Chapter 8
August 2nd, 1997
Blair froze and dropped her dress on the sink. She was not as alone as she thought she was, but at the same time she was completely alone. There was no one home that she could call for help. She didn't know why Sammy went back upstairs. He wouldn't be of any help anyway. He wasn't an aggressive dog. What if Sammy went upstairs because the intruder wasn't working alone? What if someone else was in the house and they got to Amanda? Sammy was protective of the baby, he always ran into her room when he heard her crying.
Blair's heart pounded in her chest as she heard the man getting closer to her from behind. She saw the staircase out of the corner of her eye. She decided she had to make a break for it. Blair was grateful that her joints weren't bothering her today, because she didn't think there would be any chance she could get away from this guy otherwise.
Blair dashed to the staircase and ran up the stairs. She heard the man rush to chase her behind her. She heard him running up the stairs behind her.
Blair tripped near the top. That gave the man a chance to grab her ankle. Blair screamed and kicked him in the face. He fell backwards down the stairs. Blair heard the man groan as he landed at the bottom.
Blair ran the rest of the way up the stairs, into the kitchen and slammed the basement door. She locked the deadbolt on it.
Blair leaned against the door and tried to catch her breath. She needed to see if Amanda was okay, but the thought came back into her mind that the intruder may have accomplices.
Blair walked into the living room, slowly peeking around the corner before she entered. She opened the closet next to the stairs slowly, afraid that someone might jump out at her. It was empty and Blair sighed in relief. She dug through the closet and found Tad's baseball bat.
Blair went upstairs slowly with the bat slung over her right shoulder. She picked up her tiara and shoes along the way. The door to Kelsey and Amanda's room was open. She peeked in making sure no one was in there before she entered. Sammy was lying on the floor under Amanda's crib, the baby was asleep.
Blair looked under Kelsey's bed, all she found was a stray sock and some dust bunnies. She looked in the closet. Satisfied that no one was hiding, Blair back tracked and shut the door to the room and locked it. She went through the other door into her and Tad's room.
Blair looked across the room. The door leading to the hallway was open. She looked over at her dressing table and saw that her jewelry box was still intact. The room showed no signs of being rifled through.
Blair shut the door to the kid's room and locked it. She went in the bathroom and she slowly moved back the shower curtain. She sighed in relief when she saw the empty bathtub. She left the bathroom and shut the door.
Blair walked through the rest of the room and made sure no one was hiding anywhere. She opened the closet and found no one. She shut the door to the room that led into the hallway and locked it.
Blair ran to the cordless phone on the desk and called the police. She looked down at her leg, it was bleeding. She stayed on the line with the police while she went in the bathroom to bandage her leg. Blair cleaned up her leg and looked in the medicine cabinet. All she could find was Kelsey's Barbie Band-Aids. Blair unwrapped one and put it on.
Jo walked back to the cottage from the payphone. She had tried to call Jeff, but he wasn't home. She had left a message on the answering machine asking if he would check on Blair. She had also called the station to see if they were watching the neighborhood. She had also tried to call Blair, but the phone was busy.
Jo sat down in the cottage and picked up her book and began reading. Rick had left a half hour ago and was fishing somewhere on the lake trying to catch 'the big one.'
Jo was halfway through chapter fifteen, when she heard screaming outside. It sounded like Rick, but he was screaming like a little girl. Jo put her bookmark in the book and threw it on the couch, before running outside.
Jo ran down to the dock, where she found Rick tying up the boat. He was screaming in pain.
"What happened?"
"I went to cast my line and I hooked myself. The hook is stuck in my back."
Jo looked at Rick's back. The hook was in his back pretty good.
"Can you get it out?" Rick asked. "I cut the line, so I'm not dragging a fishing rod around.
Jo pulled on the hook and Rick screamed.
"Ow, ow, stop, that hurts."
"You asked me to pull it out," Jo said. "You got the barb on the end stuck in there."
Rick was making so much noise that it attracted the attention of the other renters and some of them came down to the docks to see if they could help.
They all took turns yanking on the hook, while Rick screamed and said things that would make a sailor blush.
