Bridgeport Mental Hospital
Benjamin left Annabella’s room just after 5pm that afternoon. Their session had long since ended but they just sat there and talked about pretty much anything and everything that came to mind. She found Benjamin easy to talk to and she took some comfort in that.
She walks over to the window and runs her fingers across the cold metal frame and looks vaguely at the powdering of dust on her fingertips.
She wasn’t sure what day it was anymore. Tuesday? Does it matter? She remembers Benjamin’s words earlier - if we don’t change the direction we are headed we will end up where we are going – and then him confessing sheepishly that he ‘borrowed’ the quote from a Chinese proverb he read somewhere: “it seemed fitting” he smiled. It did. But then again, everything he said to her seemed ‘fitting’. He seemed to know what to say and exactly when to say it …..
Outside she sees the blossoming of a fairyland of lights. It was the first thing she adored about the City when she moved here.
A shadow momentarily dims her green eyes and then she no longer notices the city lights but sees far beyond it …..
Twinbrook: Annabella’s 16th Birthday
Annabella loved living with the Lagrange family even though she always knew in the back of her mind she had to go back when her mother healed from her injuries. Injuries that she caused, and no doubt her mother would take great effort in constantly reminding her of. She never went to visit her mother in hospital. None of the Lagrange’s ever touched the subject either – She knew Graeme had everything to do with that.
She instantly fell in love with the Lagrange family or better yet with the whole idea of ‘family’. The small things that normal families took for granted - like eating dinner together, watching television in the family room and …. celebrating birthdays.
It just so happened that Annabella celebrated her 16th birthday during the time she stayed with the Lagranges. That morning she woke up with the smell of food coming tantalizingly from the kitchen. She got up lazily and started making her bed. She heard a knock on the door and instinctively knew before he said anything that it was the love of her life – Graeme. “Are you decent?” he asked.
Graeme was the joy of her life, the only thing that made it endurable. He was the star in her limited heaven – always there and ready to comfort and console her. He was popular, and smart and the captain of the football team. She never understood what the attraction was from his side. She was someone she didn’t want to be. Somebody nobody wanted – somebody her mother told her nobody would want –
After her mother’s fall she braced herself to be the topic of discussion - for the sharp tongues and exaggerated gossip, but Graeme walked her to her classes and left her at the door with a kiss that everyone watched. Anyone stupid enough to mention her mother’s accident had to answer to him.
She liked feeling the eyes of other girls in school when she had Graeme’s arms around her – he made her feel like a princess – as if she belonged. Graeme and Annabella were like the Brangelina from Twinbrook High.
“Yes, you can come in.” She said with a smile in her voice reserved only for him.
He entered the room and walked towards her. “And how is my birthday girl today? Sleep well?”
His hair was the colour of autumn and his smile wider than any summer sun. He had a wolf-like smile – sharp, impossibly white teeth. He stamped a kiss on her mouth.
“Mom asked me to come and get you for breakfast.”
You should have extra honey with your waffles so we can fatten you up a bit” – and he pinches her biceps playfully.
Graeme pushes a stubborn curl from her forehead and looks deeply into her eyes and leans in to kiss her.
She tasted his warm lips – felt his touch throughout her body – from her lips to her fingertips to the heat between her legs. She had never been so aware of every inch of her skin.
His touch made her feel as if she was evaporating – like she would vanish in a puff of steam. She was hopelessly and irrevocably in love with him.
He took her hand and led her towards the kitchen – still in her pj’s – the same ones he made fun of when he saw her in them the first time.
In the kitchen Graeme’s parents were already seated at the table going about their usual morning chatter.
She adored both of them. Graeme’s father was a retired policeman, with an air of warm and human solidity. His face was pleasant with a whimsical smiling quality that made people like him at first glance. His mother, a writer, had wise, expressive eyes – like melted jewels - and an enormously strong character with amazing energy.
They both smile at her the moment they see her enter the room. “Aaah, the birthday girl awakens – come Anna, come, sit down and have some pancakes” Graeme’s father offers warmly.
At that moment she could not remember anything but what it felt like to be adored.
It was a scorcher that day. Their clothes felt sticky and itchy and Graeme and Annabella headed for the pool shortly after breakfast.
“You should try the water Bells” he said walking towards her.
“I’d rather sit here and watch you” she replied sporting a seductive smile.
He drew Annabella to her feet and held her close to him, looking deeply into her eyes as if to memorize every line on her delicate face. “And do you like what you see?”
He didn’t wait for her to answer and pulled her in for a kiss.
She felt his lips move from her cheek – to her neck – to the spot behind her ear.
Graeme played across her bare stomach, grazed the edge of her bikini top – “not here” she says – blushing. He rubbed up against her “but I want you” he said.
Her whole body ached for him, but as a dozen times before she snapped back to reality “we can’t do this” she whispered.
He didn’t let go - just peered deeply into her eyes “It’s your fault you know. If you weren’t this hot I’d be able to keep my hands off you”.
He pulled her in for another lingering kiss.
“Happy birthday Bells. I love you.”
