Stepping into Psycho

Flora clenched her fists tightly. It had been hours since she and Carissa had engaged in a heated argument, but she was still boiling with anger. How dare this spoiled, ungrateful little bitch question and judge her as she had! She was getting worse and worse lately. She criticized her more often, and she was getting colder in the bedroom as well. Flora wasn’t stupid. She knew she would be gone in a heartbeat if she could take care of herself. She knew she was making plans to leave her. She just knew it. The damn government gave her just enough to live on, and she was getting stronger by the day. Flora knew she would eventually lose Carissa, and there wouldn’t be a damn thing she could do about it unless she wanted to keep her gagged and tied to a chair at all times. She would have to stop having company forever in order to pull that one off, but of course, she couldn’t tell her own daughter and her friends never to come to her home again. “Think. Think!” she commanded herself. “Be realistic. How can I hang onto her? There’s got to be a way. I can’t let her go. I just can’t. I need her. I want her. I’ll disappear in some other country with her before I let her go.” Then she chided herself, because she knew that running off with Carissa wasn’t very feasible at all. But then an idea came to her. Her brother. Her brother owed her. Her brother had always owed her, and that would never change. She would take advantage of the fact that he was easy to use in exchange for her silence. Flora told Carissa, who sat sulking on the couch, that she was going to go out and blow off some steam. “Text me if you need me,” she said, slamming the door behind her. Ten minutes later, she was pulling into her brother’s curvy, half-moon driveway. She got out of the car and pressed the intercom. The security camera above the door made a whirring sound as it detected motion and focused in on her. She knew Kenneth was checking out who his visitor was. She smiled and waved to the camera, and then a few seconds later, he came to the door. “What’s up, sis?” “I need a big favor. Like a really big one.” Kenneth opened the door wider, and she stepped inside. “Want a beer?” “Actually, I’d like something a little stronger than that tonight. Just not so strong I can’t drive myself back home after I tell you what I’m going to tell you.” Flora followed her brother into his massive kitchen and explained what she wanted him to do. Two hours later, she left with a confident and pleased smile on her face, tipsy but not so tipsy that she couldn’t drive. When Flora returned home, she could see that Carissa had been crying. “Hey, babe.” She went over and tried to comfort Carissa, but as usual, Miss High and Righteous stiffened up. Taking a deep breath and not letting her anger get the better of her, she simply told Carissa that she would give her space and that she was going to turn in for the night. The following morning was Sunday. Flora was just seeing her daughter off when Carissa got up and came out into the kitchen. “Well, hello there, sleepyhead. You sure slept in.” Carissa simply nodded and grunted some kind of moan in response. Then she went to make herself some coffee. “Can I get you anything, honey?” Carissa shook her head. “No, thanks.” Flora watched her as she brewed herself a K-cup. She was so beautiful for her age. It was like she had literally gotten her beauty sleep by being out for so long. Sometimes Flora wished she could sleep part of her own life away. She smiled knowingly. She couldn’t wait for Carissa to check her email but knew she was slow to wake up, especially on weekends. She would sip her coffee while sitting around looking at nothing, and then she would shower before she became functional enough to check email and things like that. She rarely even ate before she’d been up a couple of hours. Sure enough, one long, agonizing hour later, Carissa came to her with a very concerned look on her face. “I think you should see this.” “What’s that?” she asked, playing dumb. “Some guy calling himself The Hyde of Dr. Jekyll sent me this really weird email.” “Let’s see,” Flora said, taking Carissa’s smartphone from her. She read aloud. “Dear Sleeping Beauty. It is I who called upon the gods and angels above for you to be awakened so we can eventually be together forever. I have what you need. You have what I want. Soon we will be united in my own private, special little kingdom. It’s destined. I will be your prince of light. I will be your savior in darkness. I will cook your food to perfection. I will draw your bubble bath every evening. I will massage every inch of your body. I will captivate you with my charm. I will make you suck my fucking cock all night long.” “Whoever the fuck sent me this knows my email address and that I was in a coma. Flora, please, please tell me it’s just you playing a nasty joke because you’re pissed at me.” “I’m not pissed at you, and I wouldn’t pull anything this sadistic on you. Or anyone. You know me. Words aren’t my kind of punishment for those who piss me off. I prefer actions. You know, like doing some painting? Honestly, hun, I don’t know who sent you this shit. Someone you see at daycare, perhaps?” “If it really isn’t you, then yes, it’s got to be connected to the hospital or the daycare center.” “It really isn’t me.” “Aren’t there ways to trace emails?” “Well, yeah, I’m pretty sure there are. I just don’t know how.” “You said Google and YouTube are pretty informative. Do you think maybe they would have some tutorial on how it’s done?” “Could be, so long as the person wasn’t using a proxy.” “What’s that?” Carissa asked her. Flora explained. “I’ve got so much more to learn about technology and all that can be done with it,” Carissa said with frustration. “Meanwhile, should we notify the police?” “No, not yet. Not with just one message. Besides, the bastard didn’t threaten you.” “Didn’t threaten me? The guy sounds like he’s been stalking me so he can kidnap, rape, and possibly kill me, too. Seems pretty threatening to me.” “I suppose. But first let’s see if we can trace this, and then we’ll decide how to proceed from there, okay?” “Yeah, I guess so,” Carissa said hesitantly. “So how can we trace it?” “We’re not going to. My brother knows a lot more about this sort of thing than I do. Let me give him a call and see if we can go over there today. We’ll bring this to him and see what he can do.” “That would be nice. It’ll be the first time I meet your brother, too.” “Yeah, he’s a bit of a recluse, and he’s always busy working, so that’s why I haven’t taken you to his place yet. But this is definite grounds to go over there, and I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to help.” “Okay.” Flora turned away. She didn’t want Carissa to see the smile that was hard to keep off her face. It gave her intense pleasure to see Carissa squirm as she did. You sure need me now, don’t you? she thought to herself. Carissa plopped herself down on the couch, arms crossed in front of her, a worried expression on her face. Flora pretended to put in a call to her brother. A few minutes later, she claimed that he hadn’t answered as she took a seat next to her on the couch. She put one arm behind her on the back of the couch. “Look, babe. I wouldn’t worry about it today. You’re not alone. I’m right here with you, and I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.” Hugging the pillow to her chest and staring straight ahead glumly, Carissa said, “If the pervert can find out my email address, he can find out where I live, too.” “Aw, I doubt anyone will come here,” Flora said, daring to massage Carissa’s neck. “I’ve got the alarm activated and the phone handy. If anyone suspicious comes around, I’ll call the police without hesitation, okay?” For a minute, she didn’t think Carissa would respond, but then she gave a slight nod. They spent the rest of the day lounging around the house but not talking much. For now, Flora was okay without much chatter because she didn’t want to risk saying the wrong thing, or worse, bursting out into a fit of laughter over the email. They watched TV, did some reading, and even did some cooking together. Flora was beginning to hope that Carissa’s fear would get her to have a change of heart and see the benefit of having her around. She needed her to want to be with her just as much as she wanted her to be with her. She texted Kenneth and told him to send another email that night and to make it scary but not overly scary. She needed Carissa to be spooked enough not to want to leave, but not so much that she insisted on running to the police. They were just getting ready to turn in for the night when she heard Carissa utter a cry that was almost a scream. She guessed her brother had overdone it.