Free A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson

Maanik. Now tell me a little about your home.”
    â€œWhat do you want to know?”
    â€œWhat are you seeing? Who is your baby?”
    â€œThat’s my little guy,” she cooed, smiling. “He’s licking my hands. And”—her eyes moved under her closed eyelids—“there are the trees next to the door, I’m coming back from the hot pool, it’s nighttime, there’s some thokang down by us but high up the stars are out—”
    â€œThere’s some what down by you?”
    â€œWow, the stars are so beautiful tonight. There are so many of them!” The smile became almost blissful. “ Khasaa .”
    Caitlin decided that keeping the flow going was more important than backtracking for every detail. “Your little guy, he met you outside of your house?”
    â€œYes, he slithered up from the water as he always does.”
    â€œWhat does your little guy look like?”
    â€œLike t hyodularasi ,” Maanik burbled in a duh tone. She was speaking so quickly now that Caitlin couldn’t follow. It took a moment for her to realize that speed wasn’t the problem.
    â€œMaanik, can you use English words for me?”
    But the girl kept pattering in gibberish. She had begun to move her arms again, not frantically this time but in wide motions that didn’t seem to resemble anything. Caitlin thought of Jacob waggling his arms like a squid. Was Maanik just being playful?
    Suddenly the girl sat up and her eyes snapped open as she craned to look up at the ceiling. Her speech sped up, as did her arm movements, except that her right hand was drifting toward the left, as if she wanted to scratch.
    Caitlin put her hands on her shoulders. “Maanik, tell me what you see in the sky.”
    The patter came faster now. Caitlin glanced questioningly at Mrs.Pawar, who looked like the sins of the world were written on her daughter’s face. Mrs. Pawar understood Caitlin’s glance but shook her head—the words weren’t Hindi. But there’s something Asiatic about them , Caitlin thought, yet not. If only Ben were here . . . And then Maanik was shouting at the sky, pushing up at it, and slapping her arms, trying to scratch through the gauze.
    â€œMaanik, English, please! Tell me what’s happening!” she yelled as she tried unsuccessfully to prevent the girl’s hands from making contact.
    Maanik started to scream again. Her whole body slammed down onto the floor as she bucked and thrashed, and suddenly from nowhere Caitlin felt like she was grabbed and thrown across the room.

CHAPTER 8
    C aitlin was thrown back into a wall, and the breath was knocked from her. Her arms felt weak as water as she tried to prop herself up.
    If this is a personality split , she thought, please let increased strength not be part of it!
    Caitlin jerked herself onto her knees and reached out through Maanik’s flailing arms to touch her left ear. “Blackberries,” she said.
    The girl’s hands dropped. She took a violent, deep breath, as if she might scream to the heavens, and then exhaled slowly, until the in-breath came and a natural quiet rhythm took hold. Within seconds, Caitlin heard the soft deep breaths of sleep.
    After lifting Maanik onto her bed, Caitlin and Mrs. Pawar left the girl to rest and retired to the living room, where Kamala had made tea.
    â€œIf you don’t mind, I’d like to wait a few more minutes, make sure everything is all right,” Caitlin said.
    â€œOf course,” said Mrs. Pawar as she sat in an armchair. “I am sorry to take you from your work.”
    â€œThis is my work,” Caitlin said.
    Mrs. Pawar smiled, but only briefly. “What’s wrong with my daughter?” she asked.
    â€œI don’t know,” Caitlin admitted. “But we’re going to find out.”
    â€œWe did the right thing? Just now?”
    â€œAbsolutely.”
    The older woman sipped her tea.