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We’re notregularpatients.
And Kayla is going to learn that slowly. We may be pawns, but we hold all the power in this place. It’ll be fun watching her figure that out. Though I suspect she’s used to getting her own way and will get there faster than the rest of us did.
The others are finishing up pudding when the doors to the dining room reopen. I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth, despite my name, so I just sip my water. Director Seytan walks in, her face an unreadable mask. Nothing good ever comes of that woman deigning to grace us with her presence, and usually we’re all pretty okay with that.
No staff follow behind her. Interesting. She normally only approaches us with her bodyguards. I wonder if it’s the alarm that’s caused her to break protocol, or Kayla’s arrival?
“Residents,” she begins, her nasal voice, cold and haughty. “There has been a serious incident involving a member of staff and Rat.”
“Who?” I ask, slightly guarded. Fingers are quick to get pointed in a place like this, and things can often become heated. As in, hot blood on the cold floor, heated.
“It was counsellor Jen.”
“Is she okay?” Ghost asks. His face is unreadable but I can hear the quiver in his question. He means, is she alive? He liked Jen. She’s the only counsellor I’ve ever seen him open up to.
I’m holding my breath to find out.
The director’s response is curt. “No.”
There’s a sigh amongst us, but we’re unsurprised. We get through staff quickly here, particularly when tempers are running high or if we’ve been unable to practise our skill set in a while. Around the table there’s an air of disappointment, and I know that it’s because we all liked Jen. She was one of the better counsellors. Far too idealistic, sure, but her heart was in the right place, despite me threatening to carve it out once or twice.
Like I said, tempers, emotions, body counts, they all run high here.
Shame. I hope her replacement manages to last a little longer.
“What happened to her?” Kayla asks. We all stare at her. It’s a question we never ask. It’s like asking what we’reinfor. Nope. That information is sacred, shared only at a time of our choosing. Never ask what happened to the staff, never ask who did it.
“She was killed by Rat.”
I’m surprised the Director answered her to be honest. She’s not usually very forthcoming with information.
Kayla blinks. Then she leans forward as if being closer somehow will get her answers even faster. “How?”
The Director’s voice is a whip. “That is on a strictly need to know basis, Miss Kingfisher. And you donotneed to know that.”
“I disagree.”
Her defiant tone raises eyebrows all around the table. No one ever talks back to the director. Night looks like he’s holding back another laugh, and even Bones looks a little impressed at the balls on her.
“Excuse me?” It’s a challenge, not an invitation, but Kayla chooses to ignore the warning in her tone. Sheisballsy, I’ll give her that.
“You have a resident that just killed a female member of staff. A resident who, only a few minutes before, assaulted me. As the only female resident here by the looks of things, I think I deserve to know Rat’s MO so that I can protect myself against him in the future. By any means necessary.”
There’s an astonished silence.
“If you must know, he gutted her with a concealed weapon and, even though she was able to raise the ‘man down’ alarm, she was dead by the time the staff arrived on the scene. Rat was busy feasting on her intestines and so was easily detained.”
“Is that why he was called Rat then? Because he feasts on human flesh?”
“Enough, Miss Kingfisher. Rat will no longer be an issue, so you have no reason to fear for your safety with him.”
“Why did you tell me then?”
“Because he isn’t the only dangerous person in this place, and you’d do well to remember that. Mr Forest, please show Miss Kingfisher to her room. She must be tired after all of the drama of her first day.”
“I amnottired!” Kayla protests, cheeks flushed with indignation, as Hatchet gets to his feet and crosses over to her. Wordlessly he waits for her to stand, and when she doesn’t, on a nod from the director, he takes her arm and gently pulls her to her feet.
“Get your hands off me!” She snarls, pulling out of his grip. Hatchet holds up his hands in defence. She doesn’t whip out the knife that she still has hidden up the sleeve of her jumpsuit, so I’m guessing her anger is for show or misplaced maybe. If she were really pissed at him touching her, I’m sure he’d be bleeding out already.
