Unhinged (20 page)

Grateful, I smile at her. The weight of the
world and what I’ve gone through these past few days just a little
bit lighter knowing I could help someone I love. More than help, it
seems. There’s just one more worry lurking in the back of my mind.
No longer afraid, I take Mary’s hand into mine and I’m exceedingly
relieved when she doesn’t shy away in fear, but rather meets me
halfway, eager to touch me.

“So, we’re okay too?” I ask shyly.

Mary smiles and pulls me closer for a gentle
embrace. “Of course we are, sweetie. Nothing you could ever do or
say would make me love you any less.”

I let out the breath I was holding, a weight
on my heart lifted. But I begin to worry I’m perhaps wrong when I
see the smile fade from Mary’s face.

Her eyes are serious as she says her next
words. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t hurt for you, or wish the
evil in this world would just pass you by. It seems like fate has a
different destiny for you. A fate I can’t help you with or lead you
away from. A destiny you alone can choose to fulfill or disregard.
But I promise you one thing, my sweet Aimee, I’ll protect you as
much as I can.”

I smile at Mary and hug her, forever grateful
to have someone like her in my life. And not a little bit scared of
it as well. “Honestly, that’s what worries me. After all that’s
happened, I don’t think I can protect you from anything.”

“The people you love aren’t here for you to
protect. It’s the other way around. Our love is what protects you.
Without it, I fear we would lose you to the darkness forever. Our
love is your light whenever you feel yourself falling into
darkness. Cling to it. That’s the only way we can protect each
other.”

Moved by Mary’s words, I hug her fiercely,
hoping she never let’s go. Reminded of darkness and convinced that
all is well between us, more pertinent things come to the forefront
of my mind. I break away from the hug, preparing to ask Mary if
she’s heard anything about Logan or Dejana, when the door to the
hospital room opens and in walks Dr. Evans. His normally perfect
hair is a snarled mess, his pristine lab coat is covered in
wrinkles, and his glasses sit askew on his face. I wonder if he
slept here last night. From the looks of it, he probably didn’t
sleep at all. He looks around the room quickly, taking in the scene
before him. He must be pleased with something because he nods his
head and wastes no time on pleasantries.

“I’ve searched the hospital and surrounding
area, but no sign of Logan or Dejana. Since they were in comas,
they couldn’t possibly have walked out of there on their own
accord. Sadly, there’s only surveillance inside the hospital and at
the front desk. Whoever took them had to have known that and
absconded with them out the back entrance where only the doctors
and nurses enter.”

I sit on the bed, unable to move. Fear for my
friends’ safety practically strangles me, choking me until I can’t
catch my breath. All the horrible memories inserted into their
subconscious rise up before me. If David is capable of hurting them
like that, what other horrible things does he have in mind to
torture them?

“He won’t hurt them,” states a voice softly
from the doorway.

I look up through blurry eyes and see Brett
standing alone by the door, his hand still on the knob. I look at
him skeptically. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because he needs them alive to draw you to
him. They’re bait, Aimee. He doesn’t really care about them. It’s
all about you.”

Deciding that makes sense, I don’t ask the
million questions that run through my head. The first being how in
the hell does he know anything about this David that’s left me
clues in the evil memories so viciously inserted into my friends
brains? And why wasn’t he around when I woke up? He’s been by my
side every minute for the last few days and suddenly, he disappears
just when I’m starting to trust him. Then it hits me, maybe he was
just as rattled as I was by the almost kiss. It has to be that, or
else he wouldn’t be standing there with his hands in his pockets,
shuffling back and forth on his feet, all the while looking at the
floor instead of me. It looks like we both regret our rash behavior
earlier. I decide to let my suspicions go since Brett’s been by my
side while everyone else has been taken from me. So far, he hasn’t
let me down.

“Okay then Mr. know it all.
You
can
help me figure out where he took them.” Finally feeling better, I
jump off the hospital bed and head for Brett at the door. As I
walk, I prepare myself for a long day ahead, even though I have no
idea where to start. Just as I pass, Dr. Evans grabs my arm in a
very uncharacteristic move and forces me to look at him. His eyes
are wild and his demeanor rattled. I never would have thought it
possible for a man that is always so in control to be
so…unhinged.

