Stuck

A Story by Angel

What happened to Sam? Why is Molly so withdrawn? This is a case that Dr. Fischer is hoping to crack. Dr. Fischer pushes a little too far, and gets more than she bargained for.

Tick…

The sound of the second hand on the clock was the only thing that permeated the heavy silence that dominated the room. Two people sat across from each other. One was seated in a large, comfortable armchair. This first woman was of older stature, not too old to be considered an old woman, but rather middle age. She sat with her legs crossed, her hair pulled into a severe bun, a notepad in her lap, staring at the girl seated across from her. The girl was on a long off-yellow couch. Anyone could see one too many people had sat on it and caused the color to be muddied. The color suited her, like the couch, she was off. She sat with her arms crossed defiantly, glaring at the cream carpet. She looked put together, make up done, clothes unwrinkled and clean, but tension rolled off her in waves. It was so palpable you could almost cut it with a knife.

The girl glanced at the clock and smiled triumphantly.

“Well, well, well, looks like times up!”, these were the first words she had uttered since walking in the room.

“It seems you’re right Ms. Callaghan. And you’ve gone yet another session without saying anything. Will I see you the same time tomorrow?”, the woman asked her expression betraying none of the frustration she felt.

“How many times have I told you to call me Molly? Not Ms. Callaghan, Molly. And yeah of course you’ll see me tomorrow Doc.”, Molly said flippantly as she stood and gathered her bookbag. “Not that I have much choice…”, she muttered as she slammed the door behind her.

The woman flinched when the door slammed with as much force as Molly could muster. Defeated, she slumped in her chair and took off her heels, she released her hair from her bun as well, allowing it to cascade down her back. It was the end of her work day. She had no more patients but knew she would be here well into the night. This woman’s name was Cynthia Fischer. Dr. Fischer went to a cabinet in the corner of the room and poured herself a generous helping of whiskey on ice. She sipped it and continued to go about her after work routine. She opened the blinds covering her floor length windows and moved the arm chair so that it she had the perfect view of the sunset. Only after this was complete did she pick up the file that was on the dark oak coffee table between the chair and the couch. Sitting in the armchair with her whiskey in hand she studied the few words in it until they blurred together, she knew she would learn nothing more of Molly from it.

Running her hand over her face and sighing she closed the file and turned her attention to outside the window. The sunset glowed like fire. The vibrant colors of pink, yellow, and orange calmed her. She sat there in thought until the last of the embers faded, the sun finally out of sight and the stars began making their first appearance.

“What am I going to do with you Molly? How can I help you?”, Dr. Fischer asked to no one in particular. The question hung in the air, unanswered, and if it was possible only seemed to heighten her sense of frustration with her patient. She had been seeing Molly for two months now, and she had remained stoically silent in each one. The file offered little more than the cursory information. Molly’s age, what high school she attended, who her parents were. There was nothing of the accident that brought her to her office in the first place. Molly and her case were a mystery. A mystery that she wondered, not for the first time, if she could crack. Giving up for the night she placed the file and her notepad in the filing cabinet next to the desk on the far side of the room by the door and pulled her legs under her after she was seated again. With her whiskey half gone, she downed it in one go and stared outside into the night, unseeing, for a long time.

* * *

The next day the woman sat facing her patient, a mask of calm on her face. Molly stared back, daring her to ask a question. Anything really, just something to hopefully get a response. Molly knew it was pointless, she wasn’t going to talk, not to her.

In a move that surprised Molly, Dr. Fischer placed her notepad on the table and leaned back in her chair. She folded her arms and mirrored Molly. Molly arched her one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows in response, she had yet to see the doctor put her notepad down, let alone reveal her thoughts in her body language. She was the perfect image of indifference.

“Molly, I know you don’t want to talk to me. What I don’t know is why.” Dr. Fischer didn’t pose this as a question, and Molly didn’t take it as one. In fact, she acted as if she hadn’t heard her. So, she continued, “It’s obvious that something has upset you to the point of angry indifference. You refuse to talk to me, and if you do it’s flippantly. I suspect most things that leave your mouth these days are sarcastic, even when talking to your own friends. You’re disrespectful to your parents, any form of authority. You push the limits to see how far you can. Am I wrong?” She knew she was pushing Molly, but she didn’t think she had anything to lose at this point. Molly would either crack and expel her anger, hopefully allowing them to move forward, or she would say nothing.

