I turned my back, sickened by the sight, “That’s not real, that never happened.”
“But it did,” said Franklin’s voice, “and look at the result.”
He pointed behind me and I turned my back to see my mother once more. She was no longer in Christian’s apartment. She was in the bathroom of another apartment, staring at the mirror with something in her left hand. She stood there looking at herself, so much rage in her heart as she stared at the mirror.
“Fuck! You fucking idiot!” she screamed at her reflection. She pounded her fist against the mirror in self-hatred, causing her knuckles to split and the glass to crack in various places. Blood splatters sprinkled across the glass and she collapsed on the ground, dropping what was in her hand to her side. A white stick with two lines.
The scene dissolved before my eyes as my mind refused to process the meaning behind these dehumanizing scenes. They re-evolved into the front porch of our old house. My mother stood there banging on the door, furiously.
A woman opened the door, peeking out cautiously.
“Bridget? What are you doing here? Is everything—” she began.
“I need to see Alex,” she said, wiping her face and attempting to convey a calm composure.
“Alex just got off work, he’s sleep—”
“Wake him up! I need to see him now,” my mother demanded.
“Fine,” she said in an offended manner and shut the door on my mother, not inviting her in.
Several moments later a much younger looking version of my father appeared in the doorway, he had an unexpected smile on his face.
“Bridget, I’m so glad you came. I thought I would never see you again,” my father said, reaching for her. Her arms uncrossed from around her waist and she shoved his hands away from her.
“Don’t touch me,” she said, “I’m disgusted with you, Alex.”
“I told you, Bridget. I am so sorry. I was so drunk and it was a terrible mistake. I regret everything. I never wanted to lose you,” he said pleadingly.
“Well, we can’t break up now,” she said, pulling the pregnancy test from her pocket and shoving it into his chest as she turned and walked away, “Guess you got what you wanted!”
My father stood there on the porch with the test in his hand. He wrapped his fingers around it, held it close to his chest, and collapsed on the first step of the porch.
“I don’t believe whatever it is you are trying to imply with these images,” I said, feeling my insides attempting to escape me. My feet wavered, as I tried to immediately delete what had just entered my consciousness.
“You know it’s true,” Franklin said, appearing next to me, “I know you can feel him inside of you. Didn’t you ever wonder why the parasite is so dominant in you? Dual Souls aren’t made from the trauma of one parent, it requires both. Didn’t you ever wonder, if he was so willing to prey on your mother, why he never preyed on you, or his own son? You may have forgiven yourself, but there’s a part of him in you that you can never forgive. He is your father.”
“You’re a fuckin’ liar,” I said angrily and began to pace the now empty space.
“Looking for a way out?” he asked, watching me.
“As a matter of fact, I am. I’m done with this place,” I said.
“Well, the door’s been there all along,” he said.
“I don’t want that door!” I screamed. “I want to get back to my life, my friends, everything. I want to forget about all this bullshit.”
“Consider this for a second, Danielle. You want more than anything to destroy Christian, right? He’s the one person you cannot bring yourself to forgive.”
“Yeah, I hate him. What’s your point?” I asked.
“I’m saying if a part of him exists in you, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the fact. You could be the one to destroy a part of him- the part of you that’s nothing but a drain on the life of this world. You don’t even know what you’re capable of or what you’re going to do.”
“I know what I’m going to do as soon as I get out of here. I’m going to expose you for what you are—” I stopped suddenly.
“Is something wrong?” Franklin asked.
“You keep telling me how insignificant I am, worthless, how the world is better without me. But Franklin only thinks of himself, he’s the poster child of self-preservation . . .” I said out loud, letting each word come to me as I slowly began to connect the dots. “Katia is your new favorite employee the prophecy girl. You said she can show you what you are from conception to death. You’re not trying to save the world, you’re trying to save yourself! She showed you that I would be the one to end you.”
Franklin’s image stood emotionlessly, “You won’t survive this test, Danielle.”
“How much more could be left? After all of that, honestly, do you think there’s anything worse than that? I abandoned the burden of thinking as a child, it was my responsibility to take care of my family, I forgave almost everything in my life, I freed my darkness, and I’ve come face-to-face with the idea that I am biologically a child of incest with the person I hate more than anything. What’s worse than that?”
Franklin held his hand to his side as Katia stepped out from behind him and placed her hand in his. The environment drained of color until everything was drenched in bright white. It turned to an almost diamond shaped room. We stood in the middle. To my left was the wooden door with the key. To my right was a door that looked like those found in the hospital, all thick metal with a small square window with two-inch thick glass in the center.
“You just have one more step and then you are free
