She is not bad

Chapter 68 : The list

It was the half of the month of November. Cassandra was at the kitchen unit island, reading a magazine while drinking her coffee. Jane was still quiet, but the psychologist affirmed she was not suicidal. She was still fragile, Cassandra was keeping an eye on her, as usual. She was cut in her thoughts by a door opening. She turned around and saw Jane get out of her bedroom and come in direction of her aunt. The young girl was holding a piece of paper and looking at her aunt. The woman widely smiled to her but was wondering what she was doing. It was becoming harder to know what she had in her mind.

- "Hey," Jane almost murmured.

Cassandra almost dropped her cup of coffee. The sound of Jane's voice hit her so hard that she felt the tears coming into her eyes. She looked away a second to close her eyes and take a deep breath before turning again to her niece and saying:

- "Hey, my baby. How are you feeling?"

- "I...I don't know...I made a list..."

The brunette held out the paper to her aunt who took it.

- "A list of groceries?"

- "No, uh, a list of—"

- "Things to change," Cassandra read.

- "Yeah...It's the list I was supposed to do last summer...I'm sorry..."

- "No, sweat heart, you have nothing to apology for. None of this is your fault. You're doing your best I know that."

- "Yeah..."

Cassandra took a moment to read at the list. She was happy to see that Jane wanted to stop taking drugs or drinking alcohol. The aunt was hating seeing Jane drunk or high. It was painful to watch. But Jane wanted to be happier too, to control better her anger, or even to be more honest, especially to her aunt.

- "It looks like a list of good resolutions people do at New Year's Eve," Jane said.

- "No, it looks like a program to heal. It's a good list."

- "I'll need you to help me with it...I can't do it alone..."

- "I'll be here, Jane. I told you, I'm not letting you down. We'll see professionals to have advice, we'll follow them, we'll create a program that you'll follow...It will be hard, but it's not impossible," Cassandra said with an encouraging tone.

The woman hesitated, but she gently grabbed Jane's hand and squeezed it. Seeing Jane like that was relieving for the aunt. Her niece was fighting hard to feel better and to be a better person, and Cassandra was proud to be part of this change.

- "What do you think about some Chinese food for lunch to celebrate this list?" Cassandra proposed.

- "It sounds good," Jane said.

- "I can let you alone a few minutes?"

- "Yeah, I think you can. I'm gonna take a shower and...put clean clothes on."

- "Great. I'll be quick."

The woman stood from her chair and softly kissed Jane's cheek before taking her purse and leaving the apartment. For the first time, she was letting Jane alone with the certitude to see her again when she came back home. Jane seemed to be different, and her resolutions were showing her aunt her desire to keep living.

When she arrived at the fast-food, the aunt took everything Jane liked. She wanted her niece to spend a good night before beginning her change. She wanted her to feel supported. And she was hoping to see her smile a little bit too. Even just a small movement of her lips would warm her heart. But she couldn't ask her too much. For now, making her feel good was her goal. She took the two paper bags of food and went back home. When she entered her apartment, she placed the bags on the kitchen unit island and said:

- "Jane? I bought everything you like! We'll eat Chinese food for the entire week!"

Jane didn't answer. Cassandra had a bad feeling. Even if Jane hadn't talked for weeks, she was feeling something different, like if something bad happened. She tried to not panic. She slowly walked to the bathroom, but the room was empty. But when she opened Jane's bedroom door, something was weird. Her night-light was broken, and the French door was wide opened. She quickly grabbed her phone and called someone:

- "Come to my apartment, right now!"

Thirty minutes later, Hopper and Joyce were at Cassandra's door. When they knocked, the aunt ran to the door and made them enter.

- "What's wrong? You sounded panicked at the phone!" Hopper said.

- "It's...it's Jane..."

- "Jane? What happened? Did she hurt herself?" Joyce asked with a concerned tone.

- "No. She...disappeared!"

- "What? What do you mean by "she disappeared"?"

- "I mean that she was there, but now she is not! I just...I just wanted to buy her favorite food...I let her only a few minutes..." Cassandra cried.

Joyce wrapped her arm around Cassandra and sat her in the couch before asking her to tell them everything. The woman began by saying that Jane seemed better, that she even made a list about the things she wanted to change about herself, and then she left to buy some food and the place was empty. She stood and went to Jane's bedroom to show them the pieces of the night-light on the ground.

- "I'm sure something happened. She didn't run away. She wouldn't have run away after talking again and telling me she wanted to change! Someone hurt her, I can feel it!"

- "Okay, okay. Calm down," Hopper softly said. "Let me take a look, okay?"

The woman nodded and stepped back at the door, letting the man and Joyce look around. They didn't touch anything, in case it was a crime scene, but they didn't see anything weird.

- "Maybe she just needed to be alone," Joyce said. "She is maybe at a friend's house."

- "No, Joyce, don't be stupid! You've seen how she has been lately; she is barely able to leave her room. Why would she leave like that now? This is not her own decision."

- "Jane had already left like that without telling anyone," Hopper added.

- "Indeed. But every time she did, she took Mr. Bear with her, her phone, some clothes, and her bag, thing she didn't do! All her stuff is still here! And why her night-light is broken? She probably used it to defend herself! You have to believe me!"

- "I believe you," the man said. "I just wanted to be sure we were not following a wrong lead."

Hopper left the place to go to the police station while Joyce stayed with Cassandra to comfort her friend. The aunt couldn't understand why she and her niece couldn't just live their lives happily, together, with no problems. It was like if the entire world wanted them to be separated.