As the doctor spoke Molly had noticed a glass perched on the edge of the cabinet. Upon processing her words Molly was stunned, her eyes flew to the doctor and what tore from her mouth was full of malice, “You know nothing about me. And yeah, so what? I’m angry, but I have a right to be.” She was livid, how dare this woman, this complete stranger her parents were forcing her to see, pretend to understand her. To understand anything!

“She speaks.” Dr. Fischer studied Molly thoughtfully, contemplating her next move. A few moments passed before she asked, “Who are you angry at?”

“The world! My friends! My parents! The police! Everything and everyone, even you!” Molly was leaned forward in her chair at this point, face flushed from the sheer fury coursing through her veins. “How can you all walk around and pretend like everything is fine? That everything is right with the world, when it’s all fallen apart? Nothing is right, and everything is upside down. No one believes me and now she’s gone! And we don’t even know what happened to her!”

Molly’s face grew pale, as if she had just realized what she said. Her eyes were wide, and her hands shook as she relaxed back into the couch. She seemed to cave into herself and Dr. Fischer could see that Molly thought she had revealed too much. Let her in a little too far. Her brow furrowed as she watched Molly’s eyes frantically rove the room, as if looking for an escape. From her, maybe even from herself. Her eyes finally fixated on the glass.

In an attempt to calm her Dr. Fischer softly said her name, bringing her back to solid ground. She met Molly’s eyes and said, “I understand that everything in the world seems broken, and upside down. We all feel that way at one point or another, life is a cycle of ups and downs.”

Molly made no verbal or physical affirmation. She continued anyway, “You said ‘she’s gone’? Do you know what happened to her?” Molly eyed the doctor skeptically and slowly nodded her head, pulling herself further into the corner of the couch, while her eyes naturally roamed back to the glass. The dusk light refracted off of it and shined in Molly’s eyes, it glowed a light yellow, as the sun was just beginning to set. It reminded her of a time she would rather forget…

Encouraged by her silence, the doctor asked “Do you think you could tell me what happened? What makes you think she’s gone?” Molly snapped and jumped from the couch practically yelling, “I don’t think she’s gone! I know she’s gone! And why would I tell you, huh? Nobody believes me anyway. I tried to tell everyone. Everyone. And…” Molly seemed to lose steam then, her arms dropped to her sides and she glanced at the glass as she stammered, “well… well… then they… they just stopped looking.” Molly stood looking at Dr. Fischer, vulnerability in her features. Her brows were turned upward, causing a furrow, her mouth hung slightly open. Her eyes swam with unshed tears, and they almost screamed at her. She saw fury, pain, and most of all a deep sense of grief. Whatever Molly said next she knew would be the truth, or at least, what Molly believed to be the truth.

“Molly, why does no one believe you?”

Molly plopped on the couch and hung her head between her knees. As she lifted her face, she wiped the tears away with her hands. She let her elbows rest on her knees and hung her hands between her legs. When she finally looked back at Dr. Fischer she had a look of resignation on her face. “Nobody believes me because I’m the only one who saw it happen.”

Dr. Fischer opened her mouth to speak, but Molly put up her hand to stop her. “Look Doc, you wanna know what happened?” She closed her eyes and laughed a little, shaking her head even as it fell to her chest as if her neck could no longer bear its weight. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But you won’t interrupt. And you won’t say anything after. Once I’m done I’m gonna get up, walk out that door, and then I’ll be back tomorrow. You’re gonna think I’m crazy, and I’d rather not see the same look on your face that I see on everybody else’s when I try to tell them what I know happened.”

The doctor nodded, and sat back in her chair, getting comfortable before looking back at Molly. Once Molly saw that Dr. Fischer was ready she took a deep breath and began to speak.

“It was about two months ago. Right before I started seeing you. Exactly a week before I started seeing you, actually. My friends and I, we were out ya know? We went to the movies, and then grabbed a bite to eat. Everything was great. It was just a typical Friday night in this little Podunk town we call home. There really isn’t anything better to do. But…” Molly faltered, and sighed, running her hand through her hair, “everything went wrong as we were walking back to the car. We had parked down at the edge of town. The day was nice, so we figured we’d walk. It was only fifteen minutes. I was walking with Sam, a little bit ahead of the rest of the group. She and I were arguing about something stupid. A boy of all things. We had promised to go to junior prom together and she ended up getting a date. Instead of being happy for her I was furious, I went on and on about how she was gonna be having a great time and how I was gonna be all alone.”

At this point Molly rung her hands together and swallowed. She was staring at the carpet, but her mind was elsewhere. “She told me to grow up, that there were more important things in life than being alone at prom. That I would still enjoy myself, all of our friends would be there and it’s not like she was gonna ignore me. I just didn’t want to hear it. The fight got worse and worse, and we stopped in the middle of the road, screaming at each other.”

