Unspoken Feelings
Chapter Twenty-Two: Nightmares
"No! No," the little girl screeched as her wrist was clutched in a strong but withering hand. "Let go! Daaadd-eeeey!" Her little feet tried to dig into the narrow floorboards and resist the urgency that she was dragged behind that wiry old arm.
"I said to move it!" a gruff voice snarled at the small child and she looked up at the shadowed face. Her eyes couldn't make out his expression as his hand released her wrist and took a fistful of her hair into his clutches.
"Ow, no! Let go!" the girl screamed.
A door opened, and an old, tan town car sat waiting with the sunlight winking off its silver mirrors. The girl kicked and struggled, but subsequently gave lesser efforts on account of the control the overbearing beast had on her hair.
Tiny feet dragged and kicked across the gravel. Cries and sobs rang from her mouth that put out so much fearful noise. White socks turned gray and brown in the struggle as the girl called over and over for her daddy.
"SOOKIE!"
"Sookie!" Eric's body jerked away as his fiancée's fist swung out in her sleep and managed to clip against his chest. "Sookie, what's wrong?" Eric demanded as he watched her big eyes blink at him in the light coming from the lamp on the bedside table. "Were you having a nightmare?" Her dazed expression told him that she was still trapped in the awkward land between dream and reality and he waited until he saw the remaining fog lift from her face. "Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry," Sookie mumbled.
"It's okay. Everyone has bad dreams," Eric smiled. "What was it about?"
The same glaze he had seen that afternoon as Sookie stared at Claudine clouded Sookie's eyes. "I don't remember."
"You called for your dad," Eric tried to prompt a memory and was surprised when Sookie clutched painfully at her head. "Sookie?" He stroked her hair soothingly. "I'm sorry, don't think about it."
Sookie swallowed hard as she nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. As the dark enclosed around her, she could still see Claudine's face. Young, gray and terrified. Sookie's eyes snapped open and she rolled onto her side. Eric's arms followed her, and he held her body tightly to his own.
Soon she could hear Eric's breathing even out as he drifted back into sleep. Sookie, however, remained staring, unblinkingly at the shadowy wall.
Dead, gray eyes were staring at her and Sookie shivered.
"Mmm, got you," Eric muttered sleepily and his arms tightened again.
Sookie closed her eyes.
"Daddy," her little hand cupped over her mouth as she shivered beneath the bed. She stifled the involuntary cry as she could hear footsteps hurrying to the room she chose as her hiding spot.
"Got ya!" a pale, narrow claw of a hand clutched at the girl's ankle and dragged her from beneath the bed frame. The child screamed shrilly as she slid along her belly across the floor, but as the man tried to gain a better hold on her, she managed to scurry between his legs and out the bedroom door.
The girl's flute-like voice became a piercing note through the house as she tried to scamper out into the sunlight, to hide out in the woods or beneath the back porch.
Before she could make it to the door, the little girl felt her arm wrenched back, and she let out a sharp cry. The girl felt a sense of deja vu as she was dragged through the house, crying and trying to dig in her heels. When she was forced across the gravel driveway, she could hear her name being shouted. She looked towards the sound of her name, she stared into the tremendous light of the sun that darkened her savior's features as the man clutching her wrist raised his free hand. The girl watched as a tire iron flailed over and over in the air and arcs of blood splattered the old brown Town Car.
Looking down at the fallen attacker, the girl watched as the last of the light faded from his old eyes. Those old, dead eyes stared at her like a conquest that would always be chased. Even as death clouded over, she felt like that stare would loom over her for the rest of eternity
Sookie snapped awake, the image of her nightmare still burned into her mind. Eric lay asleep beside her, and Sookie glanced at the clock to see it was only 4AM. Since the idea of sleep seemed impossible, she got out of bed and went into the living room to use the telephone.
"Hello?" a groggy voice grumbled, an unfamiliar woman's voice.
"Dr. Broadway?" Sookie hiccupped.
"Mia, it's one of your patients," the unhappy voice said.
"Hello?" Dr. Broadway answered.
"Dr. Broadway, it's Sookie," Sookie whispered shakily.
"Sookie? What's wrong?"
"I thought this shit wouldn't happen if I dated a therapist whose patients were all deaf and shit," the annoyed voice from earlier grumbled.
"Get out of here then," Amelia snapped. "Sookie, what's wrong?"
"I'm having really bad nightmares. I can't sleep at all," Sookie told her. "All the sudden out of nowhere."
