"Oh, good heavens!" cried Mina. "The doctor is here. What am I supposed to do?"
"Why ask me?" asked a voice from out of nowhere. "I'm just a maid."
"Susan!" cried Mina. "Is that you?"
"I suppose it is," said Susan. "Do you know a lot of invisible maids?"
"No, of course I don't," said Mina. "It's just that I need help right now."
Susan replied, "Well, you should have thought of that before --"
"Yes, I know, I know," said Mina. "Before I attacked Tara. I'm dreadful sorry about that but right now I need your help. Er, what happened to the sheets?"
"Er, I removed them," said Susan. "Mistress Westenra did not want you to have anything in this room you could cover yourself with."
"But if the doctor sees I'm naked, she'll think I took my clothes off deliberately," said Mina.
"Not my problem," said Susan.
"Yes, it is," said Mina. "You helped take them off. In fact, it's partially your fault I'm in this mess."
"Yeah, right," said Susan.
"No, it is," said Mina. "Anyway that doesn't matter. Right now I need you to get me something to wear. Anything. I don't want the good doctor to think that I'm some sort of naked lunatic and right now you're the only one who could prevent that."
Susan just stayed silent.
"Oh, please," said Mina, falling to her knees. "I'll do anything you ask. Just get me some clothes. Please. I promise I'll make it up to you. To all of you, in fact. Even Tara."
"Who are you talking to?" asked a voice behind Mina.
Mina turned and there in the doorway stood an older woman with a stern expression on her face.
"Hello," said the woman in the doorway. "I'm Doctor Seward. Your friend Lucy tells me that you're having some issues and apparently she's right. But she said nothing about you talking to yourself."
"No, wait," said Mina. "I wasn't talking to myself. I was talking to Susan. She's a maid."
"I see," said Doctor Seward.
"No, you don't," said Mina. "You see, Susan is invisible. Just ask Lucy."
"I'm pretty sure Mistress Westenra would have mentioned it if she had an invisible maid," said Doctor Steward. "But if you insist --"
At this point, she turned and said to Lucy, "She's insane, all right. Please keep her here while I go fetch some attendants from the mental hospital. If she's already talking to imaginary people, there's no telling what else she might be capable of."
Comments