Night Ward: Welcome to Amity House

Leeza Borden

Nothing was going right, Drake thought over and over. He had tried to call his mom several times over the past few days and she wasn’t home. He didn’t dare talk to the man he called father because the old man just wouldn’t understand. He had finally asked Amy out, but he ran away before letting her give an answer. He was an i***t, who was all alone and he was feeling sorry for himself.

Since throwing a pity party took to much effort and actually took people, he decided to throw himself in to work instead. He had made some headway with the missing files, collecting bits of pieces here and there. But no matter what he learned he always came up with more questions. The big mystery so far was a name.

Clara.

Her name was almost on every piece of paper work he found. Who was this Clara person, he wondered reaching for another folder. The light knock on the door barely drew his attention, “Enter”, was all he said not looking up to see who was there. He figured since they knocked it wasn’t anybody who actually worked at the facility, since those people seemed unable to give any such courtesy.

 “What can I do for you?” he asked never bothering to look at the visitor. When he didn’t get an answer he finally lifted his eyes from his work. Looking at his watch, Drake felt surprised to see Leeza standing in the door way. She was standing there looking around his office with-out actually seeing anything. She was wearing a pair of old worn out jeans and a faded Mickey Mouse top. Her dark hair was pulled back off her face by a head band and put into a pony tail. Her blue eyes seemed wider than most days, he thought as he sat his pen down and addressed her, “Leeza, how are you today?”

   She seemed to come awake at that question, her eyes coming into focus on him. “I’m ok I guess.” she said shyly then she swallowed and came more into the office. “I was wondering if we could talk.” She seemed to be a little nervous to be here in his office as her eyes continued to dart back and forth. Drake took pity on her motioning toward a chair. Shaking her head negatively she asked, “Can we walk instead? They have this indoor garden that I love to go to when I need to think, if you don’t mind.”

   Drake watched as she fidgeted. Her obvious nervousness was apparent with every move she was making. “Not at all,” he answered “just give me a moment.” He said picking up a small notebook with a pencil and gestured for her to lead the way.

  They walked down the long corridor past the patient’s wing and turned into what looked like an old conservatory. “Since we are not able to go out during the day, they allow us to have this little private garden underground.” She explained leading him through the door.

  Drake was amazed at his surroundings. “This is beautiful.” He commented in awe staring at all the flowers and plants in the room.

“Everything we have planted doesn’t need the sunlight to survive.” she spoke softly as she passed by each flower touching the petals softly, absent mindedly, “The idea of it was that the flowers where just like us.” They continued to walk in utter silence. A few minutes had passed when Leeza sighed, “You don’t trust us.” She said matter of fact. “You think that we are all crazy and you believe that you know how to turn us around. Because, vampires just don’t exist.” Still walking silently on the path Drake listened unable to speak as she shyly spoke aloud everything that he had been thinking. Looking over shoulder at him she rushed ahead. “I know we seem different, but really we just ordinary people. I mean look at us.” She stopped for a moment allowing him to look her over.

 “Leeza, what would you like me to say?” he asked after some time had passed. “I am a doctor, I see what you are. But what you are asking me to believe is that you are a vampire and that’s just not humanly possible.”

“So? We are not human, as you keep telling us.” She stressed, letting him know just what she thought of his opinions. Leeza wandered off just a little ways. Drake watched as she paced back and forth rubbing her head.

 “When I was younger” she began quietly to no one in particular. “I used to want to be like my cousin, Lizzie.” Drake started toward her only to stop when he saw the tears. “She was smart and popular” she paused to wipe away a tear. “Everyone in our family loved her. She was perfect.” Leeza’s voice started to gain strength as she continued. “But, then the unthinkable happened. Her stepmother and father met their untimely end. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories and legends. You know, even though she was never convicted of it, the embarrassment it caused in the family was horrible.”

   Drake could see she was finally getting into her past, not wanting to interrupt her he silently egged her on. “I was always more sensitive to light and smells then the rest of our family, growing up. I got it from my mother’s side of the family. Apparently, she forgot to tell my dad a few things when they got married.”

“How could your father not know?” Drake asked in wonderment.

“Back in that time it was nothing for a family to combine. It seem Middle Age now, but they were two prominent families so….” Leeza continued to walk for a moment. “When my father finally found out, he was livid. ‘Another embarrassment to the Borden name’ he said.” she rolled her eyes continuing.

