Chapter 13

The sound of waves crashing along the beach provided a background noise that Betsy found particularly relaxing. She was sitting tailor fashion on the beach, looking out across the ocean at the distant horizon. This was about as calm as Betsy could appear to act.

It truly was an appearance of calm rather than true calm. She was digging two holes. She was excavating one hole with each hand, and using the sand in the other hand to fill it in again. The strength required to shove her hands into the sand up to her wrists in one fast motion was immense. She was shoveling sand back and forth, about thirty times per minute.

Although her eyes were on the horizon, she wasn’t seeing anything. Her mind was working overtime, trying to remember events at the frat house party. There were little flashes of memories she could dredge up, but they weren’t quite connecting together to form a complete story. It was frustrating beyond belief.

There was a little snippet of her biting his arm; but she knew that she didn’t bite it off, despite what others claimed. There was a little flash of a memory of a door closing on an arm. She remembered hitting him, but it was with her fists and feet. She also remembered grabbing something and swinging it. She thought it was a lamp, but it might not have been one. It could have been an arm, but she didn’t think so. She remembered blood spraying everywhere.

Her clearest memory, was of the room looking like it was melting, all around her. Everything writhed like snakes mating, twisting and warping to a point where her stomach rebelled. She knew it was a result of the drugs Malcolm had slipped her. She was sure that the drugs had also scrambled the sequence of events in her memory. She kept struggling to pull it together.

She was stumbling and being pulled away from the dance floor towards a room. She could see through the door that a bed was positioned in the middle of room. There was something wrong. Her feet weren’t responding, and she nearly fell. He put his arm around her chest to hold her up. They went through a door. He spun her around, and roughly grabbed her crotch.

She snapped. She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from her body. He threw her against the wall and tried to slap her. Her reflexes felt slow, but she grabbed his hand before he was able to hit her. He tried to overpower her. She stepped in and bit his bicep, tasting the blood from the wound she had administered. She stumbled, trying to keep her feet.

She backed through the door. He reached for her. With one hand she grabbed his arm and used her other hand to slam the door shut. The door had severed his arm in the middle of his humerus. A horrible noise filled the air. She opened the door, thinking that she had to win this fight to end the noise. Blood was spraying everywhere from what was left of his arm. She started kicking him, over and over. She hit him with high kicks, roundhouse kicks, and flying jump kicks. There was more blood flying through the air. By the end, his body was kind of mushy.

She staggered out of the room. Things were still spinning all around her. She stepped into the room where the party was. Disoriented and angry, she waved the thing in her hand around in the air. People started screaming. In her drugged state, she wondered why they were screaming. There was pushing and shoving as people tried to back away from her.

While Betsy’s mind was trapped in reconstructing her memories of that night, her body was running on autopilot. She was now thrusting her hands into the sand with sufficient force and speed to make a ‘swi—ich’ sound like a piece of sandpaper rubbing against a rock. Her hands were bleeding from the friction created by thrusting them into the sand.

“Betsy!”

The scream shook Betsy out of her thoughts. She stopped shoving her hands into the dirt. Anguish at the thought of having killed someone overwhelmed her. She started pounding the sand in front of her, in anger and frustration. She wanted to damn that man for what he tried to do, and what his death was doing to her.

“Betsy!”

Betsy collapsed unconscious on the sand.

Sally stood over her with tears streaming down her cheeks. She knelt down and put her arms under Betsy. She tried to lift the young woman’s body to carry her back to the house, but she didn’t have the strength.

Ed, his voice sounding warm and comforting, said, “Let me carry her, Sally.”

Sally backed away while asking, “Is she going to be all right?”

“William has said she is going to be okay.”

Ed picked up Betsy, cradling her in his arms. He carried her up the beach, along the path, and to a chair in the backyard. He set her down in the chair taking care that she didn’t slip out.

“Shouldn’t we put her in bed?” Sally asked. She had a hand to her mouth, and was biting on a knuckle.

“William said to put her here ... that it would help her heal,” Ed answered.

He picked up a blanket and covered her with it. He stepped back and looked at his daughter with pity.

“She’s done something that no human should ever have to do.”

“What?”

“She killed another human being,” Ed answered. He sighed and added, “Despite her ability to be violent, and her tendency to be physically aggressive, she has a good heart. Her actions have cut her to her core. She has to come to grips with what she’s done.”

“I feel so sorry for her,” Sally said.

Ed pointed to a chair and said, “Have a seat.”

Sally sat down and looked over at Betsy. Betsy actually looked peaceful for a change. She realized she had never seen Betsy when not constantly in motion. There was a subtle difference in how she looked now, from how she had looked on the beach. It seemed to her that Betsy had transitioned from unconsciousness, to sleep.

She examined Betsy’s bloody hands amazed at the amount of damage she had done to herself. There was a damp towel on the table. She used the towel to gently wipe the blood and sand off Betsy’s hands.