"What kind of nightmares?" Amelia asked patiently.
"About a girl getting dragged through a house, and a dead girl, and an old man, and a tire iron and-"
"Okay, hold on," Amelia was sounding more alert. "Are you observing the dream or are you one of the people in it?"
"I'm the girl getting dragged through the house," Sookie choked, "and the dead girl looks just like this girl who's friends with Eric, and I only ever see the old man's arms and eyes."
"Who has the tire iron?" Amelia wondered.
"I don't know," Sookie whispered.
"Sookie, do you know the house you were being dragged through?" Amelia asked.
"Mine. I mean, Gran's," Sookie answered. "At least it's the only place I've seen the wallpaper, but it seems weird."
"Big?" Amelia guessed.
"Yes."
"Okay," Amelia paused to think. "Take two of your prescription, get some more sleep, and I'm going to schedule you for an emergency appointment for today."
"But it's Sunday," Sookie protested. "Your office isn't open."
"I'm going to come to you," Amelia told her. "You said the dream happened in your Gran's house. We're going to meet there."
"Really?" Sookie was confused, but Amelia didn't want to hypothesize over the phone.
Since Adele Stackhouse had first brought her granddaughter in as Amelia's client, the old woman had shared a frightening suspicion. Adele believed her brother had molested Sookie the day of the car accident. She speculated that perhaps Sookie had even witnessed a murder, but no one knew for sure. With the information Amelia was now receiving, the therapist couldn't help but worry that Adele's gut had been right about everything.
"Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow at your Gran's at noon."
Sookie hung up the phone with a goodbye and stared out the window a moment. She didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to take a double dose of her medication. Instead, she sat staring out the window as it turned from black to gray, to pink.
"You look terrible," Eric commented worriedly as he came into the living room. He felt his fiancée's forehead. "Are you feeling sick? You don't feel warm-"
"I'm fine," Sookie whispered. "I just didn't sleep well."
"Sookie?"
"I had another nightmare," Sookie told him.
"Do you remember it this time?"
"Yes," Sookie nodded. "I called Amelia."
Eric's eyebrows rose with surprise. "It was that bad?"
Sookie nodded. "Amelia thinks so too. She's coming to Gran's house at noon to have an emergency session."
"What the hell did you dream?" Eric asked in awe.
"I don't want to talk about it right now. I want to make breakfast for us, have some coffee and ignore what I dreamt for a bit."
Eric could only nod at her decision. Part of him was concerned Sookie would forget the dream before she could talk to Amelia again. Another side of him was terrified that a dream had influenced Sookie so strongly that she had called her therapist at home before daybreak.
While Sookie rose from her seat in the living room and headed for the kitchen, Eric followed and placed his hand on her hip. When her body pulled away in a flinch, her future husband could only let his hand drop helplessly to his side. Sookie gave an apologetic grimace and hurried the remainder of the way to the kitchen. She couldn't figure out how to explain how her dream had made her feel. Any touch to her skin felt like that pale, clawing hand.
Relief arrived in the form of Pam. Eric's sister strolled into the kitchen, grabbed a plate of eggs that Sookie was handing her and pit stopped for a cup of coffee.
"I guess Godric crawled in around one this morning," Pam announced. "I don't know the last time he stayed out so late." Eric rolled his eyes. "That Claudine must be one hell of a hottie to get Godric that paranoid about you."
Sookie set the skillet down loudly and glared at her best friend. "I'd rather you not insinuate about that story again."
Pam raised her eyebrows at Sookie's ferocity. "Really? Then he told you about it?"
"He did," Sookie began cracking more eggs into a bowl and whisking out her frustration.
"He really has changed since then," Pam assured. "I mean, he went through a lot of girls right after he cashed his V-Card in with Naomi, but I never saw him go back on a promise ever again."
Sookie paused in her whisking and looked at Pam in confusion before she realized that her friend obviously didn't know about Freyda. Shaking off the impulse to correct Pam's misunderstanding, Sookie went back to cooking breakfast.
Pam slowly chewed her breakfast as she watched Sookie's body language. If there was one thing she knew better than anyone about Sookie, it was that she had no poker face. Eric liked to think he was the champion of interpreting Sookie, but Pam knew the real truth.
Although Sookie kept a distance, she was defensive, but not about her relationship. She was being protective of Eric. The real question was why she cared to protect him from a mistake coming up on five years old.
The tension in the room only amplified when Godric arrived, and the hush it brought was palpable.
