Free Of Daughter and Demon by Elias Anderson Page B

than
the other? The man you killed?”
    I feel like I’m in a dream, a nightmare.
“Gimpy?”
    “Yes, Gimpy , that’s what you kept
calling him. And your friends on the force helped cover it up
because the man was a convicted child molester. That’s why you have
that pension, Harry. You’re disability checks that come every
month? And Bobby Johns, he sold you that bar of his
father’s—practically gave it to you--so you would have
something to do, something to get out of bed in the morning
for.”
    “Nah, Angie...this ain’t...”
    “Yes, Harry. Yes . They sent you to a
psychologist, remember Dr. Donaldson? He’s been helping you with
all of this? When he first tried to give you medication you called
him a Nazi and wouldn’t talk to me for a week, but you went back,
Harry. You let him help you before, but for him to help you; you
have to take your pills. You have to, or this happens.
You’ve come here like this before, all confused, thinking things
have really happened that only happened in your mind. Last time you
said you’d been visited by a man, oh, what was his name? You said
he worked for God and that he told you whoever killed Alice was a
monster, a devil or something. Do you remember that?”
    “I...I saw him today. He said to come talk to
you.”
    “And remember what Dr. Donaldson said?”
    “Mikey...Donaldson”
    “Yes, that’s right, Harry! Dr. Michael
Donaldson. He said that the man who claimed he worked for God was
really your subconscious, telling you to get help.”
    “What’re ya doing to me, Angie? I don’t feel
so good...”
    “Let me call the doctor for you, Ha--”
    “No! I don’t want no doctor. I gotta sort all
this out.”
    “He can help you.”
    “No! I gotta do it on my own.” I stood on
shaking knees, Alice, you gotta help me here, I just don’t know
what’s happening, I feel like I been drugged up or something, I
feel like laying down and giving up. I looked into Angie’s eyes and
she was a little fuzzy cuz my eyes had watered up a little.
    “You’ve started seeing things again,” Angie
said. “The man that said he worked for God, you said you saw him
today? Has he called you on the phone again?”
    I just stared at her, because I couldn’t
think a nothing to say.
    “And what about that woman? That woman from
the fifties that you used to tell me worked in the bar? She’s not
real, Harry. Neither of them are. Have you seen her, too?”
    “I gotta go,” my voice was barely a
whisper.
    “Harry?” Angie asked. “Has Alice started
talking to you again?”
    I stop in my tracks, my back to her, that
stare a hers burning the back a my neck.
    “Do you hear her, in your head I mean? You know she’s dead, Harry. If you’re hearing her voice you need
to see someone.”
    “I, I gotta go.”
    “Harry? You need help! Let me call an
ambulance for you--”
     
    “I gotta go!.”
    I got in my car and backed up at top speed. I
flipped it around and gunned it down the driveway and busted
through the gate and kept going, Alice, I kept going and oh god,
Allie, baby, you ain’t been dead four years, have you? How come you
ain’t talkin’ to me no more? I didn’t find you four years ago, did
I? You ain’t been dead but a couple days, ain’t that right? Answer
me, Alice, answer your father! I need a drink but my car started
smokin’ from under the hood, I pulled over to the side of the road
and got out. I don’t know where I went after that but I remember
stumbling into my bar after dark, drunk, asking Fifties Chick how
long you been dead, Alice, I had to ask her cuz your Ma doped me or
lied, or I really, really lost it, but I don’t really know right
now so I asked Fifties Chick, but your Ma says she ain’t real
neither, and I passed out before she could answer besides.
SIX
    I opened my eyes and I was lookin’ at the
ceiling of the bar, and at four Fifties Chicks. My stomach rolled,
and it was not wanting to puke on or in front a her that kept it
down. I blinked