AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lennon shakes her head with a small, unhappy smile. “Not a one. They all make me pliant or paralyzed,” she explains.
“Fuck that,” I mutter. Walking her out, no one is around as we slowly move towards her room. “I have to leave after I get you settled. I’m sure there are listening devices inside, so we can’t talk anymore, okay?”
Lennon nods, taking a steadying breath as she walks. I fucking hate that I have to leave her here. As I enter the number, I see Eric hovering around the corner, muttering to himself before entering a room marked for staff. This will be easy pickings. There is a card hanging from his belt, which should get me out a side door to my car easily.
Opening the door to Lennon’s room, I see red. It really is nothing better than a fucking cell. The walls are padded, there’s a blanket halfway across the space that’s ignored or forgotten, and there’s not a bed.
“Fuck me,” I mutter under my breath and Lennon hums in something resembling laughter. This isn’t funny though, and I promise myself she won’t have to stay here long.
I just hope I’m not lying to myself.
Lennon strides across the space, dropping against a corner of the cell to curl up against. I stare at her for a moment, knowing I have to leave immediately or I won’t be able to. Lennon simply shrugs slightly as if to say, “welcome to my life”.
Slowly releasing the air in my chest, I hold onto the pain as my body asks me to take my next breath. Swallowing hard, I close the door before I let myself breathe. Forcing myself to walk away feels like leaving a part of myself behind. I don’t understand this obsession, this kindred feeling for this girl.
I release a prayer into the world to a God that I may not believe in that she’ll be able to move past this when she leaves. Striding into the room Lennon had ‘therapy’ in, I quickly locate the usb drive and stick it in my pocket. I doubt Xav will think about it again now that it’s served its purpose.
Once I complete this, I stalk Eric through the halls. Forcing my face into an amenable smile, I knock on the staff door, hoping he’s the only one there. If he’ll walk me to the door, I’m more likely to be able to kidnap him without too many witnesses. This place has a surprising lack of recording devices. There’s no cameras in any of the hallways or ‘exam’ rooms.
It’s the perfect way to get away with the most depraved things… which I guess is the point.
“Yeah? I thought you’d be long gone by now,” Eric chuckles as he opens the door.
“Dude,” I sigh with a small shrug, playing off an exasperation I don’t feel. “I’m all turned around. Would you mind walking me out? I feel so silly—”
Eric shakes his head as he listens. “Nah, I get it. I was lost for weeks after I started here. I got you,” he says, letting the door shut behind him. “Where did you park?”
Walking beside him, I say, “I parked in the front, in the numbered spot the guard told me to. I didn’t think anything of it.”
“No, that’s a good spot to park, the only thing is you have to cross the entire hospital to get there, unless you have one of these,” Eric smirks as he picks up the key card.
Huh… the douche canoe is already showing me his tricks and I haven’t had to make him squeal yet. Eric runs his card by a door, and as he opens it I realize it’s the employee hallways that cut through the hospital. Walking quickly, he makes quick work of crossing the building, while I’m quickly cataloging every exit and entry point we pass. The moment we find out where this god-forsaken place is, it’s game over for these people.
As we come to the end, he swipes the card one last time, and we come out right beside the front parking lot. Reaching over, I throw my arm over his shoulder. “You’ve been incredibly helpful, and I want to show my gratitude,” I purr. Even I am surprised by my acting skills as I pull him close to me.
“That’s really nice of you, but I only like to fuck pussy—” Eric protests, but my large hand has already made its way to grasp the pressure points behind his ears, pressing firmly against them.
Putting my hand over his mouth, I stoically watch him flail, until he sags against me. Silently, I pick my prize up in a fireman’s carry, and jog to my car to deposit him in my trunk. Grinning, I find duct tape, and I know this is a working car my father or Grant uses often. There’s even plastic lining the trunk.
Taping his mouth, I drop Eric in, looking forward to releasing some stress from tonight and finding some answers. I may even invite Derek to help. Shutting the trunk, I whistle under my breath as I get in the car, finding the navigation already set for home.
Only instead of a three hour drive, it’s four. Fucking awesome.
17
LENNON
VelvetEscapepulls me out of an exhausted sleep. Shuddering as I wake up, I hear my sister’s gorgeous voice singing… at a decibel way above screaming. Wincing, I rest my head against the wall, remembering the events from yesterday.
I guess I’m done sleeping for now.
I never got the name of the man who helped torture me with Xav and then clean me up afterwards. How fucked up is it that I imagine him as a sort of hero? He helped me without asking for anything in return, and then kept me from killing myself.
Basic human kindness, but even then I think the act of helping me was foreign for him. There’s an intense darkness I felt when he spoke to me, one that pulled me to him. He also refused to shy away from the reality of my situation. If what he says is true, then the staff at this hospital want me to believe everyone has turned their backs on me.
“I just want my sister to be proud of me. I know she would want me to take over her tour, to continue to create music. Even… if she can’t be with me while she’s healing,”Layla says over the speakers.
The person broadcasting the words then remixes what she says by repeating parts of her speech over and over. Closing my eyes, I roll my lips inward to keep myself from screaming. God, they really have the art of making someone insane down pat. Breathing slowly, I curl my toes as tightly as possible and then release them. The parts they have Layla repeating makes it sound like I’m dead.
