She's Not That Into You Chapter 14: Stockholm Syndrome
Jeanette sat on the sofa in her sister's apartment, while Eleanor was watching some DVR recordings she had of the newscasts from the station Jeanette worked for. As Eleanor continued to watch, she got a sense of how passionate Jeanette was about her work.
"This is really impressive, Jeanette!" Eleanor said, watching her sister's camera work. "You're an artist!"
"I guess." Jeanette mumbled.
"You ought to move out to Hollywood and become a cinematographer for a major motion picture studio," Eleanor suggested, "the way movies are shot today, they could benefit from eyes for detail like your's!"
Jeanette nodded, but she wasn't paying attention at all to what her sister was saying, all she could think about was how she betrayed Roberta. She could just sense that Roberta was probably doing something very irrational at the very moment. Already, just in the past 48 hours, Roberta fell off the wagon and turned to drugs again, and also resorted to self mutilation, and all because she was feeling ignored and neglected by Jeanette. As Jeanette's mind raced, all she could think about it what Roberta could possibly be doing back home. Hanging herself in the closet? Drowning herself in the bathtub? Overdosing on drugs again? Shooting herself in the head? If Roberta did any of those things, Jeanette knew she couldn't live with herself. As she fought back tears, she lept off the sofa and ran into the bedroom.
"I'm sorry, Ellie!" Jeanette said.
"What's wrong?" Eleanor asked.
Jeanette put her coat and shoes on, then grabbed her car keys.
"I have to go back!" Jeanette said, but Eleanor stood firm in the doorway.
"I can't let you do that, Jeanette!" Eleanor said.
With Jeanette's heart, mind, and adrenaline racing, she surprisingly managed to slip past her stronger sister trying to block her from leaving the room.
"I have to, Ellie," Jeanette said, racing for the front door, "if Roberta does anything to kill herself, I'd never be able to live with myself!"
Jeanette dashed out the door, ran down the staircase, and over to her car in the parking lot. Eleanor raced out the door, leaning over the balcony, calling out to her frantic sister.
"Don't do this, Jeanette!" Eleanor said, "nothing good will come from it!"
"Nothing good is coming from me removing myself from the picture either!" Jeanette said as she got into her car and drove off, all the while Eleanor buried her face into her hands and sighed.
Racing down the road, Jeanette had a death grip on the wheel, and was pushing the petal to the metal. She kept praying over and over again that Roberta would be alright and that nothing was happening to her. Faster and faster Jeanette drove, until she finally made it back to the apartment that she and Roberta had been sharing for so long. Jeanette wasted no time in jumping out of the car, unlocking the front door, and running inside.
"Robbie!" Jeanette called out, but no answer were heard. "Oh no! I'm too late!"
Jeanette raced into the bedroom, ripping open the closet door, not finding Roberta in there. She then dashed into the bathroom, which was still in a state of shambles after Roberta's drug-induced night, but Jeanette did not find her in the bathtub. The sounds of Jeanette's heart racing and her heavy breathing was the only thing killing the dead silence in the entire apartment. Jeanette stepped into the open area where the livingroom and the kitchen were divided. "Robbie?" She called out, hopelessly. Nothing. No response. No sign of life anywhere in the apartment. Jeanette's heart bottomed out. She dropped to the sofa, and stared out into the empty livingroom. A picture on the wall caught her eye, she walked over and pulled it off the wall, taking it back to the sofa with her as she studied it. The picture was a silly and goofy one, but was of better and happier times. It was from one of the Christmases they spent together, both wearing Santa hats, and both wearing matching sweaters that were incredibly loud and ugly, and even featured a joke written on the front of them reading 'Proper Christmas Attire.' Both of them had their arms around each other, both of them raising glasses of egg nog for the camera, both of them wearing goofy smiles on their faces, and both of them happy and festive.
"Oh, Robbie..." Jeanette mumbled, as the tears spilled from her eyes. Jeanette clutched the picture to her chest tightly, as she wept, so knowing that Roberta probably ran off somewhere, not knowing where, and ended her life.
