Bea will meet you there.
Who’s Bea?
I stash the note into my purse. What should I do? I remember what happened the last time we met here. This is their territory. If they can break out—and break in—I’ll be putting myself at their mercy.
“Why are you hiding?” Mom asks, locating me. She links her arm through mine. “Come and join the party. There’s plenty of people for you to speak to.”
“Great,” I mutter.
We spend the next half an hour circling the room while my mind is elsewhere. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, overcome with the feeling of being watched.
Finally, it’s time to take our seats for Dad’s presentation. I check the clock. Nine twenty. My knee jiggles nervously under the table as he takes to the podium. He taps the microphone a few times before his booming voice fills the space.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome!” Dad declares. “As you know, tonight is a very special evening for Sunnycrest. A chance to celebrate everything we have achieved in psychiatry, which wouldn’t have been possible without your continued support. On behalf of myself and the Sunnycrest patients, I’d like to thank all of you. Peers, donors, and, of course…” He gestures to the table on our right. “Mayor Lewis.”
Devon stands to bow. Dad’s lip curls in distaste but he doesn’t object, allowing Devon to soak in the admiration and applause.
“Secondly, I want to address the biggest challenge we’ve experienced. The recent breakout,” Dad continues, when the crowd settles again. “It has been a year unlike any other. Thanks to the hard work of our sheriff’s office, the patients were located quickly. The incident has made us reassess our security, which will be the first topic I’m addressing this evening. We’ve adopted cutting-edge technology to make this unit the most secure of its kind.”
I observe my father’s body language, noting how convincing he is. However, he must know that not all patients were found.
Dad invites a security analyst to the stage. I bite my inner cheek to hold back a laugh, knowing three monsters have been able to effortlessly infiltrate Sunnycrest tonight.
The clock hands tick on. Nine twenty-eight. Two minutes to go. I have a choice to make…
With my father in full flow, I whisper to Mom, “I’m heading to the restroom.”
She waves her hand dismissively, engrossed in his presentation and beaming with pride.
No one notices as I slip out of the room and into the empty adjoining corridor.
A female voice comes from the darkness. “Erin?”
I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t a tiny girl stepping out of the shadows. She has a roughly shaven head with a few tufts at the sides. Her long white gown drowns her skeletal frame. Due to her size, it’s hard to know her real age, but she looks to be about fourteen.
“Yes,” I reply. “You must be Bea?”
She nods curtly. “Follow me,” she says. “This way. Hurry! Keep your back against the wall, or they’ll hear you…”
Against my better judgment, I follow her around a corner and through a set of doors that should be guarded.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Hush, hush!” she hisses. “No talking. Hush, hush! This way.”
For someone so small, she walks fast. I follow her through the maze of corridors, only lit by red emergency lighting overhead. My heeled shoes click-clack on the tiles, creating an echo.
“Here!” She stops mid-corridor, next to a chair that looks out of place. “Go!’”
I frown in confusion. “What?”
She points up at a ventilation shaft, then jabs her finger at the chair to make it clear where she intends for me to go.
“No way,” I say. “I’m not climbing in there.”
Following her through the asylum is one thing, but squeezing into a tiny air duct? Yeah, that’s not happening.
Bea sighs and opens her closed fist to reveal a bloody palm and a razor blade. She points the blade at me, tipping her head to the left. “You will go, or slick, slack, slice.” She opens her mouth and slides the razor across her tongue, showing me more deep scars slashed across it. She licks her lips, painting them red. “Up, up! Go, go. Slick. Slack. Snip. Snap.”
