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In Her Eyes - Part II
by
Nicole Starleigh Yeager
Cassie took Jesse into her bedroom and locked the door behind her. "Did you know about any of this?"
"Any of what? What's going on?" he asked.
"They want to put me in a mental hospital!"
"What?" Jesse was stunned. This was news to him.
"Cassie, please," her mother called from the other side of the closed door.
"Go away! I don't want to talk to you!" Cassie screamed.
"Calm down," Jesse said, reaching out and touching her arm. "You're getting hysterical."
"Jess, they think I'm crazy!"
"Cassie, please just come out and talk to me?" Charlene called to her.
"Mom! Leave me alone!" Cassie screamed again. She turned to Jesse in haste. "You have to get me out of here, Jess, it's the damn gift! Mom's actually afraid of me, too! She says I've been different since we came home and it's out of her hands and..."
"Stop, sweetie, just calm down, please?" he said, trying to calm her. He pulled her into his arms. "Calm down. Let me go talk to your mom, ok?"
"Jess! You can't tell her! You can't..."
"I know, I know. Don't worry. Just relax and wait here, I'll be back in a minute." He led her to the bed and left her there, running a reassuring hand down her arm. Then he moved to the bedroom door, opened it, slid out and shut the door behind him.
Cassie could hear his low voice talking to her mother. She couldn't make anything out, but she caught a few muffled sobs as her mother began to talk; Cassie assumed that meant she was telling him what was going on.
Cassie lay back on her bed and rolled over to face her dresser. There, her eyes fell on a silver-framed picture. It was a copy of the Polaroid taken the year before, of her, Jesse, Nate, Quinn, Ashley and Mikki with Will Corrigan. She remembered again how her life changed that day. All their lives changed that day, actually.
She stared and stared at the picture until her eyes started to become heavy as she thought about those weeks. "Will, what happened to us?" she whispered to the photograph. "You've gone, and everything has changed. People think I'm crazy... maybe I am... I wish I could talk to Matthew."
Will's wife, Sarah "Dancing Water" Corrigan, and her son, Matthew, moved out of Ridge Pointe just a few weeks after Will passed away. Cassie hadn't heard from either of them since the day they took the last of their things from the old house. They'd promised to write or call when they found a place to live, but that was over ten months ago! And now, the alienation at school was spreading throughout the whole town and apparently into the nearby cities as well. Even in her own home, Cassie no longer felt safe or welcome. What was going to happen to her, now? A psychiatric ward? Oh, Lord, please help me!
Cassie was woken up by Jesse's gentle urges, hours later. It was dark outside, and he was whispering. She sat up, anxious to know what he had to say. "Did you talk to her?" she asked, whispering back to him.
"Yeah," he answered. His expression made her uncomfortable.
"What, Jess? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"They're coming for you tomorrow... to take you into the city."
"Who?" she asked, her whole body beginning to tremble.
"The doctors."
"Jess?" A tear spilled out of her right eye.
He pulled her close and hugged her. He sniffed the sweet smell of her soft, blonde hair. "I love you, Cass. I'm not going to let them take you."
She held on to him tightly. "What am I going to do? I don't want to go! I'm not crazy!"
"I know you're not. I have a plan..."
She pulled back and looked at him, waiting to hear the rest. He looked into her eyes, and she knew he had an answer.
"Pack a bag," he told her, "but be very, very quiet."
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