 “When I was just sixteen they, my parents, decided that I was no longer welcome in their home. The year before was when we discovered that I had more of my mother in me.” She laughed bitterly at the memory giving Drake a glimpse of her fangs.

“You see, my mother had gone without for so long she could withstand the thirst, longer. She could live off of other things. That was the only reason father put up with me. He had hoped that I would be able to do the same, but after that first time, I never got the chance to learn. You know, I can remember the first day that I came to live here. Dr. Stein was the partner at the time and I was introduced to a woman who said that everything would be ok and that I would be accepted here and taught to deal with outsiders.” She cast a glance at Drake to see how he was taking it.

 Drake took the chance to speak, “You know you’re still young. You’ve only been here what? Three, maybe four years tops. You could still get out and have a life.”

 She silently shook her head then gave him a sad smile. There was something sad about her smile. “You really are naïve.” She announced.  “I can never leave, we can never leave. They’ve made that quite clear.”

“How old are you, nineteen, twenty? You can legally check yourself out.” He pushed at her not realizing what he was saying when Leeza cast a confused look at him.

 “I’m not human, remember, legalities do not have any effect here. Besides, have you actually read your files?” she asked a little sarcastically.

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“I’m not nineteen.” She said smiling a little unsure. “And I’m not twenty. I’ve also been here a little longer than three or four years.” She waited for this new information to sink in.

“What do you mean?” he asked slowly feeling a little confused.

“Dr. Vent,”

“Drake,”

“Ok,” she took a deep breath then spoke again, “Drake. I am one hundred and twenty-two years old. If you’ve read the files then you should be aware of that.” He was shocked she could tell that from the thoughts racing through his brain. Pressing on she continued “I’m trying to make you see that you’ve been blind.  I see the way you look at us and even now I know you don’t believe me.” She looked up into his eyes and for the first time he thought he could actually see the age there. Her pretty sapphire eyes alone could tell you that her look of youth was just that, a look.

   Taking a deep steadying breath he asked the question that was on his mind. “If you are that old, why do you not look it? Why do you look to be the youngest of the group?”

   She thought about it before sighing and told him the only truth she knew. “I’m am the youngest in the group. But as far as why I don’t age, I’m not really sure.  Just like humans, all of us are different. We mature at different rates; we become what we are at different times. I stopped aging, really, after the first year of being here. I was seventeen.” She ended quietly.

“Why come to me now instead of when we have all been together?” he asked trying to wrap his head around this incredible story.

“Because in group you may not have truly listened.” She answered closing her in frustration. “We know you don’t believe us and that you are looking for way to convince us that we are crazy. We have watched as you have studied us and our charts, making your little notes and comments about our delusional state. We have been waiting a long time for someone who make actually be able to help us, to come along. We are all here for different reasons. Do you know, I was told by Clara, fifty years ago that we would be set free. Freedom, can you imagine? But then Stein takes over and here we are fifty years later still stuck here being watched and poked at Being told by countless doctor that we are insane.”

Putting her hands on her hips she met him in the eye, “On top of all the other lies we are told, now we find out, that our files apparently are not telling you the whole story or even half of it. You want to hear something really funny?” she asked giving a snort. “The people who promised that we would have a fresh start here, are the same people who refuse to let out.”

  She was starting to sound as frustrated as he felt, Drake thought as they started walking again. The silence filled the air as unspoken questions seemed to come at them both. Leeza wanted to talk, he thought, she wanted to know about her file. Then suddenly something she said struck him causing him to stop and grab her by the arm. Leeza looked at him wary of what was going on. “You said that you were sixteen when you were brought here and that Stein was just a partner then. Is that right?” he asked quietly looking around to make sure nobody was in ear shot.

“Yes.” She told him looking around as well.

 “Leeza, how long have you been here exactly?” though scared of the answer, he knew he had to know. He felt that the answer somehow could begin to unlock some of the mysteries he was uncovering. Leeza paled a little looking all of a sudden worried and shy

“I’ve been here for one hundred and six years,” came the answer.

 Before he could respond a familiar child-like voice sounded behind them. “So, are you ready to run screaming for the hills, or are you ready to hear the other stories?