Molly paused again, looking up at the doctor, “I told her I hated her and just walked away, back toward everyone else. And she… well, Sam just kept going. We had parked by the train tracks, across them actually. Everybody was paying so much attention to me that nobody noticed Sam was gone until the train came. It was deafening. It seemed to come out of nowhere. We didn’t even realize it was there until we heard the horn. The pebbles at our feet bounced, and wind whipped at our clothes. We were that close. I turned around to find her and I couldn’t see her. So, I called her name and tried to peer through the gaps between cars as the train went by. She’s my best friend, and even though we fought, I had to make sure she was okay. I was panicking, frantically trying to get just a glimpse of her. I thought she had gotten hurt or something. I wasn’t wrong, everything from there happened in slow motion…”

Molly furrowed her brow, and looked down, thinking every word she said next through carefully. “You know how a train comes by? It’s moving pretty fast, but you catch these glimpses of what’s behind it from the space between the cars? It almost reminds me of one of those old slide projectors my parent used to have. They’d show me and my brother the slides, so we’d know the history of the family or whatever. First, I saw a glimpse of her with her back to me, walking to her car. And I was really relieved. But then, when I caught the next glimpse of her she was turned like she was talking to someone.” Molly shook her head, gripping her hair as her eyes filled with tears. In shame she put her head down and began talking to her feet.

“The train blocked her from me again, and then there was a man with her. They were both standing under a streetlight, her back was toward me and I couldn’t see the guys face clearly because the hood on his jacket was up. It looked like she was just giving him directions. They both were kind of glowing this eerie yellow color, making everything seem like a dream. One of the train cars flashed by, and when they reappeared they were struggling. Sam was kicking and clawing at the guy, but he had his arms around her. I just knew she wasn’t gonna get away. I was frozen, I didn’t know what to do. I mean there I am and the only thing stopping me from getting to my best friend is this stupid train! By the time I saw her again he had her totally subdued, his arm was around her neck and she grasped at it while he had the other wrenched behind her back. It was obvious she was in pain, that he was hurting her, and then… well… Sam saw me. We locked eyes, I swear I saw her smile and stop struggling all together. The train car blocked my view, and when I could see her again she said two words to me. I’m sorry. Then the final glimpse of her I got? He was dragging her away.”

The tears flowed down her cheeks, leaving streaks of black mascara in their wake and under her eyes. The sobs that wracked her body were harsh, almost bone jarring. She sniffled as her sobs subsided almost as quickly as they had come, this was not the first time Molly had to reign in her emotions. “My best friend, my person… the last thing she says to me is ‘I’m sorry’. She had nothing to be sorry for. I stood there. Frozen. I didn’t even call for help until he was dragging her away. Nobody else even had to the chance to see the guy because I’m an idiot. Once she was gone I screamed and yelled and cried. Basically lost myself in agony. I told my friends that were there that night. I told the police. I told her parents, my parents, anybody that would listen. I told them Sam was taken by a guy in tennis shoes, blue jeans, a grey jacket. And nobody believed me. How could they? That guy could have been anybody. Yeah, the police did an investigation. Declared her missing. But I know they stopped looking once her body didn’t show up. If I could have just supported her, been happy that she had a date to that stupid prom I didn’t even go to? She would still be here.”

Molly took a shuddering breath and let it out slowly before bringing her eyes up to meet Dr. Fischer’s. Her shoulders were slumped, and she was disheveled. This wasn’t the put together, angry young lady she had grown accustomed to seeing, this was a girl who was broken. “So, Doc,” Molly said, as she wiped her eyes, “you wanted to know what happened? You wanted to know why I’m so angry? Why the world has fallen apart, and nothing is right, and everything is upside down? It’s because the last words my best friend ever heard me say to her were that I hated her. And then? Well then I couldn’t even be bothered to save her.”

With those parting words Molly picked up her book bag and walked out the door. She closed it softly behind her, as she couldn’t muster the strength slam it. The doctor did none of her usual nightly routine. She did not let her hair down, she didn’t get her healthy dose of whiskey on ice. She did not take off her heels or watch the sunset from the most perfect position in her armchair. Rather, she sat in stunned silence as the sun set behind her and the stars awoke. The mystery of Molly Callaghan had been cracked.

© 2018 Angel

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Reviews

Eliezer

I really liked this one. The scene you painted with Molly catching glimpses of the incident through the gaps of the passing train was very well put together. This seems like something that could potentially be expanded further.