Grandma and Grandpa had no choice but to put Cheryl in a nursing home where she could be taken care of properly.
To this day, Cheryl remained in the nursing home, deteriorating more and more as the years went by.
Bash felt that if they hadn’t stayed out the whole night before and put that kind of stress on their mother or even if she hadn’t yelled at them and demanded they leave, both parents would still be alive. Bash felt responsible for their parents’ demise, and she and Lily had never talked about that morning.
Now, Lily drove Seth’s car to the rest home, with his strict instructions to take care of his car and his girlfriend. Bash thought it was cute, but Lily was icy the entire drive, probably because of the warning.
The Forum was located in Plano on a nice green meadow off the main road. If Bash could see, she’d notice how the big, red building seemed both inviting and ominous at the same time.
Even still, whenever she walked inside, the weight of the sadness inside was tangible. People lived here, and, though she didn’t want to think about it, people died here. This was where families hid people they were ashamed of. Bash wasn’t ashamed of their mother. She only felt guilty.
They found their mother in the garden behind the big building, sitting in her wheelchair in a bathrobe with a blanket across her lap. The gardens were all wintered, so there weren’t any flowering plants. Cheryl sat watching a water fountain in a daze. The attendant gently touched her shoulder, snapping her out of her daze. “Mrs. Martin?”
“Yes?” Cheryl’s voice was muffled due to the lack of control over the left side of her face.
“Your daughters are here to see you.”
“I don’t have daughters. I can’t have children.” Cheryl seemed both confused and so sure about that statement.
Bash’s heart broke. She swallowed and attempted a smile, trying to look as normal as possible. It always upset her mother when she remembered that Bash was blind.
“Hi, Mom,” she said. “It’s me, Bash. And Lily’s here too.”
Lily remained silent, not acknowledging her introduction.
The attendant took Bash’s hand and connected it to Cheryl’s. “She’s having a bad day,” he whispered into Bash’s ear. “Don’t say anything to upset her too much.”
Trust me, I don’t want to ever upset her again , Bash thought sadly.
“Bash?” Cheryl asked, her voice getting clearer as she started to recognize them. “Bathsheba?”
“Yes, Mom.”
“And...Lily? My Lily?” Something else entered Cheryl’s voice, something wild.
Lily was still refusing to address their mother. Cheryl’s hand was clenched in Bash’s hand, squeezing it so hard, Bash was surprised she still had such strength.
“Go away,” Cheryl sneered at Lily. “Go away, harlot.”
“Mother,” Bash chided. Their mother had always been like this around Lily since the accident, acting terrified by Lily’s presence. Bash kept dragging her twin along hoping that it would change. Unfortunately it never did.
“No it’s fine,” Lily said. “It’s fine. It always is,” she added pointedly to Bash. Bash heard her storm off.
“Lily came all the way here to see you, Mom,” Bash said soothingly. “Lily wanted to see you.” Okay, that was probably a lie.
“I had a dream about her last night,” Cheryl was muttering. “I had a dream about that little...vile thing. Something Eric said...”
“It was just a nightmare,” Bash replied gently, the same way she always did. “A dream.”
Before Bash knew what was happening, she was roughly pulled down to Cheryl’s height. “She’s going to hurt you, my beautiful daughter.” Cheryl’s breath was hot in her ear. “She’s going to hurt all that you care about.”
“Mom...”
“Don’t let her win, Bathsheba,” Cheryl insisted. “Don’t let her win. She’s not supposed to be alive anyways.”
“What do you mean by that?” Bash asked, alarmed. This was something new, something