the henbane trials - faith seed

CHAPTER 4

8 mo

I can't believe it's been 8 months. 8 months since the last time I've seen my beautiful Lucy Holly alive.

School was just another thing I had to go to regularly, besides John Duncans' office.

If I didn't go to school my mom would get into trouble. As much as I wanted her to, I couldn't let that happen. Change would be forced upon me, and change was bad.

"Tell me about school, Rachel."

I sat on the arm rest. My foot was tapping against the hardwood floor.

John Duncan was a man with taste. He had the most beautiful furnishings, and you could see it in the way he held himself. He was a little cocky about himself, and that's what I liked about him. He reminded me of Lucy.

"I only go so Joseph doesn't talk to me."

John believed in Joseph, because Joseph believed in me. I don't know why John was so active with meeting Joseph, they regularly talked and met up for lunch.

I wonder if he's homosexual.

He jots this in that notebook of his.

"Do you have any friends?"

The window cast light onto the open space. The only sound in the room was a clock ticking, and my foot tapping.

"Yes. A lot." I say. "They've been distant since Lucy's disappearance. Those fake bitches."

He looks at me with the same look he does when I swear. He doesn't like his patients swearing.

I wanted to pull out my hair.

To his left, a phone rings obnoxiously. He turns his head to it, annoyed.

He utters an apology before venturing to the phone.

I look back at his comfy seat. His notebook is sitting on the armrest, containing the words he writes about me.

I know this is bad. I know I am bad. I couldn't help but peek at the page it was open to.

I glance up at John Duncan. His back was facing me while he held a phone to his ear.

july 3rd: Rachel

I asked Rachel about school to assess whether she goes. She states: "I only go so Joseph (Seed) doesn't talk to me."

She has "a lot" of friends, should ask her about that.

Rachel's signs of aggression and anger noticeably less today.

"My apologies, Rachel."

"No worries."

He looks at me for a while. Unmoving. It makes me shake in fear. Does he know I've read it?

"Who—who was on the phone?" I ask, diverting my attention elsewhere.

"Joseph Seed."

I want to scream at him. I want to rip every single dark hair off of his head.

It was foolish for him to think my "anger" was less today. I'm always angry. He makes me angry.

"Rachel," He says. "You have done very good at not breaking stuff. Let us keep that."

The only thing I wanted to break was his bones.

"Sit down. Tell me, what makes you feel so sharply about Joseph?"

"Ive told you a lot of fucking times." I snarl. "He makes me mom into something she's not."

"Do you want to know what Joseph was calling about?"

"No. He was probably bitching about my drawings again."

"Rachel, sit down."

I grab the leather seat and plop myself into it. I was shaking. John tells me breathing helps with the shaking, but I breathed my whole life and it doesn't help, if anything, it's agony.

"I am going to tell you what Joseph told me. He told me to tell you because you haven't been listening to him or mom recently, is that true?"

"Yes."

"Rachel, please understand that they are people you can also talk to. They want to help."

I heard this too much times already.

"Joseph told me Lucy called."

"Is it true?" Tears are running down my face when I open the door. I ran six blocks. I needed it to be true.

A police officer is standing beside my mother and Joseph. I recognized him as the sheriff I usually yelled to.

"Where—where is she?"

"Rachel." The sheriff acknowledges me. "Lucy His okay."

"Where is she?"

The sheriff takes off his hat, but my mother steps forward.

"Rache, they're trying so hard to track the number she called from." She says. "The number was disconnected a while ago."

This makes me cry harder.

They couldn't find Lucy Holly too. Lucy Holly with her beautiful golden locks and fair skin. She was perfect. She was mine.