Stepping into Psycho

Before Carissa could even formulate a plan of escape in her mind, loud knocking—more like fierce pounding—sounded on the front door. “Police! Open up!” To say she was flooded with relief at that moment was an understatement. Everything happened so fast, yet also in slow motion from that point on. It was all a blur at first, until her mind had a chance to recover from the shock. She would eventually come to learn that the “delivery guy” had opened his mouth and bragged to the wrong person. That person then notified the authorities, and the guy was investigated. He was arrested along with his backup driver. In exchange for leniency, the drivers provided names of some of the kidnappers they knew about, as well as other people deeper in the trafficking ring. The ironic thing was that Flora wouldn’t have been arrested had she not been at the house when they came to arrest her brother. But she was, and Carissa was able to testify that she not only was fully aware of how her brother earned a living, but that she had assisted him in attempting to traffic her. It chilled and shook Carissa to the core to think of the fate that very well might have awaited her had no one been caught. Carissa went to live in a group home for disabled adults, and while she would always prefer to go back in time and bring her family and friends back to life and reclaim the years she had lost, she was definitely a lot happier in the group home than she had been with Flora. Flora’s brother was remanded to custody without bail, but Flora, charged with being an accomplice, was out on bail pending trial. Carissa tried not to dwell on the fact that the woman was still running free, yet sometimes she found it hard to focus on anything else. The way Flora had looked at her during her arraignment sent chills down her spine and would probably give her nightmares for life. In the end, because it couldn’t be proven that Flora had actually done anything to aid in her brother’s attempted abduction of Carissa, the DA offered her a deal: testify against her brother in exchange for immunity, or do time for attempted aiding and abetting as well as obstruction of justice. Flora happily threw her brother under the bus. While Carissa was glad to see Kenneth and his other accomplices forced to face justice, she was dismayed to see Flora walk away. Whenever thoughts of Flora haunted her, along with the concern that she might come after her, Carissa reminded herself that at least she was no longer stuck with her, and Flora didn’t know where she lived. She could probably find out, but Carissa was rarely alone, and now that Flora had gotten off without even probation, did she really have any reason to come after her? Each month that passed without incident, Carissa relaxed a little more. Eventually, an entire year passed without any sign of Flora. So she didn’t think anything of it when she was left alone in the house for a little while as the others went out to do some holiday shopping. Not even when she heard a strange noise at the other end of the house, called out to her housemates, and got no response, assuming they simply hadn’t heard her. It was too bad, as she would soon learn the hard way, that she had come to believe Flora had forgotten her. That was as far from the truth as one could get. Flora hadn’t forgotten her at all.