eyes narrowed in anger but Luanne sees the desperation in her eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise" she says and Annabeth stares at her in disbelief for a long couple of moments before tentatively leaning into the older woman. "…promise?"

Luanne kisses the top of her head. "I promise"


Her black heels click against the black and white tile as she travels down the long hallway, she is confident and on a mission. Her nails perfectly manicured, her suit tailored to fit her to a T, and her hair pulled into a perfect bun. Her makeup is simple, her eyes hard and determined but her expression open and friendly. "I'm here to see Dr. Bernhart, tell him Dr. Norbury is here please" she tells the woman at the desk. They replaced June, rumor had it she'd had an affair with the mail boy. (Go June)

"Right away, doctor" the new woman says, popping her gum loudly and rushing down the hallway to retrieve Henry. A man in his late sixties comes out, "Yes? Oh…hello Luanne" he embraces her. "No time to chit chat, Henry. I need access to the city files down stairs" he clears his throat, "You don't work here anymore L-…" "I know that. Please Henry, it's important" he looks at her for a moment, "Very well. Just don't make too much a mess" he teases lightly, knowing how disorganized she can be sometimes.

Luanne starts with H first, Annabeth's last name is Holbrook. She finds a file under the name HOLBROOK, NATASHA and peeks inside just in case, there is a picture of a beautiful woman and Luanne sees Annabeth inside of her. This is her mother. She tucks this folder under her arm and moves on, nothing on Annabeth—no, wait…here it is. It's not very bulky but it's a little thicker than her mothers.

She sits down at a table in the middle of the room and starts to read Annabeth's folder first…


Annabeth wants to learn how to embroider, she wants to learn how to paint and play the piano but she knows she's too stupid to learn or become remotely good at any of this. Luanne said she'd be back as soon as she could, and Annabeth's anxiety was tearing at her. It was hard to breathe, her mother had died and her father…she shook her head and pressed her fingers to her temples to drown out Alex's voice inside of her, the stench of his breath heavy as he moved and hurt her hurt her hurt her stop please, please! "Annabeth!" Luanne's voice breaks through the ice around her.

But Luanne's eyes are filled with tears and she hugs the younger woman, at first Annabeth tries to pull away because Luanne is too good to be hugging something as disgusting as her but she feels so warm and she almost feels like her mother and this feels nice. "I know, sweetie, I know what he did to you" Annabeth's body tightens against hers and she yanks herself away. "How?" she bites. "I read your file…"

"You had no right!" she cries angrily, shaking from rage and embarrassment and terror.

"There's no need to be ashamed, Annabeth, what he did was entir-…"

"Get out!" she can't do this, she can't let someone into her life like this. She's not worthy and it hurts too much. "We can talk about it, Annabeth. It's okay to talk to somebody about what he did, it'll make you feel better" "I don't want to talk about it! I want to forget! GET OUT!" But Luanne isn't giving up this easily, "We both know keeping all of this—…" "GET OUT!" "-…bottled up inside is only hurting you every single day, please Annabeth let me help you!"

But Annabeth is driving her out of the door (Wait no come back I want to tell you everything. I want to tell you what he did and I want you to hold me and make it okay again.) and locking the door behind her.


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