See Part I for warnings etc.
Part VII: Vanish
"It's been hard, you know Molly? Really hard," Pam said, her cheeks hollowing around the cigarette. She straightened a perfectly tweezed eyebrow with her thumb.
"I know, Mrs Burkart," Molly replied, holding an icepack over the bruise in her arm that was shaped like a tiny fist.
"No, but… really hard!" she exclaimed, "My poor Jackie…"
"It's such a shame," the nurse agreed.
"Isn't it, though?" she sighed, "you should have seen her bed before, Molly. It was so awful. There was blood everywhere…"
"I can just imagine."
Pam let out a hollow laugh, "I don't think you can. It was like, blood. My Jackie's blood. Y'know like when your life stops for a bit and you can't think?"
"A tableau?"
"Yeah! One of those… I went to him first though," she said 'him' like it was a disease, "he was so calm, like it didn't matter and stuff. But I guess he was hurting. He fixed everything up and made a few calls and bam, Jackie's home…"
The nurse nodded, not really understanding why Mrs Burkart was talking to her about god knows what.
"It's…" she began quietly, before pausing, then starting again, "Jackie shouldn't be lying in a bed where her blood used to be… but she can't leave, you know that, right?"
"Of course."
"So…" Pam drew little patterns on the table with her fingertips, "I would be very, very careful who you told about this. I mean, we don't want someone to take her away from me now, do we?"
"No, I…"
"No because, some people in this big ol' world, would see what we're doing to her as… not right. You follow me?"
"Yes, I do."
Pam nodded approvingly, stubbing out her cigarette, "Jackie's staying with her mommy… she doesn't belong anywhere else. But I don't want incidents like last night happening again…"
"With all due respect…"
"I don't want incidents like last night happening again. Keep the situation under control, and you'll be rewarded, if you don't… eh, not so much. Are we clear?"
The nurse swallowed, "Of course Mrs Burkart, I'll just…"
"Yeah, why don't you?"
Molly stood up slowly, placed the icepack on the table and headed to the door, but was stopped by her boss' gentle voice, "It's been… really hard, Molly. So hard."
Molly's mouth twitched, "I know, Mrs Burkhart."
"I knew you'd be here…" his hard, coarse voice made her eyes snap open.
"No," she whimpered, trying to move away but she found herself stuck.
"A little on the skinny, half-dead side but… still pretty. Still pretty little Jacqueline… still a little tease," he mocked, moving closer.
"Please, please, please…" she babbled.
"Sorry dear?" Molly asked the quivering girl.
"Please go, please don't, go, please, please…"
"Begging? I knew, deep down, you wanted it. I could tell by the way you…"
"No, no, I never wanted it… go, don't… please go."
"Liar," he hissed, looming over her dangerously.
"No, I d-d-d-don't p-please go, leave I don't w-w-want it…" she moaned.
The nurse ignored the babbling girl as she emptied a vial of soft blue liquid into a syringe slowly.
"Ask her…" he said softly, "ask her what she's doing."
"What are you doing?" she said quickly, startling the nurse.
"Oh, well… I'm just gonna make you feel real good, baby," she replied.
"Stop it," she said firmly, "leave me alone."
"But. I. Don't. Want. To," he whispered, pulling out a knife, "You ever seen one of these before?"
"N-No, I…"
"You've never seen a knife before?" He suddenly looked angry, "you'll sit there, in front of me, tell me you haven't seen a knife before? You'll lie and tell me you haven't seen a knife before? You've seen one Jackie, tell me!"
"I-I…"
"Liar!" he yelled, jamming the knife into her arm.
"Hold still," Molly muttered as Jackie strained against her bonds. The tiny brunette screamed and screamed as she emptied the syringe into her bloodstream. The nurse withdrew the needle quickly before reaching for another with a yellowish liquid inside, which she then proceeded to inject into Jackie's hip.
"Can you feel it?!" he yelled, getting in her face and pushing the knife harder into her hipbone.
"I feel it! I see it! Please stop!" she wailed. The leather straps held the teen relatively still, but that didn't stop the third and final needle that slipped into her jaw from shaking side to side.
Suddenly Jackie's mouth went slack and he smiled in satisfaction, withdrawing the knife .
"I think you get it," he said, pulling off his shirt, "now you and me… we're gonna have a party."
Jackie's throat worked desperately and her eyes squeezed shut, but she didn't make a sound. The only noise was the gentle rustling of the sheets as Molly left, closing the door quietly behind her.
When the straps were removed, the limbs they held stayed motionless. Molly quickly de-clothed the helpless youth, forcing herself to stay neutral as Ms Burkhart's dangerously thin body was revealed to her. She picked her up and cradled her now shivering form.
