Chapter #22#FreeBreeanna by: imaj   Two months later
The limo driver opens the door, offering his hand to help you out. Breeanna follows behind you, stepping out of the limo. No one bothers to give her any assistance. She peers out through a curtain of knotted hair at the hospital, blinking slowly as if waking from a dream.
“Take my arm sweetie,” you command Breeanna, hooking your limb for her.
She grabs at you with both hands, holding on for dear life. You slowly lead her across a neat lawn. Around you a handful of other patients exercise and relax, ambling about by themselves or with orderlies. A few sit on benches, enjoying the late afternoon sun. The quiet is only broken by the sound of birdsong in the distance.
“Yah’re doing well sweetie,” you add, as Jon climbs out the limb behind you. The driver hands him a large suitcase from the limo trunk. “Yah’ve done ever so well these last two months.”
Breeanna smiles faintly. “I trust yah Marji,” she whispers, as if by rote. “I’ll do whatever yah say.” She will, too. You’ve worked long and hard on Breeanna’s state of mind these last months to bring her to this point.
“Let’s go inside,” you direct her, reaching the far side of the lawn.
A short flight of stairs leads up to a row of doors. Above them, a sign reads “Lakeview Mental Hospital”. You take the steps one at a time, carefully guiding Breeanna along with you. Jon catches up as you reach the doors. He opens one of them and shepherds the suitcase through ahead of you. You and Breeanna follow, stepping into a cool foyer.
The hospital reception is quiet. Rows of seats lie empty. Two nurses in old gleaming white uniforms staff a large wooden desk. One looks up at you. A brief flicker of recognition passes across her face. Hardly surprising, since Breeanna’s face has been plastered all over celebrity gossip streams since the night at the concert.
“Hi there,” says the nurse softly. “Welcome to Lakeview Ms Summers.” She places a tablet on the desk in front of Breeanna. “Can you check your details for me.”
Breeanna stares at the tablet blankly. Her eyes flicker nervously at you as she waits for instructions. “Let me look at that for yah sweetie,” you say.
“Ok Marji,” replies Breeanna in a monotone voice.
You pick up the tablet and leaf through the forms on it. Papers to commit Breeanna Summers to Lakeview hospital. All that’s missing is her signature.
“Can we take a look at her room first,” you ask. The nurse thinks about it for a moment then nods.
It takes a few minutes to reach the room, which is on the second floor of the hospital. You walk round the spacious room, past a soft looking double bed, to an open window. It barely looks like a hospital room at all. Only a few clues like the lack of an inside lock on the door or the rounded edges on the furniture betray the room's true purpose. Through the window, you see a beautiful view of a large garden leading all the way up to the lakeshore. Beyond the lake, snow capped mountains.
“Can yah give us a couple of minutes,” you ask the nurse.
“Sure,” she replies, closing the door behind her as she leaves.
“Sit on the bed sweetie,” you order Breeanna. She follows the instruction immediately and you sit down beside her. “There’s just a few more things we need to do and then yah can rest for a while.” You give her the tablet. “Sign this sweetie.”
“Yes Marji,” she states, her voice still toneless. Breeanna takes the tablet and signs her name mechanically.
“There we are,” you smile. “Nearly there.”
You reach up to Breeanna’s head, mumble the words and then pull the remote mask off her. She sags a little, but you catch her before she falls. The mask crumbles into nothing as you bring an inverted version of the original sigil to your hand. Then you reach into your handbag and pull out an anima band. You lay Breeanna back on the bed and place it on her forehead.
A few minutes later the band re-emerges. Red lettering glows on its surface - Breeanna Lynn Summers. The young woman stirs and looks up at you, sensing something different. With the remote mask destroyed, the meticulously created sense of loyalty to the sigil expression of your identity no longer has any focus. Habit might make her obey your commands, or at least ones from Marjory, for a while yet. It hardly matters anymore though.
“I want yah to know sweetie,” you tell her as she stares up at you. “It was all me. I made the little girl go missing, and I made Jon treat you like shit afterwards. Not that he needed much pushing.” You turn to the manager. “Go on, tell her yah have to do everything I tell yah to.”
“I have to do everything she tells me to,” says Jon, almost apologetically. “She’s controlling me somehow, I don’t understand it. I never wanted this to happen.”
“Why,” whispers Breeanna, tears forming in her eyes.
“Oh, I just needed a naive and vulnerable little girl. That and her mother figure,” you explain, dropping any pretense of Marjory’s persona. “Then it was just a matter of ruining your life and crawling inside your head: Hope, then despair, followed by more hope then more despair. Turning you into my obedient toy. I don’t actually need you though, I just need the obedience. The fact that you’re rich, and now that you’re here your best friend Marjory controls your estate is just a bonus really.”
“But… but…” she stutters.
“Tell everyone you like,” you shrug. “You’ve been in meltdown for the last two months and you just committed yourself to a mental hospital. It’s not like anyone is going to believe you.” You tap her forehead, sending her into a deep slumber with the knockout sigil. “Time to sleep sweetie,” you say, adopting Marjory’s accent once more.
You stand up and shift Breeanna’s legs round till she is lying on the bed. Then you snort a barely suppressed laugh and stride out the room. The nurse is waiting expectantly on the other side of the door. You brusquely shove the tablet into her hands and walk off without so much as glance behind you.
“Ms Wilson,” call the nurse, hurrying to keep up with you. “Ms Wilson!”
“She’s yahr problem now,” you sniff, pausing for a second. “And we’re paying good money to make sure she stays yahr problem.”
You sweep out of the hospital and back to the waiting limo with Jon in tow. You’ll pull something similar on him later: Remove the golem mask on him, knock him out for a few hours and abandon him somewhere. He’ll wake up with a two month long gap in his memory, but his continuing share of Breeanna’s royalties should keep him quiet.
Then Marjory Wilson will vanish without a trace, save for the numbered Swiss account that will greedily devour her share of Breeanna’s money for what passes for the rest of the girl’s life.
To stop reminiscing, attend to Fi's reports in "A Short Hop" 
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