by
Christina Glass
Larissa unlocked the door to her
apartment and dropped all of her bags in the living room. She looked at the table and a small package
wrapped in white paper stared back at her.
Unable to contain her excitement, she raced to the table and grabbed the
package.
She tore through the paper,
revealing a small jewelry box. Upon
opening the gift, her eyes brimmed with tears.
A pendant with an emerald embedded in white gold dangled from Larissa’s
trembling fingers. The deep, penetrating
green of the jewel matched Larissa’s eyes.
She fastened the gift behind her
neck, then dialed a phone number.
"Hello," a masculine voice
answered after a few rings.
"Hi, Michael," Larissa
said, idly running her fingers through her short, brown hair.
"Hey, Larissa. Welcome back."
"Thanks. I called to personally thank you for the
Christmas present. I just opened
it."
"Well, I felt bad about you
losing your necklace," came the distracted reply through a rustle of
papers.
Larissa removed the only picture she had of
Michael from a shelf. Her finger gently
touched the glass over his auburn hair and his strong chin.
"I'd like to see you, if you
have time," Larissa said.
"I have some things I have to
do right now. Filling out applications
and all. Besides, you need rest after
your long trip."
"All right," Larissa said,
frowning slightly. "But let's go to
dinner later this week. I missed you,
you know."
"Why don't we go swimming some
night?" More paper rustling echoed in the background.
"Very funny. You know I can't swim."
"It was just a thought. I've got to go."
"Dinner on Wednesday,
okay?"
"Sure, I'll see you then."
Larissa heard a click through her
phone, then hung up the receiver.
Sighing, she looked at her luggage.
It was time to unpack. As she
threw clothes into her dresser, she failed to notice a very soft glow coming
from the emerald.
Oid’s
reptilian eyes widened as he watched Korgoff flex his
beefy, thick skinned arms and gnarled his tusks. Oid knew he was
about to be knocked into the vacuum of space, his Master ignoring the
consequences that a hole in the already damaged ship might have.
"Master! No options!
Jauglins almost got me! Stone easy to find. Hid on blue planet with stupid, stupid
creatures.” Oid
slithered around Korgoff, careful not to let any of
his arms or legs touch his master.
Master didn’t like the feel of Oid’s scales.
Korgoff
raised an arm above his head, grunting and growling what Oid
knew to be his disapproval.
Oid
struggled to stay out of range. “Stone
safe, Master! Safe! Hidden with others like it. Paid greedy, stupid creature to keep in
shop. Paid with Dregnan. Creature too stupid. Think Dregnan make
him rich. Only Master will be rich. When sell Stone."
Suddenly, Korgoff’s
hairless and normally green-blue face turned a bright chartreuse. Oid flinched just
before Korgoff’s blow landed on his tender trunk,
sending pain to all eight appendages as the Master continued his barrage of
grunts and guttural sounds.
Oid
scurried to a corner of the small, dilapidated ship. “Oid not know!” he
cried. “Oid
not know Dregnan common on blue planet! Will get Stone back.”
As Korgoff
crossed to him, Oid saw a protruding plate from the
floor take a bite from his Master’s leg.
Then, Korgoff clenched his slave’s thick neck
with his strong hands, lifted the small, trembling reptile to his own
formidable height, and growled an order.
After feeling Korgoff
release his grip, Oid coughed and sputtered for a few
moments, thankful to get some air into his lungs. When he could breathe again, he groveled,
“Yes, Master! Will get Stone back. Will fix Finder.”
Under Korgoff’s
burning gaze, Oid crawled to the room where the
broken Finder waited repairs.
Larissa watched as Janet shook her
head which turned her long black hair into waves.
"Larissa, he works at a jewelry
shop. He probably got it dirt
cheap. Then, he goes and makes it look
like an expensive gift. It doesn't mean
anything. He doesn't treat you right and
I don't like it."
Janet was one of Larissa's closest
friends. They had done their
undergraduate work together, and both had been accepted into law school. After they each passed the Bar exam, they
planned to open their own law firm. They
agreed on just about everything, except for their opinions about Michael. As she looked over the table at Janet’s olive
features, Larissa wondered why they couldn’t just eat their lunch in peace.
