Straightjacket

by Meredith Towbin

  The cab pulled into the parking lot of a bank, and Caleb opened the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He planted a kiss on her mouth.

  Her stomach did flips and her eyes were still closed when the door slammed. He jogged to the front door, but before he walked in, he pulled the cell phone out and dialed. As he spoke to whoever had picked up on the other end, his face was grave, a stark contrast to the brightness it showed her just a few seconds before. He seemed to grow irritated, running his hand through his tousled hair and grabbing hold of a clump of it. Anna looked on anxiously. Who could he be talking to? What could they be talking about? As hard as she tried, she couldn’t banish the small, nagging voice that reminded her that she didn’t know him all that well. It seemed crazy, but it was almost easier to accept him as an angel on a mission trapped in a mental hospital. Being out in the real world, watching how he made his way through it, made things infinitely more complicated. Finally he was finished with his call. He disappeared into the building.

  Anna sat as patiently as she could, but even with the windows down, the heat in the cab grew unbearable now that they weren’t moving. She wanted to ask the driver to turn on the air-conditioning, but something prevented her from getting the words out. Angry with herself, she read the Passenger’s Bill of Rights hanging on the seat in front of her over and over, hoping to gain some courage.

  “Would you mind turning on the air conditioner, please?” she asked, too bold.

  The cab driver turned and looked at her oddly, but then rolled up the windows and turned the air conditioner on high. Embarrassment mingled with victory, and she sat back, waiting for the cool air to fill the car.

  Time passed, and with it the uneasiness poking a tiny hole in her paradise grew. At first she had thought Caleb was withdrawing some money from the ATM—assuming angels could have bank accounts—but this was taking too long for that. As she tried to invent scenarios as to what he was doing in there, unwelcomed questions trickled in through the hole, one leading to another leading to another, until her head was filled with what if…? She willed herself to stop obsessing and just relax. If she kept this up, she would end up sabotaging everything. She fought with herself until the door handle clicked and Caleb slid exuberantly onto the seat.

  “Willow Hills Lane, please. It’s off of Greentree,” he said toward the front seat.

  The cab driver backed out of the parking spot and headed toward the main road. Caleb reached for Anna’s hand again.

  “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

  He turned to her, smiling, one eyebrow raised mischievously. “Really, Anna, I’m not trying to hide anything. Just don’t worry about it. It’s all taken care of.”

  “Yeah, so you keep telling me,” she said. “I don’t need you to protect me. I want to know what’s going on. What were you doing in the bank?” She looked him dead in the face.

  “I guess I’m not going to get away with anything here,” he teased, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a thick envelope. He opened the top and let Anna take a peek. Inside was a thick stack of money. The top one was a hundred-dollar bill.

  “What—how much is that?” she managed.

  “Five grand.”

  Her eyes popped wide open. “What? Did you just rob the bank?” She was completely serious.

  “No.” He laughed. “This is mine. And it’s only a small part of what I have in there.” She said nothing, still trying to take in what was happening. “How did you think we were going to survive? I’d never let you live in a refrigerator box on the street.” He smiled and passed his finger along her jaw line.

  “So you’re rich,” she said quietly. She wouldn’t ask herself the question of how this could be. “So now tell me where we’re going.”

  “You forgot or else.”

  She couldn’t help but smile.

  “We’re going to my house—my father’s house. I need to pick up some stuff before we get on the road.”

  “Your father’s house?” He has a father. Again, she needed to stop trying to analyze any of this. She wouldn’t let herself ruin what was supposed to be the best day of her life. She had told him she had faith in him, angel or not, and she needed to live by it. This was her first test. “And then where are we going?” It was best to keep herself busy with only those questions that had simple answers.

  “Now that’s a surprise, and you won’t get it out of me even through torture.”

  She wanted to laugh at him, amputate the part of her mind that wanted everything explained to her. Fortunately the lightness of his eyes and his perfect grin made her forget her worry for the moment, and she laughed.

