Accidents of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Author:Randy Susan Meyers
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Atria Books

After

* * *

October

CHAPTER 21

Maddy

Rehab—ha!

Prison.

All of them said it, all the prisoners. After group therapy, they said it. Eating the horrible food, they said it. Begging for snacks, they said it. Playing sadistic brain games, they said it.

Maddy sat on the scratchy orange couch in the rehab lounge room. Lounge room! Ha.

Grunge room. That’s what it was. Lavender scent rose from her arm as she reached into her shirt pocket. Vanessa buried her in perfumes, giving her reasons for every one. Lavender soothes. Cinnamon . . . What did cinnamon do? She took out the little notebook they made her carry everywhere, opened it to the last page, and found her morning entry written in her shaky hand: Day 20 rehab hospitl. Thersday October 2. Meat Jack at one. Then do with Zelda.

Ick, Jack the puzzle man. She hated the puzzle man. She went to the Jack puzzle room. Went to the puzzle table where Jack sat.

“You’re late.”

Nice way to say hello—fuck Jack.

“You need to remember to get here on time. It’s part of your rehab. Now, time to get to work. Sit.”

Blah, blah, blah—that’s what he sounded like in her head. Jack made her stare at wooden words that made no sense until she squeezed, squeezed, and squeezed her brain. Her head, crystal clear one moment, tangled like twisted chains the next. No one cared. She’d remember, and then, like a snow globe shaken by an evil god, white layers covered her thoughts.

It’s the drugs, the rehab counselors said.

Sleep, the rehab nurses said. You need lots of sleep.

Your brain is healing, the brain doctor said.

Zelda said that was just the way it was. Up and down. Genius to blockhead and back again. Zelda was her good person helper, the nice one.

“Come on, now, Maddy. You can do it. You did it yesterday,” the puzzle man said.

Puzzle Man was her worst jailer. She hated, hated, hated him. What was his name?

Jerry? Joseph? The puzzle man had a J name. She knew it. Every day stupid puzzles from the J man. The curved plastic chair made her squirm. Never a comfortable spot. Green too. Everything had turned putrid green. Mental-institution green. Green was the color of crazy, though she didn’t know why she remembered that. Or if she were correct. But she knew that she hated this place.

Chipped Formica tables were scattered around the puzzle room. They reminded her of the cafeteria in Gracie and Caleb’s school. She still hadn’t seen them—Gracie and Caleb. Either of them could do the stupid puzzle in three seconds. She missed them. They couldn’t come here, Ben said. Too scary.

“One piece at a time,” Puzzle Man yelled.

ONE PIECE.

ONE PEACE.

NO PEACE.

“Match it. You have to exercise the memory.”

She shook her head, whipping it for him to get the point.

“Nooooo. She said no. No exercise. Won’t help.” Maddy’s words huffed and puffed out, slow and wooden. She had to take a breath between every other word. The nice one said it was just a matter of time. No over and over and over.

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