The Mask

lighter now that you can almost feel yourself rising up toward the kite… almost… almost…” She moved her hands down, touched the girl’s shoulders. “Relax. Let the tension fall away. Like blocks of concrete. Making you lighter, lighter. A weight is falling off your chest, too. And now you’re floating. Just a few inches off the ground, but you are floating.”
    “Yes… floating…” she said, her voice thick.
    “The kite is gliding far above, but you are slowly, slowly moving up to join it…”
    She went on like that for a minute, then returned to her own chair and sat down.
    Jane was slumped in the other wing chair, head tilted to one side, eyes closed, face soft and slack, breathing softly.
    “You are in a very deep sleep,” Carol told her. “A very relaxed, very deep, deep sleep. Do you understand?”
    “Yes,” the girl murmured.
    “You will answer a few questions for me.”
    “Okay.”
    “You will remain in your deep sleep, and you will answer my questions until I tell you it’s time to wake up. Understood?”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. Very good. Now tell me—what is your name?”
    The girl was silent.
    “What is your name, honey?”
    “Jane.”
    “Is that your real name?”
    “No.”
    “What is your real name?”
    Jane frowned. “I… don’t remember.”
    “Where did you come from?”
    “The hospital.”
    “Before that.”
    “Nowhere.”
    A bead of saliva glistened at the corner of the girl’s mouth. Languorously, she licked it away before it could drool down her chin.
    Carol said, “Honey, do you remember the Mickey Mouse watch you saw a few minutes ago?”
    “Yes.”
    “Well, I’ve taken that watch from the shelf,” Carol said, though she hadn’t moved from her chair. “And now I’m turning the hands on it backwards, around and around the dial, always backwards. Can you see the hands moving backwards on that Mickey Mouse watch?”
    “Yes.”
    “Now something amazing is happening. As I turn those hands backwards and backwards, time itself begins to flow in reverse. It isn’t a quarter past eleven any more. It’s now eleven o’clock. This is a magic watch. It governs the flow of time. And now it’s ten o’clock in the morning… nine o’clock… eight o’clock…. Look around you. Where are you now?”
    The girl opened her eyes. They were fixed on a distant point. She said, “Ummm… the kitchen. Yeah. The breakfast nook. Boy, the bacon’s nice and crisp.”
    Gradually, Carol moved her back in time, back through the days she had spent in the hospital, finally regressing to the accident last Thursday morning. The girl winced as she relived the moment of impact, and cried out, and Carol soothed her, and then they went back a few minutes further.
    “You’re standing on the sidewalk,” Carol said.
    “You’re dressed only in a blouse and jeans. It’s raining. Chilly.”
    The girl closed her eyes again. She shivered.
    “What’s your name?” Carol asked. Silence.
    “What’s your name, honey?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Where have you just come from?”
    “Nowhere.”
    “You mean you have amnesia?”
    “Yes.”
    “Even before the accident?”
    “Yes.”
    Although she was still very concerned about the girl, Carol was relieved to hear that she wasn’t responsible for Jane’s condition. For a moment she felt like that blue kite, capable of soaring up and away.
    Then she said, “Okay. You’re about to step into the street. Do you just want to cross it, or do you intend to walk in front of a car?”
    “I… don’t… know.”
    “How do you feel? Happy? Depressed? Indifferent?”
    “Scared,” the girl said in a small, shaky voice.
    “What are you scared of?” Silence.
    “What are you scared of?”
    “It’s coming.”
    “What’s coming?”
    “Behind me!”
    “What’s behind you?”
    The girl opened her eyes again. She was still staring at a distant point, but now there was stark terror in her eyes.
    “What’s behind you?” Carol asked again.
    “Oh God,” the girl said miserably.
    “What is it?”
    “No, no.” She shook her head. Her face was bloodless.
    Carol leaned forward in her chair. “Relax, honey. You will relax and be calm. Close your eyes. Calm… like the kite… far above everything… floating… warm.”
    The tension went out of Jane’s face.
    “All right,” Carol said. “Staying calm, always relaxed and calm, you will tell me what you’re afraid of.”
    The girl said nothing.
    “Honey, what are you scared of? What’s behind you?”
    “Something…”
    “What?”
    “Something…”
    Patiently, Carol said, “Be specific.”
    “I… don’t know what it is… but it’s coming… and