The Syndrome by John Case Read Free Book Online

to—what?”
    “Kneel down.”
    “And?”
    “Open my mouth.”
    Nico’s discomfort was palpable now, and Duran was worried that the discomfort would devolve into hysteria, as it had on some earlier occasions. So he changed tack. “Tell me about Rosanna,” he said. “Who is she?”
    “The groom.”
    Duran waved the answer away, as if it were a fruit fly. “Right. In the movie, she’s the groom. But … who
was
she—really?”
    “You mean, outside the movie?”
    “Unh-huh.”
    “She was my sister. Rosanna was my big sister, and then there’s Adrienne. Adrienne is my little sister.”
    “I see …”
    “Because when I was ten, Adrienne was only five. So that meant I was
a lot
older!”
    “You have two sisters, then.”
    Nico shook her head. “No,” she said. “Just Adrienne. I don’t have Rosanna anymore.”
    “Why not?”
    “She died.”
    “Oh … I’m sorry,” Duran told her, and fell silent for a moment. Then: “How?”
    “How what?”
    “How did she
die?”
    “She died in the movie!” Nico whispered.
    “Ohhh, that’s right,” Duran said. “She died
in the movie!
But it was just a movie.”
    “Nunh-unh. It was real!”
    “What was?”
    “The movie!”
    “How do you mean?”
    “It was real! They pulled back her hair and—”
    “Who?”
    “A man.”
    “What man?”
    “The man in the red hood. He was wearing a robe, and there was a hood on it.”
    “A robe?”
    “Everyone
was wearing a robe—except me. And Rosanna. Adrienne and Deck.”
    “What was Deck wearing?”
    Nico frowned with childlike concentration. Finally, she said, “Straps.”
    “What?”
    “He was supposed to be the priest—a really important priest! But he wasn’t dressed like a priest.”
    “What was he dressed like?”
    “I don’t know,” Nico said. “He was just wearing straps. Leather straps. And the cobwebs.”
    “Okay,” Duran told her, “but … you said they pulled Rosanna’s hair back.”
    Nico nodded. “Unh-huh.”
    “And … when this happened—where was she?”
    “On the floor.”
    “What was she doing?”
    “She was just … on her hands and knees.”
    “Why?”
    “Because there was sex!”
    “She was having sex?”
    Another nod.
    “With who?” Duran asked.
    “Some men.”
    “But … wasn’t she very young?”
    Nico shrugged. “Twelve.”
    “Okay. She was having sex, and—then what?”
    “I told you. The man in the red hood pulled her hair back …”
    “And?”
    “He cut her.”
    “Where did he cut her?” Duran asked.
    She touched a finger to her throat. “There …”
    “And then?”
    Nico made a keening sound, and turned her face toward the cushions.
    “Don’t look away, Nico. You have to face it. Just tell me what happened.”
    “Rosanna’s eyes got so big—she was so scared! Because the blood
was foaming
out of her, and she couldn’t even say anything—she just made a noise—”
    “And where were you when this was happening?”
    “Under Deck.”
    “Okay, but … if it was just a movie—if it was just pretend—”
    Nico shook her head, violently. “No,” she insisted, pushing up on her elbows, her voice swelling with panic. “It
wasn’t
‘just pretend.’ It was real. It was
really
real! Deck kept the movie in a special box—with a lock. And, sometimes, he made me watch it with him, but—you couldn’t see Rosanna anymore—except in the movie. Because Rosanna was gone. Rosanna died in the tunnel, the tunnel they said was a church …”
    Duran tried to calm her, shushing softly. “Sshhhhhh … it’s okay. You’re here with
me
, now. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
    Slowly, the tension seeped out of her, and her head fell back on the cushions. Duran could see that she was exhausted.
    Talking quietly, he guided her slowly out of the trance, retracing the steps they’d taken through the imaginary terrain that was so familiar to them both. The path. The stream. The trailhead.
    “Take a deep breath,” he told her. “The air is