"No. I mean gone." Gia walked to her cot. She sat, staring down at the floor. I looked at Robin and then rose and walked over to Gia.

"What happened to her. Gia?"

She looked up at me. "I couldn't stop her. She used the scythe Natani had us use to cut the high grass. I was working and suddenly realized she was no longer in the field. She had been strange all morning after a session with Dr. Foreman. She wouldn't tell me anything about it, but I could see she was very upset, mare upset than ever. I kept asking her about it, trying to find out something, some reason for her deep depression.

"Finally, she muttered something about never going home and how it was her fault.

"I tried to get more information to help her, but she clammed up and just went to work with me in the field, As I said. I was working and thinking and not paying attention to anything and then suddenly realized she was no longer there.

"So. I went looking for her and found her in the barn, sitting on the floor. She had taken the sharpest scythe and she had cut both her wrists very deeply. There was so much blood already, but she was smiling at me. I shouted for help, of course. No one was around. so I ran to find Natani, but he wasn't there either."

"That's because he was out there helping us," I said, looking at Robin. She nodded. "What happened then?"

"I tried to stop the bleeding, but that was impassible. She said. 'Leave me be. I was wrong. I'm going home.'

"So I ran out again and went to the house where I found Dr. Foreman lecturing our buddies in her office. She demanded to know why I had entered the house without permission. She stood there screaming at me. Finally, I managed to tell them about Mindy and they ran out to the barn.

"I saw them carry her off. but I knew it was too late. Later, the van took her away. I saw them carrying her out of the house. This afternoon," she continued after a long beat of silence, "I think Dr. Foreman was to meet with the police. Did you see how nice she looked?" she asked as if that really mattered to any of us. "She'll make it look like an accident."

"How horrible,' Robin said.

"You know what was done to us, how we were left out there in the desert?" I asked.

"I know." She looked up at us. "I didn't expect you would make it back."

"Natani helped us. That's why he wasn't here when you needed him." I said.

"She's going to get away with it," Gia said. "She got away with Posy. She'll get away with all this. too."

"Maybe the police are still here or someone from the social service agency. Maybe we can talk to them," Robin suggested excitedly.

"No." Gia said. "They're gone. She did her good job on them, I'm sure. We're high-risk girls, you see. Anything can happen and it's not going to be her fault. Look at all the girls she's helped, the ones she's released back into society to be productive citizens. Once in a while, she loses one. It can't be helped. The girl was beyond redemption. I know her whole speech. I've heard it before. I've heard it all my life, that speech. How terrible I am. How beyond help. How selfish. How downright no good.

"Sound familiar?" she asked us.

"Not as much maybe. but I've heard it, yes," Robin admitted.

I thought about my uncle and aunt and how they saw me. "Me. too."

"Won't Mindy's family be upset, angry, demand answers?" Robin wondered.

"The family that failed, that gave up? Please," Gia said. "They'll feel sorrier for Dr. Foreman. They'll even apologize for giving her a girl she couldn't cure."

-She's more dangerous than we'll ever be." I said. "because she gets them to believe she does it all out of some desire to be good."

"Exactly." Gia looked past me at the cot. "I see you were given the notebook to fill. I have one. too." She reached under her pillow to show it to us. "I'm to write about what I learned from Mindy's failure."

Gia put it aside and looked at us again, finally realizing Teal wasn't there.

"Where is Teal?"

I told her what had happened and where she was.

"Shell take good care of her," Gia said. She might even have her transported to a real hospital or something. She can't afford to lose another girl so quickly."

She almost lost all three of us out there."

"That's different. You ran off. You were beyond her help, her ability to do anything. If you didn't show up, she would have called the police and covered her rear end. Don't worry about Dr. Foreman. She's invincible," Gia said.

Tags: V.C. Andrews Broken Wings Horror
Source: readsnovelonline.net