“Yes.”
“After frightening the child.”
A pause as she seemed to consider that.
Matilda’s mouth flattened. “Children get frightened by all sorts of things.”
Dr Scott got the impression she wasn’t talking about Coraline.
“Were you aware, at the time, of the consequences of what you were doing?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation there.
Dr. Scott looked up from his notes. “You understood that entering the home uninvited and threatening the occupants would cause fear?”
“Yes, doctor. We have established that I am intelligent.”
“You understood it was unlawful?”
“Define ‘unlawful’.”
“You understood that Coraline is a child and that threatening her could cause psychological harm?”
Her eyes narrowed, but she answered.
“Yes.”
He let the silence ripple for a second.
“So,” he said, “you knew what you were doing and understood the likely consequences.”
Matilda smiled thinly. “Is that what you want me to say?”
“It’s what you’ve just said.”
She looked at him for a long moment, then folded one leg under the other. “Maybe I wanted them to be frightened.”
“Why?”
“Because no one listens otherwise.”
“To what?”
“To what was mine.”
The room went still.
Dr. Scott glanced briefly at the notes, though he knew them well enough already. “You have previously been diagnosed with Bipolar IDisorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. Are you aware of this?”
“Yes.”
“Do you agree with them?”
She made a face. “The bipolar, maybe. The PTSD, obviously. My mom tried to unalive me when I was a child. The personality disorder is just what psychiatrists call women they can’t control.”
He did not rise to it. “It says here, you suffer from insomnia..”
