Dark Season: The Complete Box Set (39 page)

Once he's gone, I follow the orderly to the door. Outside, my mother and Shelley are sitting waiting.

“What did he want to talk to you about?” my mother asks.

“
Nothing,” I say.

“
I'm sorry about what I said in there,” says Shelley. “I just wanted to tell the truth”.

I look at her. “You really don't remember meeting Patrick?” I ask.

She sighs. “No. And you really don't remember where you've been for the past year?”

Disgusted by her refusal to help, I start walking away. As I head to my room, I start to hear some kind of banging in the distance. I turn to the orderly. “Who's John Tarmey?” I ask.

“Freak in the basement,” he says, letting me into my room. “Fucked-up my face. Fucks up everyone who goes near him”.

“
Must be pretty strong,” I say.

The orderly says nothing. He just pushes the door shut, leaving me alone in the room. I walk over to the mirror, lift up my shirt and look at my belly. It looks normal, maybe a little larger than normal. Is it possible that I really gave birth without remembering it? And if I did, what has Patrick done with the baby?

Dr. Penfold

This has never happened before. John Tarmey has always been a problematic patient, one who refuses to follow orders and who often acts up. But he always has a reason for his bad behavior, whereas this... Well, this just seems like attention-seeking. He's banging on the walls of his room, making as much noise as possible, which seems completely at odds with his stated desire to just stay down here and rot without anyone paying him any attention.

“
John, can you hear me?” I ask, calling through the door. Usually I'd go into his room but, given the circumstances, I've decided such a move would be too dangerous. “John, answer me!”

The banging stops.

“He's here,” John says.

I peer through the little glass window. The light is off inside, but I can just about see John. He's on the far side of the room, naked.

“Who's here?” I ask.

John walks over to the door. “Earlier, when one of your idiots opened the door to bring me some food, I sensed him. He's here. I could smell him. I could smell his scent. What's he doing here? How did he find me?”

I stare at John for a moment. “I don't know who you're talking about,” I say.

“
Tell him to come down here and fight me,” John says. “Tell him I'll take him on. Tell him I'll fucking kill him if he comes anywhere near me. Do you understand?”

Finally, I start to realize part of the mystery concerning John Tarmey. He wants to stay down here in this lead-lined room because he's scared of something. Or someone.

“John,” I say, trying to soothe him by keeping my voice calm, “why don't you tell me who it is that you think is here. I can check, but I need a name. I need to know”.

“
Patrick,” says John.

“
There's no-one named Patrick here,” I say. I turn to the orderly. “Are there any members of staff named Patrick?” He shakes his head. I turn back to John. That name Patrick seems to be coming up with alarming regularity these days. “You're mistaken. But I'm very keen to learn more about this Patrick person, and the reason you fear him”.

John stares at me. “If he's not here,” he says, “then someone here has his scent. Someone here has been with him. And that means he'll be here himself soon enough”.

This is all very strange. John Tarmey might be many things – a genius, a thug, an egomaniac, a psychopath, an enigma – but he's not delusional, nor is he mad. And I have never, ever seen him lose control until now. But he seems genuinely panicked, as if he can't keep control of his thoughts.

“
Would you like to schedule a session?” I ask.

“
Fuck you,” he spits back at me.

“
Would you like me to open the door and come inside with you?”

He grunts and walks away from the door. I pull the key from my pocket, open the big lead door and enter the dark room.

“You have to be more careful,” says John, staring at the wall.

“
More careful about what?” I ask.

“
You have to make sure he doesn't know I'm here,” John replies, still not looking at me. “Please, it's the only thing I ask you to do”.

I sigh. “John, we have to work through this. We have to get to a point where we can start to understand your irrational fears so that we can roll them back. Don't you want to ever get out of this box?”

“No,” he says. “Not until... Just no. I don't. I'm happy here”.

I turn and head back to the door. “I'll come down again tomorrow,” I say wearily. “We'll talk about it some more, and you can tell me about this Patrick fellow”.

“Just keep the door shut as much as possible,” says John. “And if there's anyone new here, get rid of them. I don't want them attracting unwelcome attention, even if it's indirect”.

