“It was careless, not to mention against the rules. You shouldn’t be smoking around the patients. I’ll be informing Dr. Peaslee about this infraction.” Nurse Waterford stepped back, her sodden uniform clinging to her body. She panted hard as she stared at the charred circle on the path.
I’d set that fire from a hundred feet away, from across the other side of the pond, and it hadn’t felt like any great effort. I was confident that I hadn’t even touched the limit of what I could do. As soon as the flames left my hand, they no longer listened to me – but I didn’t need them to.
All I needed them to do was burn a path to freedom.
Chapter Five
I had two more outdoor exercise sessions before my operation. On the next one, I begged to be put into the group who would walk a circuit of the grounds. Nurse Waterford looked skeptical, but Dr. Peaslee patted me on the shoulder.
“Hazel has been a model patient these last couple of weeks,” he said. “I think she deserves a treat before her big stay at the hospital. Isn’t that right, Hazel?”
I hope you choke on a diseased dick.I nodded. “Sure. That’d be nice. Thank you.”
I trailed behind the group, my arm linked with a slight girl of around twelve named Naomi who dragged her feet and stared around with vacant wide-eyed innocence. Was she a victim of Peaslee’s not-a-lobotomy? I tried not to shudder as I held her cool skin.
“Pretty,” Naomi said in a breathless whisper, but I didn’t know what she referred to. I followed Naomi’s gaze as the nurse pointed out opening flowers and animal statues hidden in the bushes. While the other inmates exclaimed over a tiger statue they’d seen a hundred times before, I scanned the perimeter for a weakness I could exploit.
A high stone wall surrounded the institute, overgrown in places by centuries of creeping vines. Patients must have tried to scale it in the past, because a line of barbed wire encircled the top of the wall.Yeah, right, we’re not prisoners here.I wasn’t escaping that way unless I could get my hands on some wire cutters.
Twin iron gates barred the front entrance, and a guard on duty 24/7 checked every vehicle that came in or out. I indulged a brief fantasy of hiding out in Dr. Peaslee’s car with a weapon I’d point at his throat, forcing him to drive me out of the compound… but then we stepped into the kitchen garden to see the herbs and vegetables the inmates tended, and I saw the perfect escape route.
The institute’s kitchen was a modern steel and concrete extension sandwiched between the old asylum building and the boundary wall. At the rear of the building, a small loading area for supplies was currently occupied with a delivery van. The kitchen staff unloaded crates of milk and instant mashed potatoes. The driver shut the doors and drove out through a small gate.
Awoodengate.
Beside me, Naomi whimpered. I relaxed my grip, realizing I’d been squeezing her hand so tight I’d crushed her fingers. Nurse Waterford frowned at me, and I plastered a huge smile on my face. This time, it wasn’t even a fake smile.
Back in my room that night, I dropped my pills into the toilet again.Plink, plink, plink.For the first time since I’d been imprisoned here, I imagined the faux concern of Ms. West and Vincent Bloomberg as they manipulated me to be their scapegoat, and I allowed myself a tiny smile at their expense.
You thought you rendered me powerless, but you’re about to find out just how wrong you are.
Trey appeared in my dreams that night, but I couldn’t reach him. I watched through a window at school as Ms. West dragged him into a classroom. Inside, his father loomed over him, his face twisted with malice. Behind him stood Damon Delacorte, grinning a smile that lacked all of his son’s warmth as he brandished a baseball bat.
“Trey, no!”
My fingers clawed at the window, but it was locked tight, the glass unyielding to my fists. Damon advanced, and the lights flickered out. Inside the classroom was darkness – the kind of darkness that had form and malice, that we had all been taught to fear. I banged on the window and called Trey’s name until my voice was hoarse. But I couldn’t penetrate the darkness…
I woke in a cold sweat, my hands coiled into aching fists, my throat scratchy, not sure where my dreams stopped and reality began. Was Trey all right? Were they hurting him? Did the lights go out so Damon could have his fun in the darkness, or because the god was there in the shadows, watching and waiting?
I have to get out of here. I have to save them all.
I dressed in my grey institution slacks and hoodie, tapping my feet with impatience while I waited for the orderlies to unlock the door. At breakfast, I scraped my porridge bowl clean and asked for seconds. Naomi saw me at the table and scooted away from me. In arts and crafts, I drew a picture of a nurse burning at the stake.Let Dr. Peaslee analyze that.
During therapy, Dr. Peaslee noted with satisfaction that he’d seen me walking around outside. “You seem to be accepting your place here, Hazel.”
Like fuck I am.I shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, about the surgery. I’m scared, but I don’t want to fight. I want to be better.”
He could barely keep the pleasure out of his voice. “You are remarkable, Hazel. I admire your strength and willingness to embrace the process, even when you feel afraid.”
“Thank you, sir.” I flashed him a smile worthy of an Oscar. “After the operation, will I get to go back to school?”
I didn’t mistake the flicker of deception in Peaslee’s eyes as he smiled again. “Of course. Maybe not right away – we’ll have to bring you back here to monitor for a few weeks. But there’s no reason you can’t finish out the year with your classmates. I bet they’ll be glad to see you’re okay.”
You’re lying.I had no idea how much Peaslee knew about the school and what went on there, but he was definitely covering up whatever vile thing they planned for me next. Luckily, I wasn’t going to stick around to find out what it was.
Warmth itched in my fingers as I rejoined the other inmates and we were led outside for our exercise. Again, I asked to be in the group walking the perimeter. I needed to time this just right.
I tried to join hands with Naomi again, but she shrunk away, so I was stuck with an elderly guy named George who drooled a lot and had fits. I sat next to George in art therapy, but he gave no indication he remembered who I was.
