“The coaches managed to separate the two, then Treasure blacked out. She was still out when the first officer arrived but woke up a minute later. She threw up and says she doesn’t know what happened,” the principal said.
“Doesn’t know? Like she doesn’t know why she did it?”
The officer picked it up. “No, she says she doesn’t remember any of it. The last thing she remembers was standing up after she was pulled to the ground.”
The doctor came out of the room, and everyone turned to her. “How is she?”
“She appears to be all right, but I have some concerns,” she said. “She reported getting a sudden headache and memory loss, and she passed out followed by throwing up. I didn’t see any other indicators of a head injury, but it’s likely she had a concussion from hitting the ground. We are sending her for an MRI, to rule out that and other potential issues.”
“Oh god, my baby,” Dawn said.
“I’m also requesting a psychiatric consult,” he said. “She has no history of violent outbursts? Anger issues?”
“No, she’s been a great kid,” Mark said. “This was the last thing I ever expected to hear.”
“That is even more reason to have her talk to someone,” he said.
“Can we see her?”
“Of course. She is under arrest, so the restraints have to stay in place and the officer won’t leave the room, but you have a few minutes until the MRI is available.”
He walked off, and Bob put his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “Take a moment to collect yourselves, she’s scared to death in there.” Mark took a deep breath, took Dawn’s hand in his and knocked.
Mark’s heart fell as he opened the door to see his Treasure strapped to the table in a hospital gown, tears rolling down her face into the gauze bandage on the right side of her face. “Daddy,” she cried.
He crossed the room and engulfed her in a hug, Dawn at his side. “It will be all right, honey. We’re here.”
“Daddy…” Her sobs were causing her to get hickups now. “They are looking at me like I’m a monster. I wouldn’t do that! I don’t even remember what happened!”
Dawn put her hand on the side of her head, her own tears flowing. “It’s going to be all right, my Treasure. We’ll get through this.”
They comforted her until she was transferred to a gurney, her wrists restrained, and pushed out the door to Radiology. Mark held a sobbing Dawn to his side as the doors closed.
Their nightmare was just beginning.
Ch. 4
Treasure lay motionless in the big machine, her mind trying desperately to figure out how things had gone so wrong so quickly. The game played in her head over and over; the foul, the talking, the pain in her head, then nothing. Nothing until she woke up in handcuffs on the field.
“I’m going crazy,” she thought to herself.
“You’re not crazy, I’m with you,” the voice said. She felt the sharp pain in her head and shook it from side to side as her eyes closed.
“Treasure, you need to stop moving, the scan doesn’t work if you move,” a voice said over the intercom. The pain subsided, and she stopped. The machine started to hum again, and she went back to her thoughts.
What happened wasn’t her. She wouldn’t do that, not what she said they did, but the taste of blood in her mouth and the looks of her teammates told her differently. The voice was the one who had told her to teach her respect, but this was too much. If she wouldn’t do it, and the voice made her, maybe she really was going crazy.
She tried to relax as the machine did its work; the more she moved, the longer it would take. The doctors had to find out what was wrong with her and fix it!
It seemed like forever before she was moved out of the machine and wheeled to a room. She saw the words “Psychiatric Ward, Authorized Personnel Only” on the sign as they entered, and she was taken to a room with no windows and padding on the walls. A metal sink, a toilet and a bed were the only things in the room. The orderlies removed her from the gurney and sat her in the bed with her wrists attached to the rails. “What’s going on,” she asked timidly as they finished up.
“You’re getting the help you need,” a doctor in a white coat said from the doorway. “I’m Doctor Thompson, and I’d like to talk to you about what happened today.” He was older, probably in his fifties, with stringy grey hair that reminded her of Einstein and thick glasses.
“Where are my parents?”
“They are with the other doctors right now. Mike, remove her restraints and wait outside please.” Treasure picked up on his hesitation, these people were afraid of a fourteen-year old girl.
Of course, given what they said she did, maybe they were right to be afraid of her.
The man unbuckled the restraints and walked to the door. “I’ll be watching,” he said seriously, then closed the door. There was no chair, so the doctor sat at the end of the bed as she pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The room must have been soundproofed, because Treasure could barely hear anything outside the room. Only their heartbeats and breathing could be heard, hers was rapid and she was sweating. “How is Denise?”
“The girl you attacked?” Rea nodded, looking down at her hands. “She’s recovering from surgery. She will live, but she will always bear the scars.”
Rea started to cry. She’d hurt someone bad, she had ruined her life over nothing. “I’m sorry, I didn’t… I don’t want to… God, I don’t know what happened!”
“Why don’t you tell me about the game,” he said. And she did. She told him about the play, and how angry she was to be pulled down by the hair. How she thanked her for the goal and goaded her about being demoted to junior varsity because she couldn’t stop her. How Denise told her she wasn’t wanted. Then she told him about the voice in her head that told her to teach Denise some respect, and the pain that came with it. How she blacked out, and woke up horrified at what she had done.
“Have you heard this voice before?”
She nodded. “The first time was in September of last year. I was walking home, and there was a pain in my head; I fell to the sidewalk, screaming in pain. It told me to prepare, then it and the pain were gone.” He wrote in his pad. “It was two months before it came again, then it started happening monthly. Since August, it’s been happening once a week.”
“What does it say?”