"Mo-om-my… cold," she whispered, her voice still thick with anaesthesia as she clung to the nurse's shoulders.
"Shh, now… I'm going to give you a nice hot bath, how does that sound?"
"Like…" But she'd already drifted off somewhere and here eyes held that glazed look that Molly was really beginning to hate. But she pushed that aside and lowered Jackie into the steaming bathtub, "Eek…"
The nurse laughed, "Yes 'eek' indeed. Is it nice?"
"Mm-hmm," Jackie said, grinning. But it was that empty, drugged grin that made Molly flinch.
"Don't be alarmed dear, but I'm going to give you something while we wash up, 'kay?"
"Yes," she said, her voice slurred.
"Good…" She withdrew two white pills from a tiny jar, and placing once between her thumb and forefinger she moved it towards Jackie's mouth, "Come along, eat up… that's a girl… and just one more…"
Soon, as planned, the girl was giggling like mad. The water rippled around her as her body shook and Molly couldn't help smiling at how happy she looked as the nurse cleaned her up with a soapy sponge.
"I like unicorns, do you like unicorns?"
"Yes, very much."
"So do I, isn't that funny?" she laughed, flicking around the water. "Funny, funny, funny… oh no…" The nurse froze in shock. She recognised that look that had suddenly filled Jackie's eyes. Clarity.
"You…who?" she stammered, "oh my god… get me out of here!"
"You know I can't…" she tried, pushing down her fear.
"I don't know…" She almost sighed in relief as the girl sank, up to her shoulders, in the warm bath. Jackie glanced at her indifferently before small mumbling escaped her throat, "…away from that thing… very astute… hands. Hands." She looked at her own. Wrinkled. Barely there. Inhuman. Jackie didn't stop talking. Molly scooped her up, laying her back on the bed and dressing her carefully. Jackie didn't even move as she re-attached the restraints. Her eyes slipped closed and she continued to murmur softly until another voice interrupted. Her eyes flipped open.
"Hello cutie," he said in that voice she knew too well, "back for more, are we?"
Jackie screamed. The leather straps vibrated. Molly hummed a gentle tune as she filled three syringes. Jackie continued to scream.
Two days later, Pam found herself back in the dining room. She revelled in the quiet, closing her eyes and letting herself get lulled into an almost-sleep by the humming of the refrigerator in the other room. Idly she hoped she'd gotten that intimidation thing right the other day. Her Jackie wasn't going anywhere. Nobody would take Jackie away. At least, that's what Richard said.
"She'll be fine," he had murmured, gripping her shoulders gently.
"But, back in that bed… I don't know… shouldn't we…"
"Her home is safe, she knows that…"
Pam has stifled the insane urge to laugh. Out of all people, Jackie was the one who knew that the least. But instead, she just nodded submissively.
"I've taken care of it. Hired a professional, but… I need you to do something for me."
"Of course I will, you know I will."
"Good. She doesn't know what to do. Tell her how much we want Jackie here… tell her how certain people would not want it… tell her not to be one of those people. You got that?"
She'd got it. She'd also gotten her daughter and tied her up in a bed where she was raped. Closing her eyes against the guilt, she rose steadily just as a sharp knocking sounded on the door.
"Marita," Pam called out tiredly, but rolled her eyes as she realised all the help but Molly had gone home for the night and wouldn't be back for another six hours. So she went to open the door herself.
"Can I help you?" she snapped, just as a high-pitched scream echoed from upstairs.
"Uh, we're Jackie's friends…" the one with the floppy brown hair who she vaguely recognised said. She knew his name started with an M and he'd been around here once or twice. There were four others, buts she paid them no mind as she narrowed her eyes at the one who spoke.
"Well, we're busy right now," she said loudly, trying to block out the screams, "come back later."
"But…" he continued. She slammed the door in his face.
Pam screwed up her face, holding her fists against her temples a slow rumbling began to work it's way from her stomach to her throat she made a loud frustrated noise before punching the wall. She frowned at the dent in the soft pink wall. The shadows almost made it look red.
"Oh my god, I have so gotta get out of here," she muttered, snatching her violet cashmere coat off the hook and grabbing her car keys from the hall table. "Molly!" she shouted in a rare moment of silence, "I'm going out… you'll be fine, won't you?"
Not waiting for an answer, she breezed out the door and slammed it behind her. Not noticing the crowd of teenagers hiding behind her neighbour's hedge and watching as she climbed into her car.
Pam fixed her hair in the rear-view mirror.
Jackie's friends waited.
