Chapter 6 - Vivian Had Recorded Elsie To Prove She Was “Unstable”
The purpose became clear after the fifth file.
Vivian was not recording Elsie merely out of cruelty.
She was collecting material.
One night, after Elsie cried for nearly twenty minutes about Caroline, Vivian said:
“Keep going. This is exactly what I mean.”
Elsie asked:
“What?”
Vivian did not answer.
Another file contained Vivian speaking alone in the bedroom after Elsie had gone downstairs.
Her voice was close to the pillow.
“Twenty-seven minutes. Crying, fixation on deceased mother, refusal to self-soothe.”
She was documenting episodes.
Like clinical notes.
Except she wasn’t a clinician.
And the recordings contained something her notes apparently did not:
The provocations.
The things Vivian said before Elsie became distressed.
Your mother isn’t coming back.
Marcus will eventually have another baby.
You can’t expect everyone to keep revolving around you.
Then, after Elsie cried, Vivian would record the crying.
Later, Marcus found a folder on the shared family computer.
Not hidden well enough once his attorney knew what to search for.
Title:
Elsie Behavioral Documentation.
Inside were summaries.
Dates.
Duration.
Descriptions.
But almost none mentioned what Vivian had said before the recordings.
The notes made Elsie sound volatile.
Obsessive.
Unable to regulate emotion.
The full audio told a different story.
A child was being provoked.
Then her reaction was cataloged as pathology.
Marcus finally understood the purpose.
Vivian had been building a case.
The question was:
May you like
For whom?
---
