So, Mom and Dad, I wanted to write this last letter to you and tell you good-bye, but not a sad good-bye. Oh, no. This is a happy good-bye for I am not leaving you. In my world we are always together and, Mom, you are as beautiful as you were when you were a young woman, and, Daddy, you are as handsome as you were when you were a young man, and do you know what else? You don't get old in this world. You are young forever and ever, and you are always laughing and smiling. We're together the way we should be, the way we once were, and you always have time for me.
So be happy for me, Mom. Be happy for me, Dad.
I love you more now.
Forever,
Posy
I stared at the name and then I reread the letter.
Something creaked behind me and I spun around, half expecting now to see a fragile, diminutive, young girl smiling. There was no one and it was deadly silent.
I folded the letter and put it back into the envelope and left it on the desk. I wanted to get out of here as quickly as I could. I switched off the small lamp and flicked my lighter. Moving slowly to keep the flame from going out. I headed toward the short stairway.
When I reached the foot of it, another light went on and every breath in my body flew out of my body like a flock of sparrows abruptly frightened. Every bone turned to marshmallow. I felt as if I had stepped into a pool of ice water, the cold racing up my legs into my stomach and over my breasts, pushing my blood into my head.
There, in a tiny circle of illumination created by a large flashlight pointing up just under her chin, was Dr. Foreman, Her face absorbed the light and emerged from the darkness as if it were made of some luminescent substance, her eyes dark and gaunt, her teeth incandescent. Actually, she looked more like a skeleton resurrected.
"Careful. Phoebe," she said. "Watch your step. dear."
I didn't know what to say, what to do. I was still too frozen to move,
"Don't be afraid. First. I want you to return to the desk and get that letter. Go on." She pointed the flashlight to create a lighted pathway for me. "Go!"
I moved quickly, snapped up the envelope, and returned to the stairway.
"Come up now." She directed the beam of light to the wooden steps. The lighting down here doesn't work. It hasn't for as long as I've had the place, but it never mattered. I don't use the basement that often. We clean it from time to time and check our plumbing, but that's about it," she explained, as if it were important for me to know the most insignificant details about the house.
I started up the stairs and she turned and opened the door that led into the downstairs hallway.
"Come along."
I followed her down the hall to her office. The house was as quiet and as dark as the basement had been. She flipped the light switch and entered, turning to encourage me to follow. I know I was moving, but I was so frightened. I didn't think about it. I floated in behind her and sat on the sofa.
She pulled a chair up and sat right in front of me, smiling at me. I still held on to the letter, expecting she would take it, but she didn't ask for it or pluck it from my fingers.
"Look at you. You look like you've actually seen a ghost."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Foreman. I thought that if I did what Gia wanted, she would change. I would tell her there was no Posy and then she would stop talking about her, but she tricked me and locked me in and..."
Dr. Foreman actually laughed. "Cure Gia? That's what you hoped to do in one evening? I only wish it had been that easy. Phoebe. Gia has been here almost a year."
"A year? But Mindy told us she was here four months and Gia was here seven."
"That's what Gia told her. I'm sure. Actually, that makes sense. It was about five months ago that Posy left. In her bizarre counting, that's how she sees it."
"What do you mean since Posy left? I thought there wasn't any Posy? That letter downstairs? 'Was that written by the real Posy?"
"No," she said, still laughing, "That was Gia, but that was when Posy left. It's all as I told you."
"I don't understand," I said, shaking my head.
"You will." She looked very pleased.
"You're not mad at me for going down there?"
"No, Phoebe, It was my idea. When I spoke with Gia after you told me what she was saying, I convinced her to do exactly what she has done."