Are You Listening to Me? Read online

  Doctor Hatfield asked her secretary to hold off before sending in the next patient. He wasn’t due for another half hour. She returned to her desk, pulled out Camden’s full file, and opened it to the beginning notes––notes that were not hers––information she had managed to gather about him from other places where he had lived.

  February 2006: notes on a new patient, Camden Gale … patient very agitated when admitted to hospital … admitted himself. He was under the delusion someone was out to get him––actually, several people. Camden works at a local gym doing odd jobs: cleaning, front desk, and serving drinks to the clients when other employees are on their breaks. Upon first sight, he appears to be quite normal and during most of our sessions, he is. Odd living situation, though––lives with his sister. Asked about meeting with her but he refused to allow such a visit, mentioning his sister had been through enough. I never managed to find out what that was. Camden was only my patient for a couple of months, he just stopped coming. I found out later he had moved to Calgary when a colleague of mine contacted me, asking for some advice. He was dealing with a troubled young man who had been admitted to the hospital. When I asked the name, and found out it was Camden Gale, I shared what I could. I forwarded him any notes and information I had on Camden, which wasn’t a lot. We both agreed, on the surface, Camden possibly suffered from paranoia brought on by illusions of mistreatment, and misconceptions people were out to get him all the time…

  Doctor Hatfield read through the rest of the notes, sorry she hadn’t done so as thoroughly before. It might have saved some time, but she always liked to start fresh with her clients and not have a tainted view of them from other doctors. She made a note to give Doctor Morgan a call and moved on to the next set of records in the file.

  April 2007: today I met the new fellow, whom a colleague told me about. He had not been able to take him on, saying he was already weighed down with cases. After a few sessions with Camden Gale, I had the feeling there was more to the good doctor’s decision than work overload. On the surface, Camden appears quite normal. However, when certain buttons are pushed, such as discussing issues to do with family and work, he becomes agitated and irritable––paranoid that everyone is out to get him. I finally managed to find out he felt he had been neglected by his parents while growing up. In fact, upon deeper research, I discovered he and his sister, Emma, whom he lives with, were in foster care for several years. After our fifth session, I concluded that Camden Gale is paranoid delusional…

  Lucy read on. She went to the next file dated January 2008, eleven months before he had come to her in November of 2008. Her phone rang. It was her secretary announcing her next client was getting impatient. Lucy glanced at her watch. “Tell him five minutes, please.” Lucy continued reading the last file, which was from a Winnipeg doctor. The same theme ran through his notes. Lucy wondered how many other doctors might have treated Camden, whose files did not make it into the shared medical records. She closed the folder and buzzed the secretary to send in her next client.

  ~

  The house was quiet when Camden arrived home from the doctor’s office. Emma was either having an afternoon nap or was in the greenhouse. He dreaded having to tell her about the move. She had not been happy about the other moves, not understanding why they had to leave places where she was perfectly content. Camden thought Emma was the luckier of the two of them; all she had to worry about was her plants. He looked after everything else. But that is the way it should be––she had been through so much––especially after the rape she’d endured at their last foster home. Once they escaped there, Camden had made it his mission to protect his sister. No one would ever hurt her again!

  “Emma, you here?” Camden called out.

  Silence.

  Camden called out again. “Emma.”

  This time he was rewarded with his sister coming through the back door, followed by their dog, Duke, a Doberman/Sheppard cross. He had often wondered if he and Emma were even related, let alone twins. She was as pale in colouring as he was dark. There were times Camden thought her skin was transparent. But unlike most of the women who came to the gym––women who were not happy with their skin colour or their hair colour and spent lots of money on tanning beds and hair dye––Emma’s skin was unblemished. She was also pure and innocent of heart.

  “What’s up, Cam?” Emma was the only one allowed to call him Cam.

  “Sit down, Emma.” Camden directed her to a chair at the kitchen table. “I have something to discuss with you. Camden noticed her shoulders droop, as though she knew what he was about to say. Her question confirmed this.

