Page 54 of Stay Away from Him

Thomas:

I can’t believe you came.

Amelia:

I’m a little surprised myself.

Thomas:

Nobody visits me.

Amelia:

Can you blame them?

Thomas:

Will Rhiannon be coming anytime soon?

Amelia:

I don’t think so, Thomas. She’s still pretty shaken up. Pretty angry. It might be a while. If ever.

Thomas:

I’m certainly not going to see Kendall.

Amelia:

No. There’s no way. Two inmates from different institutions? Impossible. Only if you ever get out. I suppose that’s up to the parole board.

[pause]

Thomas:

Accessory after the fact. What a joke. Who’d have thought they’d give so many years for “accessory after the fact”?

Amelia:

It’s as bad as the actual murder, in the eyes of the law.

Thomas:

Why are you here, anyway? You come to finish our therapy? Finally cure me? You’ve got your recorder and everything.

Amelia:

No. This is for me.

Thomas:

For you, huh?

[pause]

Amelia:

Unfinished business. There was something I wanted to see about. To ask you, I mean.

Thomas:

So ask.

Amelia:

Back three years ago, when I saw you as a therapist—when you forced me to see you in therapy, to go through that ridiculous charade—we had a fight during one session. You remember. You attacked me, put your hands around my neck. I thought you were going to kill me.

Thomas:

I remember.

Amelia:

Do you remember what we were talking about, that made you so mad?

[pause]

Amelia:

Thomas?

Thomas:

[sighs] The definition of a psychopath.

Amelia:

What were you really asking about that day? Were you trying to figure out if Kendall was a psychopath? Or were you worried that you were the psychopath?

Thomas:

I was worried about Kendall, obviously. Even though I couldn’t tell you at the time. I wanted to—God, how I wanted to. I was dying to come clean about all of it. But I couldn’t, in the end. I had to protect her secret.

Amelia:

That’s what I thought you’d say.

But it doesn’t explain how angry you got that day.

Here’s what I think. I think you were afraid of Kendall after she killed Rose, wondering just how dangerous your daughter really was.

But I think you were also afraid because what you saw in her—the darkness, the anger, the violence—was something you saw in yourself .

Thomas:

I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve never done half the things Kendall did.

Amelia:

Maybe not. But it was in you, I think. And maybe somewhere along the way you learned how to control it better than Kendall. To hide that part of yourself. To create your persona, the mask you put between yourself and the world. Good father, good husband, good doctor. Good man .

Thomas:

It wasn’t a mask. That’s who I was. Who I am . I don’t deserve any of this.

Amelia:

But I don’t think that’s true, Thomas.

You came to therapy for my reassurance—you came hoping I’d tell you that you were still a good person.

Because you were beginning to doubt it yourself.

Doubt your mask. Doubt the lie you’d been telling to the world and to yourself for years.

And you needed me—needed a woman—to give you that reassurance.

But we discovered something in that room together, didn’t we?

Something real. You may not be a full-fledged psychopath yourself.

But you bear some of the signs. The aggressive charm, the manipulation, the way you pursue people.

Hunt them. Make them adore you. Then turn on them.

You did it with Rose. And you were going to do it with Melissa too.

Thomas:

I loved Melissa. I did. I’d never have hurt her.

Amelia:

No? You loved Rose too.

Thomas:

I didn’t kill her, Amelia. Everybody talks like I killed her, but I didn’t.

Amelia:

No. But there are more ways to hurt a person than just physically. And when someone did commit violence against her, you hid the body. You covered up what happened.

Thomas:

I protected my daughter. Protected my family. That’s who I am, Amelia. It’s what I’ve dedicated my life to. I’m not a killer. I’m a protector.

Amelia:

Maybe so. And you did protect Kendall.

Protected yourself. But you didn’t protect Rose , did you?

You didn’t protect Rhiannon—she spent the next three years afraid of her own sister, taking on the responsibility of keeping her at bay, trying to keep her from hurting others.

And you certainly didn’t protect Melissa or Bradley.

Why did you even pursue Melissa? Why did you try so hard to make her fall for you?

Thomas:

I didn’t know Kendall was going to do it again , did I? She had her reasons for killing Rose—she cheated on me, for one. But I had no idea Kendall would go after Melissa too. Or her son.

Amelia:

Rhiannon knew.

Thomas:

But I didn’t know about that either. Rhiannon didn’t tell me what she was doing to keep Kendall at bay.

Amelia:

You knew. You did. You were just in denial.

Thomas:

None of this is my fault.

Amelia:

But it is your fault, Thomas. You bear your share of the responsibility.

You’re an accomplice—not just to Rose’s death, but to all of it.

Everything that happened. And the worst part is, you made me complicit too.

Pulling me into it. Inching up to the truth, then dancing away from it.

Trying to convince me that you were good.

Trying to convince yourself . Begging for absolution.

I stayed close to you for far too long. I cared about you—still, after everything.

Because there was a mystery there. Something I couldn’t quite solve.

But I’ve solved it now. There’s no more mystery to you.

I know who you are now, Thomas. I know everything. And I’m done.

Thomas:

Is that why you came? To say goodbye?

Amelia:

Maybe it is.

Thomas:

So we’re done here?

[pause]

Amelia:

Yes, I think we are.

[rustling, chair scraping]

Thomas:

Amelia, wait.

Amelia:

What is it?

[pause]

[muffled crying]

Amelia:

Thomas?

Thomas:

Can you talk to Melissa for me? Ask her to visit? I need to see her, Amelia. To explain—this isn’t my fault. I never intended for any of this.

Amelia:

I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Thomas:

But I need to know that she still loves me. That she still thinks I’m a good man. Please, Amelia. I’ll never make it in here without that. Without her .

[pause]

Amelia:

Goodbye, Thomas.

—End of Recording—