She breathed quickly, gasping. "Yes... yes... Angel, Angel, ANGEL."
She twisted and turned, shaking. "They have found him..."
"Who, Vebekka? Whom have they found?"
She ran her hands through her hair. "It's in the paper, it's in the papers, I have to find all the papers, I have to know if it's true. Angel, the dark Angel of Death will find me, he put the message in the paper to find me."
"It's all right... it's all right, no need to be alarmed. Who is the angel? Is it the angel who makes you so frightened?"
She banged the sofa with her fists. "They will know what I have done. He knows what I have done... Oh! God help me!"
Franks raised his voice and told her to advance to the next morning. She calmed down, and said that the next day she remained very quiet, and didn't mention anything to anyone about what she had seen. She had had a nightmare, she had thought the Angel had come into her bedroom to make her tell, but it had been just a shadow, just the drapes.
Franks wrote down on his pad that they must trace the newspaper. He was certain he was dealing with a woman traumatized by an event in her childhood, but when he began to discuss her childhood she became very calm. She seemed relieved. When he asked if she was Vebekka or Rebecca she giggled, told him not to be stupid, she was Rebecca.
She began to talk quite freely. She described her home in Philadelphia, discussed her parents. She said they were kind, but never very affectionate toward her, she said that they were very close to each other, that she had often felt like an intruder.
"Did this upset you?"
"Not really. They always gave me what I asked for, they just seemed more interested in each other. My mother was often unhappy, she used to say she missed her home, her family, but they would never speak to her, they sent back all her letters unopened. She was often crying, and often ilclass="underline" She used to get bronchial troubles, that was why they had moved from Canada — it was very cold there, and Mama had been very ill."
Franks asked if she loved her parents. She hesitated, and then shrugged with her hands. "They loved each other, and they fed and clothed me."
"So you never felt a great affection for them?"
"No... just that they kept me safe, they watched out for me, no one could hurt me while I was with them, they told me that."
"Who wanted to hurt you?"
"I don't know."
Franks asked her to recall her first memory of her mother. She pursed her lips and said, "She gave me a blue dress, with a white pinafore and a teddy bear."
"How old were you then?"
She seemed to be trying to recall her age, but in the end she shrugged her shoulders and said she was not sure. He asked if she was afraid of her parents, and she said very promptly that she was not. "They were afraid of me! Always afraid, afraid..."
"Had they reason to be afraid of you?"
"Yes, I was very naughty, had terrible tantrums."
"What did they do when you had these tantrums?"
"Oh, Mama would talk to me, get me to lie down and talk to me, you know, so I would calm down."
"Did they try and stop you leaving home?"
She laughed. "Oh no... they were pleased, I think they were pleased when I left!"
"Did you miss them when you left?"
"Yes... yes sometimes, but Mama helped me often, told me how to handle Rebecca."
"What did she tell you to do?"
"Oh, put her in a closet, throw away the key, forget her."
"So it was not your idea to change your name?"
"Yes, it was, it was all my idea, I never told Mama what I had done, and I never told Papa. I just did what Mama said, put her away."
"Is the other box inside you?"
She started to twist her hands, plucking at the blanket. "Yes, yes, that is always there."
"Did your mama put somebody in the box?"
"It's not a box!"
Franks was growing tired; he rubbed his head, checked his watch. "What is it then?"
She remained silent, her face taut as she refused to answer.
"Why don't you want to tell me about it?"
She seemed to be in terrible pain, her face became distorted.
She opened her mouth as if to scream, but no sound came out.
Franks stood by the couch. "It's all right, shushhh, don't get upset, I won't ask you about it anymore. It's all over. Unless you want to tell me. Do you want to tell me?"
She cried, her mouth wide open like a child's, her face twisted, and the blanket was wrung into a coil between her hands. He waited; in the viewing room the baron rose to his feet. He hated to see his wife in such pain; he pressed his hands to the glass. "Stop him, tell him to stop this..."
She was clawing, trying to get up; Franks gently held on to her shoulders.
Her scream made him step back; it was a scream rising from a terrible depth, it was a howl. Her body shook.
Franks asked her over and over what was happening, but the torture continued, her body thrashed about, she was out of control.
"Vebekka, listen to me, the longing time, come back to the longing... Can you hear me? Longing... Come on, come on, wake up! Everything is all right, you've been sleeping, you'll wake up refreshed, relaxed."
But her body was stiff, he was not able to wake her. Once more he began to repeat the key word between them, but whatever it was, it held her, and she was fighting it, fighting to get it out of her.
The baron turned helplessly to Helen. "It's as if she were possessed. Can't he stop it?... Tell him to stop!"
Vebekka gasped, panting, saying she was coming up the stairs, rounding the spiral staircase, but she could not find the door. Franks was quick to pick up, he said the door was in front of her, she could open it. She began to relax, her breathing quieted down, and she sighed. He moved back as she sighed again and her eyelids fluttered.
Awake, she lifted her arms above her head and yawned, like a cat. She stretched her whole body, and then curled up.
"I am so thirsty..."
Franks rang for Maja, and poured her a glass of water. She drank avidly, and held out the glass for more. He refilled it, and she drained it again. Maja came in, and smiled to Vebekka, asked how she was feeling and Vebekka laughed. "Good, I feel very relaxed and refreshed..."
Franks was exhausted, Helen and the baron drained. They left Maja with Vebekka while they got together in the small office.
"She has been through deep hypnosis before — when I don't know, but she knows how to hypnotize herself, bring herself through the waking cycles. I had no control over her for some considerable time. I have never witnessed anything like it, it is quite extraordinary. But we must try and ascertain when this occurred, because she is in a dangerous state. You witnessed yourselves her own deep struggle. Whatever she has locked, she refuses to unleash. God only knows what she was involved in, or subjected to... the key to her lies in that box, chest, the thing that is so hidden inside her, with chains, locks, God knows what else... but it is inside her. It is imperative that we find out the nature of the hypnosis she has been subjected to on previous occasions. Somebody at some time treated her, made her lock away horrors, and what you have witnessed, Baron, what we have all seen here today, is the danger that can result. Vebekka, Rebecca has repressed a trauma, hidden it deep inside her mind, and it rears up. When this occurs, it brings her to the edge of a breakdown. If we find out what it is, your wife may, with time and therapy, be able to face and deal with the trauma. But we also must acknowledge that we are dealing with the unknown. Others may argue that she has survived only by locking this trauma away. It will have to be your decision whether we continue or not. I sincerely hope, however, you will agree to pursue these sessions."
The baron stared, nonplussed. He could not tell whether Franks believed he could help his wife. He turned helplessly to Helen, who looked away.