Manic. Part One.

"I'm on my way. Don't do anything til I get there, yes, I'll be there in 5."

Deborah toss her cell phone into the passenger seat and accelerated with just enough speed to make the light before it turned red. Kate needed her. She sounded absolutely desperate on the phone. Deborah's mind raced with reasons why Kate might be in trouble, but no matter what the scenario, it always came back to Hank. Deborah knew that Kate and Hank were having problems; from the outside it always seemed like Kate had things under control, but what Deborah heard in Kate's voice was a woman on the verge of collapse; a woman, her sister crying out for help. Deborah could not help but picture the worst case scenario, Kate bruised and beaten to a pulp; if Hank lay a finger on her sister, Deborah wasn't sure what she would do. Could she kill him? No, that was crazy.

Thanks toastforbrekkie!

As Deborah's thoughts got more erratic, she didn't notice that her speedometer was racing closer and closer to the end line. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Deborah pulled in front of Kate's building and maneuvered into a guest parking space.

"30th floor, penthouse," the mechanical voice said as Deborah stepped off the elevator. The talking elevator always gave Deborah the creeps. One minute the elevator was saying, 'going up' and without any indication that the elevator actually went up, the voice was announcing that they arrived. She shuttered as she walked up to Kate's door and knocked.

"Deb!" Kate threw her arms around Deborah's neck and pulled her inside. Deborah looked around Kate's home and her heart sank. The once lavish home now felt like a dirty dive bar. There was a stale smell of alcohol in the air and a layer of thick smoke clung to the ceiling. As she set her bag down next to half empty packing boxes, Deborah saw dozens of empty wine bottles scattered throughout the room. Then, Deborah noticed that some of Kate's most cherished clowns were broken to pieces in a corner.

"Sorry about the mess, Deb," Kate said as she leaped over a pile of clothes and grabbed her wine glass.

Thanks beautiflaw!

She lit a cigarette and manically continued between puffs,

"I know it looks bad, Deb, but you caught me right in the middle of the big stuff. See since I'm moving back in with the parents, I'll only have one room, so I thought what better way to get rid of all this useless shit, then to give it to charity. See here," Kate motioned as she walked to one corner of the room.

"This stuff is all going to the American Lung Association, I mean I figure, if I'm going to keep smoking like a chimney, I'm going to need them to find a cure for lung cancer right?? Or at least I'll get some good karma and never get cancer so I can keep smoking til I'm 102! Oh my gosh, and Deb look at this, it's sad right, I mean, what's more sad than broken clowns, but see look, look what happens when I smash them, see, it makes me happy, these broken clowns make me smile."

Kate finally stopped talking a mile a minute and began frantically throwing her clowns against the floor. Deborah shrieked and ran to Kate's side.

"Kate stop. Please stop,"

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Deborah pleading as tears streamed down her face. She wrapped her arms tightly around Kate until Kate broke down and froze, clutching the clown she was about to smash against the wall. Kate collapsed, sobbing as Deborah cried and rocked Kate in her arms.