  The cab made its way along the main roads and eventually turned off onto a side street. The houses became sparse until they seemed to be weaving through the woods. Every half mile or so there was a driveway, but Anna only noticed them because they were labeled with signs that read Private Drive. She tried to peer down the leafy paths, but they seemed to stretch endlessly into the woods.

  “Next one on the right,” Caleb instructed the driver.

  They turned down the narrow, pebble-paved road, and as the cab wound its way through the twists and turns, it grew darker around them. The treetops were so thick with green that they almost completely blocked the sunlight from breaking through to the ground. After a couple of miles, the cab finally broke through the dense foliage, and the light came pouring into the cab once again.

  Anna leaned toward the middle of the seat, trying to look through the windshield. In the distance stood a gigantic white house. Majestic white columns formed a semicircle around the front door. The cab drove around a circular drive and came to a stop in front of the house.

  “Thanks.” Caleb handed the driver some money. He popped the door open and got out. Anna was busy staring at the house when Caleb’s chest interrupted her view. He opened the door and grabbed her hand, pulling her outside. Once the driver had dragged their bags out of the trunk, he drove the car slowly away, the pebbles crackling underneath the tires.

  A large fountain stood regally within the U of the driveway. Three cherubs covered in flowing stone fabric held up a basin, out of which streams of water shot up into the air. Once the water reached its highest point, it fell harshly, pummeling the little bodies until it landed in the large basin at the bottom. The entire fountain was surrounded by manicured bushes that had been trimmed to form perfect spheres.

  Caleb came up behind Anna and brushed her hair behind her shoulder. “A little much, don’t you think?”

  “Um, yeah. Maybe a little.”

  “Come on, let’s go in and get some of my stuff and then we’re out of here.” He grabbed her uninjured arm and pulled her toward the door, leaving the suitcases on the side of the driveway.

  As they approached, he reached into the manila folder and pulled out a key. The heavy oak door moaned as he pushed it open.

  “Let’s be quick.” He made his way toward the immense staircase that curved gradually up to the second floor. Anna followed, her eyes darting around the house in disbelief. Caleb rushed up the stairs two at a time, but she’d only made it halfway to the top by the time he took the last step. Her cheeks flushed as he studied her every movement up the stairs. As soon as she reached him, he pressed her against his chest and attacked her mouth with long, slow kisses.

  Everything except Caleb fell away. His hands squeezing the small of her back, his lips doling out kisses to her neck and her cheeks and her mouth, his hunger for her—those were the only things that existed.

  And just like that, she wanted to give herself—all of herself—to him. He already had her heart. The only thing left was her body. She’d only just gotten the kissing thing down, and she had no idea how the rest of it was supposed to work. But at that moment it didn’t matter.

  Caleb pulled away. She wadded up the bottom of his T-shirt and pulled him back into her. The longing to give all of herself to him had taken over, and with it, her shyness and uncertainty v
anished.

  “Hey.” With a grin, he gently pried her fingers loose. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we gotta stop. I just want to get out of here as fast as we can.” She couldn’t resist planting one last kiss on the palm of his hand. With a laugh, he slid his hand into hers and tugged her down the hallway.

  They walked by what seemed like ten bedrooms, and Anna was able to peek into each one only briefly as they zoomed past. Finally, at the end of the hall, they reached the one room with a closed door. Caleb turned the handle and led her into darkness. Once her eyes adjusted to the dimness, he flipped the window shades up. The light streamed in to expose thousands of dust particles floating around them.

  “I’m gonna grab a few things. Go ahead and sit down if you want.” He motioned toward the huge wooden poster bed that was far from overwhelmed by its ten pillows. But Anna couldn’t move over to the bed. In fact, she couldn’t move at all. She was looking all around her, all around Caleb’s room, and two thoughts kept pounding at her. First, Caleb actually had a room, in a house that he had lived in. And second, his so-called room looked nothing like him. The white walls were bare except for two paintings. In one, old men draped in white fabric sat in a stone chamber. They were deep in discussion, flinging their arms wildly around. One man in the center sat with his face in his hands, sobbing. The other painting showed a drab landscape in dull shades of green. A tiny figure of a man stood near a flock of sheep, and a stone bridge hung uninterestingly in the background.