"Maybe we should just go to the hospital," Jo said. "They'll probably be able to get it out."
"We don't know where the hospital is," Rick said.
"We can ask the owners for directions," Jo said. "Go wait in the car, I'll be there soon."
Jo walked to the owner's house and Rick walked to the car. Jo got in the car a few minutes later with a piece of paper.
Blair threw a robe on when she heard the police outside. The dispatcher told her to stay where she was until a police officer told her it was safe to come out.
A half an hour later the police knocked on the bedroom door.
"It's the police, open up."
Blair opened the door.
"Are you alright?"
Blair nodded. "Did you get him?"
Blair walked the police officer downstairs.
"Sorry Ma'am, he got away. He escaped the same way he got in, through your basement window. It's broken and you'll want to get someone to board that up for you, until you can get it replaced. We went through the whole house, it's secure. We have men out looking for him and we'll have a unit out front keeping watch."
"Thank you, Officer."
The police left and Blair locked the door behind him. She made sure all the doors and windows were locked and then she tried to call Jeff, but he wasn't home. Blair went upstairs and locked herself in her bedroom. She left the light on and lay in her bed. She clutched the baseball bat to her chest like a teddy bear. There was no way she was sleeping tonight.
August 3rd, 1997
A thunderstorm had rolled in that morning at the camp. No one was allowed outside until half an hour after the last thunderclap was heard.
Hayley was miserable, she was stuck with a camper that was deathly afraid of thunder. As soon as the first thunderclap was heard, Elsie had grabbed onto her leg and started crying.
The other kids had tried to help Elsie calm down to no avail. Hayley was hoping it would stop soon. She wished they could have at least been in the same building as Brett, but he was stuck with his campers in the mess hall and Hayley's campers were stuck in their cabin.
In the mess hall the counselors has set up an arts and crafts table for the campers that were stuck there. Brett was in there with his campers, Katie's cabin, and Jessica's cabin were also in there with a few other counselors that had some of the younger campers. The rest of the campers were supposed to come to the mess hall when the rain stopped.
Brett knew about what was going on with Elsie. The counselors all carried two way radios with them and he had been in contact with Hayley. There wasn't much he could do with her being so far away from him.
Jamie was making a mask out of a paper plate. She was twisting tissue paper around the eraser end of a pencil and dipping it in glue before pressing it to the paper plate. The tissue paper stood up and she continued gluing squares of tissue paper around the paper plate in that manner.
"What's yours going to be?" Annie asked.
"I'm making a lion." Jamie said. She picked up a red square and wrapped it around the pencil.
"Mine's going to be an elephant," Annie said.
They continued making their masks for a while. Soon they noticed the mess hall doors had opened and Leah's cabin came in. Leah was carrying Kelsey and put her down when they got inside.
Jamie ran over to them.
"Really Kelsey, you had to be carried?" Jamie asked.
"I can't get wet. There are huge puddles out there." Kelsey said.
Jamie rolled her eyes. "Oh, brother, you are completely hopeless."
Kelsey ran over to Brett. "Where's Elsie? I have to see her, she's scared, and I can feel it."
"If the rain stopped, I'm sure she'll be in here soon," Brett said. "In the meantime, find a craft to do."
Kelsey ran to a table with painting supplies on it. She picked up a brush and started painting. She painted stick figures of Mrs. Garrett, Tad, Blair, herself, Elsie, Amanda, and Sammy standing outside a house as a family. Kelsey hoped that would be the way it would be from now on.
Hayley came in carrying Elsie a few minutes later. The rest of her group was trailing behind her. Elsie's face was red and tear stained. She ran to Brett when Hayley put her down.
"Are you alright?" Brett asked.
Elsie nodded.
Brett gave her a hug. "It's over now."
"I'm all better now," Elsie said.
Kelsey saw Elsie with Brett and ran over to them.
"Are you okay, Sissy?" Kelsey asked.
"I'm fine now that I'm back with you and the storm is over," Elsie said.
"Come on, let's go paint," Kelsey said.
