"I'm here to talk to you." Loomis sighed. He'd known she'd be difficult but it didn't make it any easier.
"Really?" She raised an eyebrow skeptically, "What about?"
"Where were you between now and when you vanished?" Silence was his only answer, "Jinx?"
"Amanda's house." Jinx looked up at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes.
"A-Amanda? The head nurse?" Loomis leaned forward, this was...new.
"Yeah, her. She took me from the prison, saying that you all knew where I was." Her voice turned angry, "But if what Dad told me was true then she lied! She locked me in that damn room for a year, telling me about how it was to keep me safe! That I was special or some bullshit like that!" She began to breath faster, arms straining against the straps, "I had to..I had to kill her to get out. I knew I did. Then I killed her oaf of a boyfriend." A small smile graced her lips, "They both deserved what they got. For what they did to us."
"You were alone all that time?" The doctor's eyes shone with concern and pity. It made her sick.
"Stop that." She snapped.
"Stop what?" He asked.
"Looking at me like I'm someone to be pitied." She hissed, "I'm not. I'm alive and that's what matters."
A knock on the door startled both occupants of the room. A man in a doctor's coat stood in the doorway.
"Someone's here that wants to talk with her." The newcomer reported. Rachel stepped into the room shyly. Jinx noted the bags under her eyes and she looked like she'd been crying, "Can we lose the restraints, Loomis?"
"Sure. Sure." Loomis stood up, glancing down at the child as the doctor undid the straps holding her. She looked scared, confused, and just…lost.
Rachel sat down in the chair previously occupied by Loomis as Jinx sat up slowly.
"You mad at me?" The younger girl asked with a tired sigh.
"Why?" Rachel blinked, puzzled.
"Gee I wonder?" Jinx rolled her eyes, "Totally not because I tried to kill you or anything."
"I'm not mad at you."
"Why not?"
"Do you want me to be?"
Jinx looked down at her hands, her fingers brushing over the bandages on her wrist, "I dunno...most people would be. I would be." She flicked her eyes up at her, "Why aren't you?"
"I overheard something. About how you disappeared for a year." Rachel bit her lip, "And that something happened between you and Jamie in the schoolhouse. I just want to know, what happened to you?"
"Second person that's asked me today." Her voice shook slightly, "I was here. In this town. Locked up in a room, supposedly for my own protection. But I know who that bitch and her boyfriend were protecting." The sheets found themselves wrapped up in two tiny fists, "They were protecting all of you, from me. Or maybe they were trying to use me against Dad when he woke up. I don't know." Her body began to shake, eyes staring ahead at nothing, "I was locked in there for a year until the voices told me what I had to do. I had to get out of there. I had to kill her. I had to kill him. I had to. I had to. I HAD TO." The sudden shout startled Rachel out of her chair. She backed up against the opposite wall as the child broke down and just began to scream, "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! HELP ME!"
Loomis and a couple nurses sprinted into the room. One went over to Jinx while the other went over to Rachel, asking what had happened. Jinx suddenly went quiet when the first nurse touched her shoulder. Her lips split into a slim smile. She giggled. Then she doubled over and began to cackle. The occupants of the room looked at each other terrified.
"Jinx! Jinx look at me." Loomis took her too small shoulders in his hands. He sat her up and forced her to look into his eyes. He was surprised to see that she had tears flowing down her face, but she was still smiling softly.
"Just kill me." She choked out, "Why...didn't she just…..kill me?"
"Who, Jinx? Who?" Loomis asked, "Amanda? Jamie? Who?"
"I dunno." Her body went limp in his grasp, "Maybe. Maybe not." Her eyes went kind of half lidded, staring blankly at him, "Where's Jamie? She dead?"
"N-no." Rachel stepped forward, "She's...here."
"Here?" She raised an eyebrow, "Why?"
"She attacked her stepmother." Loomis frowned, watching the child's reaction carefully. At first she just blinked up at them with the same blank look, then she furrowed her eyebrows in thought. She hummed a bit and shrugged, "I take it you don't particularly care?"
"I'm not exactly the most caring person in the world." Jinx rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. Rachel opened her mouth to protest but for reasons untold decided not to speak, "While we're at it is there anything else anyone wants to ask me? It seems to be a trend today."
"Just one." Rachel piped up. The girl looked over at her expectantly. She sat down in the nearest chair, shakily reaching for her hand. Jinx tensed but didn't pull away,
"Are you okay?"