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Chapter Eleven - A Friend In Need
I hate everything about you,
Why do I love you?Previous Chapter - CLICK
Note: Sadie is pronounced "Sae-dy", not "Sady". GET IT RIGHT!!!
A FRIEND IN NEED
Soph
I saw Sadie by herself again. Sadie was once one of my best friends. But after her mother died three months ago, she stopped talking to us. She still hung out with us at first, but it became less and less, until she told us altogether to end communication with her. I cried for days, but I did what she said, because I didn't want to upset her. Not too long ago, the principal let a girl off the hook for something she did to become friends with Sadie. Sadie found out, and she was devastated. I think she got worse after that. I never said a thing. But I've had it. Today, she came to school with a cigarette burn on her cheek. I need to hear from her. I know her father, he never seemed the abusive type, but what if losing his wife and his daughters' speech drove him over the edge? Instead of sitting with Amy at lunch again, I sit down beside Sadie. I know it hurts her to speak. Since her mother died, she tries to use the least words possible, and her throat must have softened from lack of use. In choir, she sometimes doesn't sing, even when Mrs. Joe asks her to. When she fights with Mr. Lich, her voice cracks from use. Mr. Neux calls on her all the time, thinking it helps her. It doesn't. I can only imagine what was going through her head... I pass her a note. It reads:
"Hey Sadie. I heard about what happened with Terry... It's horrible that someone could do that to another. How are you today? Will you pass notes with me?"
She reads it. I see her hesitate at first. She passes it back. It says:
"On one condition: Promise me you're not talking to me because someone told you to?"
I smile. "Sadie, if I didn't want to talk to you, I wouldn't have come over here." She looked up at me. Her eyes were filled with suffering. Geez, these three months have been rough on her. Bruise-purple circles were under her eyes. Her eye liner, too thick, was smudged, like she'd been either crying or rubbing her eyes too much. Her skin was pale, you could tell she spent her time inside.
Her small voice said, "Thank you Soph." I smile at her.
"If you don't mind me asking..." I begin, "where did you get that burn?"
I could tell right away that the question upset her. Maybe it was her dad. She writes:
"I'm not allowed to tell you. You'd never believe me anyway, and besides, even if you did, you'd have to swear not to tell anyone, he could hurt you too."
I write back:
"You can tell me anything, Sadie. I'll keep it secret. And I'll believe you. Well, unless you tell me the sky is purple and elephants will fall from it..."
She chuckles. Then her face gets serious again. She writes:
"Don't say ANYTHING, but my therapist, Doctor Jonan, hurts me. Last week he did this, the week before, he held a gun to my head and told me to smile, ext. and yet, when I tell my dad, he laughs and says Doc wouldn't do that. I feel like no one will listen..."
She's right; I don't believe it. Why would a therapist hurt his patients? And a gun? That's a little extreme in my book! I write:
"Your therapist? Aren't they supposed to help you? And a GUN? Call the cops on him! I can't believe you haven't!"
She motions for me to come closer. She whispers "I've tried calling the cops. They don't believe me, and they can't find proof." She sits back down. Is she lying?
"Sadie, are you sure you're not just making this up?" Her expression tenses.
"Would I lie about that? And I do have proof." She points at the burn on her cheek. I sigh. There's no way this could be true. Maybe I'll have a chat with this Doctor. Sadie passes the note back. It says:
"You promised not to tell. He told me that he'd kill my father if I say anything."
I fold the note and put it in my pocket. I put a hand on her shoulder.
"Trust me. I won't say anything." I wink. "It's our little secret." She smiles a very weak smile, like she knows I don't believe her.
I walk into the waiting room. The white walls look clean. The blue carpet is vacuumed. There is a very orderly magazine rack on one wall. A gray sofa is in the right corner. A receptionist's desk at the back of the room has a pot of tulips on it. The receptionist smiles when I enter. "Do you have an appointment?" She says.
"Not exactly." I say. I think quick. "My name is Sophia Mayland, and I write for my school's newspaper. My column is 'Featured People', and I wanted to interview the doctor." The receptionist buys it. She pushes a button on her keyboard, and her computer pings.
"Have a seat dear, the doctor will be out in a minute." Her smile is starting to creep me out. I sit on the sofa. A minute later, a man in a white lab coat walks out of a door next to the sofa. He looks at me and grins. "Hello, I'm doctor Jonan. Who are you?" He talks to me like I'm a child.
"Sophia." I say. He shakes my hand. "I was hoping to interview you for my school newspaper." This is going to be so boring. Doc smiles.
"Alrighty then! Follow me." He walks through the door and into another one. His office isn't as nice as the waiting area. His desk was cluttered with piles of paper. He walks into a closet behind his desk. On the knob, there is a "DO NOT ENTER" sign. I wonder if that's where he keeps his porno mags. He walks back out with a document. It's a diploma. I take my digital camera - thank goodness I brought it - and snap a picture. He places the framed document on his desk. I notice a cigarette pack and an ash tray on the corner of his desk...
"So," He says. "What do you want to know?"
Here comes the dull part. "How many patients have you treated in your career?"
He looks at the wall behind me. I turn around. It's filled with "Before" and "After" pictures. Funny. I see Sadie's picture on the "Before" side, rolling her eyes. I see her smiling on the "After" side...
"Including the patients I have now... that's forty-seven people." He says, looking proud. His smile is starting to scare me too. There's just something off about him, I can feel it...
"Did you write that down?" He asks. I snap out of it, and scribble "47" on my notepad.
"What do you like about being a psychiatrist?" I ask. His new expression gives me the creeps.
"I guess what I really enjoy is knowing at the end of the day that I've helped someone." He says, smiling at me. Suddenly, a ping goes off inside the doctor's pocket. "Oh, I've got a patient coming in. I'll be back in a minute or two." He says. He walks out, shutting the door behind him. As soon as the door is fully shut, I spring out of my seat and open the closet. It looks like a normal supply closet. I begin to turn around, but something on the shelf catches my attention. A little black box. Curious, I open it. There's a button inside. I push the button. All of the sudden, the back wall begins to rotate. A new shelf comes in. Sheer terror filled me when I looked at the shelves' contents. A black pistol, a dozen Bic lighters and a container of lighter fluid, a whip with what appeared to be thorns sowed into it, a crowbar, a baseball bat, a book of matches, and a razor blade. I heard the doctors footsteps coming down the hall, so I pressed the button, shut the closet door, and ran back to sit on the black sofa in front of his desk. "Sorry about that." He says, smiling that freaky smile again. Sadie was right. This man was sadistic and crazy, and he belongs in prison. But Sadie made me promise not to say anything... And besides, if he really said he'd kill her dad... I smile as best I can, and try to continue the interview.
When I see Sadie in school the next day, I give her a hug. "I went in his closet." I say. "You're right."
I need to help Sadie stop this man. It's wrong for someone like him to be walking the streets.
"Um, Soph?" Sadie looks up at me. "Are you my friend again? Really?"
I smile at her. "Yes. I am." You hate everything about me,
Why do you love me?
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