The Annoying Sleepwalker novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Real Letter
Kelsey's mother sat on the edge of a chair in the Dean's office with a folder on her knees.
She was a thin, tired woman in a raincoat, and she had been crying in the hall.
Kelsey sat beside her with her hands in her lap.
Neither of them looked at me when I came in.
"Ms. Marlow," the Dean said. "Kelsey's mother asked for you. You may leave whenever you like."
"I'll stay," I said.
Her mother opened the folder.
"I want you to see this first," she said. "Before anyone says anything about my daughter."
She laid a stack of old pages on the desk.
Each had a hospital header and a doctor's signature, and the oldest was dated when Kelsey was fourteen.
"Kelsey really did sleepwalk," her mother said.
The room was silent.
"It started the winter her father left," she said. "She'd get up at night and open the front door. Once she walked half a mile in the snow in her pajamas. A neighbor found her."
I looked at Kelsey.
She was staring at her knees.
"There were two years of treatment, and she was fine at sixteen," her mother said. "The doctor wrote that it was over. I kept the old letter because I thought it would protect her, if anything ever happened."
"You gave it to the Dean," I said.
"I did." Her voice broke. "I did not know she was faking it. I swear to you. If I had known, I would have dragged her to your door myself."
"Mom," Kelsey whispered.
"No." Her mother turned. "You don't get to hide behind that child anymore. That girl was sick. She was frightened. You've been *using* her."
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