Brett watched Kelsey and Elsie as they sat at the table laughing and painting. They had basically been attached at the hip, since they met each other. He was worried about how Elsie was going to survive without Kelsey when they had to separate and go home in two weeks. It sucked, twins should stay together.
Maybe he could convince his mother to move to Peekskill, it would work out for all of them. He could transfer to Langley and be with Katie, Elsie could be with Kelsey, and his mother, a nurse, could get a job at any hospital. They didn't have to stay in Pennsylvania, there was nothing keeping them there. Sure they all had friends there, but Brett's friends had all gone away to college. Elsie didn't have many friends back home. She could make new friends in Peekskill. She had already made some.
Since it had rained earlier that day, the counselors decided it was a good time for a game of tug of war. The mud pit was nice and muddy. The kids were all gathered around it, waiting to be sorted into two teams. The counselors said that Elsie and Annie would have to sit the activity out. Elsie wouldn't be able to participate due to her broken arm and Annie could not do anything that could rip her stitches. Both of them were upset about this, so Brett named them team captains.
Elsie and Annie each took turns picking team mates. Elsie's team included Kelsey, Brett, Katie, Hayley, Tisha, and the rest of her bunk mates, and Kelsey's bunkmates among various other boys and girls. Annie's team included Scott, Jamie, Leah, Jessica, Mary, Beth, Missy, the girls in Jamie's cabin, and the boys in Scott's cabin among others.
Elsie and Annie sat on the sidelines, while everyone grabbed hold of the rope. Somehow Kelsey ended up in the front of the line facing Jamie who was in the front of the line on the other side. They looked into each other's eyes.
"You're going in the mud, Warner." Jamie gripped the rope tightly.
"You wish." Kelsey held onto her section of the rope.
A whistle blew and both teams started pulling. Annie and Elsie cheered their teams on from the side. Jamie dug her heels into the mud as Elsie's team pulled the flag closer to them. Annie's team fought back and tugged the flag closer to them.
Annie was screaming for her team to pull harder. Elsie, being shyer than Annie, wasn't as loud in her cheering.
Suddenly, Annie's team dragged Kelsey and three others over the line and into the mud pit. Annie's team cheered.
Kelsey screamed when she recovered from the shock of face planting into the mud pit.
A male voice yelled, "throw her in the lake!"
Before Kelsey could comprehend those words, she felt herself being picked up by six twelve year old boys and being carried to the lake. The other kids all ran after them to watch.
Kelsey screamed the whole way. "Put me down."
The boys swung Kelsey into the lake off of the dock.
Jamie was rolling on the ground in a fit of hysterics.
Kelsey's head popped up from underneath the water. She screamed and scrambled to get out of the water. Kelsey walked out of the water, crying.
"You guys got my hair all wet." Kelsey started to wring her clothes out.
Jamie laughed even harder. "Oh man, y-you l-look like Swamp T-Thing."
"No, I don't," Kelsey yelled. "Shut up, Jamie!" Kelsey glared at Jamie.
Leah stepped between Kelsey and Jamie, before things escalated.
"Alright Jamie, that's enough. Kelsey, hit the showers."
Jamie stopped laughing and tried to catch her breath. Kelsey walked towards the bathroom with Leah. Jamie heard Kelsey talking to Leah as they walked away.
"Who is Swamp Thing?"
"Uh, don't worry about it."
August 4th, 1997
Sammy was barking and driving Blair nuts. She had just put Amanda down for a nap and she didn't want Sammy to wake her up. The police had called her and told her they caught the robber yesterday morning, and he was in jail. Jeff had come by and boarded up the basement window. The police were still patrolling the neighborhood, just to give the residents some peace of mind. Blair didn't think Sammy was riled up due to an intruder.
"Quiet, Sammy!"
Sammy whined and nudged her with his nose.
Blair opened the patio door.
"Do you want to go out?"
Sammy sat on the floor. Sammy barked at her again.
"I said be quiet."
Sammy barked at her.
"Go outside, Sammy, you're driving me up the wall."
Sammy stayed where he was sitting.
Blair shut the patio door, frustrated.
"You can stay in, if you're going to be quiet."
