Chapter Text
“I look out at all of your peers and see a sort of collective absence”, Kate began, “Smiling faces and glossy eyes. But there’s nobody quite home, so to speak.” A pause. “And then, I see you. And you’re completely there. But something else is there. Something akin to a big neon sign depicting the word ‘broken’, looming just over-”
“I’m not broken”, Kori interjected.
“Then what is it that I see when I look at you, Ms.Stormshadow?”, Kate inquired.
Kori’s lips twitched but she kept her composure. “I wouldn’t know”, she shrugged, “After all, I’m not in your head.” She paused to lean in before continuing. “Just between us girls, though, I hope you’re only seeing me”, she whispered conspiratorially, “Admitting otherwise is a dangerous thing to do in a place like this. You might end up in a straightjacket with the rest of us crazies.”
She leaned back in her seat with a smug smile on her face.
“Kori”, Kate began, “The goal, here, is to be authentic so I can give my peers a proper analysis. It’s just us, here.”
“There’s always someone watching, Kate”, Kori sighed dramatically.
“Kori-”, Kate started.
“You said I could call you ‘Kate’ two sessions ago”, Kori reminded.
Kate let off a small smile but Kori could tell it was fake. Too forced.
‘Some whacko doc, she is’, Kori snorted.
“It doesn’t bother me”, Kate assured her, “I was referring to your avoidance tactics.” She paused to consider her for a moment. “You say you’re not broken. Tell me what you are, then.”
Kori stared at her boredly. “I don’t know what I am”, she shrugged, “But I just told you what I’m not.” She paused and sighed heavily. “What you see, Ms.Hale, or what you should see, is quite simple. A woman who lost everything as soon as she was old enough to understand that she had things to lose. You see a big piece of glass. And, every day I’m here, shards of that glass fall away.”
Kate looked at her confusedly. “So… you’re a broken gl-”, she began.
“You’re not listening”, Kori interrupted, “I’m not broken. I’m not like everyone else here. I’m not stupid. They let their shards fall away all at once. They forsook their minds and let the glass fall all around them. But, I have the sense to hold on to the big piece, even as the small pieces chip away. Gives me more time until I get there.”
If possible, Kate’s expression became one of even stronger confusion. “There?”, she echoed, “Where is there, Ms.Stormshadow?”
Kori fought to keep playing the game but she and Kate were going to have a serious issue. Still, she grinned like a Cheshire cat. “Why, the Broken Place, of course”, she answered giddily.
A fit of maniacal laughter overtook her as a frustrated expression graced Kate’s features.
There was something about that woman that Kori just didn’t like.
“Ms.Stormshadow-”, Kate said firmly.
“I don’t like that name, Kate”, Kori interjected warningly.
And if Kate didn’t stop calling her that name, the crazy act would quickly cease to be an act.
“And why is that?”, Kate challenged.
‘This bitch’, Kori muttered to herself. “It calls to the voices”, she deadpanned, “Summons them, it feels like.”
Kate sighed heavily at that. “Why do you do this, Kori?”, she asked, “You’re not mentally incapacit-”
“Crazy”, Kori corrected, “And I never claimed to be. The people in charge of running this shithole did that.”
“Kori, you were deemed unfit to function in society because of your insistent delu-”, Kate started.
“There are no delusions here”, Kori dismissed offhandedly, “There’s the truth and there’s the lies you people are trying to make me regurgitate as a bargaining chip for my freedom.”
“Kori”, Kate began, “Your fa-”
“I’m tired of you saying my name like you and I are friends, Kate”, Kori sighed boredly, “It doesn’t make the bullshit you’re about to say any less of a lie. Because that’s really all I’ve been hearing from you. Lies and bullshit and bullshit lies. My father loved us. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. So, for you to try and tell me he killed my family and then himself is the penultimate bullshit, the ultimate bullshit being that you really think making me tell you the lie you’re trying to feed me is really for my own good.”
“It’s not BS, Kori, it’s what hap-”, Kate tried.
“Oh, fuck you”, Kori snorted, “I was there. I know what happened and the years haven’t changed that, counselor .”
Kate closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. “All you have to do”, she began quietly, “Is stop this. And then you can leave.”
Kori braced her elbows on her knees and leaned forward so that her chin was resting in her hands. She gazed at Kate boredly. “What would be the fun in that?”, she replied leisurely.
