“You think we’re friends?” he asks with a newfound hope glinting through his eyes.
“Depends.” I smirk.“Are you Cupid or Niles?”
He lets his head fall against the wall behind his bed.“Niles.” He sighs in defeat.
“Before I go, can I ask you a question?”
He trails the tip of his index finger over his bottom lip, then nods.
“Can you tell me anything about the thirteenth room?”
Nilesgrins a dangerously mischievous smile.
14. “I Knew You Would Come For Me.”
My father’s passion was architecture.
He built our house just outside the hidden red oak forest. It was a vessel for trapdoors and hidden compartments. He once said—A home isn’t a home unless you can hide your secrets deep within it.
Before his mind spun freely into madness, he wanted us to live deep in the heart of the red oaks. He planned to design a house on the cliff overlooking the lagoon, directly around the biggest red oak there, with the trunk as the core of the house.
And as I slip into my evening dress, removing my navy-blue asylum uniform, the stockings, and the leather heels—I wonder if I could still do it. He must have had blueprints for this dream home; he must have had it all planned out. My bedroom reminds me that this isnotmy life. The pink satin bedsheets, sheer canopy, and dazzling jewelry sparkling in the glow of the fireplace.
Niles was right. I’d rather have a love that did not need a feathery bed to sleep on.
This—is not my life.
~
I’m standing in my basementagain. My feet are cold against the floor, blood dripping from my nose down my chin. I wait outside the small door, sitting at the height of the small rectangular windows. The wait seems to puncture my nerves with excitement. The emotions are confusing. I’m anxious and eager, all the while being terrified of the dark. So I scream. I scream for help and pound on the door with my small fists. I beg to be saved.
With a break in the air, and a gust of wind, the door opens, and a hand reaches down for me to take it.
~
“You sleep like an earthquake.” A curious voice, muffled from a distance.
I roll on my side.Aurick?
“Do I need to barge in and wake you up?” he asks from behind my closed bedroom door.
I smile sleepily. “Come in,lurker.”
He opens the door, pokes his head in with a mischievous smirk.
“I received a call after you fell asleep. From a council member at Emerald Lake Asylum.”
My body tenses, ridged between my shoulder blades.
“What did they say?”
Aurickshrugs as he stirs his cup of coffee.“They want you to meet a…PatientThirteen?”
Something like a whistle and scream bursts like cannons from my throat. I launch myself out of bed, digging through my makeup to get ready. I’m delighted; I’m more than delighted. I’m swelling with every atom in my body dripping with happiness.Why?Yes, that would be the question. The daunting room at the end of the hallway. The room other conformists never enter. Only Suseas, who I saw leaving in tears and a full breakdown.
Why? A mystical calling? A shadow of whispers seducing me into finally seeing the mystery that isthat room? Perhaps all of the above.
My cheeks are warm and probably bright red, and my fingers are tingling.