Blair walked to the couch and sat down. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she heard the door open. Blair opened her eyes to see who was coming in.
"Hey!" Tootie said.
"Did you just get back from Vegas?"
"Yeah, I dropped my stuff at home, before I came over."
"Jo asked you to check up on me, didn't she?"
"No, she didn't," Tootie said.
"Why are you here then?"
"Be-cause…because I-I missed you."
"You're a bad liar, Tootie."
"Okay, so maybe I talked to Jo and Mrs. Garrett."
"Mrs. Garrett asked you to babysit me too?"
"Blair, they are just worried about leaving you alone after everything and Mrs. Garrett is worried, she told me you haven't been sleeping well."
Tootie noticed the bags under Blair's eyes.
"I'm fine," Blair said. "Sit down and tell me about Vegas."
Tootie sat in the chair near the fireplace.
"Well Nat won five-hundred dollars on the slot machines and…"
Blair stifled a yawn.
"Maybe you should go take your nap and I'll take care of Amanda when she wakes up."
"I'm not tired, finish your story."
Tootie knew she was lying, but she continued on.
"Well, after she won, we decided to get out of there and we had a girl's night, we went out shopping and then we went out for drinks."
"She didn't spend all of it, did she?"
"No, she wanted to find something special for Annie. She felt bad about giving her such a hard time before the kids left for camp. Did she tell you that Annie got attacked by a bear?"
"Yeah, she told me, I actually took the call from the camp and called Natalie's hotel. She told me Annie got eleven stitches in her back, she was lucky she wasn't killed. Nat told me she wanted to cancel the rest of her book tour and come home, but Annie told her she was fine and wanted to stay at camp."
"If it was me, I would've wanted to come home."
"Well Annie probably didn't want to miss the square dance, she's in love with a boy and he asked her to be his partner."
"How cute, how do you know all this?"
"She's been writing me letters about it. I convinced Natalie to let me send her some make-up."
Sammy started whining again.
"Sammy, what do you want now?" Blair whined.
"I think he wants your attention." Tootie said.
Blair put her hand on her stomach and closed her eyes.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, my stomach just feels funny. I think I'm going to go upstairs and lie down for a while."
"I think that's probably a good idea." Tootie was hoping Blair would fall asleep. "I'll take care of Amanda when she wakes up. Don't worry about her."
"Thanks, Tootie."
Blair stood up and headed upstairs. Sammy ran up after her.
Tootie heard a loud bang on the ceiling and Sammy started barking, followed by Amanda crying. Tootie ran up the stairs.
Tootie ran in the bedroom.
"Blair, are you alright? I heard…"
Tootie stood still at the sight. Blair was lying on the floor next to her bed in the midst of a violent seizure. Tootie remained calm, this wasn't the first time Blair had had a seizure, she was on medication for it and everyone knew what to do when she had one.
Tootie ran over to her and moved Blair away from the bed and nightstand. She grabbed a pillow and put it under Blair's head. Tootie rolled Blair on her left side.
After a minute or two the convulsions stopped and Tootie straightened Blair's left arm on the floor and bent her right arm over it. Then she bent Blair's right leg over her left leg, so they were locked together. Blood soaked the pillow. She must have hit her head when she fell.
Blair came to a few minutes later and saw Tootie in the room.
"What are you doing in here? Why am I on the floor?"
"You had a seizure."
"My head hurts."
"You must have hit it when you fell. You have a gash on the side of your head that probably needs stitches."
Blair started crying.
"What's the matter?"
"I wet my pants."
"I know honey, it is okay. Sometimes that happens when a person has a seizure. When you feel well enough to sit up, we'll change your pants and go to the hospital to look at your cut."
"What about Amanda?"
"She's alright, Sammy went in there. We'll take her with us."
"Blair tried to get up and Tootie helped her. Tootie put Blair's back against the bed and grabbed a towel for Blair's head.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Yeah, my head hurts though."
"We're going to go take care of that soon, okay?"
Tootie opened Blair's drawer and pulled out a pair of jeans.
4:37 PM
Tootie followed Blair into the house. Tootie was carrying Amanda and set her in her playpen.