"Why do you have to put a
negative spin on everything he does for me?"
"It's easy when he doesn't do
all that much for you.” Janet took a sip
of coffee.
"Isn't it kind of shallow to
base a relationship on what he does for me?”
Larissa let her sandwich fall on its plate, feeling anger replacing
hunger.
"All I’m saying is this ‘relationship’
seems one sided. I can tell how you feel
about him and so can half the world. But
I don’t think he feels the same way and he's stringing
you along for a big fall. Look at the
facts, Rissa.
Who calls who in this little relationship? Answer me that. Who sets up your outings?"
"He could always say no."
"You didn't answer the
question, Counselor. Can't you see a
pattern here? A one way pattern."
"Look," Larissa said, in a
harsh voice, "We enjoy our time together, he cares about me, and that's
all that matters. This subject is
closed."
Janet sighed. "If you say so. Rissa, you know I
wouldn't even broach the subject if I didn't care. I just don't want you to get hurt . . .
again."
Larissa let her anger subside. "I know.
And I'm sorry I raised my voice.
It's just a touchy subject. Let's
plan our study schedule after I go to the bathroom."
"Sounds good."
Larissa got up from the table and
made her way to the nearest restroom.
While she washed her hands, she looked up in the mirror and saw the
emerald faintly glowing.
“Entering sector Beta
one-four-one-one,” announced Four of the Jauglin
complement.
“Any signs of our quarry?” asked
One, standing from his designated chair on the meticulously clean ship.
Two glanced at his information
screens. “Their trail leads to a star
system with nine planets.”
“Any with life?” One stood by his
subordinate, Two, and awaited an answer.
“Only on the third from the
star. The Finder is picking up a faint
signal from the Stone on that planet. And,
One,” Two said, turning to the leader, “it has Lower Sentients.”
One straightened his Jauglin uniform.
“Activate Protocol for Lower Sentients,” he
commanded. “Send a report to
Headquarters alerting them of our situation, but continue with the mission
unless ordered otherwise.”
“Understood, One.”
Three entered the cabin. In one fluid motion, he replaced Four at his
station while Four made his way to the sleeping chamber.
Two was about to brief Three on the
happenings of the last shift when One interrupted. “I’m going to take a short rest, Two. Make sure you do the same when you can. We’re going to need it.”
One marched to the sleeping chamber,
possibilities swimming in his mind. If a
Lower Sentient possessed the Stone and found a way to use it, the situation
could end unfortunately. One now would
carry out his mission with a new sense of urgency.
After the glow of the emerald and
the initial shock the event faded, Larissa went back to the table and excused
herself from lunch.
“Why?” Janet asked.
Larissa picked up her
belongings. “I’m really not feeling all
that well. I think I’m going to go home
and lie down.”
Before her friend had a chance to
ask any more questions, Larissa turned and hurried to her car.
In a burst, she entered her apartment
and threw her books across the coffee table. After quickly sitting on the
couch, Larissa removed the pendant so she could observe it more closely. She stared at the emerald, waiting for it to
glow again. She felt the minutes tick
by, but nothing happened. When an hour
had past and the stone still showed no sign of life, Larissa finally replaced
it around her neck.
She sighed and opened one of her
text books. She yawned and was about to
rest her head on a couch pillow when she noticed the emerald shining
again. She grabbed the jewel.
Like a scene switch in a movie, her
setting changed. She was no longer in
her apartment studying. Glass cases
filled with rings and bracelets surrounded her.
As if the gem had burned her hand, she quickly released it. Once again, she returned to her apartment.
This can't be happening, she thought
to herself.
She looked at the emerald, which
still glowed teasingly. A part of her
wanted to rip the necklace from her body, the part that warned her of unknown
danger. But curiosity prevailed and she
shook the doubts from her mind. Larissa
brought her hand up and held the emerald.