  “We aren’t moving again, are we, Cam?” Emma was getting good at picking up on the usual signs before a move. She had felt her brother’s restlessness in her bones.

  “I’m afraid so, Emma. I have a job in Ontario, in a small city called Brantford. Everything is arranged. I didn’t want to say anything until I had things in place. I even have a house rented for us. I saw pictures of it online. It has a three-season room on the back for your plants.”

  Emma interrupted her brother. “Ontario! That’s far away from Vancouver, Cam. How will we get my plants there without killing them?”

  Camden scowled, but only fleetingly. “We’ll rent a U-Haul for our furniture, and with what little we have, there’ll be plenty of room for your plants. The weather is warm enough that they won’t be damaged.”

  “When do we leave?”

  “I have to be in Brantford on May 19th, just a couple days before the gym’s grand opening. So we don’t have much time. I’d like to leave within a couple days.”

  “Don’t you have to give proper notice to your boss?” Emma queried.

  “Already did,” Camden lied. If all went well, his last victim wouldn’t die until he and Emma were well on their way to Ontario.

  Emma sighed. She was tired of moving. She was tired of being dragged around the country. But, she loved Camden. He was all she had, despite the dark moods she noticed he sometimes had.

  Saturday, May 16, 2009

  C

  amden and Emma pulled into the driveway of their new home. Duke was anxious to get out and stretch his legs and mark his territory in the backyard. The real-estate lady Camden had dealt with drove up behind them. When she saw the dog, she didn’t look too pleased.

  “You never mentioned you had a dog, Mr. Gale.”

  “Didn’t I?” Camden feigned an apologetic look. “Sorry. I guess in my hurry to find a place, I forgot to mention it. He really is no bother, though, as big as he is. I assure you the neighbours will hardly know he’s here.” Camden pointed to his sister, who was now in the backyard with Duke. “It’s her dog, really. Barely ever leaves her side. She doesn’t work outside the home. I feel so much better she has Duke with her, especially since I will be doing different shifts at the gym where I’ll be working.” He pointed down the street to the new facility.

  “Oh, you have a job there?”

  “Yes, that’s why we came to Brantford. My sister wasn’t feeling safe in Vancouver with all the crime. Too many gangs. It was her idea to move. I didn’t really want to. I had a decent job as a manager at a gym in West Vancouver. Oh well, that’s life, I guess.” Camden laughed. “What we won’t do for family sometimes, eh?”

  “I hear you.” The real-estate lady smiled. “Well, I have a house showing. Here are your keys and my card if you should need anything. The children of the old lady who used to live here are out of the country. They left me in charge of the property. Hope you like it.”

  “I’m sure we will. Thank you very much.” Camden took the keys and card, turned, and walked to the house.

  He wrinkled his nose when he stepped inside. It smelled old. But of course it would, it had been owned by an elderly person. Her children had left quite a bit of the furniture, which was a good thing for him and Emma since they hadn’t been able to fit all their stuff into the U-Haul. He walked into the kitchen and noticed
the fridge and stove were small and an older style. He opened the fridge door. It was not self-defrosting. He would put that on a list to get for Emma. She was so fragile; he didn’t want her to have to do any more work than necessary. Scraping ice from a freezer was not his idea of necessary.

  Camden noticed the sliding door leading out into the three-season room. He stooped over and removed the piece of wood in the trail that was being used as extra security, and then slid the door open. The room had been neglected for quite some time. A set of wicker furniture sat in one corner. Camden noticed a couple electrical outlets, which was good because some of Emma’s plants needed extra heat, especially when there might be the threat of a late spring frost. Yellowed vinyl blinds hung on some of the windows. He would have to remove them to let as much light in as possible. Emma would love this room, and he would be able to assure her, once again, this was a good move for them. He felt everything was going to work out perfectly here. Maybe this is what they needed to do––him and Emma––move away from the west where the ghosts lived. Surely they wouldn’t follow him here.

