Yay! Another update! But, may I please have more reviews? Oh well, here you are, sweethearts.
-X-X-X-
Goodnight, Mommy
-X-X-X-
"I'll now allow it, Victor!"
"Maudeline, please, listen to me!"
"I'll not allow that child in the same house as her! She'll hurt Emily!"
"She'll do no such thing!"
"Grandma, don't do it!" Edward pleaded. There were tears in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. "It's nearly Christmas for God's sake!"
"That does not matter! She's a danger to herself and that baby girl. She needs help."
"She's getting help, Maudeline!" Victor shouted. "She's sees two psychiatrists and the school counselor! She takes fifty milligrams of lithium ever four hours! What more do you want, woman?!"
"Don't speak to me in that tone!" Sally's grandmother shrieked. "I want her getting proper help, boy! The poor thing can hardly look in the mirror without seeing something that isn't there! I don't want to think about what she could do to Emily."
"She wouldn't look at Emily if it would make her cry!" Victor shouted. He was losing his temper. "She's not dangerous! Sure, she has a temper, but she's not crazy!"
"Yes she is, Victor." Maudeline's voice softened. "She's schizophrenic, lad. That's a mental illness." She stood up from her chair.
"Grandma, please," Edward begged. "Just let her stay for Christmas."
"She'll be sent to an asylum. And that's final."
Maudeline slammed the door behind her. Edward sniffed, wiping his eyes. He looked at his father. "She can't do this, can she?"
"Your grandmother controls what happens to Emily. In her eyes, Sally is a threat to her. Therefore she can decide where Sally goes."
"No!" Edward screamed. "You're a lawyer, goddamn it! There has to be something we can do!"
"There isn't, Edward." Footsteps ran up the stairs. Victor's face turned paler. "Oh dear – Sally, wait!"
Edward followed his father to his sister's room. He could hear Sally crying and screaming that she wouldn't go. Their father had to hold her to get her shrieks to cease. She cried into his chest. Edward's heart was breaking, and he could tell his father's was too. Their family was being torn apart even more.
"I won't go there," Sally whispered to her father. Edward couldn't take it anymore. He left the room before his baby sister could see him cry. "I won't."
"Sally, you have to go," Victor sobbed. "You have to. There is no staying here. Your grandmother will make you go."
"I hate her!" Sally cried. "I hate her, and I know she hates me! She hates me because I'm imperfect!"
"She doesn't hate you, Sally, she doesn't." He cradled her. "She's only trying to help.
"But she's not helping me!" Sally was hysterical. Victor took her hand.
"I'm sorry, dear." He wiped the tears off of his face. "I really am."
-X-X-X-
A tear silently fell down her pale cheek as her eyes stared straight ahead, appearing as though they saw nothing. Chilling winds whipped her hair around her face. She didn't feel it. Her thoughts prevented her from feeling or seeing reality. Soon, she would no longer be a part of society.
Sally stood outside the doors of the asylum. She had not been allowed to bring anything with her, except Scarlet, her little stuffed dolphin. She had screamed, kicked, bitten at the people who held her down. They could not give her and sedatives until she was submitted to the hospital. Her father had cried. Edward wouldn't come out of his room. Dib had tried to follow the car down the road. Zim stared wordlessly, shaking his head and denying that Sally was going anywhere.
In the end, she had no one left. Gaz chased after Dib and held him back from running into traffic. Zim never did see Sally come back that day. Edward never did come out of his room. Victor just watched through tear filled eyes as the car left his house. A nurse had taken Scarlet away from Sally and told her she would not get her back until they were sure she was completely safe. She screamed at the woman, saying they would rip her up and tear out her stuffing, shouting that Scarlet was the only thing she had left of her mother. Only when the woman explained to her that they'd just use an X-ray machine did Sally stop screaming. Still, she was reluctant to give Scarlet to the hands of someone else.
Her room was white. A pane of glass replaced the wall facing the hallway. To Sally, it looked just like a mirror, but she knew someone on the other side could see into the room. A metal bed sat in the corner, with a little white table next to it. There was a little bathroom connected to the room, with a small sink, toilet, and shower inside. There was no metal at all.