As before, the scene changed. Larissa recognized it as the jewelry shop
where Michael worked. From her
peripheral vision, she was aware of someone moving. Larissa tried to focus her eyes on the
movement, but discovered that she couldn’t.
"Just give me second, Mrs. Lavery, and I'll have your ring cleaned for you."
The voice resounded inside Larissa’s
head as if it originated from her mind.
And she recognized the voice. It
was Michael's.
Her view changed as if she was
seeing through a video camera. The room
spun until a doorway became the center of the picture. The doorway bounced toward her and she
entered it. Various machines were
scattered throughout this new room. A
hand and arm came into view. This appendage, too, belonged to Michael. The hand gently held a ruby ring between the
first finger and thumb.
"Michael, there is someone out
here to see you," someone called from the main room.
"I'll be right there," he
replied. And Larissa released the
emerald.
Her vision clicked and suddenly
returned to the apartment. She fell back
into her chair, heart pounding, realization crashing over her consciousness
like a tidal wave. Somehow, this jewel
allowed her to see through Michael's eyes, literally.
Larissa’s mind raced. Careful not to touch it, she lifted the
emerald to eye level, as if she could find answers to her questions in its
body.
Oid made a
few more adjustments to the Finder. He
knew that his repairs would only serve as a temporary fix to an ancient piece
of equipment. He would have to use the
Finder efficiently before it became irreparable. The reptile shuddered to think what would
happen if the Finder broke before they located the Stone. He pushed the unpleasant thoughts of being
caught by the Jauglins and of his Master’s wrath from
his mind. He picked up the Finder and
made his way to the main cabin where Korgoff worked
to land the ship.
Oid
slithered just within Korgoff’s hearing range. "Ready, Master! But must hurry. Running out of power for Finder.”
Barely turning his massive body, Korgoff grunted a response to his slave. Then, his Master made throaty sounds that Oid knew to be laughter.
He cried out. “No, Master!
No leave behind! On stupid planet
with stupid creatures! Oid find Stone.
Master be rich. Please, Master!”
While Korgoff
ungracefully thrashed his arms in the air, Oid
responded by frantically grabbing a belt and the Finder and leaving the
ship. Outside, he wrapped the belt
around his trunk and twisted a dial. His
outward appearance changed to that of one of the stupid, bipedal creatures on
this planet. He glanced toward the
direction of the ship, currently invisible to the naked eye. More precious power being used to cover their
tracks. He activated the Finder and
rushed toward Stone’s signal. Time was
running out.
The morning after their night out,
Larissa began to feel guilty. She knew
that she should tell Michael about the power his gift had and she had thought
about telling him, but last evening's events went perfectly and bringing up
such a serious matter would have ruined the mood. Ultimately, she rationalized that it would
keep.
However, that argument seemed very
weak today. She looked down at the
emerald and sighed. Larissa picked up
her phone and dialed.
"Hello," answered a sleepy
voice.
"Hi, Michael," said
Larissa, absently running her fingers through her hair.
"Hey, Larissa. What's up?"
The emerald began to glow.
"What in the world . . . "
Larissa lifted the chain that suspended the emerald, being careful not to touch
it.
"Did you say something?"
Michael yawned.
She brought the jewel to eye
level. "Michael, we need to
talk."
“What about?”
"About my
necklace."
"What's the matter? You don't like the color?"
"Where exactly did you get
it?" Larissa insisted.
"From the shop, of course. Where else would I get it? If you are in doubt of its authenticity, it
does happen to be a real emerald," Michael said.
"No, no. Michael, I'm sorry. It's just that this emerald is doing some,
well, rather unique things. Are you sure
there isn't anything you aren't telling me?" The emerald’s glow increased, its color
turning from green to white.
"Rissa,
what is going on?"
Larissa didn't answer
immediately. After a few moments, she
confessed. "Michael, this emerald
gives me the ability to see what you are seeing."
Silence engulfed the line.
"What? This is a joke, right?"
Larissa let the emerald fall to her
chest then clasped it with her free hand.
She saw Michael's room.
"No joke. Humor me for a second, will you? Put the phone down and go do something. Anything.