  “So this is your room?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah.” His voice came from inside a huge closet.

  “It’s just—this isn’t really your style.”

  He emerged holding a pile of T-shirts and threw them on the bed.

  “You noticed. I didn’t exactly have a say in the redecorating when…” He paused uneasily.

  “When what?”

  “Um, when my stepmother moved in. She practically gutted the whole house. Then she puked classical Greek art all over the place.” He returned to the closet, and there was the sound of bins being shuffled around. When he came back out, he was carrying a clear plastic box filled with pencils, pastels, and paper. He shoved the contents into a duffel bag he had dragged out from underneath the bed. Then he sat down on top of the green paisley bedspread and leaned back on his hands. She practically had to jump up on the bed next to him.

  “So you have parents,” she said darkly. He can’t be crazy. He just can’t. She needed every ounce of strength she had to pull herself up out of a dark pit of doubt she was digging for herself, a pit that she could easily disappear into, separating herself from everything that could make her happy. After all, where had she expected him to take her? Did she think they were going to float up into heaven?

  So in an attempt to ground herself, she asked the simple questions again. “How old are you here?” She pointed to one of the framed photos on his nightstand.

  “I guess I’m twelve or thirteen.” The back of his hand wiped the dust off the top of the frame, and it joined the other particles that were still swirling around the room.

  “And those are your parents?”

  “Yeah, we were on a skiing trip.” Just keep on going, asking the easy questions and ignoring everything else. “And who’s that?” She motioned toward the other photograph sitting on the nightstand. The image of a woman whose smile was too big for her face filled the ornate gold frame.

  “That’s my evil stepmother.” He smiled. “When she redid my room, she made sure I had a picture of her, right there next to the other one. I shoved it into the drawer a while ago, but I guess since I’ve been gone she found it and put it out again.” Instead of returning the photo of his family back to its spot, he slid off the bed and placed it carefully on top of the clothes and supplies that he had shoved into the duffel bag. Anna watched him but said nothing.

  “You hungry?”

  She had reached the point with her meds where everything was leveling out, and she was just starting to get her appetite back. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Let’s go downstairs and raid the refrigerator, and then we’ll go.” A leap off the bed later, she was by his side. He led her out the door and downstairs to the kitchen.

  “So what do you like?” he asked on his way over to the refrigerator. It had a clear glass door. The drawers at the bottom were filled with bright oranges and apples, and the shelf above it held four or five bottles of wine and a white platter showcasing a half-eaten turkey. The uneaten half was golden brown and shiny, surrounded by orange halves and sprigs of rosemary. It looked like it could have been photographed for a magazine. But looking at the other half made Anna feel nauseous. It was nothing more than a carcass, the ribs and backbone jutting out from between leftover pieces of meat.

  She looked away to take in the rest of the kitchen. The marble countertops gleamed, reflecting the light from the pendants that hung over them. The cabinets were an immaculate white, except for those that were glass. White plates were stacked neatly inside.

  “How about some sandwiches?” he asked with a full mouth, rifling through the drawers of the refrigerator and grabbing some bags full of deli meat.

  “Yeah, whatever. And some apples.”

  “And chips.” He had moved over to the pantry and was pulling shiny bags out from the shelves, shoving them into the duffel bag. Anna went over to the large island in the middle of the kitchen, pulled out a stool that had been tucked underneath the counter, and sat down. She ran her hands over the cool, hard marble and felt chilly.

  Then there were footsteps in the hallway. With a panicked face, she looked over at Caleb, who was still rifling through the cabinets and didn’t seem to hear.

