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"It's not mine," she said quickly, seeing his expression. "It…it’s the rabbit….”
Dimitri assessed her, and I hoped he wouldn't look at her wrists. When he seemed satisfied she
had no gaping wounds, he asked, "What rabbit?" I was wondering the same thing.
With shaking hands, she pointed at the trash can. "I cleaned it up. So Natalie wouldn't see.”
Dimitri and I both walked over and peered into the can. I pulled myself away immediately,
swallowing back my stomach's need to throw up. I don't know how Lissa knew it was a rabbit.
All I could see was blood. Blood and blood-soaked paper towels. Globs of gore I couldn't
identify. The smell was horrible.
Dimitri shifted closer to Lissa, bending down until they were at eye level. "Tell me what
happened." He handed her several tissues.
"I came back about an hour ago. And it was there. Right there in the middle of the floor. Torn
apart. It was like it had…exploded." She sniffed. "I didn't want Natalie to find it, didn't want to
scare her…so I—I cleaned it up. Then I just couldn't…I couldn't go back…." She began to cry,
and her shoulders shook.
I could figure out the rest, the part she didn't tell Dimitri. She'd found the rabbit, cleaned up,
and freaked out. Then she'd cut herself, but it was the weird way she coped with things that
upset her.
"No one should be able to get into those rooms!" exclaimed the matron. "How is this
happening?”
"Do you know who did it?" Dimitri's voice was gentle.
Lissa reached into her pajama pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. It had so much
blood soaked into it, I could barely read it as he held it and smoothed it out.
I know what you are. You won't survive being here. I'll make sure of it. Leave now. It's the only
way you might live through this.
The matron's shock transformed into something more determined, and she headed for the door.
"I'm getting Ellen." It took me a second to remember that was Kirova's first name.