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Even as I struggled to find my breath and my composure, I felt better than I had in days. There was some truth in his words. His absence had left my brain foggy and my body tired. It wasn’t until he’d swept into my life just now and disappeared again that I realized what it was. Somehow I’d grown as dependent on him as he was me, feeding off of his energy much the way Drake fed from mine. Maybe it was in my head, but the thought was oddly reassuring.
Like with Kol, the connection to Monty was strong and strange. They consumed me, owned me, and I longed for every fucking second of it.
ChapterEight
Harlow
Friday Morning
First Floor Group Therapy
“Our inner demons are something we are forced to face,” Dr. Bradley said to the group, but we all burst into laughter at the mention of demons. He stuttered over whatever he was saying next before stopping completely.
“Why fight inner ones when we can fight the demons in these halls,” Layne deadpanned. “It’s more satisfying.”
“The smell is awful, though,” Hiro countered.
“This is not funny, kids,” Dr. Bradley blustered. “You should respect the help you receive here at Dark Haven.”
“Help? People are literally being killed in the halls,” Drake said in a calm tone that had Bradley glaring. All thoughts of Mr. Rogers were gone, he was now livid.
“Was this really necessary? Pretending is just weird now,” I asked Drake who looked like he was having far too much fun. He’d been true to his word and was showing up more and more over the last week. That and he got us our meds steadily, thanks to getting Nurse Drew back in place. It was nice to have a sense of normalcy again, even if it was fleeting.
“Did you know Dr. Bradley is not actually a doctor?” Drake revealed. The man in question turned white at Drake’s words.
“What?” Layne and Crew asked simultaneously.
“What is he?” Hiro asked, sounding as confused as I was.
Drake waited, watching Bradley stand and clench his fists. His face went from stark white to vivid red.
“He’s just like us. Had so much therapy that he started to pretend to make himself feel better. Vane found out and kept him,” he taunted. “It’s interesting the things I can find hidden away in Vane’s office since he abandoned it.”
“That is alie,” Bradley spit, stalking toward Drake who stood to confront him. Drake had a good two feet on the man but apparently he was full of audacity today. “You have no evidence of your accusations. I am a trained professional.”
“What college did you go to?” Hiro asked. He made it seem innocent but the smirk was unmistakable.
“I... uh, went to Harvard,” he blurted, fumbling over the words.
“No you didn’t,” Drake said. “You didn’t even get a high school diploma. Your name isn’t even Bradley, it’s Charles Dunn. You were admitted for psychosis originally and then were diagnosed here by—”
“Stop!” Bradley lunged then, but Drake easily sidestepped so he ended up sprawled on the floor with the breath knocked out of him. “Vane will hear of this!”
Drake walked over and crouched down so he was more on his level. “Good. Tell him Drake says hi and that I’m looking for him.”
“You’ll never find him!” he yelled, scurrying to his feet and out of the room, leaving all of his notes behind. Which Layne promptly snatched up.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Layne said before barking out a laugh that turned hysterical. She was doubled over crying by the time I stood and went over to her, taking away the notebook and looking at it.
The notes ‘Bradley’ had been taking all this time were just stick drawings of his patients. The current one had Drake on the floor with broken legs, Layne had wild hair and huge boobs, Crew had huge clown feet and a smirk, and Hiro had two heads. Mine was drawn with two x’s over my eyes which made it more sinister, but it was so ridiculous I couldn’t even complain.
“Apparently Layne was his favorite. What a creep. I knew that his advice was too horrible to be professional,” I said, shaking my head and passing it to Hiro with his hand out waiting patiently.
“Two heads, at least that part is a bit clever.” He laughed. “But I’d say he’s in with Vane. Look at his two targets.”
“I know he is,” Drake said. “Vane’s office has more locks than necessary, but I’ve broken more than a few of them. I found a staff file, half of which he openly falsified their credentials. In fact, attached to Bradley’s was his former patient file. He took on the identity of his therapist and Vane let it happen.”
“Why am I not even surprised?” Hiro groaned. “That’s so fucked up, though. We knew Dark Haven had some skeletons, but this is turning into a whole ass graveyard.”
