Can You Keep A Secret?

Chapter 3

Brave New World

"How long were we missing?" Stephanie asked her Grandma Mazur, as the older woman set a vase of flowers on the side table in the hospital room they were in, "It felt like we were there in that place for ages."

Stephanie looked over to see Brittany nod her head, pulling her bedroom robe tighter around her frame and clinging tighter to the weathered stufedf bear her parents had bought for her, when they heard she had woken up. They had been in the hospital for over two weeks now, healing and getting better physically but the mental aspect of the healing process had yet to begin. Stephanie found comfort in knowing that when she went to sleep, she didn't have nightmares about their time in the room but she didn't know about Brittany, because the woman went mute.

The medical team had checked them over, amazed at how little injuries they had, though they both had lost a lot of weight and were showing advanced signs of malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies, they did find signs of healing on both of them, but they reasoned it was most likely because of the length of time they had been held captive. That tidbit had Stephanie curious, how long had they been in the deranged man's playroom? Long enough, apparently for old wounds to heal and for her friend to go mute. The team had said Brittany's vocal cords were fine, she could speak, they sent her down for testing with a specialist, who said she could speak, but Brittany had shaken her head and wrote in a note that she couldn't speak, no matter how many times she tried nothing would come out. She found it hard to form words with her mouth, impossible, even.

"It's most likely a traumatic response to your ordeal," A psychiatrist told the mute woman, who fidgeted with her hospital blankets, not looking up, "There is no pressure on you to begin speaking again soon, Ms. Brittany, take all the time you need to heal."

The woman had nodded her head, a far away look in her eyes, while the team did their routine checkup on her. Physically, by some miracle, she was fine, nothing too severe, but mentally, she had a long way to go. On the other hand, Stephanie suffered less mentally than Brittany. It almost didn't seem fair, but then again, 1. The man hadn't been interested in her, he tortured her yes, yes he taunted her with his knife and his words but the heavy torturing had been meant for the 'Petite Lamb,' as he had started to call Brittany and 2. Stephanie had a literal guardian angel in her mind, shielding her from the onslaught of the aftermath of being the plaything to a serial killer, in her sleep, when she was awake though, those memories hit, hard, sometimes the panic attacks lasted seconds and some hours.

Edna Mazur looked to her granddaughter, wringing her hands. She sat between the beds of both woman and said, in a low voice, "I went to the house, they after you two had gone missing, to check on you both, to see if I could help, grandbaby. I called the police, as soon as I walked into the kitchen because I knew, I knew something was off, your purses and things were there, there was glass on the floor and the groceries you two bought were still out. That was early April, it's now almost November, so over seven months."

Stephanie heard the sharp breath from Brittany and she herself was shocked. Seven months of hell, how did they survive it? She knew the man, they had never known his name, had wanted to keep them alive for as long as he could, but, the things they had experienced, it should have killed them, both of them or, at the very least, driven them insane. Stephanie looked over to Brittany, who took her white board and marker and began to write a question on it, with shaky hands.

'The house?' Brittany had asked, looking to Edna, 'Our things?'

"Don't worry about that dear, your parents and I took care of the house, the landlord was adamant, after a month or so for your things to be taken out, so he could rent out the place, the bastard. We did put all your things in storage," Edna let out a noise, tears filling her eyes, "When the FBI agent in charge of the investigation said, a few weeks after you two went missing, to hope that they found your bodies soon for closure-I refused to accept that man's words. We didn't agree with him, we knew we'd find you alive."

Stephanie ran a hand over her tired eyes. She didn't want to think about things like where would they live now, about their jobs, did they even have a job still? She didn't want to think about the outside world. She just wanted to curl up under the blankets of the hospital and sleep and go talk to the woman in her dreams but Brittany didn't have that luxury, it wouldn't be fair for Stephanie to just escape from reality, the intrusive thoughts, the constant panic she dealt with now and the woman in her dreams had been adamant that Stephanie not try to escape into the endless field of blue roses.