Kate opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a voice flooding through the PA system. “Time’s up.”
“Mr.Thomas-”, Kate protested.
“Leave or I’ll scream, Katie”, Kori warned, a sadistic grin spreading across her features. She paused as if she was considering something. “Hey, that rhymed. The ‘leave or I’ll scream’ part, not the ‘Katie’ part. You always been an oddball? The odd one out?”
A lazy smile graced her features.
“Ms.Stormshadow-”, Kate began.
“I said I don’t like it!”, Kori screeched.
The door slammed open immediately, two guards coming through the doorway.
The noise gained Kate’s attention and she turned to glance at them before facing Kori once more. She was greeted by the sight of Kori smiling calmly and waving.
“Let’s go counselor”, the guards ordered.
They looped their arms under each of Kate’s and escorted her away, ignoring her as she struggled.
“It’s okay!’, Kori called, “I remember my first time! Tell your boyfriend I said ‘hi’!”
“If you keep this up, they will put you down like a dog ”, Kate warned, huffing as she was forcefully removed from the room.
Kori only stared at her, waiting until the guards almost had the door closed before finally speaking. “Woof, woof”, she drawled, reveling in Kate’s indignant expression just before the door shut completely. She sighed heavily, sitting back in the chair and stretching before looking at the security camera in the corner. “Some doctor she is, letting little old me bother her, right?”
There was no answer but Kori didn’t expect one. She just knew they were there.
“I’m ready to go now!”, she yelled.
Moments later, another security guard came through the door. Her favorite one.
“Oh, hey, James”, she beamed, “Is dinner anytime soon? All that psychobabble has me starving.”
“Dinner is in, about, half an hour, Kori”, James answered dutifully, “Come on, let’s get you to your room.
“Darn”, Kori muttered sarcastically, getting up out of her chair, “I was really looking forward to those cardboard mashed potatoes.”
James shook his head fondly and led her to her room.
He took them on the scenic route so she could spend more time out of her cell. It was an uneventful walk until…
‘Kori.’
Kori stopped dead in her tracks. ‘What the fuck?’, she thought.
‘Kori.’
Kori clenched her eyes shut. “No fucking way”, she muttered.
James noticed the lack of footsteps beside him and turned around. “...Kori?”, he inquired, “Are you alright?”
Kori swallowed shallowly before opening her eyes. “James…”, she started, wincing at the question she was about to ask, “Did you just say my name?”
James looked at her quizzically. “No…”, he answered cautiously, “You practicing your crazy act or something?”
“It might not be an act anymore”, Kori mumbled, “ Fuck.. .” She took a deep breath before shaking her head. “It’s fine. I think I need a nap.”
James nodded hesitantly and they continued their path to her room. There were no more incidents after that. And Kori was almost thankful when the lock to her door clicked, signaling James’ departure.
Well, it should’ve signaled his departure. But she heard no retreating footsteps. “Can I help you, James?”, she inquired.
“It’s just…”, James began, “Maybe you should consider doing what they ask. They told that Kate lady if she doesn’t get any results soon, they’re gonna kill you. Lethal injection , Kori.”
Kori was unphased. “Good”, she shrugged, “I don’t want to be here anymore, anyway.”
“That’s the point, Kori”, James argued, “If you do what they want, you don’t have to be. You can leave this place. You and I can actually hang out outside this place. There’s a new coffee shop that just opened up downtown, we could-”
“James”, Kori interrupted, “Have you ever thought about what life outside this place looks like for me? Because I have. People are still talking about my family’s death. I see it on the news everyday in the common room, I see it on the paper you bring in every Tuesday. 11 years later and they’re still flying around my family’s name like vultures when they’ve spotted some poor animal’s carcass.” She let her words sink in for a moment. “I don’t want to live in that, James. And I sure as hell can’t stand being here, even if I do get to see you all the time. So, yeah, I’ll take the lethal injection.”
James only stared at her and the disappointment in his eyes prompted her to continue.
“There is more to it”, she told him, “...Before she died, my mother told me to always live my truth. I can’t dishonor her memory by disregarding what little she asked of me. I know you can understand that .”
James only nodded.
Kori offered a small smile. “I’ll see you at dinner”, she said.
James nodded once more. And, finally, Kori heard his departing footsteps.