Godric silently declined eggs and had nothing more than a cup of coffee. When her offerings were refused, Sookie took her plate to the table and sat among the siblings in the uncomfortable quiet. When her heart couldn't take the anger any longer, Sookie reached over and took Eric's hand comfortingly.
"I don't like your sense of pity, Godric," Sookie announced.
The oldest Northman looked up in surprise at Sookie's words. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm actually insulted that you're pretending to pity me just so you can attack your brother," Sookie replied harshly.
"Sookie, you don't understand my feelings," Godric tried to interrupt.
"I don't care about your feelings, Godric. I'm just telling you that if you want to be rude to him, don't do it under the guise of worrying over me," Sookie demanded, feeling Eric's hand tighten around hers.
Godric frowned at Sookie's uncharacteristic accusation. It wasn't often that his future sister-in-law became so vehement, and the oldest sibling had to wonder about his own feelings.
In reality, it wasn't just Naomi that had caused such a rift in Godric's trust in his brother. The most obvious cause was nearly a year before that incident. When Eric had gone through his growth spurt and suddenly towered over him. Godric remembered all the talk about how Eric had gotten the "good genes" and poor Godric was such a shrimp. No one cared that Godric could do more weights on the leg press or bench more. All they cared about were his brother's blond hair and blue eyes, all they saw was the extra ten inches in height.
When the rumor about Naomi spread through the school like a brushfire, it had succeeded in finally giving Godric a tangible reason to resent and distrust his brother. Finally, Godric had the leverage to hold over Eric's head and feel like the older brother by controlling him through guilt.
It wasn't healthy, and Godric knew it, but facing the reality of his anger would force him to acknowledge that he was petty and immature.
Sookie could see something wanting to break through. There had been times in her life that she could sense others wanted to speak to her if only no one else had to witness their presumed weakness.
"Pam, let's go eat in the dining room," Sookie suggested hoarsely as she rose, squeezed Eric's shoulder and dragged a confused Pam out of the kitchen.
"You told her you didn't sleep with Naomi," Godric guessed once the brothers were alone. It felt obvious after seeing Sookie become so protective of Eric. For the first time, Godric suspected Eric was capable of lying to his fiancé.
"I told her that I don't know," Eric choked.
That response made the older brother pause. "What do you mean you don't know?" A creeping horror was snaking up through his guts at Eric's reply and his resentment was momentarily snuffed.
Eric stared at his coffee as his voice became softer. He didn't trust that Sookie managed to drag his sister completely out of earshot, and there was still shame in him. "I got trashed at that party. I passed out for a bit upstairs. When I woke up, I was still pretty drunk and my pants were open. At first, I figured I'd undone them when I'd flopped in the bed. I zipped back up and went downstairs. Everyone at the party was clapping me on the back telling me good job landing Naomi, but I had no idea what they were talking about. I only know as much as Naomi told everyone."
Godric steepled his hands in front of his face as he tried to find some words to process this new information. There was a part of him that wanted to continue believing Eric had betrayed him, but his brother had never denied a thing. Eric hadn't once tried to refuse that something had happened, and Godric was damned certain that he wouldn't come up with a story like this. Pretending to be a victim was not Eric's style. This knowledge twisted at Godric's gut.
"Naomi raped you?" the older brother finally asked in a strangled query.
The younger brother made a noise in his throat, "I'm not sure, and can we not call it that?"
"What the fuck am I supposed to call it?" Godric demanded weakly. He could feel the blood draining from his limbs to boil in his stomach. His throat was raw with an emotion he couldn't comprehend. "I thought you were this womanizing asshole the past four years, and it was all because you'd been hurt and couldn't talk to anyone about it!" Tears suddenly sprung from Godric's eyes as the full weight of his resentment became apparent.
He'd left his brother to suffer all alone because he felt inadequate by comparison. Eric made him feel like less of a man, and because of that, Godric had let himself believe the worst in him.
"How were you supposed to know? Would you have believed me if I'd told you before I proved I wasn't entirely what you thought I was?" Eric wondered. "If Sookie hadn't given you doubt, would you believe me right now?"
"I hated and loved you equally up until recently," Godric admitted. "I loved you because you're my brother and you always had my back. Still, I hatedyou because you were tall and handsome. Every girl I ever liked fell immediately in love with you. Once you grew up, I didn't have a chance with the girls at school."
"I'm sorry," Eric told him, still staring at his coffee.