When you get back to the phone, I will describe everything I see."
"Uh, sure. Whatever."
Larissa waited for the view to
change, but all she saw Michael do was lie down in his bed and put the phone on
his abdomen. After a few moments passed,
he picked it up.
"Okay, I'm back."
Larissa fought to contain her
anger. "What do you mean you're
back? You didn't go anywhere."
"How did you . . ."
"Michael, take me seriously for
once, will you? I don't know what's
going on, but when I hold this emerald, I can see through your eyes and hear
what’s going on around you. I'm doing it
now. You're in your room lying on the
bed."
"Lucky guess."
"Let me prove to you that I'm
telling the truth. Go do something. Just make sure that there isn't anyway I
could see what you are doing from outside."
She saw him set the receiver down and
head for his basement.
Good choice, Larissa thought. No windows for someone to peek through.
He flipped a switch. Once light flooded the room, he walked toward
some shelves on the far wall. Michael
picked up a can of peaches from one shelf, a jar of applesauce from another and
switched them. After turning off the
light, he went back to his room. When he
grabbed the receiver, Larissa described in detail everything he had done.
She released the emerald. "Scary, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Larissa, I want to try this necklace,
too. To see if it works both ways."
"Good idea. Where do you want to meet?"
"Just come to my place. And Larissa?
Please don't use it anymore without my knowing."
Larissa immediately felt
ashamed. “Of course. I’ll see you in a few.”
Oid
stopped in a place that sold sustenance.
He wasn't hungry, but he had to use the Finder in a place where he
wouldn't draw attention to himself. He
sat in a booth, waited until no one was watching, and then pulled the Finder
out of his pocket. He read it and knew
the Stone was close. Very close. With any luck, Oid
would possess the Stone soon and present it to his Master.
Oid
replaced the Finder and left the booth.
He went outside and hurried to the coordinates where the stone was
located. If Oid
had been paying closer attention, he would have noticed two figures following
him.
"Let me try it on."
Larissa arrived at Michael's
house. She had hoped Michael would have
greeted her more warmly, but he didn’t focus on her. The object around her neck captured his
attention fully.
He's just shocked over the whole
situation, Larissa rationalized. After
all, he did give me the necklace. He
does care about me; he just has a hard time showing it.
Larissa undid the clasp and removed
her necklace. She winced from the snap
of the chain on her hand as Michael immediately took it from her and put it
around his own neck. The emerald's glow
disappeared. The stone looked dark and
cold in the middle of Michael's chest.
"How does this thing work?"
he asked.
Larissa looked at the lifeless
stone. She knew this wasn't right. "It usually glows. Then I hold the emerald in my hand and my
vision changes to what you see."
"Go on to the basement. I'll wait here and see if it starts to
glow."
As she made her way to the
windowless room, she felt a dull ache grow in the middle of her stomach. It wasn't going to work. Larissa tried to push the negative feelings
away.
She stood in the middle of the
basement among rows of shelves. Her eyes
caught the two containers of fruit that Michael had interchanged. Without thinking, she replaced both to their
proper shelves. Then, she waited for
Michael to come running down the stairs to tell her it was working; that he,
too, was seeing through her eyes.
It didn’t happen. After ten minutes, Larissa climbed up the
stairs and went to find Michael. He was
sitting in a chair in the kitchen, dangling the emerald in front of his face.
"It's not working, is
it?" she asked softly.
He didn't answer. He simply removed the chain and handed it to
Larissa. The moment she let the emerald
fall to her chest, it began to glow.
Michael reached for the jewel. He
jumped back with a yelp.
"What happened?"
"That damn thing burned
me." He showed his hand to
her. His fingertips were red and two of
them were beginning to blister.
"Come on. Let's run some cold water over your
hand."
They made their way to the
sink. Larissa turned on the faucet. While gently rubbing his fingers, she ran the
cool water run over them.
"I'm sorry, Michael. I didn't know that was going to happen."
