Perfectly Scarred

The Villain

"Whoa! Carina, put that thing away!" Lisa shouts, hands out in front of her. "What the ... where the hell did you get that thing?" She ignores her, as though she can't hear or see her, as though it's just me and her in the room.

Carina takes a few steps forward and I start to edge back. I think of the unlocked doors in the holding cells downstairs, and I hope they will realize it, that whenever they do come around, they'll be able to escape.

"You were in my home, Roseanne" she repeats. "You were in my mother's bedroom."

"You were in my home, too," I say, hearing the shake in my voice.

"You took things from me, remember? I was just getting them back."

"What did you do to my mother?" she asks, as though she hasn't heard a word that I've said at all, like she's just listening to the voice inside her own head.

Her pace quickens and I continue to back away, feeling Lisa's hand, I don't want to turn my back to her, I don't want to test whether she will shoot me. My legs feel weak and yet there's a delirious giddiness awakening inside me.

A feeling that none of this can be real, that after all of this struggle, it ends like this, a psychotic episode at the hands of a sad, lonely woman.

"I didn't do anything to your mother," I say nervously.

"Keep walking," Lisa whispers, guiding me down a corridor. We walk backward, always keeping Carina and her raised gun in our sight. As soon as we turn a corner and she's out of sight, we pivot and run.

Lisa and I run hand in hand to the exit door. She waves the security card over the panel beside it, but nothing happens. Everything has been locked up to prevent protestors from breaking in to the building.

"It needs a real key," I tell her, and she curses. She takes out a ring of keys and with trembling hands starts to try the first key in the door.

Carina appears, walking at the same speed; slow, deliberate steps, hand holding the gun extended out in front of her.

"She said you sat by her bedside," she continues as though in a trance. "She called you her angel." She cocks her head to the side. "Why would she say that, Roseanne?"

"I don't, I can't..." I can barely formulate a thought as I stare at the gun pointed at me. Lisa continues working her way through the key chain for the correct key, her body guarding me . These doors are old and the keys are enormous. I'm backed up against Lisa, but Carina continues to advance toward me.

"She said she wanted to see the others. I told her no. Alice doesn't deserve to see Mommy, not after what she did. None of them do. They all knew about him and her. Just before she went, Mommy said she forgave me. Forgave me for what?" Carina asks.

"Everybody gets what they deserve. I don't need her forgiveness. They all got what they deserved. Alice stole him from me and they all knew about it. All of them. I spared Mommy," she says. "I did her a favor. You were in my house. What did you do to my mother?"

"I told you I didn't do anything. I retrieved what was mine, the things you stole from my bedroom. I took them back. I found the footage you were searching for. We put it on TV. Everybody saw it. Everybody knows. It's all over." I try to bring her back to the here and now.