"I know, but we still have to be ready for anything with her. You heard what Jenny said. She's jittery and she thinks she is mentally unsafe. You just have to trust me Lydia." I said calmly.
She smiled weakly at me without answering and then, we went back into the room to speak to Shirley. She was sitting up straight now with a few pillows behind her. She seemed calm enough, but she spoke unsteadily, although I wasn't sure if she was putting it on or not. Something felt off about her.
"Well, where's Charlie? Did you tell him I'm awake?" She asked urgently.
"Shirley... do you remember anything from earlier?" I asked with caution.
"Like what? Wasn't I asleep for hours? Because my memory is a bit fuzzy at the moment... I think I remember a few things like seeing another man in my room with Charlie, but I think it might have been a dream. I thought the man looked like someone from my old school days.... someone who was a bully I think." She said as she touched her head with her right hand, pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes.
"It wasn't a dream." I paused trying to find the guts to tell her what had happened to her husband.
"It wasn't?" She asked curiously.
"No... you saw a man called Aiden in this room. I think you knew him once, but he is not a bully... he hung out with the bullies but he wasn't one himself."
"Oh... right... I think I remember him now." She said looking down at her hands. I couldn't tell if she was angry or not.
"You do? Okay... well... that means you remember who he was... Is that right?" I asked and she nodded back at me. I couldn't tell if she was anxious, so I went on as carefully as I could.
Lydia stepped around Shirley's other side of the bed. I knew what she was doing. She wanted to be near her in case things went wrong.
"Right Shirley... I need you to remember what happened when you saw Charlie in here last... he was with Aiden and you woke up for a minute. Do you remember?" She looked directly into my eyes. They appeared to be serious.
"I remember seeing them and then everything went black... that's it." She replied.
I knew I had to tell her that Charlie was now dead by her own hand. It was going to be ugly. I could feel it.
"Okay then..." I couldn't find the right words to explain it to her. She just kept staring at me. Those dark brown eyes of hers reminded me of a scary aunt I once had.
"Is there something wrong?" Shirley, suddenly, asked.
"Well... you could say that... it's Charlie.... he's dead..." I said abruptly as I watched her closely, seeing the tears fall.
"What? But... I... Oh no... it was me... wasn't it? I have a vague memory, but I thought it was just a dream. It was real... It was real wasn't it? I killed him!" Her voice shook as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Yes." I said with caution.
I was ready to take charge. I dreaded what might happen next.
"And..." Shirley paused as she stared at me. "And that guy that was in here... Aiden... I hated him... oh no! I wanted to kill him!" She shouted.
"Yes... but it all went horribly wrong Shirley." I replied.
"Yes... oh no... what have I done... Charlie... my poor Charlie... he was probably just trying to stop me from going mad." She said hysterically.
"Yes he was... but why were you going mad Shirley?" I wanted to know how she had felt at the time since she mentioned it.
"I hated Aiden. He could have helped me in the past and he never did, so I think I lashed out at him at the time. I can't believe what I've done." I watched Shirley cry louder. She didn't appear to be mad in any way or dangerous to anyone at present.
Lydia put her arms around Shirley's shoulders trying to console her. I was certain it would be okay, because Shirley seemed to be genuinely distraught. She didn't appear to be mad or angry. Her cries for her husband were very sad and it choked me up to see it.
I turned around, with my back to them just for a minute. I didn't want to see the sadness anymore. It was too painful like a knife ripping me open.
Of course, Shirley had got to me. She deliberately angled me into believing her. The minute I took my eyes off of her, I heard Lydia scream. I swung around and at that moment, the others came into the room trying to pull Shirley away from Lydia.
It was too late. Shirley struck her with a sharp object. Lydia's wrist had been cut deeply. I grabbed Lydia. I pulled her away from Shirley. Nick and Joe grabbed each of Shirley's arms and held her down tightly.
"I'll have my revenge on all of you... just you wait and see..." Shirley spit out at us.
It went crazy from there. I knew it had begun. Shirley's madness was getting to her. She couldn't move on and she never would.
"Hold her down." I shouted. "Someone call Jenny."
"I'll get her." Aiden replied.
"You! You are a bully Aiden. I hate you... I wish I had killed you!" Shirley shouted.
Aiden stared at Shirley for a second and then left the room. He came