“You can’t go after him, Aimee,” he states
firmly, his grip on my arm painful.

I’m so shocked by his behavior, I’m rendered
speechless.

“Let go of her. Now,” growls Brett from the
door, his voice threatening. A tone I wouldn’t have thought him
capable of using.

Looking into Dr. Evans’s eyes, I’m unafraid,
even though the pain from his nails biting into my arm is
intensifying. Somehow, I innately know that he won’t hurt me. I
don’t see malice in his eyes; I see desperation, mixed with a heap
load of worry. Why would Dr. Evans care about what happens to me?
We only met a couple of days ago. My only guess is that he doesn’t
want to lose the one cursed person he can study; the only person
that can confirm what he believes and has researched about
memories.

Beside me, Brett moves forward, his face red
with anger and his fists clenched. I put my palm up towards him,
halting his advance, and shake my head. He seems to get the hint
that I don’t want him to interfere, even if he isn’t happy about
it. Slowly and purposefully, as if I’m dealing with a wild animal,
I place my gloved hand on top of Evans’s and slowly put pressure
underneath his fingers, trying to get him to release his death
grip.

“I won’t let him hurt me, Doctor. I promise
that no matter what happens, I’ll come back to help you with your
research.”

“Research?” he asks, puzzled. Then suddenly,
a switch clicked in his brain and the light comes back into his
eyes, along with clarity of purpose. He releases my arm and I
instantly begin to rub the pain away. I look over at Brett, his
rage threatening to boil over.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what came over me,”
says the doctor sheepishly.

“No worries, Doc, but I have to go and find
my friends. You have my number if anything changes. Please take
care of Mary for me,” I say as I take one look back at Mary to say
goodbye.

She nods her head at me, clearly more
optimistic about my abilities to conquer than I am. “Be safe,
sweetie,” she whispers from across the room.

“I’ll do my best, Mom,” I respond before I
grab Brett’s arm and shove him out the door, closing it, sealing in
all the good and bad memories behind us.

Once outside and away from Evans and Mary, I
turn to Brett and face him determinedly. “Are you under control?
Because if I’m going to find Logan and Dejana, I need you all in.
So tell me now. Are you with me or not? Because I don’t have time
to waste. My friends’ lives are at stake.”

Brett sighs heavily as he shakes his head to
clear it. “Sorry. Not sure what came over me, but I’m good
now.”

I look into his eyes for any sign that he too
may have been infected with evil memories, but all I see is clear
sparkling blue regarding me with obvious affection he can’t seem to
hide. Affection way beyond what one should feel after spending just
a few short days together. And there’s something else lurking there
just beneath the surface that I can’t quite put my finger on. A
longing of sorts, but for what, I can’t see. My eyes fall to his
lips and memories of wondering what he tastes like come back to me.
Embarrassed I look away, trying to clear my thoughts for the task
ahead.

“Okay,” I say, not quite believing him, but
not wanting to waste any more time on it. “First thing we have to
do is search each of their rooms for any clue David may have left
behind. If you say he wants me, I bet he left something for me to
find.”

Brett nods his head in agreement. “I’ll drive
us over there and we can go into the hospital using the same door
the doctors do—less questions that way. Once in, I’ll take Dejana’s
room, you can take Logan’s. Text me if you find anything.”

“Wait,” I say, stopping him in mid stride as
he’s starting to run away down the hall. “How are we going to get
in through the doctor entrance? Last time I checked, we weren’t
doctors. And how do you know what rooms they were in?”

“I have Dr. Evan’s I.D. card and he told me
the room numbers while you were sleeping. I have a very good
memory. Now, once we get there, you just go straight down the main
hallway and Logan’s room is the fifth door on the right—224.
Dejana’s room is down the opposite hall. If you see anyone
suspicious, just yell. I should be able to hear you.”