"It is tempting, yes," the woman told Stephanie, as she very slowly opened up to her about their time together, when Stephanie was a child "You often took many naps as a child to speak to me, but do not try to do that now, please, I do not think I can handle it, again."

When she had asked about handling what, the woman went silent and went back to tending to her roses. Stephanie pinky promised the woman she would not try to escape reality. She would face things head on, she was an adult, after all, she could do it, she could handle it. She hoped that she could handle it.

Stephanie stood up from her bed and walked over to the window of the hospital. Even though they had been here for a bit, the press was still hounding the parking lot, to get an exclusive interview with the two women that escaped the infamous Barton Wilkes, the college serial killer that had been active for over 15 years. Of course, no one knew the name of the serial killer had been Barton, the had only known him as the University Slasher. He had been known to strike college towns but he didn't prey on just college students or staff, he preyed on anyone in the town, apparently, as long as they had fit the bill he had at the time, he would take them. How many victims had died at his hands? It easily could have been Stephanie and Brittany to die at his hands as well.

She was thankful the psychiatrist that worked with them had sense enough to remove the TV from their room. Grandma Mazur said the press had been showing videos of the killer's place of residence and someone had leaked the room they had been held in and the room he had tortured them in. She couldn't handle the thought of seeing that room again, she couldn't handle the thought of people treating their suffering as a clown show to get extra views. One reporter tried to sneak in, posing as a doctor, to get an exclusive interview but Nurse Jody ran a tight ship and the FBI promptly arrested the reporter. Stephanie and Brittany didn't know how serious the case was but if the FBI was arresting people who were trying to break in, it must be serious. The only people allowed in were approved family members, approved medical staff and approved FBI members.

Frank Plum had come to see his daughter as had Valarie, her older sister. Though Frank stayed in New Jersey, he was a frequent visitor to his daughter, as she grew up in Virginia ,and he made sure she knew that Stephanie's side was Frank's side. When he spoke to Stephanie about divorcing Helen, Stephanie shook her head and told him that being away from the woman was enough for her and that as long as he told her nothing, she was fine. Frank kept to that promise and whenever his nosy wife, whom he had moved out their marital bed and into the spare bedroom, would ask questions about her mistake, Frank would look at her and tell her the only mistake she had was letting a neighborhood get to her and pushing way a golden apple. Stephanie was grateful for that, she truly was and him being there for her, after all of this, was a godsend.

Her relationship with her sister was on and off. Valarie was cool with Stephanie, now realizing that now that Helen's favorite punching bag had moved away, Valarie had to be the perfect 'burg daughter. She would often tell Stephanie it wasn't her fault, regarding this, but Stephanie could feel the resentment from her sister grow, with each brief conversation she had with the woman. Valarie still kept in contact with Helen and Stephanie and Brittany had been mindful about what was spoken about around her, least she tell Helen. Luckily the security persons posted at the doors of the private ward confiscated all electronic devices and did thorough pat downs to ensure wires and the like could not be snuck in to the area Brittany and Stephanie were in.

One nurse tried to sneak in a hidden mic and camera via, of all the things, her stethoscope. When caught, she said some rag magazine offered her five figures to get pictures of the women and record one of the sessions with either the FBI or doctors. She was promptly fired and arrested for tampering with a federal investigation.

The FBI had been decent to work with. The agent they worked with was a blond hair, green eyed woman named Jeanne Ellen Borrows. She was a fantastic agent, stating that she was put on the case to ease them both. She would as them questions and told them to answer to the best of their abilities and to take their time. She could sense when the questioning became too much and would stop all FBI shop talk and just have a conversation with the two, asking them about things they like, or if they wanted to eat something other than hospital foods, or telling them the FBI was helping them, in regards to their old jobs. She explained everything to them that they could handle regarding the case of Barton Wilkes.

