Maniac

An Outcry

Lizette's POV

I stare blankly at the wall. A thought hits me--the wall, it's empty.

I've been so used to the tally marks that track how long I've been in the asylum that I feel empty without them.

I find a piece of sharp rock lying on the ground. I pick it up and engrave a vertical line on the stone wall. The mark is clear, precise.

The number of tally marks on the wall from the asylum is fresh in my mind.

Hours pass as I finish the last mark. 4,017 tallys.

Exactly nine years.

Wait... Wait!

NINE YEARS--NINE EXACT YEARS?

I let out a scream, and I don't care if it burns my throat and suffocates me. I don't care if it hurts.

A man--Alec--instantly runs to me as I fall to the ground and scream and wail in pain.

"Alec, what's going on?" Suzette yells as she runs to him.

"You!" I scream. I get up and grab onto the bars that separate her from me. "You!"

She looks at me with fear in those hazel eyes.

What a joker.

"You did this to me!" I scream. "Murderer. Murderer! Murderer!"

Suzette shrinks away in fear, but of course Alec didn't notice. No one has noticed her supremely obvious guilt but me.

"Nine years, Suzette," I seethe, and at the sound of her name, she shivers. "Nine years have passed since their death, yet you--the one who claims to be innocent of the crime--cannot remember the sad, sad day when our dear, dear parents passed away."

She stares silently at me, her skin drained completely of any color.

I feel contented. Is that a sin? To feel such joy watching my twin sister suffering from guilt? To nearly laugh at her since she's sent me to an asylum when she's the crazy one?

"Oh, right," Alec mutters. "I completely forgot about it! How old--"

"Seven," Suzette answers abruptly.

Silence.

Her Majesty has made her first mistake. She answered too fast. It's obvious the murder is still fresh on her mind.

Alec just stares at her, but I sit on the ground, in the middle of my cell. It feels as if I'm watching a movie--a good one for once.

"Stop talking!" Suzette screams.

Second mistake.

She's the crazy one. Can't you see? Can't you tell? Please, someone say they see this! Absolutely no one's talking, and she's jittery because it is she who has committed murder!