“
I'm sorry, John,” I say, “but I'm afraid you don't have the power to tell me how to run this facility. I will take your words into account, of course, but other than that, I won't take orders from you regarding the way I keep this place in order. You can't tell me what to do”.

John laughs. “You sound just like your grandfather”.

“Excuse me?” I ask, genuinely surprised.

John smiles broadly. “Ennis Penfold. Your grandfather. He had that same sense of self-important arrogance that you carry around every day. Even when he was tying yellow ribbons around oak trees, and hauling men to secluded spots for a private lynching. You remind me of him”.

“I don't think you know what you're talking about,” I say tersely.

“
Your grandfather wasn't a very nice man, was he?” John stares at me. “I guess you loved him when you were a kid, but I'm sure you've read about him since then. One of the most feared men in the state, and with good reason. But the books don't even scratch the surface. There's so much more to know about him, more than the books could ever tell you. Do you want to know more? Do you want me to let you in on a few little secrets about your grandfather? The kind of things you've always suspected, always feared, but always hoped weren't true?”

I turn to walk away. Patients are strictly forbidden from such personal information about staff members. I have been far too generous with John Tarmey, allowing him to have all the books he wants. There will have to be restrictions from now on. I can't allow him to try to gain any kind of leverage over me. For the sake of our doctor-patient relationship, it's vital that I retain some kind of dominance over him.

“Did I hit a nerve?” John calls after me.

I don't bother replying to him. Once I'm out of the room and the door has been locked, I head back upstairs. It has certainly been an odd day, with the links between Sophie Hart and John Tarmey becoming increasingly apparent. I suspect it would be wise to keep the pair of them apart. If they start talking, they could just end up forming some kind of connection, and that's the last thing that I want. For now, John Tarmey serves his purpose just fine as he is, especially since we secretly removed a small section of lead protection. Slowly, imperceptibly, his scent has been escaping. And somewhere far off, a vampire is sure to have picked up on that scent.

Sophie

The next morning, straight after breakfast, Alex pushes the door open and we peer down the corridor. There's no-one about, which is odd in itself: every part of this entire building is usually swarming with orderlies, nurses, doctors and patients. To find a peaceful area, where no-one seems to be doing anything, is something of a privilege. I'm tempted to just abandon the plan and sit here instead. It'd be nice to have the peace and quiet for a change.

“
Down here,” says Alex. “Do you understand?”

“
I understand, Alex,” I say, pushing past him and leading the way, even though I'm not the one who really knows where we're going. “I
always
understand. You don't need to keep asking me”.

“
I understand,” he says. “This way”.

He leads me along another corridor. It's strange being down here in the basement. For the past four days, I've basically shuffled between the same three rooms: Dr. Penfold's office, the recreation room, and the room where I sleep. I haven't even been out in the garden.

“There,” Alex says finally, as we stare at a door at the far end of another corridor. “Reinforced lead walls. No-one's allowed down here except members of staff with special clearance. John Tarmey isn't even mentioned on most of the patient lists. He's like a ghost patient, someone who doesn't really exist, but then sometimes you hear him yelling at night so, er, I think he
is
real. I don't really know, though. It's hard in a place like this, you never really know if maybe you're imagining stuff, but I know other people have heard Tarmey yelling. Or maybe I imagined that too. It's complicated. What do you think? Do you understand?”

I start walking toward the door. “I understand, Alex,” I say. “Are you coming?”

“I'll wait here,” he says. “Do you understand?”

I keep walking.

“Sophie!” Alex shouts.

I turn to look at him.

“I said I'll wait here. Do you understand?”

I nod. “Yes, Alex. I understand”. Sighing, I turn back and walk over to the door. I can tell immediately that it's a thick, sturdy door designed to keep something inside the room. There's a small glass window at eye-level, but it looks to be completely dark inside. I try the handle, but of course the door is locked.

“Hello?” I say, not too loud. I wait. If there's really someone in the room, will he even be able to hear me? “Are you there?” I wait a little longer. “John Tarmey, are you there? My name is Sophie Hart, I came to talk to you”.

After a moment, I hear a noise from inside the room. I can't even tell you what the noise is. It's a kind of shuffling sound, like someone moving about but... There's something odd about it, as if he's struggling with every step.