She sighed to herself once she was sure he was gone. He hadn’t explicitly said it but Kori knew that when James said they were planning to kill her soon, he meant they were only waiting until her 18th birthday. “Just two more days”, she murmured to herself.
True to her earlier words exchanged with Kate, Kori was not stupid. She’d noticed, during her time in the facility, that all residents nearing 18 always “mysteriously” disappeared. She suspected that was why she hadn’t been allowed outside with the rest of the facility’s residents in a few days. She was surprised no one had questioned the strange “tradition” before and idly wondered if people would start questioning it when they realized she was gone.
“Bold of me to assume they’d even notice”, Kori muttered.
But, why wouldn’t they? It didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.
Well… she supposed it did, in a place like this.
All of a sudden she started thinking about her conversation with James. ‘Lethal injection is gonna be such a drag’, she thought, ‘Though, I do have a pin in my hair. I could always-’
‘I won’t let you die.’
The same voice from earlier. A male voice.
‘Being in the loony bin has finally made me a loony’, Kori sighed.
‘You’re not crazy’, the voice insisted, ‘I’m real. And I’m not going to let you die.’
‘Well, if you’re real, do me a favor and get the fuck out of my head’, Kori beamed sarcastically, ‘I am so not in the mood for a ‘ghosts of our past’ intervention.’
Silence.
Kori almost thought he was gone.
Almost.
‘Why do you want to die?’, the man asked.
Kori sighed tiredly. ‘Well, I assume you heard my conversation with James’, she deadpanned.
‘I did’, the man admitted, ‘But you were lying.’
‘We just met and you’re already calling me a liar?’, Kori snorted, ‘You sound hot but you are really bad at first mind dates.’
The man seemed to ignore her joke. ‘If I’m not real, what do you have to lose?’, he challenged, ‘It could be… therapeutic. Better than that no talent hack, Kate Hale.’
Kori chuckled a little at that, rolling her eyes when she realized she was laughing out loud. Her eyes darted to the camera, then. ‘ I must look insane’, she sighed.
‘You’d only fit in with everyone else here’, the man pointed out.
Kori couldn’t help but laugh once more.
‘Come on’, the man urged, ‘You told James you don’t want to deal with the publicity surrounding your family’s death. But that’s not true, is it? Because you also told him you were tired of being in here. But, logic says that, if you didn’t want to be here, you’d do whatever it takes to get out there . And, when you got out there, you’d simply fly away from the publicity. And then, you said it was to honor your mother’s memory, but I don’t think that’s true either. Not completely, anyway.’
There was a small sad smile on Kori’s face. ‘You’d be right’, she admitted quietly, ‘My mom is a big part of it, but… I also don’t want to go out into the world and be alone.’
‘You’d just have to do what everyone else does’, the man told her, ‘Find your people.’
‘A little hard for someone whose life has been devoid of any sane, normal human interaction for 11 years’, Kori snorted.
‘Has it really been that long?’, the man mumbled.
‘What?’, Kori inquired.
‘Nothing’, the man lied quickly. There was a bout of silence then. ‘... I could help you, you know’, he offered, ‘Find your own people.’
‘How?’, Kori chuckled. It was a sad chuckle, though she tried to make it otherwise ‘You’re not real’, she continued.
‘Real enough to find you and cut into you until your heart is beating in my hands’, the man snarled.
Kori blanched at that. ‘Wh-what?’, she asked shakily.
The man’s tone suddenly changed again. ‘What happened?’, he questioned, ‘Kori?’
‘G-Get out of m-my head’, Kori stammered, trying to sound demanding but coming off just as fearful as she felt.
‘Kori, what-?’, the man tried.
‘Get out!’, Kori yelled.
She could feel the pulsing sensation as her mind expelled the shockingly sinister figment.
‘Can’t even trust the voices in your own head’, another voice taunted.
A female, this time.
‘Leave me alone’, Kori whispered.
‘Oh, I will’, the woman promised darkly, ‘Only because I have better things to do with my time than occupying this pathetic thing you call a mind. But, I’ll leave you with a message. We’re coming for you, orphan. All of the injections in the world can’t save you from that.’
Kori managed a small push, but it did nothing.
The woman left of her own volition.
Kori clenched her eyes shut and did something she hadn’t done in a long time.
She prayed.-