"I know you didn't. Listen, maybe we're approaching this thing
the wrong way. Let me wear it for a few
days. Didn't it take awhile before it
started working with you?"
"Michael, I don't think that's
such a good idea. Look what the emerald
just did to your hand."
Oid made
his way to Michael's house. His fingers
itched as he approached the brick structure and he could feel the Stone in his
hands. He imagined all of the wealth
that would be acquired once his Master sold it.
He had reached the front door when
he felt strong hands grab his shoulders and pull him back. In the struggle, Oid
dropped the finder. One of the two men
tried to grab it, but he was too late.
It landed on the walkway and shattered.
The other man quickly injected Oid with a sedative to keep him from struggling. "We really could have used that Finder,
Two."
"I know, Four. We'll just have to wait until ours is
charged. At least we've got Korgoff and Oid now. I'll pick up all of these pieces. We can’t leave this planet with any evidence
of our presence."
Larissa let her body fall limply
onto her couch. Although she had an exam
in a couple of days, she didn't feel like studying. Convincing Michael that she should keep the
necklace had completely drained her.
Larissa felt an uncomfortable
sensation around her neck. The chain had
caught on her clothes and was now slightly strangling her. Larissa grabbed the emerald to adjust the
necklace and stop the pain.
"Yeah, giving her that emerald
was the smartest move I've made."
Larissa almost released the jewel so
as not to break her promise to Michael.
It wasn't right to eavesdrop. But
the words she heard came from him and were obviously about her. Michael was talking to one of his
friends. From what Larissa could tell,
the two men sat at a bar. The empty
glasses on the table indicated to Larissa that they had been there for awhile.
"Mike, I don't get it. Why did you get her a necklace? I thought you were seeing that blonde you met
at my party.”
“That’s Denise. Yeah, I see her every once in awhile. But Larissa is my ticket into law
school. She might be on the admission
committee. They always have at least one
of the law students on it. And it never
hurts to stack the deck in your favor.”
Larissa released the emerald. She couldn't bear to hear another word. Janet was right. He had no feelings for her. All the time they had talked and spent time
together meant nothing. Being angry with
him would be futile. Before she had seen
what she wanted to see, believed what she wanted to believe about him. Now she knew the truth.
But what was she to do with it? Her sensible side told her to be rid of the
necklace that lost its meaning the moment he uttered those hateful words. The truth about him shone crystal clear, and
this time she couldn’t rationalize it away.
Still, she didn’t want to give up the emerald. She felt there was something special about it
that perhaps could be used in some positive manner. Maybe she would find someone else and perhaps
with him the connection would be two way.
Larissa could only hope.
With the weight of the world in her
chest, Larissa slowly made her way to bed.
She had ended relationships with other men before, but this one cut
deeper than the rest. She thought she
had found a man who understood her, who saw the world as she did. That reality had shattered into millions of
little pieces. Those pieces danced
around in Larissa's mind and kept her from finding sanctuary in sleep.
"This guy is awful,"
Larissa whispered to Janet.
Janet and Larissa sat in a
classroom, listening to a droning lawyer.
"We've had worse
lecturers," replied Janet, madly taking notes.
"Not much worse," Larissa
complained.
Larissa knew she judged the
professor too harshly, but after a sleepless night, not much was going to
please her. Barely paying attention to
what was being said, she took notes sporadically.
Larissa was about to nod off when
the scenery changed.
Tables with people eating and
chatting surrounded her.
"May I take your order,
sir?" asked a voice inside her head, the lecturer pushed to the
background.
The scene shifted to focus on a
waiter.
"No, thanks. I'll wait until my friend shows
up."
Larissa panicked. It was happening, but without any initiation
from her. She shook her head back in the
classroom. And her vision returned to
there.
Janet elbowed her. "Larissa, you might think about using
less conspicuous ways to wake yourself up.
Hey, are you okay?"
Larissa wasn't okay. She was scared. She looked down at the emerald. No glow.
Impossible. How could she connect with him when he
obviously wasn't thinking about her and the stone was dark? Maybe she just needed to get some sleep.
