The Dead House

(FH): Yes, I have the list here. Is it not true that a certain percentage of people actually become psychotic on these kinds of medications? Particularly haloperidol?

[Pause]



(AL): That’s extremely rare.



(FH): Though it happens?



(AL): [Pause] It does.



(FH): Is it possible that your own treatments are what made Carly worse? What drove her to act as she did?



(AL): What are you suggesting, Detective?



(FH): I’ll be frank with you, Doctor. I’m suggesting that Carly Johnson was overmedicated. That she was mentally damaged, but recovering until you medicated her—and that these drugs are what drove her to her eventual break.



(AL): Excuse me? If anything, that proves that she was undermedicated. [Intake of breath] You saw what happened in February. Can anything else be true? And given so, I was right to do what I did.



(FH): I’m not so sure. In the end, you didn’t even do that right, did you?



(AL): I was trying to help her, Detective. I followed every rule in the book, and I did everything I could for that girl.



(FH): Sometimes the rules are not enough. Thank you. That will do for now.

[Scraping of chair]

Don’t leave London, Doctor. I may have more questions for you.



[End of tape]





22


119 days until the incident




From: AriHait558

To: RealxChick

Date: 6 October 2004

Subject: Where Are You?



Miss Confessional,


You haven’t come to confession in a while, and I fear for your heavenly soul.

Yours,

Benevolent Ari




PS—Will I have to keep calling you Miss Confessional forever? I could shake things up a bit and start calling you Miss Falls Flat on Her Arse?





Naida Camera Footage

Friday, 8 October 2004, 7:33 PM

Magpie House Roof



The camera wobbles; a tiled slate roof, slanted on both sides, comes in and out of focus as Naida moves towards a figure sitting near the very edge. Kaitlyn straddles the roof as though riding a horse, her back hunched. Naida’s breathing echoes in the camera’s microphone, unnervingly loud.

“What are you doing here?” Kaitlyn asks. She doesn’t turn around, and the microphone barely catches her words.

Out of breath, Naida replies, “I’m looking for you—what’s it look like?”

“How did you know I’d be up here?”

Naida focuses the camera on Kaitlyn’s back, but her knee can be seen, as well as the tip of a black boot.

“Carly told me that you hang by the old chapel sometimes. I was heading there when I saw you up here. Brooding, as usual. I want to invite you to my cousin’s house for Halloween. She’s going out of town and said I could throw a party.”

Kaitlyn doesn’t blink. “Get that thing off my back.”

Naida ignores her and the angle remains steady. “Are you game, or are you afraid?”

It seems, for a while, that Kaitlyn won’t answer. Then, slowly, she gets to her feet. The motion is lithe and fluid—easy—as though she’s three feet from the ground instead of three dozen. Her feet are bare, but she seems unfazed by the cold. She turns to look down at Naida, and the wind catches her hair, throwing it up around her.

Folding her arms, Kaitlyn says, “I’m no coward.”

Naida leans forward, indicated by the sudden decrease in distance from Kaitlyn’s face. “It’s so strange,” she muses, “to see my friend standing there, and yet not her. So different… yet the same.”

“Don’t confuse me with Carly,” Kaitlyn warns. “She might be easy to win over, but I’m not.”

“No,” Naida agrees. “I doubt you’ve had a friend in your life, have you, Child of Darkness?”

Kaitlyn’s face stills for barely a second, then her mouth quickly quirks up a fraction, but her eyes remain cold. “If I refuse to go, Carly won’t force me.”

Naida leans back, and the jerky camera movement indicates that she either folds her arms or switches hands. “I think I like you better than I thought I would.” She tilts her head to the side. “There’s depth in you. Unmeasured depth.”

“Dark waters run deep.”

“Shallow waters see the sun, though. And they’re warmer.”

Kaitlyn’s eyes glint with a kind of curiosity or amusement. “That’s true.” Her eyes flicker down to the necklace around Naida’s neck.

“Gorro, Kaitlyn!” Naida bursts out, a peal of laughter close behind. “Relax, doll, would you? I’ve got no agenda, okay? My cousin’s letting me use her house. I’m just throwing a party. Candy, booze, movies, and pizza. No reason to go all psycho-suspicious on me.”

Kaitlyn merely turns away. Naida gets to her feet, wobbling.

“Are you in?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Just remember: Carly’s my friend, sure. But I’m her friend too, and she wants to come. I made it early so she’ll be able to enjoy it a bit before your turn. Wouldn’t be fair of you to stop her.”