  “Caleb,” she whispered, her mouth already dry and sticky, but it was too low for him to hear. A man in a suit stepped through the doorway.

  “Caleb,” the man’s low voice boomed, bouncing off the smooth countertops and echoing through the room. Caleb spun around to meet the man’s startled look.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Dad.” Caleb stood up quickly. His hand gripped a Ziploc bag filled with bright orange Goldfish crackers. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

  “Clearly.” His father eyed Anna from head to toe.

  “We’re just leaving,” Caleb said softly as he shoved the rest of the food into the duffel bag, violently zipping it up and swinging it over his shoulder. He jerked his head once toward the door. In response, Anna hopped off the stool and pushed it back underneath the counter, its legs screeching against the hardwood floor.

  “Caleb, please don’t go yet.” His father’s voice had softened, and he took two steps forward, reaching out his hand but stopping just short of touching Caleb’s shoulder. The tiny gleam of the diamond embedded in his father’s silver cuff link caught Caleb’s attention. “I tried to call you, but you didn’t pick up. I knew you were being released today. Dr. Blackwell called to tell me.”

  “Yeah, well, I really don’t have anything to say.” Caleb’s voice was insistent and embarrassed at the same time. “Come on,” he said to Anna, who joined him by his side.

  “Please, just talk to me for a few minutes.”

  “I don’t have a few minutes.” Caleb led Anna by the hand through the door to the entryway. His father followed close behind.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked as they approached the front door.

  Caleb winced, not knowing why. Maybe it was the pathetic tone to his father’s voice, his last-ditch effort to act like a father before the tie was severed. Caleb stopped abruptly and turned to face him.

  “And why do you suddenly care?”

  “Caleb, I’ve always cared about you. I’ve tried to get you the help you need—”

  “Help? So that’s what you call it. Giving me no choice except to check myself into a mental institution. 3RF9 I wouldn’t say that’s helping. That’s giving your problem to someone else and making it go away.” Caleb’s eyes flashed violently with anger. His father stood erec
t, dressed exquisitely in a dark blue suit and crisp white shirt. His fingernails were manicured, as always, and his black, shiny hair was slicked back into its proper place. But his face didn’t match the rest of him. It wasn’t regal or powerful at all. In fact, it looked older than Caleb remembered, and something else. Maybe even a little broken.

  “We didn’t know what else to do,” his father said, his posture rigid. “It was such a relief—when we finally found you. I didn’t want that to happen again. We had no idea where you were, if you were safe or lying dead in some alley. Making that deal was the only way we could get you to a doctor who could help you. But it sounds like it didn’t do much good.”

  “Crazy as ever, right?”

  “Why didn’t you take your medication? You didn’t even try.”

  “Didn’t try?” Caleb was yelling now, his voice bouncing off the marble floors and up to the second story above them. “I was rotting in that place. Do you know what kind of people they keep there? What kind of people work there? I stayed and I behaved and I did what I needed to. I kept my part of the deal. That trust money is mine now. I’m out of here and I’m not coming back!”

  The vulnerability in his father’s face melted away instantly. Instead his features froze in place, and his face became as rigid as his body.

  “Think of your mother, Caleb. She wouldn’t have wanted things to be like this.”

  As soon as Caleb heard the word mother, the adrenaline rushed through his body like lightning. He hated his father, hated that face staring back at him, the nose and mouth that mimicked his own.

  “You’re a bastard,” Caleb spat back. All he wanted to do was assault his father with vulgar names and despicable insults. He wanted to give his father a beating by doing it, hurt him so badly he couldn’t ever recover.

  “And what about this?” his father said bitterly, nodding his head at Anna. “Did you pick her up there? What’s wrong with her?”

  “Shut up.”

  “What, are you two planning on living some kind of fantasy?” he asked Anna. “You have no idea what you’re in for. There’s no way you can handle what’s coming your way, not to mention whatever’s wrong with you.”