Chapter 14
Raine unpacked her manicure set from her bag and neatly lined up all tools onto the metal table next to Willow’s bed. She then smiled down at her beautiful little sister and breathed in serenely. This part of the visitor’s ritual was the most calming for them both. Padding across the dimly lit room, she entered the bathroom and retrieved the plastic bowl from beneath the basin and filled it with water. She added some aromatic manicure salts and headed back over to her sister’s bed. Taking the thick wooden toothpick, she cleaned her sister’s nails while she slept. Manicures were a family tradition; something she shared with her mother as a young girl and now with her sister.
With her OCD, it was easy to realize that the grime she removed from beneath Willow’s nails didn’t dissolve in the warm soapy water. Instead, it accumulated like oily gunk at the bottom of the white bowl. When it came to Raine’s OCD it didn’t just stop at cleanliness, it was entangled in every part of her life; like not knowing something, how it came to be, or where it came from, would drive her to the point of insanity until she had an explanation for the how, why, when, and where.
Raine proceeded to the other hand. Tools, towel and bowl in hand, she placed it beside Willow. Before wetting her hand, she removed the gunk from beneath each nail, placed it in a tissue and then secured it in an unused sandwich bag for later inspection, still convinced her sister visited her at home last night, she was determined to prove to herself she was not insane with paranoia—not yet anyway.
After cleaning each nail, taking note of her sister’s torn nails, she pushed back and oiled the cuticles, she moisturized each hand, feeling the calm of order work its way through her troubled mind. Taking the dirty soap bowl and towel to the bathroom, she poured the water out, listening to the soothing sounds of dirty water disappearing down the drain. The reflection of her sister in the mirror caught her attention.
“Holy crap, Willow!” She almost dropped the bowl. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Her sister just stood there, statuesque with her deep green eyes and long dark blonde hair. Willow’s stare was piercing.
“You need to stop that.” Her eyes moved to the basin behind Willow.
Raine was confused. “Stop what, Willow?”
“The dripping water is driving me insane.” With that, she turned on her heel and headed back to her bed.
Willow looked at the tap and saw a drop of water hit the sink. She’d not completely turned it. “Sure,” she said, forcing a smile and turned the tap closed tightly.
Raine walked back toward her sister’s bed. “Willow?” she called but her sister had fallen instantly back to sleep.
Taking the nail polish from her bag, her sister’s favorite aqua color, she took Willow’s hand and started painting the pinky-nail first. As she went, she noted just what a shocking state her sister’s nails were in; they were all torn up but not from chewing though—they looked rough as if snagged and broken. It was almost as if she’d used her nails to tear at something or scratch some hard surface. Raine flicked on the light to take a better look.
At that, Willow bolted right up in her bed, her hands clutching at her chest, and released a scream of pure terror followed by frantically calling out, “Where is it, where is it?”
“Willow!”
Willow jumped from the bed, ripping at her gown. When Raine got too close, Willow pushed her violently across the room, sending Raine into a nearby chest of draws where she knocked everything off the table in an attempt to break her fall.
“Willow, calm down,” Raine said in a steady voice.
Shock and fright pinned her to the spot.
“Give it back,” Willow screamed as tears streamed down her face. “Give back my heart!”
Willow stalked over to her sister with her nostrils flaring and her eyes flashing murder. Raine watched in horror as she raised her hands as if ready to strike her.
A nurse came hurrying through the door, trying to ascertain what was happening. Willow spun, snatched up an empty vase from the bedside table and threw it towards her. Glass exploded everywhere. Cussing, the nurse bolted for the door and yelled for help.
Raine flew at her sister and tackled her to the ground, commanding her to, “Stop it! Stop it!” but Willow’s response was to claw at her sister like some feral animal.
“You can’t have my heart, you sick bastard.” Willow’s head violently rolled from side to side, while her sister sat on her chest, her legs pinning her sister’s arms to the floor. When she couldn’t move, Willow started banging her head against the floor yelling. “My heart! Give it back! I need my heart! Please help me!”
A large male doctor came rushing through the door with a syringe in hand. Willow yelled out as the doctor crouched beside her and administered the sedative. Her eyes suddenly filled with recognition, and she began to sob before calming. Raine scooped her up in her arms.
“Willow it’s going to be alright.” She smoothed down her sister’s long blonde hair.
Nurses stood in shock, staring at the frightening scene. Raine heard the gathered nurses whispering and felt the slide of anxiety in her stomach. As Willow’s eyes fluttered closed, she whispered, “Please save her. Raine, you have to get her heart back.”
“Who are you taking about Willow?”
“Lorel Palmer.”
One nurse looked at the other with a look of recognition on her face.
“Who is that?” Raine asked, cradling her sister.
The nurse frowned. “She was killed over a decade ago.”
Willow pulled a face, staring down at her baby sister as if she were a stranger.
“She had her heart removed by a serial killer,” the nurse added. It was national news. Everybody was terrified that summer.”
Raine’s eyes took in her sister’s sketches, which were now scattered over the floor. Each one covered in hearts, blood, and corpses with hearts missing. She squeezed her sister tight.
“What have I done?”