Mindf*cked

Josephine ran through the house, unable to believe she really couldn’t escape. There had to be a way out—there just had to be. Yet as much as she went from room to room over and over again, she simply couldn't find one. Josephine picked up her phone, unsure whom to call, but quickly realized it didn’t matter anyway—the phone was dead. She ran to where her stuff was and searched for her charger. Unable to locate it, Josephine fell into a nearby chair and placed her head in her hands with frustration. This couldn't be happening. There had to be a way out. Josephine had no idea what Palma was trying to achieve by playing this little game, but she was getting pretty tired of trying to figure it out. A loud knock at the front door startled her out of her thoughts. Josephine rose to her feet and went to the door. The door had no window, so she couldn't see who was behind it. “Who is it?” Josephine asked. “FBI. Please open up.” “I’d love to, but I’m trapped in here. Go to the back slider.” Josephine dashed through the living room to the back slider. She casually placed the palms of her hands on it, assuming—and hoping—they were real FBI agents, so they could see she was unarmed. She supposed she shouldn't worry about an intruder because if she couldn't get out, they couldn't get in, right? At that instant, two men in suits and ties came around back and into view. “Can I see some ID?” The agents held up their credentials and asked for her name. Josephine told them and explained how she came to be trapped in the house. “So no one is in the house with you?” asked the younger of the two men. “No. Can I ask why you're here, besides to hopefully get me out of here?” “We're not at liberty to discuss that in detail right now, but we do have an arrest warrant for Janice Palma.” She wondered if this had to do with Palma’s strange behavior and said, “Okay, but how do we get me out in the meantime?” “We're going to call in a tactical team for that, ma'am,” she was told after the agents tried unsuccessfully to break down both the front and back doors. “Is there anything I should do?” “Just stay put and in view.” “I will, but can you give me at least some kind of clue as to what's going on? I think I at least deserve that much, don’t you think?” “All we can say is that a serious crime may very well have been committed here on this property,” said the older agent. “I really hope it has nothing to do with her kids.” “Why do you say that?” “Because she's very vague about them. I've asked, but she never gives me straight answers. They change, too. First, she said they were with their father, then she said her father ended up in prison for some kind of embezzlement scheme.” The rest of the day proceeded in slow motion yet in rapid-fire succession, with one horrifying event after another. It wasn’t until Josephine was finally safe at home that she learned the full story—or at least what the media and law enforcement were willing to disclose. Palma had been right. The children's father really was in prison. The problem was that she had slowly lost her mind over the years, unable to juggle the demands of working full-time while raising four children and enduring a few miscarriages, even if one was a newly minted adult. This desperation led to severe depression and outbursts of rage, which she one day took out on the children before burying them in the backyard. She felt that making the home a prison would keep the kids in line and keep outsiders from meddling once they became concerned and realized something was wrong. That same prison nearly consumed Josephine, but she was lucky to get out unharmed. Had the agents not come when they did, who knows how much longer she would have been there—or if she would have gotten out alive? Not only was the crime itself beyond sickening, but Josephine wondered how Palma could be dumb enough to think she would never be found out. Now Palma was behind bars, and she wouldn’t be getting out in just a handful of months. How surprising life turned out at times, Josephine thought, glad she never got caught up in Palma’s drama more than she had.