"The doctor said you need to rest, so you should go upstairs and lay down," Tootie said. "I'll watch Amanda."
"Thanks, Tootie." Blair went upstairs.
The phone rang and Tootie answered it.
"Hello,"
"Hi, it's me," Jo said.
"Oh, hey Jo," Tootie glanced up the stairs.
"So, you checked in on Blair?"
"Yeah, she was totally on to me. She knows you and Mrs. Garrett asked me to check on her and she wasn't happy. It's a good thing I was here though, because she had a seizure and split her head open."
"She hit her head! Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she doesn't have a concussion or anything, she has seven stitches. I sent her upstairs to go lay down. She looks like she hasn't slept in days."
"She hasn't had a seizure in a while. I hope she's taking her medicine."
"Well, the doctor said the seizure might have been triggered by sleep deprivation."
"Has she said anything about the other night?" Jo said. "I talked to the guys at the station and they told me they were over there."
"She hasn't said a word about it. I only know about it because Jeff told me he boarded up the window," Tootie said. "So, how is your vacation going?"
"It's not the best one ever," Jo said. "I had to take Rick to the emergency room the other night."
"What happened?"
"He was out fishing and he got the hook stuck in his back."
"Ouch!"
"Yeah, everyone here tried to pull it out without any luck. We finally just went to the hospital and they cut it with wire cutters and had it out in thirty seconds. We should've just gone to the hospital in the first place."
"So, he's okay then?"
"Yeah, he has three stitches and he had to get a tetanus shot. He cried the entire time."
"I'm glad he's okay, I'm going to stay with Blair tonight. Tad will be home in the morning."
"Alright, thanks Tootie. That makes me feel better," Jo said. "I'll let you go, I'll call you tomorrow."
"Okay, bye Jo."
Tootie hung up the phone. She picked up Amanda out of her playpen.
"Let's go see if Mommy's resting."
Tootie took Amanda upstairs. She entered the bedroom. Blair was sprawled out on top of the comforter, asleep, her nose whistling with every breath.
"See, I told you, you were tired." Tootie found a blanket on the chair and used her free hand to cover Blair up. "Sweet dreams."
August 5th, 1997
Tootie was in the living room playing with Amanda the next morning, when Tad walked in the door.
"Hey Tootie, I hope Amanda wasn't too much trouble." Tad picked up Amanda. "How's my little princess? Can you say Daddy?"
Amanda just looked at him.
"Oh, not today, Daddy wants to hear your voice." Tad gave Amanda kisses on her cheek. Amanda laughed.
"Where's Blair?"
"She's still asleep. She's been asleep for seventeen hours."
"Thanks for staying with her last night. I guess that seizure really took a lot out of her."
"She needed the sleep anyway," Tootie said. "You heard about the break in, right?"
"Break in? No, she didn't tell me about that. What happened?"
"All I know is that someone got in through the basement window the other night. Jeff boarded up the window. She hasn't said anything to me about it. She was probably worried if we found out about it that we wouldn't let her stay home alone anymore."
"Well after everything that has happened, we have been a little overprotective."
"You guys are more than a little overprotective. You guys won't let her drive outside of the Peekskill area. She has to shop over the phone. Maybe it's time to cut the leash."
"I just worry that something will happen and she'll be too far away from us. Manhattan is an hour away, what if something happened while she was out there alone or even with the kids?"
"If something is going to happen, it's going to happen, even if she's at home. Just like something happened yesterday. Tad, I know what it's like to be treated like a baby. It's not fun. I think she just wants her independence back."
"She needs to get her seizures back under control. Then, if she wants to go to Manhattan, she can go. She has to take one of you girls with her though and she has to start wearing her medical bracelet."
"Well, I guess that sounds reasonable for now. I don't want anything to happen to her either, it would be better if she had another adult with her just in case. Why hasn't she been wearing her medical bracelet?"
"She says it's tacky and clashes with her outfits."
"Sounds like something she would say."
"Can you watch Amanda for a couple more hours?" Tad asked. "I didn't get enough sleep last night."
"Yeah, sure it's no problem."
