The Hanging Noose

Twenty-One

Polly was quick to call Tommy from the phone in the hallway. She was frantic, hearing her daughters cries in the living room. Tommy was just as quick getting to Sutton Coldfield, with Arthur and Reggie in the car as well. Reggie was the first out of the car, he jumped out when he saw the house and ran, unlocking the door and running through. He stops in the doorway when he sees Dottie cowering in Micheal's arms, tears staining her face, her voice hoarse and broken.

"Thea," Reggie says in a quiet voice, he looks round, noticing Eliza awake in the bassinet in the corner of the room. He walks forward slowly, approaching the sofa. "Thea, love." He leans down, crouching down in front of her.

Dottie stares at Reggie, her eyes large and almost broken.

"Thea, can you hear me?" He stretches out his hand, going to touch her face when he yanks her head back.

"Don't touch me!"

Reggie pulls his hand back, putting both of his hands up almost like he's showing mercy, "alright, love, look. I won't touch you. You're safe here."

Tommy and Arthur barrel through the door. They bump in to Polly, who's coming down the stairs with a bag in her hands. Tommy frowns.

"She's not all there in the head," Polly says quietly, "I'm going to send her up London, to Ada's. I'll be going with her, but think she's suffering..."

Arthur grunts, "alright, Pol... had she... has she been harming herself? Like Mum did?"

Polly freezes, completely forgetting about her sister in law. Her sister in law went down the same path as her daughter, it started first with refusing to sleep, and ended up with her body being dragged from the cut.

Polly drops the bag and rushes in to the living room. She kneels down in front of Dottie, and smiles softly.
"Dottie, darling, I need to check your wrists. Can you show me?"

"I'm not crazy," Dottie mutters.

"Oh I know you're not," Polly replies sympathetically, "but I need to check you're safe. Can you show me, sweetheart?"

Dottie stares at her mum. She slowly gives her her wrists, and Polly takes hold of them, her thumbs running along the veins.

"Alright, darling, thank you for showing me... now, have you been harming yourself? Anywhere?"

Dottie's breathing gets ragged. "I'm not crazy."

"Sweetheart, it's okay. It's alright. I know you're not," Polly responds, trying her best to stay calm, "but I need to know, otherwise I can't help you."

Dottie's eyes shoot to Reggie before looking back at Polly.

"Dottie, I need to know."

Dottie's silence is deafening throughout the house. Her breathing gets heavier, almost ragged. She falls in to Polly's chest, almost knocking the woman out.

"Please don't leave me," she whispers, clinging on to Polly's back, "please, Mum, I'm sorry, please don't leave me."

Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Polly grasps on to her, she rubs her back up and down, "I won't, my darling girl, I never will. I love you with all of my heart."

                                    —

As Dottie curls up on the sofa, finally asleep, Polly runs her hands over her face, sighing as she looks over the tired girl. She has a bag behind her, a duffel bag packed to the brim with clothes belonging to Dottie and baby Eliza.

"I plan on taking her to London," Polly says, looking at Reggie who stares down at the floor, "she's suffering from the birth... maybe something else."

Reggie clears his throat, looking at the younger girl with a heart broken expression. "I haven't seen her like this... not even when she was pregnant."

Polly nods, looking at the sleeping girl with a saddened expression. "Maybe London will be good for her. I'll have her stay with Ada, I'll go too. She won't be alone, Reggie."

Reggie doesn't answer, instead she continues staring at Dottie, memorising every freckle and every beauty mark on her face, memorising the way her dark hair cascades around her face, the way her eyes light up when she's around her family, the way she smiles when she sees her mum walk in to a room.

"I'm scared for her." He quietly says, almost expecting Polly to scoff, however all she does is nod.

"She's ill, Reggie... and I can't help her, I don't think any of us can."

"I'm even more scared she's going to hurt Eliza," he reveals, his voice cracking as he talks, he continues talking, feeling Polly's eyes burn in to his, "she stays awake all night staring in to Eliza's crib, she holds her so tight sometimes her knuckles go white... when other people hold Eliza, she panics, she thinks Eliza's going to go missing, that someone's going to take her."
Reggie itches his forehead as he pulls his eyesight away from Dottie. He looks at Polly, "I'm afraid one day she's going to kill herself."

Polly sucks in a breath, shaking her head, "no. She won't do that. She knows she's got so many people who would miss her. She knows that."

Reggie hums in response, not really convinced by Polly's words. His attention is pulled away from his girlfriend's mother when Micheal enters the room, his tie pulled down from his collar, and sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Mum," he says, his voice deep and husky, "I know you won't like this idea, but it's the best one we've got, and I've already spoken—"

"Micheal."

"I've spoken to the woman who adopted us," Micheal says, watching carefully as Polly's face turns from a worried mother to an angry mother. "She's looked after Dottie before when she's been like this, and she's agreed to do it again."

Polly stands up, "no, Micheal—"

"What other choice do we have, eh, mum?" He argues back, "my sister is ill, she's mental, Mum, she's suffering, and she needs to be looked after."

Polly nods, "she will be, in London—"

"No," Micheal replies, cutting off his mother's words, "no. The doctors are useless, she's been to hundreds before, they all threaten to lock her away, and then what will happen to Eliza? She'll grow up without her mother."

Polly goes to talk when Micheal continues.

"Mum, you've lost Anna, you don't want to loose Dottie either..."

Reggie looks up at Micheal, he nods his head, "I agree with you. If your adoptive mother has looked after Dottie before, then she'll have no problem doing it again."

"Micheal, no! I'm not having that woman—"

"What's our other options, mum?" Micheal yells back making Polly slightly flinch, "the other options are sending her to a hospital where she'll never get out, or letting her kill herself. Dottie grew up without her mum, are you really going to let Eliza grow up without hers too?"

She opens her mouth to argue back when Micheal continues, his voice lowering.

"I've spoken to Rosemary," he reveals, "she's agreed to take Dottie and Eliza in, she's agreed to look after Dottie as she has done before."

"I'll go with her," Polly decided, waiting for Micheal to argue back.

Micheal does argue back, shaking his head, "no, you can't. If you see Rosemary, no doubt you'll want to kill her, Mum, and that's not what we need."

"Micheal—"

"Rosemary's coming to pick up Dottie later this evening, Reg," Micheal says looking down at Reggie who sits on the sofa.

"Alright."

"She won't have visitors... she'll come back when she's better, I swear."