"Janet, I'm not feeling so
well. I think I'm going to go home and
rest. Could you fill me in later?"
"Sure. Listen, if you need me to do anything . .
."
"No, just take notes for me and
I'll get them from you later today.
Thanks."
"No problem. I'll talk to you later."
Larissa left the school and drove
herself home. She entered her apartment
and convinced herself that relaxation would help when her vision changed back
to the restaurant.
"Michael, I don't want you to
pay for this. You paid last night so let
me buy lunch." One of Michael's
friends looked straight at her.
Larissa closed her eyes and shook
her head violently, but to no avail. The
connection to Michael held. Although she
saw through his eyes, her hands made it to her own neck. She ripped the chain from her body and threw
it across the room. The connection
broke. She collapsed in her living
room. Fighting against it drained her now. No matter.
With the emerald gone, there would be no more of this nonsense.
She was about to go to bed when she
heard a knock at the door. At first, she
decided not to answer it, but a voice inside her head urged Larissa to
reconsider. She opened the door to be
greeted by two men in suits.
"Are you Larissa
Johnson?" one of the men
asked. His attire of dark clothes and
sunglasses hinted that he represented a government agency.
"Yes, I am. Is something wrong?"
"We hope not," the other
man smiled. "I'm Jack Smith and
this is my partner Howard Thompson. We
are here about a stone that you might have."
Larissa looked back and forth
between the two men.
"Don't tell me. It was stolen." Larissa figured the two men were FBI agents
tracking down a stolen emerald.
"Actually, yes. We need to have it as soon as possible. Have you been wearing it?" The man named Thompson seemed a little
worried.
"Yes, I have. Is that a problem?"
The restaurant surrounded her. "For the last time, I'm paying,"
Larissa heard Michael say.
Larissa clutched her head. No, no, no!
she screamed inwardly. This can't
be happening. I don't even have the
necklace on.
"Please, I'm feeling terrible
dizzy. I'll find the emerald and give it
to you later."
Larissa felt a hand take her arm,
but the sensation didn’t coincide with the signals her eyes sent to her
brain. She saw Michael and his friend
walk out of the restaurant.
"Ms. Johnson, do you see
me?" The voice could have come from
either of the men. Larissa couldn't
tell. "Don't lie to us. We aren't what you think. We know about the stone and what it can
do. Are you seeing through someone
else's eyes?"
Tears now flowed freely from
Larissa. "Yes, I am. Can you make it stop?"
Finally, Larissa's view returned to
the men. They looked very sad.
"No," Thompson said. "We can't make it go away. May we come in?"
"Yes, of course."
Larissa showed them to the couch and
asked them to please sit down. She took
a chair for herself and told them everything.
During the time it took to relate her story, Larissa's vision changed a
couple times. It scared her, but she
controlled herself in the hopes that these people could help her.
When she finished she asked,
"If you can't make it go away, who can?"
"May my partner get the
stone?" Thompson asked.
"I don't know where it is. I threw it."
"Don't worry. He'll find it." Thompson motioned to Smith, who stood up and
turned away from Larissa. She thought he
pulled some machine from his pocket, but after picking up the necklace, he
replaced it too quickly for her to see clearly.
Thompson seemed a little
uncomfortable. "I wish we could be
as honest with you as you have been with us, but I can't. I also wish I didn't have to tell you that
your condition is irreversible."
Larissa jumped from her chair. She clutched Thompson's arm. "Please," she cried. "I'll do
anything if you make this stop. I can't
take much more."
She half expected Thompson to
remover her hands, but he didn’t.
Instead, he continued, "Ms. Johnson, things are going to be
worse. Soon, you will not see your own
surroundings anymore, only those of the other one." She noticed him stir uncomfortably as Smith
joined them. "Smith, you are not to
repeat what I am about to say to the others."
"Yes, sir," came the
reply.
"Ms. Johnson, that stone was
made so that blind people can see through a seeing person's eyes. The blind person wears the stone and is a
close companion of someone with full vision.
After a time, the transformation begins.