Godric shook his head in frustration. "I'm not looking for an apology. I'm looking for forgiveness."
Eric looked up in surprise, "I was never mad at you."
"How could you not be mad at me?" Godric asked.
"Because if I hadn't gotten so drunk, none of it would have happened," Eric explained. When Godric tried to protest, Eric raised his hand to silence him. "It doesn't matter. You know the truth now and so do I. I'm marrying the woman of my dreams in a few months and will be off the market forever. The first thing you can tell a girl you're interested in about your family is that your brother is married and so in love with his wife."
Godric smiled briefly. "We're just going to forget about it?"
"No, I don't think we'll be able to forget it. I guess we'll just accept it and move on," Eric sighed. "It's a concept Sookie introduced me to."
"So, were you over the pain when you met Sookie or did Sookie take the pain away?" Eric wondered.
"I'd accepted the pain before Sookie," Eric told him. "Mom getting sick had mostly to do with it. If there was a woman as patient and forgiving as Mom out there, I figured there was another. When Mom died, I realized I had to be a better person if I wanted a woman like Mom."
"Our father landed her," Godric pointed out.
"Dad," Eric began, catching Godric's attention with the use of the term 'dad', "was faithful and completely in love with her. I never doubted that. He didn't know how to be a father and I didn't like him much, but I think he did the best he could. What I loved about him was how much he loved our mom."
Godric sat silently contemplating Eric's words. Their father had been distant most of the time and demanding the rest of it. What the oldest Northman couldn't argue was that there was never a doubt in his head or heart that Frank had loved Alice with everything he had in him.
"You do deserve Sookie, you know that, right?" Godric told him.
Eric let out a long breath. "I've felt that I do, but it's good to hear from you."
"I'm sorry I haven't been more supportive of you. I've just been fucking up every step of the way it seems."
"No, you've just been lost like Pam and me. You went from being an older brother to a guardian, and it couldn't have been easy, " Eric smiled slightly before leaning back in his chair. "And if it'll make you feel better; I do forgive you. I don't think there's anything to forgive, but you seem to."
"Thank you."
{†}
Shortly before noon, Eric walked back to the Stackhouse farm with Sookie to meet up with Dr. Broadway. When they came up the long, gravel driveway, Sookie was surprised to see an unfamiliar car parked near the kitchen door.
"Is the doc already here?" Eric wondered aloud as they hopped up the pair of steps and came in through the kitchen. They were surprised to see an older man talking with Adele, but they were stunned silent at the conversation.
"They're my grandchildren, too, Addy!" Fintan snapped in frustration.
"Maybe we should have called, " Eric interrupted the argument.
Adele looked up at her granddaughter and let out a groan. "Sookie, why are you home so soon?"
"Gra-an, " Sookie struggled to speak in front of the stranger, "who is thi-is?"
Adele remained silent a moment before uttering, "Your grandfather."
Sookie blinked in surprise. "Grampa Mo-oore?"
Adele shook her head, "Not your mother's father. This is the man that fathered your daddy and aunt."
Eric felt his body trying to pull away and escape back out the kitchen door. In fact, he would have gladly jumped out the second story window to avoid this.
Sookie's nails scratched nervously against her cast before she managed to choke out, "You cheated!" After the accusation was flung, Sookie spun on her heel and ran out of the house.
The distraught young woman didn't make it far as a newer Chevy began bouncing up the driveway, carrying Dr. Amelia Broadway.
"Sookie, where are you going?" Amelia asked as she slid from her seat and approached her crying patient.
"Gran cheated on my grampa!" Sookie hiccuped.
"You had another dream?" Amelia tried to understand.
"No, there's a man in our kitchen, and Gran says he's my daddy's real father!" Sookie explained hurriedly.
"Oh no, " Amelia frowned and patted Sookie's back soothingly. "This definitely could have come at a better time."
Before Sookie could protest, she was being guided back into the house. Gran was surprised to see Amelia.
"Dr. Broadway, what are you doing here?" Adele asked.
"Sookie called me this morning. She didn't tell you?"
"She was staying with me while I'm home for Spring Break, " Eric injected before glancing nervously at Fintan who seemed to bristle at the news.
"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" Fintan demanded as the conversation accelerated around him.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Amelia asked of the older man.
"I am Fintan Brigant. I am Sookie's real grandfather," Fintan explained.
Eric froze for a moment, "You're Claude and Claudine's uncle?"