He had been 42 and a very well loved man in his community. He had an job that let him work from wherever and gave him plenty of money to spend. He had a wife and two children, aged 12 and 13, both girls and was an active volunteer of the Red Cross, went to church regularly and took his family on the typical Disney vacation twice a year. He had been a handsome man, though the only thing Stephanie and Brittany had remembered from him was his menacing figure, dressed in black and his expert knowledge on which nerves, when pricked with needles hurt the worse. He was just your run of the mill, American Dream man. How did he hide the serial killer side of him, how did his fool his wife and children?

Turns out, it was very easy, many people sympathized with him, with his wife being the ringleader. She had called Stephanie and Brittany, though she didn't know their names, liars, manipulators, her husband would have never done anything like this, her husband was a good man, a pillar in the community, handsome, smart, had everything going for him, not a deranged killer! Stephanie and Brittany had asked to hear some of the news about them and were literally sick to their stomachs hearing some of the things fringed groups said. One person even stated that they willingly went with the man, to smear his image, that all of the 'alledged' torture was some fake sob story to make money. Why did the say this? It's because of the fact of how else were they able to escape this so called serial killer, if it wasn't some plan to kill him off, fake the whole thing and get paid big bucks from a movie deal.

That was a good question. Stephanie asked Jeanne, one day, how they were found and Jeanne had told them that a couple had spotted the two women, on the side of road, close to the house they had been held hostage at. A simple, little piece of farmland, with a deep, deep cellar that had a major bunker network in it. The couple had nicely pointed out who owned the farm, the Wilkes family did, that had been there that summer, the whole family. They even had neighborly parties and BBQs as well and Wilkes had been kind enough to let the scouts camp on his property. Meanwhile two women had been deep downstairs, being tortured to the point of insanity. When the police had poured into the house and found the secret door that led into the basement, the FBI had been called because a picture of a missing woman, who went missing years ago. from outside of the state had been found, tucked to the side of a mirror that was in one of the bunker rooms and within hours, Barton's Wilkes perfect façade faded to reveal the festering flesh underneath and his remains.

"Ms. Plum, Ms. Brittany, I know this may be a hard question to answer but…how did Wilkes die?" Jeanne asked them, after they had spent a month in the hospital, "I won't show you the pictures, but his remains were not pretty, what happened to him?"

"I don't know, I remember the table and then passing out and waking up in the hospital," Stephanie said, her body hunched over, thinking about what could have happened if he hadn't died, "I don't know, I don't care, I'm glad his dead."

Brittany, though muted, could still write but even she refused to say what had happened to him. When Jeanne asked her, a strange look came into the mute woman's face and she would start to shake and began to cry, screaming in silence, tossing things, scratching and biting at herself, having to be sedated the first and last time she had been asked that question. What ever happened to the man left a mark on her, perhaps that was the reason why she went mute.

In her dreams, Stephanie asked the woman what had happened to the man, and if she knew what had happened and the woman simply said, "You did nothing, Stephanie, nor did your friend, worry you not, your hands are blood free, you can say his death was a self fulfilling prophecy.."

Stephanie wondered what that meant.

It was in the middle of December when Jeanne came to them, in their hospital room and said, with a look, "There's good news and there's bad news, which one?"

Brittany looked over to Stephanie and then took her whiteboard and wrote out, 'BAD.'

"You can't go home with your families, it's too dangerous for you both, Wilkes widow and his supporters have been stalking your families's places of residence, leaving bomb threats, throwing rocks in windows, and being just plan nasty," Jeanne said, folding her arms, "We have the domestic terrorism unit on it, but it's not safe for you to relocate back home."

"It's not like we have a house to go back to," Stephanie mumbled and Brittany nodded her head, "What's the good news?"

"The FBI is putting you somewhere ourselves," Jeanne said looking at the women, "We've found an area in Washington D.C. for you both to settle in, there will be security 24/7, it won't be FBI security, I personally saw to it that this security firm that I know handles your safety, they're excellent at what they do," She looked to Stephanie and Brittany and her look softened, "We would like to, when you are ready to, have an interview session, with each of you separately and one together of what happened, not now, you two are not ready, but it's vital we know."

