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Amber spent a sleepless night on Mark’s couch. Mark was too fragile to watch the news broadcasts that might have shown her picture. She’d showed up and told him that she’d had a fight with her aunt about going back to the hospital. Every sound had made her jump. At any minute she expected the police to break down the front door and take her into custody.
She’d been up sick most of the night, her stomach cramping violently. Caroline had indeed done something bad. Amber was having flashbacks of it. She wasn’t at all sure that it was Caroline, though, that had done it. She just didn’t know who else it could have been. Caroline was a prankster, not the type to cut off someone’s head.
The sun had finally risen. She was going to go turn herself and Caroline in to Dr. Abernathy. But Dr. Abernathy rarely arrived at the clinic before 9 am. Meaning Amber had time to kill. Her stomach was too twisted and knotted for her to eat or drink anything. Instead she sat on Mark’s couch, her knees pulled up to her chin and gently rocked herself.
Dr. Abernathy would understand. Of that, Amber was positive and Dr. Abernathy would help her. Especially now that she would be running the clinic. Amber had seen the news on her phone, Dr. Durant had been murdered.
That was fine with Amber. Good riddance. The world didn’t need men like Dr. Durant. He was nearly as abusive as Amber’s mother had been. She stood and paced the living room, feeling trapped and sick again.
Mark came in from the kitchen area of the apartment. He held out a can of 7-Up to her.
“For your stomach,” Mark said stuttering. “I heard you up sick several times last night, maybe this will help.”
“Thank you. Hey, I’m sorry if I’ve ever been mean to you. I have to deal with another person in me.” She said taking a drink of the soda.
“I know, you, Amber, have never been mean to me. Only Brexton has.” Mark told her.
“Brexton?” Amber asked.
“Yeah, Brexton. Caroline and Amber are okay, they can both be really nice. Martha can be mean, but really Brexton is the mean one.” Mark told her. “You are aware of Brexton, Martha, and Caroline, right?”
“I kind of know about Caroline, but I don’t know the others.” Amber said.
“Amber, do you know what’s wrong with you?”
“I have a sibling who lives in me, because she doesn’t have her own body. It causes me to have blackouts. Her name is Caroline.”
“Amber,” Mark looked at her for a moment then sighed. “Yeah, but Caroline isn’t your only sibling, Brexton and Martha are also your siblings.”
“I used to have two sisters and a little brother.” Amber sighed. “But they’re all dead now. I guess Martha, Brexton, and Caroline replaced them after they died.”
“Maybe.” Mark smiled at her. “Yeah, that could be why Brexton, Martha, and Caroline exist.” Mark said.
“Is Brexton my brother?” Amber asked.
“I don’t know, I don’t know if Brexton is a boy or a girl. I’ve only met Brexton once, he came by one night and threatened to kill me if I didn’t stop talking to you. But the next day, Martha told me I could talk to you again.”
“Oh,” Amber said. “Well thank you for letting me stay here last night. I need to go talk to my aunt and then I need to go see Dr. Abernathy at the clinic.” Amber gathered the few items she had with her and left.
Amber was finally asleep when the Uber driver pulled up in front of Mark’s building. She had considered walking, but she didn’t know the area well enough to walk from here to the community where her aunt lived.
“900 Main Street,” Brexton said entering the car and confirming the address they wanted to go to. Brexton felt refreshed. Brexton had slept while Amber paced and threw up. There was really nothing Brexton could do for her. Amber was just going to have to process the flashes of memory as best she could.
Brexton got out of the car at the main entrance and headed towards the door. The Uber driver was slow about leaving and Brexton wasn’t sure why. They stopped before pulling open the door and Brexton called his aunt.
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hi, Aunt Maggie, it’s Amber. I was going to come see you today, would that be okay?”
“Of course, Amber, I would love to see you. I have an appointment this afternoon, do you know what time you think you’ll be here?”
“Now, I’m already outside,” Brexton said and yanked open the main entrance door.
“Down on the ground!” A woman and man were shouting at Brexton after he’d only taken about three steps into the building. They had guns drawn.
“Fuck,” Brexton shouted as they dropped to the ground.
“US Marshals, SCTU,” the man who had bright red hair said as the woman walked towards them.
She was petite. Brexton went to jerk their arm away from her and then decided against it as they felt the scars on the woman’s hands. Internally, Brexton realized this was not a woman they wanted to mess with. They’d seen her before on the news. They’d seen the redheaded man too. How had they figured out that Brexton would come here?
They weren’t sure, but somehow they figured it out and here Brexton was, trapped. Brexton blinked.
“Hickory, dickory, dock, the mouse ran up the clock,” Martha said in a high pitched sing song voice. “The clock struck one, the mouse ran down, and infected the occupants of the house with plague as reward for their service to Satan.”