"Yes," Fintan frowned. "They dropped by my father's house yesterday to look at old photo albums. Jason looks remarkably similar to my brother Dermot when he was younger. My niece and nephew were trying to figure out where they'd seen Jason before."
"That explains the staring contest going on yesterday," Eric smiled before he faltered. "Wait, Sookie, do you think family resemblance might be why you thought you'd seen Claudine before?"
"Stop!" Amelia shouted suddenly, taking everyone by surprise and effectively silencing them. "I am here to help Sookie through something very delicate and difficult. Fintan, you definitely need to go since Sookie has never given me permission to discuss her sessions in front of you."
"I'll go wait in my car," Fintan sighed, and Sookie was momentarily concerned about putting the old man out in a hot vehicle when he'd probably received a pretty big shock.
Once he was gone, Sookie frowned and turned to her Gran. "I want you to go too," Sookie told her, barely keeping the coldness out of her voice.
Adele bowed her head in understanding before leaving the room without objection. The dismayed expression wrenched at Sookie's heart, but the young woman just wasn't ready to deal with the new branch of her family tree just yet.
"Sookie," Amelia gestured to the small kitchen table, "are you alright?"
"The woman I learned the virtue of fidelity from cheated on her husband and got knocked up twice by a man I've never even heard of before," Sookie whispered angrily. "Even after grampa Stackhouse passed away, she never told us."
Amelia nodded patiently, "Sookie, are you going to be able to focus on the reason I came out to see you with everything that's happened in such a short time?"
Sookie nodded slowly, "Yeah. I'd rather not think about Gran right now."
The therapist glanced at Eric before asking, "Do you want Eric to stay?"
"Yes," Sookie took her fiancé's hand. "I'm scared about where that dream came from."
"Why is that?" Amelia asked.
Eric sat quietly beside his future bride and kept himself busy by playing with her hair as he listened. He knew that Sookie would clam up if he stared too intently, and he was well aware that tugging her hair brought her a sense of calm.
"I've had a lot of bad dreams in my life. I know the difference between my dreams and reality when I wake up," Sookie spoke slow and clear. "When I woke up, I didn't know that it was a dream. I was scared it was real."
Eric's hand paused briefly before deciding to focus on braiding the strands and keep his mind from coming up with horrible scenarios.
"You think you were relieving a memory?" Amelia asked.
"Yes," Sookie sucked in a breath, "but I don't know how it pieces together."
"Let's walk through it then," Amelia slowed her down. "What all happened yesterday? Not in your dream, but through your day that was out of the ordinary?"
"I met Claude and Claudine but didn't speak to them. Claudine's face made me uncomfortable. I didn't know why until I was falling asleep," Sookie told her.
"We'll get to that in a second," Amelia pulled her back. "Was Claudine the only thing out of the ordinary yesterday?"
Sookie frowned and turned her head to look at Eric. Their conversation about Naomi was definitely out of the ordinary.
Eric sighed at her expression before admitting, "I told Sookie that there's a chance I was… well… raped, for lack of a better word, a few years ago. I don't remember it if it happened at all, but there's a girl out there claiming she fucked me and I don't know a thing about it," Eric summarized.
Amelia hesitated a moment, "If you want me to help you find a specialist to-"
"For God's sake, I'm fine!" Eric snapped. "Sookie's all the therapy I need. Thank you though," he quickly amended his anger.
"Alright then," Amelia focused back on Sookie. "Those are the only two things out of the norm for yesterday?"
Sookie nodded, "That's all that stands out."
"Then before bed, you said you realized why Claudine upset you?" Amelia prompted.
"It wasn't part of a dream," Sookie began. "I was just closing my eyes, and I could see Claudine in my mind. Only, her features changed as I looked at her. She became younger, and scared to death, and gray. Then I fell asleep. I guess I dreamed," she continued. "Eric woke me up, and I don't remember the first dream."
"The dream you do remember," Amelia kept her focused, "you said there was a dead girl?"
"No," Sookie shook her head, "the dead girl is who I saw before I fell asleep."
"So you never saw her in your actual dream?" The doctor clarified.
"Right," Sookie calmed a bit as Eric began braiding small chunks of her hair again. She wondered briefly if he used to do this with Pam when she was little. Not that she would complain, it felt nice and safely intimate.
"What about the man?" Amelia asked. "What did he look like?"
Sookie thought back, "I don't know for sure, his face just never registered to me. I just remember his eyes and his hands. His hands were pale and like claws. His arms were slight but powerful. I'll never forget his eyes as long as I live. They were this blue color, almost gray."
