Gripped

JACOB

When Libby’s scream rang out, Jacob was at his feet in mere moments.

He dropped his controller and ran into the hallway, following the terrible sound toward Melinda’s room.

Good God, he thought.

He wrenched Melinda’s door open and found Libby doubled over, clutching her bloodied shirt.

Melinda breathed through clenched teeth. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“What the fuck did you do?” Jacob shouted.

He turned Libby around as Rosie and Karen appeared in the doorway.

Jacob helped Libby stand, counting three stab wounds leaking blood. One was near her ribs, close to her lungs.

He looked down and saw the bloody scissors on the ground.

“Jesus Christ,” Jacob gasped.

“I didn’t mean—” Melinda cried. “I’m so sorry!”

“Take Melinda away!” Jacob ordered the two shocked women in the doorway. “And someone call an ambulance!”

Rosie pulled her phone from her pocket and started dialing. Of course she hadn’t followed the blue bowl rule, but Jacob wasn’t about to mention that now.

Karen was holding Melinda’s shoulders, leading her out of the room.

The little psycho was crying even harder than Libby.

Where does she get the fucking nerve? Jacob wondered.

Angling his body, he shielded Libby from Melinda’s outstretched hands.

“Just leave, Melinda. You’ve done enough damage,” he spat.

Rosie spoke with the police in the hall, and Jacob slung his twin’s arm over his shoulder.

“Can you walk?” he asked her.

“I think,” she replied.

With her first step, Libby cried out in pain.

“I’m okay!” she reassured him.

Jacob’s heart ached for Libby. He could only guess how scared she was. He wanted to take her pain away.

He wanted to protect her from everything that could hurt her, but he was too late.

Jacob helped Libby down the stairs.

“Just a few more, Libby,” he comforted her through the pain. “Just a few more. It’s all gonna be okay.”

He got her outside just as the ambulance arrived. The paramedics rushed up and helped Libby onto a stretcher, and Jacob took stock of his bedraggled family.

“Where’s Dad?” he shouted.

No one replied.

“I’ll take Melinda in the car with me,” Rosie called, and their mom nodded.

Jacob watched his mom enter the ambulance beside Libby. He tried to join them, but a paramedic held out her hand.

“Only one extra rider,” she told him.

Jacob sighed as he gazed down at Libby.

She was being helped by the paramedics and didn’t even know Jacob was there.

He climbed out of the ambulance and into the backseat of Rosie’s Mustang. At least he didn’t need to sit next to Melinda.

But Jacob could hardly contain his anger this close to his deranged sister. He wanted Melinda to pay for what she had done.

Rosie touched Melinda’s arm as she backed out of the driveway.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Melinda repeated over and over, holding her face in her hands.

“Melinda, could you shut the fuck up for once?” Jacob snapped.

DAN

Talk about a rude awakening.

Dan had been drifting off to sleep in a post-coital haze when his phone had buzzed. The first few calls he could ignore (his phone was in his pants across the room, after all), but by the fourth he got out of bed.

There were texts, too.

“Fuck!” Dan yelled.

“Don’t yell in my house…” Ramona started with her no-bullshit routine.

Dan was barely listening. He put on his clothes and ran out to his pickup truck without a word of explanation.

On the way to the hospital, he thought of what he would say later to make it up to Ramona. It occurred to him that Karen hadn’t texted or called.

He couldn’t even start with what he could say to make it up to her…

He couldn’t believe that Melinda had hurt Libby. Sure, the girl was sick, but was she violent?

He pushed the pedal down and sped through a yellow light. Before he and Ramona had headed to bed, they'd had a fair amount of whiskey. It gave him extra fuel for his drive.

When he arrived at the hospital, he found Karen, Rosie, and Jacob sunk deep into chairs in the waiting room.

“Where were you?” Rosie demanded as Dan approached.

“Having a drink with a friend,” he replied gruffly. “Somebody tell me what happened.”

“Melinda went ape shit,” Jacob said.

“Libby has a punctured lung,” Rosie added, her voice breaking.

Karen said nothing. She just sat there with tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Where are they?” Dan asked.

“Libby’s getting checked out by the doctors. They wouldn’t let us stay,” Jacob informed him.

“And Melinda’s in the psych wing,” Rosie said.

“The psych wing?” Dan stared at Karen.

He sat down next to his wife. “What’s she doing there?”

Karen continued to cry, and Dan touched her arm. She didn’t react. She wouldn’t even look at him.

“She could have another outburst,” his wife finally said, staring blankly at the reception desk. “What was I supposed to do?”

“Shit,” Dan cursed. He moved his hand from his wife to his lap. He was thinking out loud. “They’ll probably drug her until she falls asleep. God, they might even commit her. Did you have to tell them she hurt Libby?”

When Dan looked up, Jacob was staring at him like he had two heads.

“Dad, Melinda stabbed Libby with fucking scissors. She should be sent away.”

That was all Karen could take. She collapsed onto Dan’s shoulder.

Dan put his arm around her. He was happy he could still comfort his wife, even in a moment like this.

“She felt bad about it, okay?” Rosie shouted at Jacob. “Melinda is delusional. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

Jacob scoffed.

“Son!” Dan shouted. Jacob’s eyes widened with surprise. “Your sister is sick, okay? Violence is unacceptable—but we have to support Melinda in this hard time.”

Dan did his best to fill his role as father. His arm stayed around his wife as he kept his family in order.

Jacob stared at his hands. For a moment, Dan thought he’d really gotten through to him.

“You’re just drunk,” he finally spat.

“Jacob!” Karen scolded. But even she wouldn’t meet Dan’s eye.

A doctor appeared, and all of the Johnsons straightened up.

“You must be Libby’s father,” the doctor said, a serious man in glasses. He stuck out his hand to shake Dan’s. “I’m Dr. Terryman.”

Dan nodded.

“The good news is that Libby is stable and already on the way to recovery,” Dr. Terryman began. Karen sighed dramatically.

“The bad news is that puncture wounds can’t be treated with sutures, so we’ll need to keep her here for about a week to supervise her healing.”

The family was silent.

“And Melinda?” Dan asked.

“Melinda is with my colleagues in the psychiatric unit. Once their analysis has proven that she’s no longer a threat to herself or others, we can talk about the next steps.”

The doctor offered a small smile.

“Can we see her?” Dan asked.

“I’m afraid not, sir. I think it would be better for all of you to go get some rest,” Dr. Terryman advised.

The Johnsons all thanked the doctor, and he left.

In the absence of the medical professional, the facade of the united family quickly faded.

Dan knew that his son was angry, his wife was neurotic, one daughter was injured, and another was crazy.

Everyone else knew that Dan was drunk.

ROSIE

Back in her room, Rosie held a childhood teddy bear to her chest and closed her eyes to stop the tears.

She wished she could forget the events of the evening. Everything had been so good before, and she hadn’t even known it.

She pulled out her phone. She had lots of missed texts from Jackson. She had hung up on him when it had all happened earlier, and she hadn’t had time to text him back.

Rosie sighed. She wished Jackson were here right now, but texting him was better than nothing. She only hoped he’d still be awake.

Rosie sighed and switched her phone off. When she closed her eyes, she could still see her boyfriend’s texts.

She could practically hear his voice telling her he wanted to hold her.

Rosie wanted that, too. It was the one thing that could make her feel better.

The one thing that could make this haunted house feel like home again.