The smile that had been tugging at my lips dropped instantly when my eyes found the person sitting at the chair wasn't Denise Bradley at all. Not in the slightest. I stop in my tracks and stare at the back of the woman's head. It was Carin, Christopher's sister. I hadn't seen her in years, Christopher had insisted she was dead. I attended a funeral for her.
She turned her head, blonde hair swinging over her shoulder and her pale skin glinting in the sunlight that filtered through the tall arched windows in Sister Jude's special office. Her brown eyes shine with life that I hadn't seen in them since she was attacked. I remember she broke down, she couldn't function. It was like she was a shell of what she once was.
"Samantha." She greets me, relief sounding in her voice.
"Carin?" I blink rapidly, "I thought you were dead. Christopher, he was so broken over it. We went to your funeral." My jaw drops as I shuffle forward a few steps, still not believing what I was seeing.
"What?" Her face scrunches up in confusion.
"Yeah." I nod as she stands and I reach out, my fingers brushing her cheek.
She looks stunned, and disbelieving, "I can't believe they would- I mean it's all just- why would they even-" She stumbles over words, not finishing her thoughts. "I went away for a while, I came here in fact. I just needed some help coping with what happened to me, and both Sister Jude and Sister Mary Eunice helped me get that." She looks disheartened now, "So, everyone thinks I'm dead?" Her eyes fill with tears, "William? Cora? Sarah? Max?"
"They were heartbroken. I held them tight at the funeral, they were inconsolable." My eyes fill with tears now, recalling just how broken her children and husband were. Her small children just wanted their mother back.
"Oh!" She gasped, and collapsed into my arms. I could feel her tears on my shoulder. "My poor babies. My poor husband. They all think I'm dead."
"Didn't they know you were coming here?"
"Yes, they knew." She covered her mouth, muffling some of her cries, "I talked about it with William, and we agreed it was what was best. They were supposed to come visit me, and they did for the first few months. But we found we didn't want our small children around this too much, and we decided to have them come less."
"But, he knew you were here. Didn't he come to check on you?"
"Someone must not have known I was here, I had just checked out a couple of months ago, and have been staying with a friend while I've been trying to get ahold of them and get back into a job. I need to go back to work." She shakes her head.
"Must have been a new nurse or orderly who didn't recognize your name. Or you had just checked out." Sister Jude has a concerned look on her face for once as she shakes her head.
Sinking into the chairs I keep ahold of her hand. "I saw in the paper that you were here. What happened to my brother?" Her glassy brown eyes meet mine and I open my mouth, taking a deep breath.
"He was killed. I- I was asleep. I don't know what happened, but when I woke up—" I cut myself off, covering my mouth with my free hand. "He was already gone." I finish in a whisper.
She closed her eyes tight for a moment, processing. "Let's get the two of you out of here. Okay?" she nods her head and I nod along with her. "That would be great." I sigh.
"It'll take me awhile to get the paperwork and money in order, only a few days I think." She says, and I can see her mind working on overdrive now. "I'm going to work on brining you home with me. I just need to contact William and then we'll both go stay with our family, my family."
"You should talk to Denise Bradley. She's also working to get me out."
"Denise Bradley?" she nods, "Ok. I'll look for her."