It is exactly as you described what is happening to you. We can't stop it because it was never made to
be stopped. Before now, there has never
been a need to reverse the process because only blind people wear the
stone."
A thought occurred to Larissa. “And if this close companion dies, then
what?” she asked.
“The wearer of the stone is blind
again and usually finds a new companion.”
Larissa removed her hands from
Thompson. "Then it's over."
"Perhaps there is hope that we
could get someone to reverse the damage and . . . "
"No." Larissa said fiercely. "Don't barrage me with a shower of false
hopes." For Larissa, the scene
changed again. She felt her way to the
chair. Closing her eyes did no
good. She still saw what laid in
Michael’s field of vision. For all
practical purposes, she had contracted a chronic disease. And there was no cure. "Please go. Take that bloody stone and go back where you
came from."
Smith spoke. "Ms. Johnson . . . "
"I said GO!" Larissa shouted. "Before I call the police. I don't care who you are. You got what you came for, now
leave."
Quietly closing the door behind
them, the two left the apartment.
In the hallway, Thompson shook his
head. "You know, Three, sometimes,
I really hate this job."
"What will happen to her now,
One?"
"I don't know." Thompson looked at the Stone which showed no
hint of life. "Let's get the Stone
back to its owner and close this case."
One and his Jauglin
complement left the third planet. With Korgoff and Oid in custody, he
ordered his crew to set a course for their own sector to return the Stone. In his report to Headquarters, the leader of
ship #23 reported a successful mission.
However, One knew better.
Larissa sat on the small bed in her
equally small room. She knew that this
ward of the hospital had simple accommodations since anything more would hurt
the patients more than help them. As if
physically trying to hold herself together, Larissa clutched her folded legs to
her chest, and she subtly rocked back and forth.
“Is there anything I can get you, Rissa?” she heard Janet ask.
Larissa allowed her friend to visit
her in the psychiatry ward and no one else.
She couldn’t bear the thought of her family seeing her like this, in
this place. To them, she thought, I
should already be dead. And she decided
from the start not to tell Janet all that had happened to her. Even if Janet believed her, there was nothing
she could do. There was nothing anyone
could do.
“Nothing that I’m allowed to have,”
Larissa droned. “You’ll need to go in a
minute since I have another visitor coming.
I’m only allowed one at a time.”
“Then I’ll see you soon.”
An unexpected shift in her bed’s
mattress startled Larissa. After a quick
recovery, she realized that her friend must have sat on the bed next to
her. At least, that’s what she assumed.
“I’m sorry,” Larissa heard the pain
in Janet’s voice. “I just wanted to hug
you good-bye.”
Larissa relaxed her posture and let
her arms hang to her sides. “Of
course. Thanks for visiting me.”
Hesitantly, Larissa wrapped her arms
around her friend. As soon as she sensed
that Janet had left, she folded both legs up to her chest and resumed her
previous position, slowly rocking on her haunches.
He was coming to see her today. She knew.
She always knew what he was doing.
The connection was complete.
Larissa no longer owned her visual world. She only saw his world now.
As soon as she found out that
Michael was going to visit, she made an oath not to speak to him at all this
time. For the first time since she had
met Michael, she felt she really understood him now. She had painted glorified pictures of him
before this whole incident began. Those
pictures had been painted over the last few days. Or perhaps, the fake paint had been striped
away, and she saw underneath his outward colors. Either way, she had planned on letting him
talk, and she hoped that he would leave after she didn't respond to his
worthless words.
This wasn't the first time he had
visited her. Michael had come to see her
once before. She told him about her
encounter with Thompson and Smith.
Michael thought it must have been some top secret research that had
fallen into the wrong hands, but Larissa wasn't so sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore except
that each day was torture and that torture was coming to see her today.
Through his eyes, she saw
herself. Her back was facing the door as
Michael walked across the room, bringing a chair. She didn't look at him as he approached. She turned so he couldn't see it her head, so
she couldn't see herself. He moved as if
he was about to set the chair right next to her when Larissa raised a hand and
motioned him to keep distance between them.
