Free Straightjacket by Meredith Towbin Page B

out.
    When the real Anna turned around, her face had changed somehow. There was little difference between it and the face in the portrait. Caleb sat still on the bed even though he wanted to rush over to her.
    “I look…so different. Like a model or something.”
    “That’s what you look like.” He got up but was careful, only letting himself take one step toward her. “You’re so pretty. Don’t you know that?”
    She looked down nervously. “I can’t believe all this. Your drawings, I mean. You’re just really talented.” She moved closer to the wall and turned to touch another one of the drawings—one that wasn’t of her—with her fingertips. “They look so real. How can you do this?”
    “Now you know why I stare at you all the time.” He’d meant it as a joke, but neither of them laughed. She turned around. The silence stopped being awkward and turned into something comforting: a cushion they could rest on while their feelings overcame everything around them.
    The urge to be near her was so strong that it obliterated any sense of duty or logic in him. He didn’t think about what it meant or what would happen after this. All he knew was that the perfect face in the pictures that he’d carefully drawn and studied was right in front of him. She’d thought enough about him to come see him, and now that she was here, he didn’t want her to leave.
    He couldn’t hold back anymore and rushed toward her. She flinched, and at the last minute, he stopped himself right before his arms had a chance to wrap themselves around her. He stood so close, though, that he could feel her breath and smell her hair. It smelled like flowers, and the scent put him in such a daze that he didn’t realize he’d lost control and he was touching her fingers.
    “I’m sorry, I just can’t help it,” he whispered as she peered back at him with the blue eyes that made him forget everything else. “You’re so…good and so pretty and…you ask about me and…I can’t believe I found you in this place. You make all the loneliness go away.”
    He found himself winding his arms around her waist and pulling her so that she was pressed against his chest. She didn’t pull away, and he started to worry since she didn’t answer, but after a few moments he felt her arms around his back. That was answer enough. No more coldness now. He didn’t feel the slow drag of time pulling on him…he wished time would just stop.
    Her lips were tinged with a flush of pink, and he wanted so much to see what they felt like against his. But before he could lean in and taste her, the sound of a clearing throat came from the doorway. Her body jumped backward, and in an instant her arms fell away from him and were folded across her chest.
    The shock of her having left him struck without warning. It was instinct now that pushed him to step forward, intending to take her in his arms again and not let her pull away. But before his body could do what it couldn’t help but do, he heard a voice.
    “What’s goin’ on in here?” Carlene asked, narrowing her eyes at them both as if lasers were about to shoot out.
    He turned to the large figure looming in the doorway.
    “Nothing,” they both shot back in unison.
    “Keep it that way, horndogs,” she scolded, still trying to catch her breath from the short walk down the hallway. “Here.” She shoved a small plastic cup into Caleb’s hand.
    “Why do we have to go through this every day? I’m not taking this.” He couldn’t help the sharp edge in his voice.
    “Caleb, hon, you’re not doin’ yourself any good by refusing to take your meds.” She grabbed the back of the chair as she tried to control her wheezing.
    All this time Anna scanned the room awkwardly, clearly welcoming the sight of anything except him. He should have known that the role of lunatic wasn’t one he could escape so easily.
    “I don’t need it.” He didn’t try to hide his hostility. “Tell Dr. Blackwell he can stop