The Nurse by Amy Cross

lunch, I decide to sit on the porch for a while. The last thing I want is to be the local blind girl, with people wandering past the house and feeling sorry for me, but at least out here I can listen to the sound of the neighborhood and try to imagine what the place is like.
    Plus, I can get away from Mum for a few minutes. I need time to think, because she's clearly not being straight with me.
    In a nearby tree, some kind of bird is twittering. I guess I should start appreciating that kind of thing a little more, seeing as how listening to birds might as well be one of my new hobbies.
    “Hey.”
    Almost jumping out of my skin, I blurt out a shocked gasp as I turn and look to my left.
    “Sorry,” Aidan's voice continues, “I didn't mean to startle you. I guess I... Well, I forgot you wouldn't see me coming.”
    I hear the boards creaking slightly, and I realize I was lost for a moment in a world of my own.
    “It's fine,” I stammer, although I can hear the surprise in my own voice. “I was just... listening to birds.”
    “I saw you sitting out here and I thought I'd drop by and let you know what I found out about your house.”
    “You looked it up?” I ask, feeling a flash of gratitude as I realize that he actually kept his promise. I guess he wasn't repulsed by me the other day.
    “It wasn't exactly a big job,” he replies, and I hear the rustle of papers. “I printed some stuff out, but then I realized...”
    His voice trails off, and he sounds a little awkward.
    “Do you want to sit down?” I stammer, trying not to sound too desperate. After a moment I shift along the bench a little and pat the cushion next to me.
    A shudder passes through my body as I realize that he probably just feels pity when he sees me.
    “Sure,” he says, although he sounds a little awkward. Nevertheless, a moment later I feel him sitting on the other end of the bench, and there's another rustle of papers. “So, uh, it turns out I was mostly right about the nurse who lived here before you. Her name was Alice Bradshaw, and the place was actually her parents' house. Her mother was long-gone, she died when Alice was a kid, leaving her with her father and brother. And then when her brother moved out, it was just Alice and the old man.”
    “That sounds kind of sad,” I reply.
    “It gets worse. The old guy got sick. Really sick, like... Multiple cancers, plus problems with his gallbladder and his intestines. The kind of thing where the hospital runs out of ideas. Eventually it became clear that there was nothing else to do, and he just came home to die.”
    “So someone did die in the house,” I whisper, feeling a faint shudder of concern. Or maybe excitement. “I knew it!”
    “Alice basically became her father's carer,” Aidan continues. “I can't imagine what it's like to do that kinda thing for one of your own parents. I mean, doing it for a stranger is crazy enough, but when it's your father...”
    He pauses.
    “From what I found,” he adds after a moment, “the father lingered for about a year. People saw Alice out and about less and less, it's like she became some kind of hermit. And then eventually her sister-in-law reported Alice's brother missing, and the cops showed up to ask some questions, and that's when they discovered what she'd done. Her father and brother were dead in the house, and Alice was carted off to some kinda psychiatric hospital.”
    “ Two people died here?” I ask. “What happened to them? Did she cut them up with an ax?”
    “I'm not quite sure. It doesn't say here.”
    “And then what happened to Alice?” I continue. “How did she die?”
    “She didn't,” he replies. “At least not as far as I can tell. It seems like she was sentenced to serve time at the hospital, and I guess she's still there. I mean, I'm pretty sure that if you kill two members of your own family, they don't exactly rush to let you out again.”
    “Rachel?” Mum calls out from inside suddenly. “Are you talking