'Why do you need to know?' Brittany's hand had shook when she wrote that, 'He's dead, he's gone, he can't hurt anyone else, like he did us!'

"I know, it's going to be a painful process, we have all the time in the world, but, to close the case, we need to compile all the data we have, plus, the widow of Wilkes is demanding it, her crowd funded lawyer wants a public interview but we're not about to let that happen," Jeanne said quickly, when Stephanie and Brittany looked ready to bolt, "Leave that woman to us, get some sleep, tomorrow the CEO of the security firm himself will come to greet you both, he has some of the highest security clearances you can get and he's not one to go the press, he will ensure not only your safety but your privacy as well."

"He better," The threat was weak but it helped Stephanie feel some sort of control, something she hadn't had in almost a year.

"He will, I promise," Jeanne said, and Brittany wrote something down and showed it to Jeanne.

'No black clothes, please,' The woman had underlined the word black several times and Jeanne nodded her head.

"Understand, got it," Jeanne nodded to the two and took her phone out, "How about, instead of this questionable hospital food, we eat some pizza?"

Stephanie made a noise of agreement and Brittany jerked her head in agreement as well. It would be nice to get back to normality. The psychiatrist said that getting back to old routines takes time, even more so when things like this happen, but he and his team would be with them every step of the way.

That was some comfort to the women.

(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)

The woman in the field of blue roses sighed, as she weaved a chain of roses, forming a net of sorts with the black stems and blue flowers, her fingers bleeding freely as she wove. She didn't feel the pain, she didn't feel pain at all, well at least not in this form, this dream form, in this form her powers were weak, pathetic almost, but it was enough for her to save both women from that man. When Stephanie's soul screamed out into the darkness that the woman had slept in for so long, the scream had made the woman sit up with a scream of her own, her powers coming back to her, enough so that she was able to appear before the beaten and tortured woman, asking her to trust her so that she could save both Stephanie and the other woman.

The other woman…she paused in her weaving and frowned, thinking about what Stephanie said. The other woman had gone mute, she could not talk, her voice stolen from her. Stephanie told her it was trauma but this kind of voice loss, the loss where even screams were not produced, did not sound normal. The loss of voice had been due to fact that the other woman had been front row to what she had done to their captor. Brittany, that was her name, yes? She had watched the blood flow, heard bones crack and the screams and the tear of-

The woman gripped the netting of roses and squeezed the thorns on them, trying to will them to make her feel some pain but finding none. She hadn't used such power in a long time, and she was very certain that, even though it had been brief, it hadn't gone unnoticed. They would be looking soon, she had hidden from them for so long…she was still weak, Stephanie was still weak, their bond just healing now, there was no way Stephanie would not survive any attack on her person.

The woman squared her shoulders and continued to weave a netting, a dream catcher for Stephanie's friend, as a form of apology. She had taken the woman's voice on accident, she would never get it back, due to her careless use of magic. She had hit Brittany, right in her eyes, with pure magic. She had given the woman a gift on accident, but nature always demanded balance and because of that balance, nature took not only her voice but her ability to produce words at all with her mouth. She could write them, she could read them, she may be able to think about them and she could read them but she would never be able to mouth them. She would be forced to write them out, for the rest of her life.

That had the woman weaving the roses curious, what gift had she have bequeathed on her? A balancing like that was so severe, great even, no, something else was going on, the woman was sure of it. The woman slowed her weaving down and thought long and hard about it, before she came to a realization.

She hadn't given the woman any gifts, no, she had awaken something in the woman. Now she wondered what they were. What would that mute woman do now?

TBC...

Next chapter, moving into a new place and figuring out the new normal, and meeting new people. It's weird of me to write but like people sympathizing and even idolizing evil people is not only wild but a common occurrence, Stephanie and Brittany are going to learn all about it, as they readjust.