Burlap

1 - Welcome To The Family

“So, you don’t remember killing Robert Jensen?”

“No.” Lie.

“Were you under any undue stress last month?”

“No.” Another lie.

“Do you remember killing any of your other co-performers?”

“No.” A third lie.

Dr. Shilling sat back in his chair, appraising me with a careful eye. I couldn’t blame his doubt, really. At five feet, two inches and with the lithe and petite body of a wood nymph, it was hard for me to believe I’d been capable of taking out an entire cast of circus members as well as their ringmaster in one night. Though, I suppose I should have known it wasn’t really me, but the madness- Power- that had taken over and done it. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been sentenced to life in a home for the criminally insane. The jury couldn’t bear to put such a timid, shy creature such as myself in a dirty jail cell with burly men who might hurt me. The fifties had brought more and more gangs to rise up and get arrested because of the end of the war. I wouldn’t stand a chance, despite the horrendous mass murder I’d committed just a month before.

The good doctor heaved a great, weighted sigh and bounced his pen against his clipboard, producing a rather irritating tap, tap, tapping sound that had my foot twitching in growing aggravation.

“Katherine, you’re going to be here for a long time, so I’m not going to put any pressure on you. But, the sooner we can tap-”

Tap, tap, tap… Tap!

A giggle fell from my lips, to my horror.

“-into what caused this to happen, the sooner you can get better. Maybe we can even get you out on parole so that you can find a nice husband and put this all behind you.”

He had no idea that he should have been worried about the errant laughter I’d burst out with, no matter how short and chopped off it had been. Girls giggled all the time. And, as a psychiatric doctor over an entire section of wards in Rosenton Home for the Criminally Insane, he was more than likely used to out of place actions produced by inmates- or rather, residents, as they preferred to call us.

“I don’t want to put it behind me,” I whispered, fighting the slow crack in my mental wall from proceeding any further with every ounce of self control I had in me.

Dr. Shilling raised a thick, brown eyebrow at that, his wrinkled mouth forming a straight line across his face. My left eye twitched against my will as I fought off the smile pressing its way into my mouth. Knuckles white, my fingers gripped the arms of the plush, velvet chair I sat in as my eyes trained themselves obsessively on the burlap sack of apples the doctor kept next to his desk.

The rough texture of the sack brushed over my nose as I moved, leaving the very tip of it a little raw while I slipped soundlessly through Ellie and Fredrick’s window. My breath came out smooth and confident, crashing against the burlap bag over my head and bouncing back against my chin and cheeks. I could still smell the peaches I’d emptied out of the sack before taking it.

“Are you hungry? Would you like an apple?” the doctor asked, following my hard gaze. He was testing me and it had Power scoffing at his lame attempt to sound nonchalant. Dr. Shilling knew I didn’t care about the apples. Just the bag.

I glared up at him, struggling against Power. Had he put the bag there on purpose? To see my madness first hand? Did he not have a lick of sense? I’d murdered an entire fleet of circus performers in one night. He was just one man. A middle aged, thin, wisp of a man with overly thick eyebrows and large, round, gold framed glasses.