The rest of the day went by in a blur. Sheridan sat on her couch at the mansion for the better part of the day with the paparazzi buzzing around outside, probably hoping to catch a shot of Hank walking through the front door. But she had ignored the phone all day, even after his fifth message asking to speak to her. She was simply fed up with it.
Luis had called as well, just to say that he didn�t feel that it was a good idea for him to be around her. �It�s bad for my image at the station,� he had reasoned over the answering machine. �But I hope that the folder of information I provided you with is what you needed, and I hope you get to the bottom of this.� Sheridan had stared at the answering machine, unfeeling. She was too hung-over and too confused to really care.
Her father had gone from yelling into the answering machine��You pick up the phone this instant! It�s my house you�re staying at, young lady!��to pleading with her to speak to him. Finally, she unplugged the phones, and wondered again where Milly was. It was lonely in the mansion that evening as the sun set and she turned the lights to low. She peeked out the windows at the paparazzi still scattered over the lawn, even as the security guard tried to usher them away. It was funny how she could feel so lonely and be surrounded by so many people.
Moving away from the window, she contemplated the folder of information for the hundredth time that day. She wanted so desperately to remember Ella, and maybe that was why she didn�t. She was trying too hard. She glanced around towards the living-room and hallway as she ascended the staircase, prepared to either go to her bedroom or go to the attic. It was only as she actually started walking, as she raised her head and lifted her eyes to the staircase ahead of her�it was only then that she stumbled and fell down a few steps.
Her heart seemed to jump into her throat�or maybe it stopped beating altogether�and a chill ran up and down her spine. It was one of those moments that she felt only at night, when she was thinking over the day�s events and wondering if she�d truly gone insane after some irrational act on her part. But this was not the middle of the night, and she had not done anything irrational. She was tempted to pinch herself to make sure it was actually happening, but she was too focused on the image in front of her.
It was Ella, clear as day, standing in front of her. She was transparent, like an image in one of Sheridan�s dreams, but she was most definitely there. She had a truly and heart wrenchingly sad expression on her face, as though she wanted to know what she had done wrong. Sheridan stared for just a few moments before she opened her mouth to speak. When she did, the voice seemed to come from someone other than herself; it was so choked and foreign.
�Ella?�
Ella, or the apparition, or whatever it was, did not answer. She hovered. She stared. She may have even shed a tear�but she did not speak.
�Oh my God. I must have really cracked.� Sheridan managed to lift herself up on shaky legs, but she held onto the railing for support. �Ella, is that�are you really� Oh, dear God.�
Ella kept staring at her. Sheridan stared right back. Finally, after what seemed like ages, she moved. She moved just a little bit, but Sheridan pulled herself closer to the railing, as if in a defensive manner, even though Ella was actually turning around. She didn�t float up the stairs like Sheridan expected�actually, Sheridan didn�t really know what to expect�but she walked, like a normal person. A normal person that hovered two inches above ground, that is.
Sheridan let her get to the top of the staircase before following. She followed her up the first flight of stairs, up the second, to the attic. Just like in her dreams. And when they reached the stained glass window that actually wasn�t stained glass at the moment, but rather like the way it used to be, Ella turned to her. She smiled sadly. And a second later, the window exploded.
Shocked, Sheridan cried out and threw herself to the floor, covering her head. The noise was like a bomb exploding right next to her. She was shaking and sobbing when she removed her arms and looked up to where Ella had been standing.
But Ella was gone, and the stained glass window was right back where it had been�good as new.
Trembling, she looked at the spot where Ella had been for a second longer before getting to her feet and literally running back downstairs to her bedroom.
~*~
It was two in the morning, and Sheridan was seriously considering getting a CAT scan. She really had no other choice. She must have lost it, she�d decided. How else could she explain her behavior lately?
How else could she explain the supposed �spirit� she�d seen earlier?
Honestly, she didn�t even recognize herself anymore. She was Sheridan Crane, all self-important and obsessed with the material world. She didn�t care about other people. Why should she? But she�d found herself listening to Luis when he told her she was being rude. She�d found herself actually being nice to people� No, not just to people; to Beth, for God�s sake! And she hadn�t even put on make-up when she�d left the house that morning. That never happened.
And now she�d seen a ghost.
A ghost.
She was clutching her knees tightly to her chest and staring ahead completely lost in thought when the doorbell rang and she nearly fell of the bed, she was so surprised. Standing up quickly, Sheridan stared at the door to her bedroom, wondering where the hell her guards were to tell people no, they may not call on Sheridan Crane at two in the damn morning. And of course, Milly was nowhere to be found, so she wouldn�t be answering the door.
Gathering courage that she desperately needed at the moment, Sheridan left her room for the first time since the �incident�. When she reached the front door and slowly opened it, she found Hank standing on the other side, smiling nervously.
�Hey you,� he said kindly, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.
