V

¼ of a Chapter

I could feel Gordo's eyes burning into me. I know he was scrutinizing me, recalling all that I had told him before: thinking I had lied.

"You're the liar." It came out as a hiss that couldn't be helped.

"Miranda!" Mrs. McGuire was looking passed her spectacles, with shock twisting her face.

"This is for the best, Miranda," answered the folding hands.

"You made him leave!"

"Miranda!" The stranger grabbed my arm and tipped her glasses towards the tip of her nose to get a better look into my eyes. "Miranda, your mother is trying to help you. Fits aren't going to make anything better- neither is lying." 

I just stared at her, my wrist going limp in her hand. My eyes were getting hot and my stomach boiled uncomfortably. I looked over to Gordo who stood there still scrutinizing, not "compromising authority".

"What'd she tell you?"

"The truth," went the hands.

"Mary Anne called me and told me about how you've lied to your father. How could you do that to them Miranda? Your own parents…."

"I didn't-"

"Replacing her amphetamines. Making her look like a liar to her own husband." She drew her hand from my wrist and went through her neatly organized bag for half of a second. Each millisecond throbbed in my ears. "After everything was told to me, I couldn't leave it to weekly counseling." She drew out a white Vista card. "I think for your benefit and for your parents- at least while you're away-"

"Away?"

"That you should be committed."

It was all streaming through my head now: the crying, the bird, the shreds, the walking, the waiting, his leaving, moments with Gordo, opening the front door- it all came back. I knew what he was thinking. He thought I was lying. He had his own streaming images: in the cold- my standing there, my waiting at his door, the words from Mrs. McGuire. Why would he believe me?

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Sorry this chapter was so bad and so incredibly short. It's actually the shortest chapter I've ever written. I had to rewrite it when my computer closed off and didn't auto save, so this all that survived, and this is all the time I'll have to work on it until next Saturday. The first time is always the charm.