  Duke was standing at the back door of the three-season room. He growled softly. Camden opened the door and the dog bounded in. Emma followed, her face glowing.

  “Did you see the flowerbeds, Cam? I don’t think whoever lived here before was looking after them, not lately anyway, but at one time they seem to have been well-tended.” She smiled. “I’ll have fun revitalizing them.”

  Camden smiled. He hadn’t seen Emma so excited for a long time. “So you’re not mad at me anymore for making you move?”

  Emma reached out and hugged her twin. “No, Cam. You know I could never stay mad at you for long. You are just too good to me.”

  Camden stroked his sister’s long hair and breathed in her musky smell. She always smelled good––not like him. He had to make sure he showered twice a day so as not to offend people around him. Why did that bastard have to do that to her––take her innocence––heap another destruction upon their already damaged life? He hugged Emma close and then gently pushed her away.

  “We have to get our stuff in before dark, especially your plants. This is the perfect place back here for them, don’t you think?” Camden smiled at Emma.

  She clapped her hands gleefully. “Yes, it’s perfect. How could I have ever doubted you?”

  Camden and Emma spent the next hour unloading the van. Noticing how exhausted Emma was, Camden told her to stay in the back room and arrange her plants where she wanted them; he would look after bringing the rest of their stuff in. They could take their time organizing it later. She nodded and headed for the back room, Duke close on her heels.

  Finally, Camden shut the door on the U-Haul. Everything was in the house. He checked his watch. If he hurried, he had just enough time to take the van to the local dealer, saving him another day’s rental. He opened his computer case and pulled out a map he had run off before leaving Vancouver. It was a good thing he thought of this stuff.

  “Emma, I’m going to take the U-Haul to the dealer. Would you like me to pick up some supper on the way back?” Camden called out to his sister.

  She looked up from the plant she was tending and smiled. “That would be wonderful, Cam. That way you won’t have to worry about your supper.”

  Camden nodded and smiled. There she was, always thinking of him. “What do you fancy?” he asked.

  “Chicken, I think. What do you say, Duke? Shall we have chicken tonight?”

  Duke barked.

  “Chicken it is then,” Camden chuckled.

  The directions took him quickly to his destination. Brantford wasn’t as big as he had anticipated. He arrived about ten minutes before closing time. From there, he called a cab and headed to Swiss Chalet on Lynden Road and picked up a take-out order for his and Emma’s supper. He would worry about getting groceries tomorrow. He was tired and was getting one of his headaches so asked the cabbie to stop at a drugstore so he could pick up some medication and a newspaper. He wanted to buy a used van to get around in; cabs were expensive. When he got home, Emma was waiting for him in the kitchen.

  Emma headed to bed early after supper. Camden wanted to check his emails. He had a mobile internet that he could hook into anywhere he went. He perused down his inbox. Nothing of any importance. He switched to his sent file and clicked on his special email, the one he had used a number of times in the past. He studied it and contemplated deleting it off his computer, hoping not to need it here in Brantford. But what if he did? What if things didn’t change? Camden decided to keep it for now. He shut off his computer and headed to bed.

  Camden and Emma spent the next two days unpacking and cleaning their new home. Camden kept a close eye on his sister and was soon satisfied she was content. Most of her plants had survived the trip. Duke appeared to be enjoying his new backyard, as well.

  Emma insisted on accompanying Camden when he went for groceries, something she hadn’t done for a long time. That pleased him. Maybe this move was going to turn things around for them. Maybe he wouldn’t get those spells and do the things he did. Then again, it wasn’t his fault––others made him do it––it was their fault.

  By Monday afternoon Emma had had enough. She looked exhausted. Camden asked her if she would like to go for a walk and explore the area. He had been talking to the corner store owners, and they had told him about a beautiful park where they could go and walk around for free. Emma said she would rather stay home and have a nap; he could go, she would be okay.

