He thought a moment. “You know, Kristin, maybe the Halloween stories are not that exaggerated. Some of the stories I’ve heard range from two to five years. We know now that there are people who have been kept locked up that long without anyone realizing it. If he was ready to create a sheet ladder for them and escape because she was starving them to death, why didn’t he do it?”
“I don’t know, Kane. All of it is disturbing, but this part made me sick.”
I didn’t want to say it again, but maybe this was why my father didn’t want me reading the diary. And yet how would he know what was in the diary? Could he know what really had happened at Foxworth Hall? Was that why he hated the property so much that he literally attacked the rubble when it became time to clear it away? Had my mother known any of this? Was this why she hated hearing about it? There were so many questions rolling around in my brain I felt dizzy. And here I had thought reading the diary would bring answers, not more questions.
Kane put the diary down. He stared at me strangely, as if I was going in and out of focus. Maybe he was having a similar reaction.
“What?”
“Maybe he didn’t want to escape.”
“What? Why not?”
“Same reason he didn’t come up with an escape plan earlier. He didn’t want to ruin his mother’s plan.”
“I know, but how could he not want to give up on it by now? Especially after what their grandmother did to them. Who knew what she might do next?”
He was silent a moment, but I could almost see his mind working.
“What?”
“We were just talking about this in my English class recently, something called the Stockholm syndrome, where hostages actually sympathize with their captors. In a way, that’s what Christopher is constantly doing, sympathizing with his mother’s plight, blinding himself to the truth. It sounds crazy, especially after what we just read, but if you’re penned up that long, you might grow comfortable with the situation, especially after years. It sounds like the twins have fully accepted things as they are. They don’t scream for their mother as much.” He paused and then added, “Even Christopher and Cathy seem to be accepting their relationship in a way. I don’t know if it’s so unexpected under the circumstances.”
“What do you mean?”
“The way they treat each other, comfort each other. Sometimes I forget that they’re brother and sister, don’t you?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t want to say yes, but he was right.
“It’s not unusual. I mean, it could happen to people that age even if they’re not locked away together for years.”
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Kane.”
“That scene he described, coming in on Cathy looking at herself . . .”
“Yes?”
“You’ve done that, stood naked before a mirror. It’s only natural to be interested in yourself, right?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Women would be doing that more than men. There are more changes to observe. I mean, breasts, curves. Men can see hair grow, some size, but looking at yourself . . . that’s not sick or anything.” He seemed to want confirmation from me.
“No, Kane, it’s natural to be curious about yourself. Why do you keep talking about it? What does that have to do with what you’re saying?”
“I don’t know. The way Christopher’s describing it . . . does it make it seem weird?”
“He’s gazing lustfully at his own sister,” I said. “He feels guilty.”
The way Kane sat there and continued to stare at me suddenly convinced me that I knew now what he had meant by telling me his sister was beautiful. “Are you trying to tell me that you’ve done that, spied on your sister?”
He shrugged. “When I was younger. I would never do anything like that now,” he quickly added.
It was my turn to shrug something off. “I bet every boy who has an older sister has done that one time or another,” I said.
“You think? None of my buddies ever told me such a thing.”
“I don’t think they’d talk about it, brag about it. If they did, then they’d be weird.”