…Fucking be okay, baby… I’m coming to get you… God, please just be okay.It was the same thing over and over again.
Benny.Lucas sat up slowly. There was still just a hint of pain at the top of his head as those little surgeons finished their job, and he had to be careful. “Benny,” he said out loud, not ever realizing he did it until he thought about the sound of his voice echoing off the gray cement walls and the metal bars surrounding him.
Thank God. Are you okay?Bennett said through their link.
Yeah. I’m okay. Just trying to figure out where I am.
Something scuffled around, like shifting body weight from somewhere in the room.
“Hello,” Lucas said softly, not wanting to yell because the sounds were magnified around them in the small spaces. He stood up and walked to the metal bars.
Tell me what you see.
Um…cement and bars. Like a jail, I guess. It kinda smells. Like shit and pee and mold. Also, it smells like that waiter, Sage. Someone else is in here with me, only in another cell.
Someone made a noise, like a clearing of their throat.
“Hello. Please, talk to me. Who’s there?”
“I heard them bring you in last night,” Someone croaked out, almost whispered.
“What’s wrong with your voice?”
Don’t fix anyone, Lucas.Bennett said as if he was privy to his conversation with the croaking man.I mean it. Stall them for as long as you can.
I’ll try my best.
Please, baby. I wouldn’t be able to make it without you.
Me too. So you be careful too.
“Ask the bitch. She cursed me.”
“Who?”
“Is that you, Lucas?” the man asked, instead of answering his question.
“I—” He paused. It threw him a bit to hear his name. Lucas tried to look through the bars as much as he could to try to figure out who was down here. “Yes.”
“Oh my God, I thought Gary killed you,” The man started crying.
He finally realized who spoke. “Shawn.”
“Yeah.”
An arm extended from one of the cells, reaching for him.
“Well, isn’t that sweet. A reunion with the witch and the big-mouthed boy,” A woman said from the next cell over.
He saw Shawn’s arm go back and Lucas started crying. It was as if Shawn died all over again in that moment.
What’s going on?
Shawn is alive. He’s in one of the cells. And I think there’s another witch in the cell next to me.
“Don’t talk to her, Lucas. She’s evil. She’s the one that did this to my voice,” Shawn said.
Lucas bit his lip. He tried to concentrate on the woman next to him, getting an idea of who she was.
