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“I owe it to them to deliver justice.”
After chaining Belinda to the white-tiled wall, the hose is turned on. And I don’t turn it off until Belinda has asphyxiated.
Meridei
I’m ashamed of how long it takes me to open the study door. But hearing Belinda scream gives me pause. My hand twists the glass doorknob, and I blink quickly, ridding myself of the possibility that Patient Thirteen is back.
It wouldn’t be the first time he’s torn the place apart for this fucking woman. When they escaped last time, I was certain he’d come for me. Make good on his threat after I whipped Skylenna in front of him. Belinda said I was being paranoid, but that night at my dining party was excruciating. I stayed up sick all night, as did the rest of my guests. I don’t know how he managed to break into my house and poison an already sealed champagne bottle, but I’ll admit it’s the first time I felt true terror.
I peek out of the cracked door, only for a second. My breath catches, and I shut it before I can blink the images away. “What in the hell?” I whisper to myself.
The orderlies hang from the ceiling, swaying and turning in a half circle before rotating the other way. Their mouths are hanging open, with purplish faces and bloodshot eyes.
Patient Thirteen is back. He must be. For Skylenna.
And I’ll be the person he’ll want to hurt the most. If he was willing to murder these orderlies in such a theatric way, I know I’m on his list to hunt down. I just have to get out of here before he can find me.
I blow out a stressed breath, opening the door so slowly that the creaking is hardly audible. My feet slip out of my heels and delicately step onto the black-and-white-checkered tiles. Sweat slickens my back, and I grimace at how weak my body is for giving in to the fear so easily.
He probably just wants to get Skylenna and get out. He may already be gone.
I walk quickly through the hallway, breathing shallowly, avoiding the orderly’s shoes I have to duck under. The sound of dripping water tugs my attention to the treatment room on my left. I lock eyes with a woman slumped in a tub, panting in a delirious haze.
“Suseas?” I whisper, tiptoeing in the room filled with a thick fog of steam.
Shit. He put her in the scalding bath treatment.
She parts her lips, trying to answer me, but only exhales as her eyes flutter, trying to stay open. I kneel in a warm puddle of water, crouching over her with steam collecting over my brow. My hands hook under her arms so I can lift her out. I hiss at the temperature.
Suseas is naked and covered in blisters. Her skin looks like a pruned tomato, withered around her bony hips.
“I’ll get you out of here,” I say under my breath.
But she shakes her head. “Get—out.”
I roll my eyes and bear down my teeth while I try to hoist her out of the tub. We both suck in a pained breath as the boiling water licks our exposed flesh. There’s a clinking sound against the tub. I look for the source, only to be greeted with a devastating wave of dread.
He shackled her to the pipes. How the hell am I going to get her out without getting his attention?
“Damnit.”
Suseas tries to say something, her cracked lips mouthing words that don’t make a sound. I drop her back into the tub slowly, breathing through the jarring heat.
“I should have drowned that little insect when I had the chance,” I grit out, glaring at the ripples in the water. “Both of them.”
Anger flares through my chest. I use the memories of locking Skylenna in the isolation tank to calm me down so I can focus. She screamed for her deranged sister. Her cries filled the hallways, and I simply leaned against the wall, smiling. Even if Patient Thirteen gets the better of me today, I don’t regret putting Skylenna in her place.
When you’re new to a culture, you should be doing whatever you can to make everyone like you. Accept the hazing given. Do what you’re told. And don’t try to change the good thing we had going. Her sister tried the same thing before she got here, and we made her employment hell. It’s the law of the animal kingdom.
Suseas paws at my hand resting on the edge of the tub. Drool drizzles from the corner of her mouth as she desperately tries to speak.
“What should I do?” I ask her.
Her eyes start to roll back in her head, so I pat her flushed cheeks to get her to focus. I don’t know how much time I have to escape, but if I have to, I’ll leave Suseas for dead. Sure, she’s been an excellent mentor. But if I’m being honest, I am the reason this asylum has thrived. I am the only person that could successfully rebuild this establishment after such a travesty.
“Shh—” Suseas tries to speak again, this time with a determination blazing in her drooping eyes.
My fists clench until my fingernails are cutting into my palms. “What? Spit it out!”
