Page 44
Someone was here recently. No one uses this bathroom but me.
I spy on my parents for a moment. Beth is at the kitchen table, my father is rubbing her back, consoling her as she cries.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
How do they not hear it? It echoes throughout the entire house.
“Something’s wrong with her, Jake. She’s lying to everyone. We’re losing her. She’s spiraling back into that dark place.”
I slide back into the shadows of the hallway, eavesdropping.
“Just give her some time. Maybe being here will help her.”
Beth whispers, “No. She’s hallucinating and hurting herself again. I saw her bruises. She can’t be left alone at all. Not until Regina fixes her. She’s paranoid, and I don’t know what she might do to herself.”
Drip. Drip. Drip.
My head snaps around, eyes wide and fixed on the offender. I clamp my hands over my ears, but the relentless drip, drip, drip echoes like a maddening rhythm that consumes my entire existence.
My terror turns into simmering rage that boils over, and I stomp over to it and begin to fiddle with the faucet. “Turn this thing off,” I scream, fiddling with it until I pull so hard on the lever.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
For a few seconds, I’m lost to that horrible memory of me shattering my face during my insanity. The moment I sensed someone in the darkness, yet no one was there.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
I let out a bloodcurdling scream and pound on the mirror so hard the glass shatters. I curl up, gripping my bleeding hand as my parents come rushing in. I stare up at my dad with wide eyes.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Jake rushes up to me, checking me over. “Make it stop. Please stop. I need you to make it stop…”
He grabs my shoulders. “Make what stop, Laylabug?”
I calm my shaky breath. “The dripping sound,” I choke out.
My parents make eye contact, and I’ve never felt so small. He fiddles with the faucet and finally makes that dripping stop. My body relaxes instantly, but the damage is done. Jake grabs the small of my back and pulls me into his arms. Beth cowers back into the kitchen, keeping her distance from me.
Jake quietly pulls a piece of glass from my hand and helps me clean the wound. I barely react to the pain. He takes me into the kitchen, and Beth smiles at me like I’m made of glass. “Everything okay now?” she asks.
“Just a slight scrape, nothing to get worked up about,” Jake says.
My body is still shaking as a silence fills the room. I need to explain myself. I can explain this…
My voice comes out shallow. “The entire time I was in that bunker, all I could hear was a dripping faucet in the dark. I can’t stand that sound anymore. It’s triggering.”
Beth opens her mouth to say something, and Jake puts his arms around me. “I’ll get it fixed.”
“Funny,” Beth says, frowning. “I don’t recall it ever leaking like that before.”
That’s because it wasn’t leaking…Someone was in here.
Jake piles on a few pancakes onto a plate and slides it in front of me. “Did you sleep well? Would you like some pancakes before you meet Gabriella and Keely?”
“Wait.” Beth lurches up. “She’s not leaving. She’s in no condition to leave the house.”
Jake grabs a pancake and takes a bite. “Of course she is. The girl can’t get back to normal if she doesn’t go back to normal. And seeing her friends is good for her.”