A white paper bracelet was put on her wrist. It had her first and last name, age, diagnosis, and doctor on it. The nurse told her to change into her new clothes. White pants and long sleeved shirt with socks. The asylum would be providing the rest of her wardrobe. A woman returned Scarlet to her, and Sally held the stuffed animal close.
Sally cried. She hadn't cried so hard since she was two. She felt like a small child, so why not cry like one? She clutched Scarlet to her chest, her tears falling on the little dolphin's nose. She cried for Dib, she cried for her father, for her mother. She wanted some form of comfort, someone who had not wanted her damned to this hell. She called out for Zim and Edward.
Nearly an hour later, Sally's eyes were swollen and red. Her chest ached and her throat burned. Her back heaved with every breath. Sally curled up on the small bed with Scarlet nestled into her arms. She nuzzled her face into the pillow. It smelled like ginger.
A soft hand caressed her cheek. She could feel little butterfly kisses on her face and hands. "Sleep, sweetheart," a voice murmured. Sally opened her eyes. She smiled tranquilly at the face smiling back at her. She felt calm. "Close your eyes, dear." The hand sifted through Sally's hair, braiding it. She could hear the voice softly humming. Her eyes slowly closed, and her exhausted and aching body relaxed. She could feel herself about to fall asleep, but two words escaped her lips before she did.
"Goodnight, mommy..."
-X-X-X-
"Please, you have to let me see her!"
"I'm sorry, young man, but Miss Lacrymosa will not be able to accept visitors for the next few days."
"It won't take long, I promise!"
"Young man, I can't allow it!" The nurse gave him a stern look. Dib looked as if he were about to cry.
"Can't I at least look at her?"
The nurse rolled her eyes. She looked at her charts briefly. "Miss Lacrymosa is in room 149. The window on the wall only looks in, so she won't be able to see you or know you're there. Don't get any ideas, the door is locked and the room is soundproof." Dib took off ran down the hallways looking for Sally's room. He nearly missed it but back up to look into the huge window.
Sally lay on her bed. She was asleep, but someone could easily tell she had been crying. Yet, there was a smile on her face. Scarlet was clutched to her chest. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a braid. Dib put and hand on the window, his nose pressed against the glass. Tears welled up in his eyes. When would she leave this horrible place and come back to him? He would come to see her as soon as they allowed her visitors; you could bet your life on that. But she would not go back to school with him again. Other people would ask what had happened to her, and he would lie to protect her. He wouldn't be able to hold her, to kiss her again without someone watching on the other side of the glass.
What if something was wrong with her and someone recognizing it would make it surface? Would she try to hurt Dib if he tried to hold her? Would she push him away, saying that he put her there with everyone else? Would she hate him? He cried, the thought of losing her too much to bear. For nearly two hours he stared through that window and watched her, fearing that this would be the only way he could see her at ease.
At some point, Gaz came to get him. When they got home, she sat with him on the couch while he mindlessly stared at the television screen. She even put her GS2 away.
"Dib," Gaz said. He looked at her. She smiled sadly. "Things will get better for her, and for you. Just wait."
Dib smiled. He knew Gaz never really hated him, it was just that she didn't like talking that much. And when she did talk, it was to tell someone else to shut up. But she was his only sister, and he loved her. Even if she did give him death threats sometimes.
"Thanks, Gaz," he murmured. "Thanks a lot." Gaz smiled.
After it got dark, Dib ordered pizza and popped some popcorn. Gaz put in her favorite movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Dib had no problem with watching the quirky British film over and over again. Gaz even let him have the last slice of pizza before getting up and making two huge bowls of rocky road ice cream.
Things may not have looked their best at that moment, but Dib was glad he at least had his little sister there to help make things easier.
-X-X-X-
Ah, first update in a while. Not that long, but I'm glad I got this finished before I go off to band camp! Yeah, like, one time at band camp... Don't make fun of me, it's kick ass good fun! Please review, dears, I beg of you with all of my black hole of a heart! Pretty please? puppy eyes With sugar on top?