The Silent Companions

Elsie is in her room writing her story. She notes that her body has become used to the drugs, which no longer work. She writes, “Jolyon. Protect Jolyon” (218), her sole focus. However, he hasn’t visited her in the hospital, and she fears he is in trouble. Dr. Shepherd arrives with more stacks of paper. He says that though he can tell she has tried to hide the details, she is a survivor of child abuse. He still hopes she can clarify what happened at The Bridge and exonerate herself. Though Elsie fears returning to those horrific memories, she is comforted by understanding that Dr. Shepherd is trying to help her.

Sarah, looking exhausted and afraid, is tending to Elsie when she wakes from her faint. Sarah claims the two deaths are her fault because she stole Elsie’s diamonds and let Mabel take the fall, presumably prompting Mabel’s death by suicide. However, Helen believed the companions were responsible for the theft after another figure, this time a cook, appeared in the kitchen; Helen threatened to burn it, along with the one resembling Hetta. Sarah apologizes and claims she only wanted a family heirloom. She also reveals that before Rupert met Elsie, Sarah had hoped he might marry her. In the diary, she has learned that Hetta also had an affinity for the necklace. Moreover, Sarah has learned from Mr. Underwood’s ecclesiastical records that Anne was burned at the stake for being a witch.

Mrs. Holt asks Sarah to leave the room so Elsie can rest. She is sad and angry about Mabel and Helen’s deaths, blaming Elsie for opening the garret. According to Mrs. Holt, the garret was forbidden and contained disturbing books. Mrs. Holt reveals that Rupert’s mother, Mrs. Bainbridge, was sent to a psychiatric hospital for showing signs of mental illness. She fears Elsie is also becoming unwell due to having lost her child. Elsie pleads with Mrs. Holt to admit to seeing the companions’ behavior, but Mrs. Holt dismisses it as “ravings.”

Elsie can’t sleep because she is thinking about Rupert’s mother. She wonders if she was “A lunatic? Or a fellow victim?” (226). Elsie hears the now familiar hissing sound and creeps from the bedroom toward the garret. Three companions are in the hallway: the cook figure, who is clutching a bloody meat cleaver, Rupert’s mother, and the old woman holding a child. As Elsie climbs the stairs, the companions slide across the floor and follow her. The garret door is open, and Jasper, the cat, rests on the diary. Elsie’s candle goes out, leaving her in the dark. Clutching the diary to her chest, she tries to feel her way out of the garret but falls into the hole Mabel fell into. Trapped and unable to pull herself free, Elsie can sense the companions drawing closer. She flails until she falls through the ceiling into the nursery.

Elsie wakes to a nurse discovering Elsie’s desk has been destroyed. Dr. Shepherd doesn’t think she is strong enough to do the damage; moreover, her hands and arms aren’t injured as one would expect. Dr. Shepherd knows about the hissing sound from her written accounts of her story, and the nurse confirms she heard it. He takes Elsie to his office to help calm her. He presents her with Julia Bainbridge’s file and explains, “She was plagued by melancholia her entire life. It grew particularly bad whenever she was confined to childbed” (237). The report includes statements from Mrs. Holt, who cared for Julia. Reportedly, after her son died in a horse-riding accident, Julia’s mental health rapidly declined. She began experiencing strange occurrences with the rocking horse in the nursery. Julia’s infant daughter died—reportedly from suffocation, but Mrs. Holt confirmed that Julia drowned the baby and the family covered it up. Julia lived at the hospital until her death. She died of a heart condition at the same age Rupert did.

Elsie suffers cracked ribs and facial injuries, and she wakes up in bed heavily medicated. Sarah is there, as is Jolyon, who looks gravely concerned. He demands to know why she was in the garret and what happened with Helen; he also reports that Peters has quit, along with several other staff members. Elsie lies that she was getting something to bury with Helen. Jolyon commands her to remain in bed. When she protests, he says, “You are my sister. I will be…obeyed” (243). Before leaving, Sarah whispers in Elsie’s ear that she hid the diary under the mattress and begs her to read it while they’re at dinner, hoping to find a way to end the horrors they’re experiencing.

Anne can’t sleep and walks through the bitterly cold house. Josiah is leaving to attend Merripen’s execution, but Anne begs him not to go, as she is certain something bad will happen. Josiah makes the sign of the cross and tells her not to interfere with anything. Later, Anne awakens with an ominous feeling and finds one of Josiah’s men in the kitchen with Jane. Anne races outside and sees Merripen’s sister dead and frozen in the river. She then returns to bed and tries to write an account of the events to calm her anxiety.

Anne awakens later to find the house eerily quiet. The kitchen appears abandoned. Inside the kitchen larder, Anne finds the cook dead on the floor. In the scullery, two maids lie dead, and Anne immediately recognizes that they have been poisoned. She races out to Hetta’s garden, digs under the snow and ice, and discovers poisonous plants, including belladonna. Anne runs to the nursery and finds Lizzy strangled with vines. Hetta is standing over the body, surrounded by the silent companions. Anne blames herself for all the deaths, as she brought “a demon” into the world. She kills Hetta with a knife and briefly considers dying by suicide. Hetta’s blood pools on the floor and soaks into the companions. Anne knows she will be burned at the stake and considers it a just punishment for her sins, as she must be cleansed by fire.