�Hey,� Sheridan said, confused. There was a brief pause before Sheridan asked, �Hank, what are you doing here? It�s two in the morning.�
�Sheridan, listen,� Hank replied slowly, �I�m a little�concerned�about you.�
Sheridan�s eyebrows shot up in surprise. �Why?� she asked.
�The way you behaved�the last time I saw you.� He seemed to be incredibly unsure of himself. He stared at his feet, not daring to look her in the eye. �And, I�ve heard things since. Sheridan, I really think that you should consider maybe going away for a few days.�
Sheridan was staring at him like he was a complete stranger. She backed away from the door, and he must have taken this as a sign to enter, because he did so immediately�followed by two large men that Sheridan did not know, both white and balding and made of muscle.
�Hank, I don�t know what you�re talking about,� she said slowly. �I really think you should go. It�s two in the morning,� she reminded him, leaving the door wide open for him.
Hank turned to her, his mouth in a straight, grim line and said, �No, Sheridan. I think you should go. I know you barely know me, but I feel like we�ve sort of bonded over the last few days. Basically, I feel like I am the only one you can really trust in this town, Sheridan. This is why I think it�s so important for you to listen to me.�
Sheridan did listen. She did not agree with him, but she didn�t say anything�just listened.
�This is Mr. Lovell and Mr. Luftin, Sheridan. They�re here to take you to the hospital.� Sheridan�s mouth opened wide in protest, her eyes liable to pop out of her head, but Hank interrupted her before she could say anything.
�Listen, I care about you, and I feel like you may have snapped under all the pressure that your field of work tends to cause a person. You are very valuable to the fashion industry, Sheridan. And you�re very valuable to me.� He said these last words with such syrupy sincerity that Sheridan had to pause in her attempts to back away from him. �You seem to think that this girl that you�re trying to find is trying to send you some sort of message�. I think it�s a wild goose chase.�
�Hank, just shut up and listen to me,� Sheridan said frantically. �You can�t take me to the hospital against my will, first of all��
�Actually, I can, Sheridan.� He handed her a slip of paper that Sheridan thought he must have magically pulled from his pocket. �Per request of your psychiatrist�s evaluation.�
�I don�t have a psychiatrist!� Sheridan protested.
�Yes, you do.� He said it with a little half-smile that Sheridan wanted to knock from his face. �It says so right there, in black and white.�
Sheridan shook her head at him. The two men had descended on her and were holding her tightly, despite her efforts to escape them. �You don�t understand, Hank,� she said desperately. �I know Ella needs my help. Why are you doing this to me?�
Hank gave her a sympathetic look that she knew he was faking. �Because I care, Sheridan.�
~*~
If Sheridan wasn�t crazy by now, she was pretty sure she�d go crazy at the madhouse that Hank had her tossed in. She went in kicking and screaming, trying to explain to anyone who would listen just who she was, how illegal all of this was, and �Goddammit, I�m not crazy!� No one cared just as soon as Hank showed them the mysterious evaluation papers and explained, �You can call this number, but really�just do as I say.�
Basically, nothing was making sense to Sheridan. A day later, she was sitting on a couch in the main area on some floor or some level of some madhouse. She really had no idea where she was. Nobody around her was even remotely sane. She had the feeling that everyone had come in a lot saner than they were now. Even Sheridan was starting to collapse under the pressure.
It wasn�t a quiet day, per se�the nurses wouldn�t let Sheridan stay in her room like she wanted to�but it gave Sheridan a lot of time to reflect. So what if she saw some sort of apparition and basically �belonged� here? First of all, no one knew about the apparition; second, in all other areas of mental stability Sheridan was pretty sure she qualified for �sane�. So that meant that Hank was most likely in on some sort of plan to keep Sheridan from finding out the truth. She just had to find out who was hiding something and exactly what they were hiding.
She chuckled to herself, thinking that it was conspiracy theories like these that probably got her put away in the first place. Whatever. She would just have to keep things to herself from now on.
The hospital or madhouse, or whatever it was, was never quiet�the area she was sitting in alone was filled with a combination of crying, screaming, or swearing�but a ruckus at the front desk down a hallway from where she was sitting had Sheridan looking up suddenly. She recognized one of the nurse�s stern voices saying, �Now listen here!� And then a gunshot went off, and a whole mess of commotion ensued. Some of the patients who had been quiet were triggered by the chaos, and went off bawling or throwing things. Sheridan jumped to her feet and ran down the hall towards where the gunshot had come from.
Whatever she expected, she certainly didn�t expect to see a wild-eyed, red-faced Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald barging through security like some sort of madman.
�Sheridan!� he said as soon as he saw her. �Let�s go!�
The nurses all swiveled to look at her, momentarily forgetting their efforts to block Luis. Sheridan paused only a minute before throwing herself in their general direction, breaking her way through the human barricade they had formed. She grabbed Luis�s hand and took off�where, she didn�t know, but she knew she had to get away from Harmony.
At least for now.
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