"Do you know about how old he was?" Amelia jotted down notes on her legal pad.
"I don't know," Sookie admitted. "The skin on his arms was looser, but not so delicate looking like an old person. I don't know how old someone is by the skin on their arms."
"What about the skin around his eyes?" Amelia suggested.
Sookie shut her eyes and tried to recall the dream. "Thick crows feet and there was white in his eyebrows. He had creases between his brows like he'd scowled or squinted a lot through his life."
Amelia nodded, "Is there any other details you can help me with?"
The young woman thought harder again, "There was a car… An old brown Town Car. I remember the blood splattering across it."
"Where did the blood come from?" Amelia asked.
"The man was hit with a tire iron. A lot. Blood kept splashing against the car," Sookie whispered as the color drained from her face. "I woke up while he was still being beat over the head with it."
"And where did all of this take place?" Amelia finished.
"I told you it was in this house, but the house was bigger," Sookie told her tiredly.
"Was the house bigger, or were you smaller?" Amelia hinted.
Sookie paused, "You think I'm remembering the day I've forgotten." It wasn't a question, and Amelia's expression softened. "Why am I remembering it all the sudden like that?"
"It could be because your medication or just the series of events that occurred yesterday was enough to trigger the memories," Amelia speculated. "The human mind is not a series of codes that are written the same for every brain. What sparks a memory for one person might be inconsequential for the next.
"With your permission," Amelia continued, "I'd like to discuss some of the elements of your dream with Adele and see if she can fill in the blanks."
"Yeah, okay," Sookie nodded numbly.
As her therapist left the room, Sookie turned to Eric. "Did I witness a murder?"
{†}
"Adele?" Amelia called as she came out onto the porch to find Mrs. Stackhouse and Mr. Brigant waiting silently.
"Yes, Dr. Broadway?" Adele rose from her rocker.
"May I speak to you in private?" Amelia looked pointedly at Fintan.
"Certainly," Fintan took the hint and went to sit in his car.
"What is it, Doctor?" Adele asked worriedly.
"What can you tell me about the day of Sookie's car accident?" Amelia asked.
Adele shivered as the implications of such a request told the old woman everything that she had feared. "My brother was visiting that morning. I had Sookie with me and mentioned her parents were running late to pick her up. I had errands to run and Bartlett said he'd watch Sookie until they arrived. I went ahead with my errands. The next thing I knew, the Sheriff had tracked me down and said there'd been a car accident."
"Have you seen your brother since that day?" Amelia asked next. They had explored this possibility before Sookie had become Amelia's patient, but now the doctor needed to fill in the gaps of the story.
"No."
"Describe your brother at the time of his disappearance," Amelia requested, feeling more like a cop than a therapist at that moment. It was a bit exciting!
The old woman gave a brief description, and Amelia's next question was about Bartlett's vehicle.
"A 1990 Lincoln Town Car," Adele told her.
"What color?"
"Tan," Adele replied quickly
"All right, the only thing I can't seem to figure out is this thing about a dead girl," Amelia sighed.
"Dead girl?" Adele felt a chill down her spine.
"Yes," Amelia frowned. "Sookie says that she saw a dead girl who looked remarkably like the woman she met yesterday; only she was much younger."
Adele swallowed hard, "How old was the girl?"
"I didn't ask," Amelia confessed.
"Ask her how old the girl was," Adele commanded, and the therapist turned around to re-enter the house.
"Dr. Broadway," Sookie stood up suddenly when Amelia returned. "I don't want to be on my prescription any longer!"
"Sookie," Amelia soothed, "it's okay. The medication isn't making you hallucinate."
"I don't want to remember the rest!" Sookie cried. "I don't want to remember it!"
"Shh, okay, just relax," Amelia told her softly as Eric tried to calm his fiancée with gentle strokes of her hand. "Sookie, I just want to ask you one more question. The dead girl. How old was she?"
Sookie frowned, "I don't know, she wasn't filling out yet, but she didn't have her baby face. If I had to guess, I'd say about nine or so?"
"Okay," Amelia nodded and walked away once again to speak more with Adele. "She said the girl was about nine years old. Why is that important?"
Adele swallowed hard, "Fintan's niece went missing nearly nine years ago. Only a few days before the car accident. She was ten, and police from Monroe asked me about my brother while I was in the hospital with Sookie."
"My God," Amelia whispered.
TBC
A/N: PLEASE REMEMBER TO REVIEW!