Sarah changes the bandages on Elsie’s hands, and Elsie notices that Sarah’s cut is still infected. Elsie has read the diary and tells Sarah about Anne killing Hetta. Seeing Sarah’s horrified reaction, Elsie defends Anne’s actions, claiming that the spell she used to get pregnant manifested in Hetta and the only way to end it was to kill her. However, Hetta’s evil lives on in the companions because they soaked up her blood. She worries they are now searching for a human host. Elsie wants to defeat the evil forever, but Sarah says they must escape because Jolyon has written to an psychiatric hospital, fearing Elsie is mentally ill. Elsie feels betrayed, remembering all the times she suffered so Jolyon could be safe. To facilitate their escape, Sarah plans to drug Jolyon and the others at dinner. Sarah’s cunning surprises Elsie, but Sarah explains she used to drug Mrs. Crabbly all the time, saying, “We have all done things we are a little ashamed of” (260).

Later that night, Sarah helps Elsie hobble through the dark house. Before she leaves, Elsie puts a box of matches in her pocket. The companions are in the hallway waiting for them, and Sarah drops the lamp, spilling oil onto the carpet. Elsie fears for Jolyon’s safety in the house and wants to stay with him, but Sarah persuades her that her presence would do no good. Elsie lights a lantern in the library, hoping the light will protect him. She sees a letter on the desk addressed to St Joseph’s and realizes she cannot afford to stay any longer.

When Sarah and Elsie reach the great hall, Mrs. Holt is waiting for them. She recognized the poppy-spiked tea and is angry with Sarah for helping Elsie escape. The companions have vanished, and Mrs. Holt accuses Sarah of being just as “crazy” as Elsie. Jolyon appears, and when he realizes what is happening, Elsie recognizes his anger as their father’s.

Jolyon locks Elsie in her room, and she pleads with him for mercy. He accuses her of killing their mother by suffocation, but Elsie defends her actions as merciful since her mother was suffering so close to death. Separated from Sarah and with no hope, Elsie collapses on the floor in exhaustion. Soon afterward, she hears Jolyon screaming and a loud crackling sound from outside. Using a hairpin to pick the lock, Elsie frees herself and runs to the library. The room has been torn apart, and the Merripen companion stands by the fire. The window is shattered, and Jolyon is dead on the gravel below, his neck broken and hands full of splinters.

The shock sparks a traumatic memory of when Elsie’s father burst her eardrum. When she regains a sense of her surroundings, Mrs. Holt is accusing Elsie of killing Jolyon. Sarah defends Elsie, but in her anger, Mrs. Holt reveals that Helen was her daughter with Rupert’s father, which explains why he sent her to stay at The Bridge. Mrs. Holt plans to seek justice for her daughter’s murder and threatens to call the police. Suddenly, she gestures to the boy companion, and they all see that something has scratched his eyes.

Elsie sends Sarah to Torbury St Jude for help while she remains with Jolyon’s body. Elsie gets a basin to wash Jolyon and hears strange noises from Mrs. Holt’s office. Inside, she finds Mrs. Holt swinging from a noose. A companion resembling Helen is also there, as well as Jasper the cat. Elsie hears a hissing sound from outside, but someone or something has locked her in the room. Elsie races from the room and struggles to find a way out of the house as she encounters various locked doors. As she enters the great hall, Elsie finds a companion resembling her father. Suddenly, repressed memories fill her mind, and she remembers that she started the fire in the factory and pushed her father into the circular saw. The companion leaps into the fire, which spreads throughout the room. Companions block every exit, and Elsie can’t escape. Elsie breaks a widow and shoves Jasper through the hole. She throws herself through the window and lands outside, but her body is badly burned. Elsie hears Sarah, but she looks up and sees the Hetta companion staring at her.

Dr. Shepherd reads the final parts of Elsie’s written statement. He is uncertain that her account will help exonerate her, especially since they don’t have a statement from Sarah. Elsie writes, asking what happened to Sarah. Dr. Shepherd explains that no record of Sarah exists. Dr. Shepherd doesn’t believe that Elsie murdered anyone and proposes that the trauma she experienced as a child causes her to repress certain memories deeply. He also believes that the companions are figments of Elsie’s imagination and that the character of Sarah is a piece of Elsie’s fractured personality. Elsie writes that people inside the house can confirm Sarah is real, but Dr. Shepherd reminds her they are all dead, along with Mr. Underwood, who saw the flames from the house and ran inside to rescue those he thought remained. If Elsie doesn’t accept Dr. Shepherd’s diagnosis, she will likely be found guilty of murder and executed.

That night, Elsie has a horrific dream about The Bridge and sees a companion who looks like Sarah in her room. Elsie screams, and the attendants put her in a straitjacket and send her to solitary confinement. Dr. Shepherd finds her there and explains that he put out an advertisement looking for Sarah, who has responded via telegram.

Sarah arrives to meet with Dr. Shepherd and Elsie, and Elsie immediately notices something different about her. She is dressed in a fine gown, and her voice sounds different. The woman looks at Elsie’s disfigured face with pity and explains to the doctor that she ran away from The Bridge that night for fear of being sent to a psychiatric hospital like Elsie. She remained in hiding until now but feels she must reveal the truth. Elsie listens in horror as the woman tells the doctor that Elsie murdered Jolyon and the others and that the companions were a figment of her imagination. Dr. Shepherd is shocked but offers to escort her to the police to make her statement. Elsie notices that the woman is wearing her diamond necklace. When she sees her hair is red (as Hetta’s was), Elsie knows it’s Hetta.