“Can I talk to you?” I ask. “It's just... I've heard some pretty interesting things about you, and this place is pretty boring, so I guess I've come to find out if you're as interesting as people say you are”.

I stare into the darkness visible through the little window, and suddenly I see a face emerging from the gloom. He's older than I expected, maybe in his 40s, with dark eyes and an intense stare.

“Can you hear me?” I ask.

“
I don't get many visitors,” he says. “Where are the guards?”

“
I don't think there are any,” I say, looking along the corridor. “You're in luck”.

“
Luck?” he asks. “I need guards. I need more guards. But... even then, they won't be much use”.

“
My name's Sophie,” I say. “You're John, right?”

“
What do you know about me?” he snaps back, his voice filled with fear and suspicion.

“
Just your name,” I say, “and the fact that you're down here and almost no-one upstairs talks about you or seems to know anything about you. And judging by this door, it looks like someone's really keen to keep you locked in this room. Why are they so determined to keep you locked up?”

“
They're not,” he says. “They want me to come out of here, but I won't. You have to tell them to stop trying to get me out. I'm staying here forever. Until the whole fucking planet crumbles to dust and gets blown away on the solar winds, and even then, I'll stay in here”.

“
Pretty dramatic,” I say. “What's so special about that room, anyway?”

“
You wouldn't like the perfect room?” John asks. “If you found the one perfect room in the whole universe, the room with everything that you could possibly want, would you ever want to leave?”

I think about it for a moment. “I don't think I'd want to live in one room all my life,” I say eventually.

“You don't understand,” he says. “But you will. You all will. Because sooner or later, this whole fucking place is going to come tumbling down, and you'll all die unless you give him what you want. Then you'll understand. You'll all be begging for mercy. Not from me. From
him
. But I'll be watching. And I'll be safe, in here. I'll be watching you all die from this little window”.

I look into his eyes. He seems to really believe what he's saying, although that doesn't mean too much. Upstairs, there's a guy who constantly talks about aliens who landed in the car park last week and put a probe up his butt. He seems to really believe what he's saying, too. Then again, the difference with John Tarmey is that he doesn't seem to be trying to sound convincing. In fact, John Tarmey sounds so far 'out there', it's impossible to entirely dismiss what he's saying. Plus, there's the question of why Dr. Penfold and his colleagues have apparently agreed to let John stay down here. Why haven't they just hauled him out of the room and made him face his fears?

“I just want to talk,” I say.

“
There's no-one here,” he replies. “I died a long time ago. I'm just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up”.

“
You remind me of someone I know,” I tell him. The truth is, he reminds me a little of Patrick. But at least this guy can, or will, talk to me.

“
That's not a good thing,” he replies. “You should get out of here. It's not a safe place for you to be”.

“
Having fun?” asks a voice from behind me.

I turn to find Dr. Lucas has crept up on me. I look back at the door and see John Tarmey's face withdrawing into the shadows.

“You're not supposed to be down here,” Dr. Lucas says. “But I kind of feel like you know that already, don't you?”

I look back along the corridor. Where the hell is Alex? He was supposed to warn me if anyone was coming. “Well...” I say, mumbling slightly. “I didn't say any signs specifically telling me
not
to come down here”.

Lucas puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me away from John Tarmey's door. I like Dr. Lucas; he's fairly young and he doesn't seem to have that cold, harsh demeanor that defines Dr. Penfold. “John Tarmey is a very special patient,” he says. “We don't talk about him much because, well, we don't really know what we're doing with him. And to be honest, we treat him differently to how we treat the rest of you. And we can't let people know that, because consistency is the key thing”.

We get to the end of the corridor, and Alex is waiting around the corner.

“
Sorry,” Alex says. “He snuck up on me. Do you understand?”

“
Yeah,” I say. “He snuck up on me too”.

“
You can't come down here again,” Dr. Lucas says to us. “John Tarmey is completely off limits. In fact, this whole basement area is off limits. You're not allowed in this part of the building, and you have to obey the rules”.

Realizing that it's pointless to argue with him, I nod and act all passive. “Sorry, Dr. Lucas,” I say. “We won't come down here again”.