I look at Brett, so sure of himself in every
situation, and wonder if I’ll ever be that confident when it comes
to my place in the world. I try not to think about how he knows all
that he does and just concentrate on being grateful that he’s
helping me. Still, something pricks at my subconscious, something
that isn’t quite right about Brett, but I simply don’t have time to
figure it out now. There’s bigger fish to fry.

I nod at Brett, silently telling him that I
understand what to do, and take off at a run down the hall towards
the entrance where the parking lot is located. Luckily, it doesn’t
take very long to get to the main hospital and we successfully
enter through the portal for the resident doctors, no one the wiser
that two teenagers are loose in the hospital.

The minute I’m through the portal, I run down
the main corridor, counting the doors as I go. I finally arrive at
room 224 and quickly slide open the heavy hospital door. The room
is just like Mary’s in that it has white walls, speckled ceilings,
and washed out pictures of pretty scenes. The big difference is
that Logan’s room is filled with flowers and get well cards. So
many that they ran out of room and had to start lining the walls
with presents. Logan always has been very popular. Seeing his room
inundated with so much love should make me feel better, but it only
serves to make me feel guilty. While he’s been in a coma, battling
demons put there because of me, I’ve been almost kissing his best
friend.

Guilt strangles me. I have to find Logan and
make this right. I need to show him I love him more than any of
these people who sent flowers or cards ever could. He trusted me to
keep him safe and I failed—a mistake I intend to make right no
matter what the cost.

I begin to rummage around the room, looking
for any clue that could lead me to David. I looked through his bed
first, hoping he left a note for me there, but no such luck. I look
on the end tables and in the closets, but can’t find anything out
of the ordinary. I look through the flowers hastily just to see if
there was anything that caught my eye, but each is your
garden-variety-sympathy bouquet from the local florist. Nothing out
of the ordinary is screaming ‘I’m a psycho. Come find me!
’
I
skim the dozens of get well cards that litter his windowsill.
We
miss you
…
Praying for you
…
Game isn’t the same without
you, dude
... My desperation grows as I rummage through them,
leaving a jumbled pile on the floor.

I’m finally about to give up when a
particular card catches my eye. I climb on the bed so I can reach
it and rip it down from the window. Staring at me up from the front
of the card is a lighthouse. My mind is buzzing. The memory I
encountered in Logan’s head of the schizophrenic girl mentioned
something about a light. What was that exactly? Ugh! I slap my
forehead trying to remember. I pace the room, willing my mind to
work. Finally, it comes back to me. Her high-pitched voice in the
dungeon saying, “You will find him by the house made of light.
There, the two will become one.”

House made of light
. Could it be a
lighthouse? Is that what she meant? I look on the back, hoping to
find a clue, but it looks like a normal greeting card. I open it,
expecting to see a message of hope for Logan, but it’s blank, save
a few numbers and a couple of sentences. My breath catches in my
throat as the card drops from my hand and I leave the room
screaming Brett’s name.

It’s an address. And just below, written in
blood, are the words:
Come alone
.

Chapter
Twenty-Four

~ Fate Can’t Be Changed ~

“No!
Absolutely not, Aimee. I forbid
it,” Brett yells as I blow through the front doors of the hospital,
keys in hand.

“Who do you think you are, Brett? You can’t
forbid me to do anything. I’m going, you’re staying, and that’s
that. It’s like you said, he wants me. If you come with, he’ll
probably kill you.”

“Which is the exact reason why I
should
go! He took them to lure you to this place. I’m sure
he isn’t planning dinner followed by a game of Uno. He wants to
kill
you. Doesn’t that register at all?”

Frustrated and in a hurry, I stop abruptly
and face Brett. “Look, you don’t really know me or my life, so I
get that you don’t understand why, but I
have
to go after
him. I’ve been running from this asshole all my life. And now, he
has my friends. I can’t run anymore, Brett. I have to do what I can
to save them. If that means sacrificing my life, then so be
it.”

Brett looks at me startled, as if he’s seeing
the real me for the first time. “You really mean it, don’t you? You
would sacrifice yourself for them?”