"Thanks, Tootie." Tad walked up the stairs.
Tad went into the bedroom and found Blair still sleeping in the middle of the bed. She was still wearing her clothes from the previous day. Tad changed into shorts and a t-shirt and scooted Blair over to the right side of the bed and climbed in next to her.
Blair stirred and groaned. "Tad," she whined.
"Shh, go back to sleep." Tad wrapped his arms around her. "Are you feeling okay, angel?"
"Mm-hmm," Blair answered.
"Is your head alright?"
"Just sore," Blair answered half asleep.
Tad kissed her head and fell asleep holding her in his arms.
August 6th, 1997
Blair stood outside of a wooden door. The gold name plate on the door said Dr. Gayle Bowers, PsyD. She really didn't want to tell all her problems to a stranger, but she promised Mrs. Garrett.
Blair reached for the door knob and hesitated. Suddenly the door opened and a woman with short brown hair in her forties opened the door.
"Oh, you must be Blair Warner. Have a seat, I'll just be a minute." She rushed out of the room.
Blair entered and sat on a chair. She looked around the room. It was a cozy little room, with two big plush arm chairs, a desk, a couch, and a fireplace that Blair suspected wasn't real. Blair wrung her hands as she waited for the doctor to come back. She still had time to make a break for it. She could tell Mrs. Garrett she went. She did make it all the way into the office after all.
The doctor came back before Blair could make up her mind about leaving. She sat down in the other armchair with a note pad. She introduced herself to Blair and shook her hand.
"Now since this is your first visit, you'll have two hours to tell me about yourself and what brings you in here today," Gayle said.
Blair sat for a moment and played with the charms on her bracelet. She really didn't want to talk about this, but something about being here made Blair feel comfortable. They were alone, there wasn't any chance for someone to be eavesdropping and she didn't feel like she would be judged. Blair took a deep breath and told her the condensed version of her life story and everything she felt was important for the doctor to know.
When Gayle said time was up, Blair's face was streaked with tears.
Blair wiped the tears off her face with a handkerchief. She actually felt a little better now that she told someone. "Do you know what's wrong with me?"
"I don't diagnose patients in the first session. It's too soon to tell for sure. I can only share with you a tentative diagnosis, if you wish to hear it."
"I want to know," Blair said.
"Well from what you said has been going on, I think you may have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Again this is not an official diagnosis. I need to see you a few more times, before I can officially diagnose you. I'd like to see you again next week. You can make an appointment with my secretary at the front desk."
Blair stood up, "okay, I will. Thank you." Blair walked out the door.
Gayle leaned back in her chair. She didn't know if she would ever see Blair again. She hoped she would though, she knew Blair really needed help. She learned to treat every new patient as if that would be the only time she ever saw them, since forty percent of patients never returned for a second session.
August 8th, 1997
After Tootie left Natalie in Las Vegas, Natalie traveled to Phoenix and Dallas. Dallas was a place like Denver, where there were mega long lines of people who wanted Natalie to sign their books.
Natalie was now in Orlando, Florida with a significantly shorter line. The next person in line was a very pregnant brunette woman. She was carrying a baby on her hip and holding the hand of another little boy.
"Nancy, is that you?" Natalie asked.
"Yes, it is me. It's nice to finally see an adult person again."
"So, how many kids do you have?"
"Nine, I have my oldest son, two sets of twin boys, a girl, this little boy, this baby girl, and the one on the way."
"Wow, you and Roger were busy."
"This is going to be my last one, I made Roger get a vasectomy. I'm so tired of being pregnant all the time."
Natalie considered herself lucky that she and Snake had Annie. She wished that she had more kids, but adoption was expensive. It took almost everything they had to adopt Annie.
"So, do you have any kids?" Nancy asked.
"Just one, she's ten. We adopted her. Sometimes I wish I had your problem." Natalie signed Nancy's book.
"Mommy, I have to go potty," the little boy holding Nancy's hand said.
"Well, we better go," Nancy said. "It was nice seeing you again."
"It was nice seeing you too, Nancy."
Natalie continued with her book signing. One more week and her whole tour would be over and she could get back to her family.