"It’s okay," Sarah said.She couldn’t let Sarah slip away into something or someone who would kill Dr.Connor because there was nothing left to do."Do you remember this place?DO you remember being helped here?"
"I remember him," Sarah said."I remember seeing him."
"Michael?"Alison asked.
"No," Sarah replied as if that were ludicrous.
"Dr.Connor?"Alison tried.
"No!"Sarah shouted."Not them.Him!"
Alison didn't want to antagonize her further, but she needed to keep her talking, to connect in some way, and give Sarah something to focus on.There was one other person.
"Judge Greene?"she asked gently.
"He came here," Sarah said, "but not to visit me."
"He came to see his sister," Allison said.
"Yes, yes, his sister," Sarah agreed."There's always sisters to visit.He came here so many times, and he looked at me, but he pretended not to see me.I saw him, and he knows I saw him, and he still pretended not to recognize me.And Michael was here.Michael was here.He saw Michael, too, and he knew both of us, and he still pretended that he didn't.He pretended that he wasn’t the one who put us both here.And then one time—it was after it all, and I couldn’t find Michael, and the green judge came to me, and he whispered in my ear, and do you know what he whispered?"
Dr.Connor had one pale, but the dark patch on his pants had not grown any larger.
"What did he whisper?"Alison asked.
"He said, ‘I’m sorry.’That’s what he told me.And I could hear in his voice that he was sorry, but he said it as if that was supposed to solve everything.He thought that would make it all better after all those years, but it didn’t; it only made it worse.H coddle be sorry all he wanted, but he was the one who made it all happen.He didn't do anything back then, so what was the point in being sorry?He didn’t do anything once he was sorry, so was he really sorry?Do you know what I said to him the last time I saw him?I told him I was sorry."
Sarah shield wide and then broke into a cackle.That laughter was quickly silenced when boots were heard in the distance.
"It’s fine," Alison assured her."I’m here with Detective Moore, and you knew more of us would come, but the situation hasn’t changed.You’re still in control."
"I am," Sarah maintained."I knew this moment would happen, and…I killed him, didn't I?"
"Judge Greene?"Alison asked."Yes, you killed him.Do you remember that, Sarah?"
"His photo was on my wall," Sarah said."Then it fell, and it ripped, and I picked it up, and…" Another wide grin covered her face."That’s when I knew what to do.He split me in half, he split my brother in half, he split us in half, he split the world in half."
"How much do you remember, Sarah?"Alison asked."About all of it?How many people have you killed?"
"I killed the green judge," Sarah said."And all of the ones who mattered, and some of them or all of them, and the doctor!He needs to be next.He wouldn’t look at me either.He only looked at my brother, his diamond in the rough, and my brother spoke to me about him.Do you know who I’m talking about?"
"Dr.Connor?"Alison asked.
"Yes, he was the one.My brother spoke to me about him.He came to my room when no one else knew, and he whispered the truth to me.He told me that Dr.Connor was going to heal him and make him all better and then send him out into the real world again, but it was all a big joke, a practical joke.Michael was never going to be healed.That’s the punchline, don't you see?And I couldn’t tell him because they wouldn’t believe me.They wouldn’t even listen to me.No one ever listens to me!"
The knife was pulled backward into Connor’s neck, but not voluntarily.A small trickle of blood trickled down from where the skin was cut, and it was as if any noise that Dr.Connor was able to make escaped through the small wound.He opened his mouth slightly, but nothing came out, and it was the only part of him that moved.He was stock still apart from that.
Alison took two steps forward while raising her hand behind her again to tell Moore not to move.Moore had the gun and was the more threatening of the two.If she raised the gun, Sarah might be forced to react.Alison had seen situations like this before, and she knew people.Sarah had cut the skin, but she hadn’t meant to.
Not yet.
"I’m listening," Alison said."I’m here, and I’m listening.You’re right, no one listened to you in the past.Judge Greene didn't listen, the members of the jury didn't listen, Dr.Connor didn't listen, and your own brother didn't listen to you, did he?No one listened, and that’s a failing, but I’m here now, and I’m listening."
"Only because I have a knife to the neck of the man who, though he was better than me," Sarah hissed.
Alison took another step forward, keeping her hands raised before hr.
"Yes, I’ll admit that.I’m here right now because you took a hostage, but I do want to listen to you.To the real you.I know what you’ve been through, and no one should have to suffer that, but you need help, and I know you know that.Not here, not with him, but real help so you can get better."