  “I want to get started on fixing the flowerbeds tomorrow,” she said.

  “I could help you when I get home from work,” Camden suggested.

  “It’s okay, Cam. I won’t overtax myself. You’ll be tired after your first day at the new job. I want to do this myself. My head’s been spinning with ideas ever since we arrived.”

  Camden reached over and hugged his sister. “Okay. Just promise me you’ll pace yourself. I’m going to go and check that park out.” He smiled. “Sure you don’t want to come?”

  Emma returned his smile, shook her head no, and headed up the stairs to her room. From her window, she watched her brother leave. She worried about him sometimes. She wondered why they always had to move. He would seem so happy when they first settled in a place, and then as time went, he would grow bitter. Emma had learned to recognize the signs. She knew when he was getting restless and was going to tell her they were moving. This time had been the worst yet. Emma turned and headed to her bed. Duke was lying by the doorway. As she closed her eyes, Emma said a prayer, asking God to make this the last move––at least for a long time, anyway.

  Tuesday, May 19, 2009

  J

  ack had driven all night to get home. It had been great to get away from all the confusion, but he was looking forward to crawling into his queen-size bed and stretching his limbs to their fullest. He could tell Toby was happy to be heading home, as well.

  “What do you say, old boy, shall we send out for a fish dinner for lunch?”

  Toby looked up at Jack, meowed and licked his chops. Jack reached across the seat and scratched Toby behind the ears. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  As they pulled onto their street, the first thing they both noticed was that the gym was completed. There was a sign out front announcing the grand opening. “Times are changing, old boy,” Jack pointed out.

  Toby raced to the van window as he and Jack passed by Miss Mildred’s house. “What’s that van doing in her driveway?” he wondered. “I’ll check it out later while Jack is unpacking our stuff. There are benefits to being a cat––all the luxury without having to do any of the work.”

  Jack stopped in front of his house and then backed the van into the driveway. He got out and waited for Toby to jump down. He thought it was strange how Toby had taken to the outdoors after all the years of being an inside cat. Toby headed down the street to Miss Mildred’s.

  “Don’t you be gone long now, Toby. I don
’t want you to miss your fish lunch,” Jack called after the disappearing tail.

  Toby paid no attention. He was on a mission. He slunk up to the old wire fence that meandered around Miss Mildred’s yard. “What the heck is that? Miss Mildred doesn’t have a dog!” Toby saw Duke lying in the middle of the yard. Then he noticed the girl kneeling by the flowerbed. “Maybe someone has come over to help her fix things up.”

  The girl was humming. It was a melodic sound, yet mournful. Toby observed how pretty she was, and frail. Her long strawberry-blonde hair swept the grass. Toby moved closer to the fence for a better look. Duke’s ears pricked forward. Toby stopped. The last thing he wanted was that great hulk of a dog charging at him when nothing but a flimsy wire fence separated them. Duke growled.

  “What’s the matter, Duke?” Emma looked up.

  Duke stood and trotted over to Emma. He lay down protectively at her side, still growling. Emma patted his head. “Have you had enough of the outdoors, Duke?” She checked her watch. “Oh, it’s lunch time already. I wonder where Camden is. Oh, I remember, he went to look at the gym, but that was an hour ago.” She stood. “Well, he should be back for lunch; shall we go in and make him some?”

  Toby kept very still as the girl and the dog moved across the yard to the back door. He noticed all the plants in Miss Mildred’s three-season room; they hadn’t been there before. “Something really strange is going on here,” Toby thought as he turned around and headed for home. “No sense missing out on a good fish lunch, though.”

  When Toby arrived home, Jack hadn’t even started lunch. Toby could tell because he could smell fish a mile away on a rainy day. Jack was sitting on the front step talking to a strange young man. Toby climbed the steps, sat down and glared at Jack, who paid him no attention. Toby meowed.