She sighed and spoke to the sleeping Betsy.

“I envy you. You’re so strong and confident. You’re really strong in more ways than just physically. There’s an inner strength within you. You tell me about the things in your life that you can’t do because of your condition. Most people would be devastated. You might sigh for a minute, but then you pick yourself up and charge on. It’s like nothing can stop you. You can move through a crowd without a care in the world. You know there are bad people in the world, but you don’t let that deter you from embracing everyone, and everything, around you. You’re fearless.”

With the blood cleaned away, she could see the numerous abrasions caused by the sand. She was about to toss the towel back on the table when she noticed a tube of antiseptic cream. Her first thought was that it had appeared from nowhere, but then she realized it had been hidden under the damp towel. She set the dirty towel off to the side. She picked up the tube of antiseptic cream and opened it. She squeezed some antiseptic cream in her palm. Taking Betsy’s hand, she massaged the cream into the hand. She used long languorous strokes to spread the cream evenly.

Sally said, “Me? I’m just the opposite of you. I’m weak, and frightened of everything. I barely have the will to get through the day. I hide in my office with the lights off and a keep out sign on the door. That isn’t embracing life. That’s hiding from life. I can’t help it. I’m afraid.”

Sally put another squirt of cream in her hand. She took Betsy’s other hand and massaged the cream over the abrasions.

“A man drugged you with Rophenol and Ecstasy. There was enough in your blood to kill a normal person, but you didn’t succumb to it. You fought off the drugs, and you fought off an awful, evil, man.

“I know you feel bad about what you did to him, but I think you did a great service to the world. He had been accused of eight rapes, and we don’t know if those were the only ones he did. He had cameras hidden in that room. He was going to film you getting raped. He was arranging for a bunch of men to have you. They were going to take you one, two, and three at a time. Some of the guys were already getting in line.

“It wouldn’t have been the first time he video taped one of his victims, either. They found a video on his computer of one of his past rapes. What happened to that poor girl is horrible. He damaged her physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She is in a facility for people who have lost touch with reality. She’ll never be whole again.

“I really don’t think you should feel bad about what you did to him. You didn’t kill a human being. He may have had a human shape, but he wasn’t human. Don’t think for a minute that you killed a human being. I wouldn’t lie to you about that, Betsy.”

Sally folded Betsy’s hands on her lap before sagging back in her chair. She watched Betsy sleep for a few minutes. It was kind of amazing to see how limp and unmoving Betsy was when asleep. There wasn’t a single sign that Betsy was a powerhouse of movement.

She said, “Your brother, William, told Steve and me that we should ask you rather than Gary to train us in the martial arts. He said that Gary’s style is aimed at killing, while your style of fighting is an art form. I would like to learn to fight, but I don’t want to be a killer. I’d like to learn how to defend myself in case I’m attacked one day by a monster in a man’s clothing.

“You said once that I could be without fear if I’m with someone who can protect me. I’m not sure that I agree with you about that. If I really thought someone would protect me against any and all, then I would know he or she loves me. I’d be afraid for them. It would be a fear of a different kind, but it would still be fear. I think I should know how to protect myself. That way I could stand beside my protector. I might still be afraid, but it would be a shared fear. It would be the kind of fear that Gary says gives one an edge. I think that I can live with that.”

Sally looked around the garden, and then closed her eyes to concentrate on the odors and sounds that filled the air. The strongest scent was the earthy smell of the rich soil beneath her. The scents of exotic tropical flowers filled the air. Under all the stronger smells, was that of the ocean. It was a salty fresh scent that teased the nose.

There were the sounds of birds. With a little effort she could actually hear wings beating when a bird flitted from one place to another. The birds were quiet, with nary a peep from them. There were the muted sounds of people moving about and doing things, coming from inside the house. In the distance, she could hear the crash of waves.

She opened her eyes, once again taken by the plethora of colors that surrounded her. The rich greens of grass and leaves; bright scarlets, yellows, whites and purples of the flowers; the blue of the sky above; the dark rich color of the soil below; and the muted browns and greens of the trees. This was truly a tropical paradise. It was so easy, sitting there, to forget one’s problems. It was like you and they existed in different worlds. This was a good place to retreat, and heal. It was a safe harbour. Betsy had picked the perfect place to make a home.

Sally looked at Betsy and said, “You’re very lucky. You have a large family that loves you very much. They all want to help and support you. Your father is a very imposing man, but he’s capable of demonstrating incredible gentleness. You should have seen the soft expression on his face, when he carried you up here. He was filled with concern. Your brother is just as intense, but in a different way. He’s just a little older than us, but a lot older than us at the same time. He appears to be one step apart from the rest of the world ... then you realize that he’s aware of everything around him. He knows things that no one should know. It’s kind of frightening.