The Girl in the Woods

Diana nodded. Vienna Woods wasn't the greatest facility in the world, but she never felt as though her mother was mistreated there. She watched her mom sleep, just like she had the other night, and once again she seemed so calm, so placid, as though there had never been and could never be a problem with her.

 

But Diana knew that more lurked beneath the surface there, just as the visions floated beneath the surface of her own conscious mind, like a shark hunting for prey, waiting to strike. And Diana couldn't help but wonder if she were looking at a version of her own future, one that would be spent in mindless rage and restraints.

 

Fifty-fifty chance, Maria had said. Were the visions just the beginning of this long descent into oblivion?

 

"We really should go," Maria said, placing her hand lightly on Diana's arm.

 

"You'll call me if she needs me?"

 

 

 

"Absolutely."

 

 

 

Diana considered squeezing her mother's hand or bending down and kissing her on the cheek, but didn't think she could stand it if the touch sent her mother spiraling into hysterics. It would be better just to go, to wander off into the night and let her mother have whatever peace she could find.

 

"The flowers were a nice gesture, though," Maria said.

 

Diana stopped. "The what?"

 

 

 

Maria nodded toward a bouquet that sat on the radiator beneath her mother's window. "The flowers. I thought you sent them."

 

 

 

"No, I didn't."

 

 

 

Diana had been so intent on studying her mother's condition that she hadn't noticed the flowers on the other side of the room. And it wasn't unusual for flowers to occasionally appear there. No one ever sent them to her mother, but from time to time, funeral homes and churches donated their extras to Vienna Woods, and the nurses and orderlies distributed them to the patients' rooms as a way to manufacture a little cheer.

 

"Aren't they a donation?" Diana said.

 

Maria frowned. "No. I saw the duty nurse sign for them when they came in. They had your mother's name on them."

 

 

 

Diana felt uneasy as she walked across the room to the bouquet and dug around in the stems until she found a small white envelope with the name "Janet Greene" written on it in an unfamiliar hand. She cupped the envelope in her hand and carried it with her past Maria and out into the hall. Maria followed close behind and said, "Well, who are they from?"

 

 

 

"I'm sure it's just a friend," Diana said.

 

"But don't you want her to know who they're from?" Maria said. "Diana?"

 

 

 

But Diana had moved far ahead of Maria, and was almost to the stairwell when she turned back and said, "She isn't going to know or care anyway? Right?"

 

 

 

Diana didn't wait for a response. She went down the stairs and out to the parking lot where the rain had stopped and the night was cool, the scent of ozone in the evening air. Diana didn't look at the envelope until she was settled in the driver's seat of the car, and even then she thought about just throwing it away and ignoring it.

 

She must know someone or have a friend, right? There had to be a reason for those flowers to arrive with her mother's name on them.

 

But Diana knew. Her mother wasn't in touch with anybody. She couldn't be in touch with anybody. Her relationships and friendships had faded away along with her memory, and moving from Westwood to Leesburg meant that no one came to visit. And no one sent her flowers. Not even Diana.

 

Her hand trembled as she tore at the envelope. She almost ripped the card, and when she got it out, she wished she had.

 

Diana—Make your mother happy—find the girl in the woods.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

 

 

 

 

It had to be Kay Todd. It was the only explanation that made sense.

 

Diana drove toward home, the note on the passenger seat next to Kay's accordion folder. The handwriting looked masculine, but that only meant that a man took the order in the flower shop. Diana reached over and picked up the card again.

 

Hurst Florists. 1112 Main St. New Cambridge, OH.

 

She could call them tomorrow, ask who sent the flowers, clear the whole thing up easy as anything.

 

But what if they weren't from Kay?

 

She felt a tickle of fear at the base of her neck. Kay wanted her to think that way, wanted to keep her nervous and edgy. On the run.

 

Diana wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

 

She studied the highway ahead of her, the familiar open road between New Cambridge and Vienna Woods that took so much of her time. The moon was nearly full, a white spotlight in the inky black sky. The rain had passed and the clouds were mostly gone. It looked familiar enough, like those half-remembered scenes she saw in her mind. It could be...

 

 

 

She guided the car to the side of the road, easing to a stop and throwing up pebbles and dirt against the undercarriage. She didn't turn the engine off right away, but sat with the headlights illuminating the surrounding area. She saw a rusted and tilted barbed wire fence, and beyond that rows and rows of trees, the trunks dark, the leaves still clinging in advance of fall. The car hummed softly, the engine in neutral.

 

She turned the ignition off, darkening the lights.

 

Her heart thumped. She heard the sound in her own ears, a steady, rhythmic beat. A fifty-fifty chance. Maybe she didn't have much time. She believed the place was out there, the moonlit glade...its buried secrets.

 

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