I'm not sure he entirely falls for my attempt to seem innocent, but eventually he turns to Alex and pats him on the shoulder. “Scoot off upstairs, Alex. I need to show Sophie something in private”.

“
Okay,” says Alex, turning and walking away. Now
there's
a display of passivity that's completely genuine.

“
Come on, Soph,” says Alex, leading me along a corridor. “It's alright if I call you Soph, isn't it?”

“
I prefer Sophie,” I say. After all, it's only one extra syllable.

“
Okay, Sophie,” he says as we reach a set of steps and head up. “We're going to try something different with you today. That's why I came to find you. And I think it's going to be fun”.

When we get upstairs, Dr. Lucas opens the back door and indicates that I should go out into the garden. As soon as I step outside, however, I realize there are four rather large men waiting for me, with a van. I turn back to Dr. Lucas.

“Don't be alarmed, Sophie,” he says. “They're just going to take you to another facility for some treatment that we can't give you here. You'll be back with us by dinner. It's just a little road trip for a few hours. Is that okay?”

I look at the men. They don't look particularly friendly. In fact, dressed all in black, they seem kind of intimidating.

“I'd rather not,” I say, turning to go back inside. Inevitably, Dr. Lucas puts a firm hand on my shoulder.

“
I'd like you to go by choice,” he says, “but if you refuse, I can have these gentlemen take you by force”.

“
Does Dr. Penfold know about this?” I ask.

“
It's Dr. Penfold's idea,” Dr. Lucas says. “He's always been a proponent of electro-shock treatment and -”

“
Electro-shock?” I ask, interrupting him. “You're not doing that to me!”

“
Relax,” he says. “It's not like you see in movies. It's not big jolts of electricity to your head. It's a series of very thin wires inserted into your brain and stimulated with relatively small currents. You'll barely notice it”.

I look at the four men waiting for me, and the large, dark van.

“I don't think I want to go,” I say, trying to stall for time while I think of a more effective way out of this.

“
You'll be glad of it once it's over,” says Dr. Lucas.

At that moment, something strange happens. Something I never expected, something I never saw coming. As I look at the van, I start to cry. It's completely irrational, and it makes no sense at all. I've never been much of a crier, but tears start rolling down my face. “I don't want to go,” I say, trying to sound firm despite my lower lip starting to wobble. I turn and try to walk back into the building, but Dr. Lucas grabs me and then the four other men come over and start pulling me toward the van.

“No!” I shout. “No!”

“
See you this evening, Sophie,” says Dr. Lucas, smiling. “It'll be fine, I promise you. I wouldn't let them take you if I had any doubts that this is the best course of action for you”.

"I'll show you!" I shout. "I'll take you to where he lives! I'll take you straight to his house! I'll even take you to Gothos!"

Although I struggle as hard as I can, I can't stop the men getting me to the van and throwing me into the back. They slam the door shut and lock it before they go around to climb in at the front.

Dr. Lucas comes over to the van door. “Please don't cry,” he says. “We have to think about the baby as well now. If you've given birth, there's a baby out there and God knows where it is or who's looking after it. We have to get your head in gear so we can help you and help your baby”.

“Patrick has it,” I say through the tears.

“
Patrick's not real,” says Dr. Lucas. “Therefore, Patrick doesn't have your baby. Let's just hope that someone's taking care of it, okay? There are...” He pauses, seemingly a little uncomfortable. “Well, Sophie, there are consequences for you if it turns out that you gave birth and then you allowed any harm to come to your baby. So it's in your own best interests for us all to get this resolved as quickly as possible”. He bangs the side of the van. “If we don't do this, something bad might happen”.

The engine starts and the van starts to pull away. I stare at Dr. Lucas as he, and the facility, recede into the distance. There's no way I can allow this to happen. I can't have electro-shock therapy. There's nothing wrong with me, apart from maybe a spot of amnesia... well, okay, apparently a whole year of amnesia, but I don't need electro-shock to get me out of this mess. I need to get in touch with Patrick and find out what the hell he's done to me. As the van speeds away from the facility, I start banging on the sides. They have to let me out of here. They have to let me go and find Patrick. They have to understand!