The Rasner Effect (41 page)

The fire department encouraged the residents of Milton Drive to take seminars on electrical safety to prevent such a horrible accident from occurring again.

After receiving treatment for her shoulder wound, FBI officials questioned Clara Blue for an entire day. This included interrogators and psychiatrists sent in by General Straker. Her answers, for the most part, were incoherent. By evening, Clara had shut down and refused to speak. They returned her to the Brookhill Children’s Psychiatric Residence, now under new management with an almost completely new staff. The only employee to remain was Janet Murphy, who had taken a few weeks to recover from her heart attack. She counted down the time until retirement.

Since returning, Clara spent much of her time under sedation and in seclusion.

Jake Scarberry was forced back into the witness protection program. He worked in Denver, Colorado as a bouncer in a pub, where he could satiate his taste for action on occasion. At least he no longer found himself dealing with “kids.”

Rick Rasner was officially declared dead, despite the fact his body was never found. His corpse was assumed to have been burned beyond recognition inside the house. The FBI sifted through the wreckage for three long weeks before officially closing the case. All findings were sent to General Straker and marked
Strictly Confidential
.

Derrick was assigned to solitary confinement in an undisclosed military containment facility. He now awaits a trial that may never happen. General Straker himself gave Derrick a standing offer—freedom under close supervision in exchange for information and his expertise put to work for his country. Thus far, Derrick has refused the offer.

After a month in a vegetative state, Katherine Miller’s fight for life finally ended. Her heart stopped. There were three attendees at her funeral—her sister and two members of the Brookhill Residence’s Board of Directors, who attended as a courtesy.

The people of Brookhill wrote protests and petitions against the children’s psychiatric facility. They declared its presence a risk to the security and safety of the small town. Sheriff Morgan led the protests.

The new facility director, a former prison warden for many years, made a solemn promise to the people of the town. His promise involved an increase in security so no one would ever break out, or into, the facility again. “The town will remain safe and the children within the facility will remain contained as they receive the help they need,” he stated at a town meeting his first day on the job.

He hired a new therapist, a slender young lady with black hair and thick glasses, who had relocated to Brookhill from New Orleans. Due to the recent tragedies her former state endured, the psychiatric facility she worked in had closed. Because of this, all her work records were lost and her resume could not be confirmed. The director hired her anyway because he liked the confident way she presented herself during the initial interview.

The new therapist formed a relationship with Clara Blue. She became the only adult within the residence Clara showed a willingness to converse with, but only during her private sessions. The young patient has a renewed confidence she will not be a patient in the Brookhill Residence for very long.

The whereabouts of Jennifer Duke remain unknown.

A word about the author...

Mark Rosendorf is not mentally unbalanced or violently psychotic, despite what his writing may suggest. The characters he writes for, however, were created based on his wild “if only I could do that” imagination.

Mark holds a master’s degree from Long Island University’s Human Development and Leadership program. He is a licensed guidance counselor for the special education district of the New York City Department of Education.

In 2011, Mark authored the science fiction novel, “Status Quo.” He is also featured in such anthologies as “Killer Recipes” and “Cat in a Dreamspell.”

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