Although Roberta was intending to end her life, it was spared. While their stovetop worked, their oven had been broken for many months. Roberta had forgotten all about it as she sat in the oven almost unharmed. While there was no heat in the oven cooking her, she was running out of air, and was nearly slipping away due to lack of oxygen, but the muffled sounds of weeping and sobbing entered her ears. Dazed and confused, Roberta pushed open the oven door, falling out onto the kitchen floor. After taking a second to pull herself together enough to stand upright, she heard the weeping and sobbing more clearly, realizing it was coming from the livingroom. With still abit of unsteadiness in her walk, Roberta made her way into the livingroom, and was surprised to find Jeanette sitting on the sofa, clutching the photo, and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Jeanette?" Roberta spoke up.
Jeanette nearly jumped out of her skin, dropping the photo on the coffee table, causing the glass to shatter into numerous tiny pieces. Much like Roberta, Jeanette couldn't believe her eyes either. Seeing Roberta standing, although rather shaky, and looking very distraught, Jeanette leapt off the sofa as the two ran to each embrace each other tightly. Now both of them were sobbing uncontrollably. Roberta could not believe that Jeanette had come back, and Jeanette could not believe that Roberta was still alive. They clung to each other tightly as they continued shedding tears. The two of them made a mutual agreement to each other, Jeanette agreed to go to couple's therapy and have their relationship evaluated for Roberta's sake, while Roberta agreed to see a psychiatrist and have her mentality evaluated for Jeanette's sake. Back at Eleanor's apartment, Eleanor had dialed the number to Brittany's estate.
"You have reached the Miller Mansion," a voice with a posh English accent said when answering the phone, "I'm afraid Miss Miller is unable to take any calls at this point, but if you leave your name with us, she will see if she can work in sometime to get back to you in the future."
"Please let me speak to Brittany," Eleanor insisted, "this is her sister, Eleanor, she'll surly take my call."
"I'm afraid I cannot just ask Miss Miller to break away from her activities for petty little problems." The servant answering the phone told her.
"I assure you it's hardly a petty little problem," Eleanor said, "this is an urgent family matter that requires her immediate attention. Please let me speak to her."
"I'll see what I can do, but I will not make any promises." The servant said.
Eleanor waited for several moments before she finally heard her sister's voice on the other end.
"What's going on, Ellie?" Brittany asked.
"Plenty," Eleanor said, "Jeanette's in alot of trouble, and I haven't been able to help her, I think I'm going to need some backup from you, we need an intervention."
"Trouble? Backup? Intervention?" Brittany asked. "What in the world are you talking about? What has Jeanette gotten herself into?"
"It's a really long story," Eleanor said, "you remember Roberta?"
"Eww! That dyke?" Brittany cringed. "Thank god Donald Trump is president now so we can get rid of disgusting lesbos like her!"
"Nevermind that Brit," Eleanor said, "things are really, really bad between her and Jeanette right now, and I need you to help me."
"Don't tell me that sick freak is chasing after Jeanette again!" Brittany said.
"Brittany?" Eleanor said. "She and Jeanette have been together for over three years now."
"WHAT!" Brittany screamed. "My sister became a dyke! Why didn't anybody tell me!"
"Because Jeanette knew you wouldn't approve," Eleanor said, "that's why she's been keeping it a secret from you all these years, and she also swore me to secrecy."
"Disgusting!" Brittany said. "I can't believe my own sister was seduced by that dyke and became one herself!"
"No, Brittany!" Eleanor said. "Jeanette wants out, that's the problem!"
"The problem is that sick freak exists!" Brittany said.
"Brittany, listen to me," Eleanor said, "Jeanette doesn't want to be in this relationship anymore, and that's the problem! Roberta is really posessive and practically smothering Jeanette, and she wants out! I tried to get Jeanette leave once before, but she was so eaten up with guilt that she went back. I think we need an intervention to get Jeanette out of there."
"You said it!" Brittany said. "We need to save Jeanette from this evil, brainwashing cult! I'll be there as soon as possible!"
With that, Brittany and Eleanor hung up. Brittany was absolutely fuming over the situation, but Eleanor began to feel abit of guilt herself for betraying Jeanette's trust by revealing her secrets to Brittany, but Eleanor felt this was for Jeanette's own good. She needed backup from her sisters since she clearly isn't strong enough to get out of the situation on her own.