Me After Meeting You

“Scram!” The head only gave her one word inresponse and Amber did so, heartily.

Of course, she still ended up calling the police, and the police responded quickly. “That restaurant owner’s wife has a daughter a year older than Elly Brown. After our investigation, we’ve proven that her daughter was the instigator behind the bullying from two years ago, and have currently taken preventative measures against her child. Because we’re still in the process of investigation, we didn’t tell you about this. Presumably, this is why she went to seek out Elly.”

And finally, the police even told her some additional news. “There’s something you should be aware of, Dr. Camille. Regarding Elly, even if we fully investigate the children who bullied her, they won’t receive too severe of a punishment. At the time of the incident, most of them were younger than fourteen years of age.

Given that it’s already been two years since then, that the Brown have already received financial reparation, that they’ve decided not to pursue the matter further, and that we’ve even received a joint petition from the children’s classmates and neighbors pleading for leniency and saying that they’re all intelligent, kind children ….”

“So they’re all intelligent and kind, where as Elly is terrifying and evil. Thus, she deserved to be driven mad?”

But no one answered this question of hers. Amber was sitting in her office, and despite the heater running strongly, she felt an unexpected chill.

“Dr. Camille, a family member for the patient in bed 24 is here.”

Amber broke out of her daze, frowning. “Who is it?”

The nurse didn’t answer, but she didn’t need an answer anymore. Amber could already see the man who had come, Elly’s father.

He was still dressed very neatly, in a black down shirt and long black pants. Perhaps it was his clothes, but he looked even older than last time; his spine was even starting to look crooked.

“Is Elly alright?”

Amber looked at him. The anxiety on his face seemed like he was truly worried about his daughter. “Dr. Camille, the police said that someone intentionally came over here to provoke her. Is … is she alright?”

“I don’t know.” Amber tried very hard to calm herself down, but couldn’t help herself from shooting out some prickly words. “I thought that you wouldn’t care about her anymore after leaving some money. But it seems like … you actually still worry about her?”

Elly’s father mumbled, “Sorry.”

“What use is saying sorry to me?” She shuther eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling very well. If you’re truly concerned about her illness, then I’ll find a doctor to speak with you.”

Amber stood up and prepared to leave. At this time, she was unable to face this man-in Elly’s miserable life, he too had been an instigator of her suffering.

“Dr. Camille ….”

Amber did not stop walking.NôvelDrama.Org © content.

Elly’s father pleaded from behind, “I know why she came. She managed to get a petition, a petition to absolve her daughter ofher crimes. She believes that only if Elly truly becomes crazy will she be able to offset the grievance that her daughter has faced in the mean time … Dr. Camille, I hope she can get better, please!”

With a loud ‘Peng,’ Amber turned around and found that Elly’s father was actually kowtowing on the floor.

She almost jumped with fright and dodged instinctively. “You don’t have to act like this.” She scrunched up her forehead instress. “If you truly feel this way, then you should treat your daughter better. You should know that giving birth to her and not raising her is a sin.”

After saying this, she stopped paying attention to him, not caring whether he left after wards. She went to get some medicine for herself and gave herself a tetanus shot. When she returned, she found out that Elly had woken up.

She seemed to have reverted to the original condition that she had come in as. She was scared of light and of people, her mouth was constantly mumbling something no one could make out, and she stayed curled up in a corner with her torn up sketchbook. She had scattered the pieces all over her body, almost as if by doing so she could bury herself once more.

Amber stood by the door, quietly watching her. When night came and Elly started frantically looking for her head, Amber recalled all those people in the little town who had helped the bullies go unpunished and Elly’s father who serepentance had come far too late. This entire situation reminded her of a poem:

‘Demons hide in the masses.

Hiding from notice,

They share our beds,

They share our food.’

At the same time, another common aphorism came to mind: ‘This is the way that evil follows us through our lives, as non descript as crimes are eye catching.

***

When Amber walked out of the main lobby of the hospital, it was already very late. She was unbelievably tired, both physically and mentally, and the hand that had been bitten by Elly had been throbbing this whole time. It probably wouldn’t recover anytime soon.

She clutched her arm, and just as she was about to start squeezing it to try to relieve the pain, a person suddenly appeared in front of her.

She stopped. “Calvin? You never left?”

“Nope.”