Security Blanket

Play the tape from that last session again.

*****

Hello Suzy. I know things have been really hard on you lately, but I need you to tell me what you can about what happened to your parents. Can you do that for me?

If I tell you, can I have that night light please?

I'll go shopping for the brightest one I can find first thing in the morning.

Promise?

I promise.

The monster got them. The monster under my bed.

Now Suzy, I thought we agreed that there wasn't a monster under your bed. I showed you with the flashlight, remember?

It isn't there when the lights are on! I told you!

You said the monster is under your bed every night, didn't you? Where ever you are? We set up a camera in your room here the other night, and you saw the tape. No monster went running out from under there when the sun came up.

It doesn't hide! It just isn't there! It's only there when it's dark!

OK, OK. I believe you. But why do you think it left you alone that night? Or all these other nights, here at the hospital?

I hid under the covers. It can't get you if you're all the way under the covers.

You know, I used to think there was a monster like that under my bed when I was a little boy. Then one night, I just got sick of being scared. I jumped out of bed and looked under there, but the only thing under the bed was an old pair of socks. It was all in my imagination. Are you sure you didn't hear any other people in the house that night?

No, there wasn't anyone else there, and I'm not imagining it! I hear the monster breathing at night!

I thought I heard my monster breathing too. Then my parents explained to me that it was just the sounds of the house. Sometimes the furnace in our house would come on in the middle of the night, and when it was running it sounded a lot like heavy breathing.

I know what the furnace sounds like! The monster sounds different! The lights went out and I screamed and Mommy and Daddy came to my room and it got them! It's still trying to get me and the nurses don't tuck me in all the way!

I'm sorry Suzy. I didn't mean to get you so upset. I believe you now, I just need to find a way to convince everyone else, OK? Why don't you go with the nurse to get some ice cream, and I promise to get that night light for you tomorrow.

Bill? I know it sounds a bit harsh, but could you have the orderlies take the blankets out of her room tonight? I think it might shake her of her delusions, and the police are really getting desperate for a description of the murderer.

*****

Now then doctor, when was this recording made?

October twenty-fourth, about six-fifteen PM.

And the girl's room was locked from eight PM to three AM, correct?

Yes.

And you were the only one with the key to that room, is this also correct?

Yes.

And was there anyone else in the room when you claim you and Nurse Jenkins heard her screams?

No.

The facts don't add up here Doctor. There is no way a person can break into a locked room, eviscerate a girl in such a vicious fashion, and flee the scene in the time you say it took to find her. Particularly in an institution like this. Do you have anything to say for yourself Doctor?

Doctor?

Doctor! Answer me!