Chapter Four

I sat in Dr. Collins' office alone this time. He said Penny could come in but I saw the look on her face. She didn't want to witness what I would do, but she didn't want to hurt my feelings. So I told her I would like to go in by myself. Now I was regretting it.

"Now Cory, tell me how you feel about Penny and Craig Ferguson," the doctor said. He had on a gray suit with a tie with cartoon puppies. I could see his grandchildren getting him that tie for Christmas. He wore it for them.

"I like them both, they are very nice to me," I said quickly. I didn't think this had anything to do with Penny and Craig. I didn't want to talk about them. I wanted to talk about Cathy and Carrie.

"You love them like they are your parents," he asked.

I nodded. What was he getting at?

"Penny told me that you are good in school but you don't have many friends," he said. He leaned back in his large, brown leather chair and folded his hands on the desk. He had a pad of paper to right down notes about me. I could see there were already a few scribbles on it. I had barely said ten words. What could he possibly have to write down already?

"Yes," was all I said.

He narrowed his eyes, "You don't seem very talkative today," he said.

I almost laughed. This doctor claimed he knew people. That he went to school to study how people felt but he didn't seem to know what I really needed. Even with my outburst yesterday he didn't ask me who Carrie was. He made me talk about Penny and school. I didn't think these things mattered.

"Can we talk about where I came from?" I asked suddenly. I was surprised at my own outburst. I was usually quiet and let other people do the deciding.

Dr. Collins jotted something down and leaned back again, "Sure, where did you come from?" he asked.

"I don't know," I told him, "I just appeared,"

"Surely you know that is impossible," he said.

I nodded. But I was thinking just the opposite. It seemed like I did just appear from nowhere. Why would someone leave a five-year-old child on a porch for strangers to take care of? I didn't think any one could answer that question for me. Or my questions about Cathy and Carrie.

"You seemed to be talking to a girl named Carrie yesterday," Dr. Collins said, "Is that someone you know from school,"

"No, she looks like me," I said.

"Your sister then?" he leaned forward. He knew I had no family that anyone knew about. If I could remember having a sister then maybe I could remember having a mother and a father.

I didn't say anything. She could be my sister. I had a sister. Someone who I could play with and talk to. Someone my own age. She was my twin sister.

"My twin sister," I told him suddenly.

He stared at me a moment and then began writing furiously. He reached down to a drawer. I heard a key slipping into a lock. I froze for a minute before jumping off the couch I was sitting on and running behind it. I heard the slow scratch of the metal key in the lock. It was going so slow but it didn't seem like I could get away. She would find me.

"Cory?" a voice said. My body shook all over. Where was Mama?

"Cathy?" I whispered, "Don't let her get me," I curled up in a ball on the ground. I felt someone beside me. I looked up. It was Carrie. Her curly blond hair was disheveled. She looked just as frightened as I felt. Suddenly I saw Carrie being yanked upwards. And there she was. The Grandmother. A huge hulk of a woman, wearing a gray dress with a brooch. Her gray hair was pulled back into a tight bun,

"NOO!" I yelled.

She pulled Carrie up by her beautiful hair and swung her away from me. I heard her squeal in agony. I backed away from the giant woman until I hit the wall. I couldn't escape any further. I couldn't get away from her.

"Cory please," I heard someone beg. I think it was Cathy. She was here to help me. I stood up and saw the Grandmother again. She was far away from me, but not far away from Carrie. She was going to hurt her. She picked her up by her pink shirt and carried her, screaming, over to me. I shivered at the sight of her steel gray eyes. Everything about this woman was gray. She was evil, I could feel it leaking from her pores. Carrie was screaming in pain.

Finally I wouldn't take anymore. I ran at the massive woman. I put my head down and charged into her stomach. She didn't budge but I was propelled backwards into a table. Pain shot through my back and I yelped. The Grandmother came closer. I bent down and grabbed her tree trunk of a leg in my tiny hands. I bit down on her calf as hard as I could. She let out a gasp and dropped Carrie in a crying heap.

Maybe I should have let it go then, but I couldn't forget about her hurting my sister. She wasn't going to get away with it. I turned around and found a crystal vase on the floor. Just lying there, waiting for me.

I picked it up and heaved it at the woman. It shattered on her forehead in an explosion of glass and blood. The hulk fell to the ground and suddenly transformed into a man. Smaller than the evil gray lady. Wearing a tie with cartoon dogs on it. Carrie was now a pink blanket covered in dark red blood and broken crystal.

I gasped and shrank away from the fallen doctor. What had I done?

Two policemen raced into the room along with Penny. They took one look at the doctor and me standing there shaking and I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Hands grabbed me from all angles. I kicked and screamed.

"You can't take me away! Not again!" I yelled. I felt my knee connect with the soft bone of someone's nose. When I brought my knee back up to my chest I saw blood on my beige pants. Someone was moaning on the floor.

The policemen finally pinned me down and I felt someone stick a needle in my arm. I squirmed a little harder until I felt too weak to move. My eyes felt heavy and I lay still. The last things I heard before I passed out were, "I think it's broken," and "There's no pulse."

Finally black mercy took over.