He sat down and waited for her to
initiate a conversation. Minutes passed
and Larissa said nothing.
"Larissa, I know you haven't
told the doctors what's happened to you," he began. He paused to see if she would join the
conversation now, but since she showed no sign of contributing, he
continued. "It's probably just as
well, I guess. They wouldn't believe you,
would they?"
Still nothing from Larissa. Michael let out a big sigh. "I just don't know what to do to help
you. Larissa, I can't make it go
away. You know, I still care about what
is happening to you."
At this point, Larissa broke the
silent promise to herself and spoke.
"You know what, Michael? You
amaze me. I was the one working on the
law degree, learning to use words to my advantage in any given situation. But you have a natural talent for it and you
didn't even have to go to school to learn."
Larissa abruptly turned to face
him. She thought it odd, seeing her own
face from this vantage point, but she quickly pushed these musings away. She contorted her face in utter disgust and
spoke quietly, each word dripping with hate.
"You don't give a damn about
me. Your words are worthless. I was so busy listening to your words when we
were together that I wasn't paying attention to your actions. I've been locked up in here for days,
Michael, days. Going completely out of my mind because I
can't talk to anyone about this. No one
but you. You know that, you know that. But do you do anything about it? Do you come to see me any more times than you
deem absolutely necessary? I have
nothing else but your actions to watch now.
They haunt me day and night. You
have no idea what I've been going through, and you don't care.
"You only came here to see if
things have changed. To see if your life
is private again." Larissa broke
from her dark mood and laughed madly.
"The funny thing is, I thought about that. I thought about how horrible it must be that
every move you make is watched by me. I felt sorry for you."
She stopped laughing. All emotions left her face. She returned to her bed and, again, clutched
her legs to her chest. "You are
free, Michael. The doctors have decided
to put me on some new anti-hallucinogenic drugs. These are much more powerful than the others
and on the test run, they seemed to work for awhile. I haven't had any side effects from the
medication, so they're going to up the dosage and increase the number of times
I take it. You are free."
Michael didn't say anything for
awhile. Then, he picked up his chair and
began leaving the room. Before he walked
out, he turned around and said, "For what it's worth, Larissa, I'm
sorry."
Larissa never saw Michael
again. Her little act had worked just as
she thought it would. He never checked
with the doctors to see if her story was true.
She knew that he wanted to believe they would find a cure, no matter
what it did to her. She told him the
things he wanted to hear. He had taught
her well. Perhaps it wasn't the best way
to handle things, but her lies gave him the privacy he wanted. Besides, soon he really would be free. Very soon.
Larissa listened half-heartedly as
her doctors announced that could find nothing wrong with her physically. They told her that the pressure of law school
combined with the stress of losing Michael caused her to have a psychotic
break. When she firmly declared that she
was blind, a doctor accused her of malingering since her EEG indicated that the
visual area of the cortex was being stimulated, despite her insistence that she
couldn’t see anything in front of her.
Later, when they performed more tests, the physician reluctantly
admitted the mystery of her case because even though bright lights flashed in
front of her eyes, her EEG showed no reaction to correlate with the harsh
visual stimulus.
Larissa tired of the endless
speculation concerning her condition, so she formulated a plan for escape. In her daily interviews and sessions, she
acted like the model patient, actively participating in her treatment
plan. She allowed her family to
visit. She voiced her wish to leave the
hospital and begin a new life. They
didn't know that she would have told them anything at this point to be released
from the hospital. After days of arguing
and a promise from Larissa to continue therapy outside the hospital, her
psychiatrist finally agreed to discharge her.
Larissa wanted some vacation time,
so she went on a cruise with Janet. One
night when most of the passengers and crew were asleep, Larissa made her way to
the main deck. Like a weary traveler,
she rested on the rail and focused her hearing on the waves. If she listened hard enough, they could drown
out the sounds of Michael’s life that haunted her mind.
She leaned further over the rail
while focusing her attention on the noise from the sea. As if blessed with revelation, she instantly
made the decision. Larissa relented. She felt the endless water engulf her body,
paving a way to freedom.