Page 32 of Dying to Meet You

“...could not stop saying it. Sure, I was a real joy to be around.” Eden laughs lightly before going on, “We should be able to do that. I appreciate it.”

Filling the doorway, I see her at her desk on the phone. A small smile plays at the corner of my lips as I take her in, dressed in a fitted white dress shirt, black dress pants, and heels. She fingers the chain of the gold necklace the kids gave her for Mother’s Day last year. When she looks up at me, the grin lighting up her face makes all the worries I have fall away for a few moments.

“I need to wrap this up, but we’ll meet tomorrow and go over the treatment plan for him. You’re the best, bye.” Once she’s disconnected, she clasps her hands together on the desk, giving me her full attention. “You’re early.”

“I want you to come with me.” Holding my hand out, I tip my head toward the door at the end of the hall. “I need to show you something.”

She makes a face at me. “You already showed me the bunker near the abandoned labs, the tunnel running from the lab to the old parking ramp, the crawlspace in the ramp, and the old guard shack emergency hatch. What more could there be?”

When we built, I should say, when the foundation I started rebuilt Horizon Wellness Center, many of the old structures remained intact and untouched. I didn’t want to cover what amounted to a gravesite. A memorial was erected near the lab building, and most of the other buildings were cleared out and locked up tight. “I know. I never wanted to bring you to this particular place. It’s…unsettling.”

“Super,” she cracks with an eyeroll. “Let’s skip it then. I’d rather head home.”

I would, too. But preparing her for the worst-case scenario is necessary, even if it means I’m stepping back into my nightmares.

Walking hand in hand to the back exit of the building, we pass Dr. Wallen. When he tries to stop us, his attention is snagged by a thin, pale woman with a third eye either tattooed or drawn on her forehead.

“There is an old house near the lake.” I point in the distance to where a part of the roof can be seen through the thick trees. “That’s not where we’re going but use it for a reference.”

“Little bird, how fast can you run?”

I’m startled by the memory, her scratchy, babyish voice ringing out. But I can’t let it stop me. “If, for any reason you need to hide in a place no one else knows about, look for that roof and head toward it. Come on.” I give a light tug to her hand before we’re making our way through the brush and trees. The late afternoon sun obscured by the woods isn't helping with the clawing alarm growing in my chest.

I swore I’d never set foot in this space, condemning it to the far recesses of my mind. A bird call in the distance makes Eden jump. “We’re almost there.”

“Stop, little bird, turn back.”

It could’ve been the human skull nailed to the tree or the fading Realist symbol on the rusting door hanging on by its hinges. Maybe even the way the atmosphere feels darkly charged. Eden lets out a scream, pulling her hand away as she stumbles backward. I should’ve warned her, but I forgot just how…ghoulish this place is.

The shed no one left alive, with the exception of us, would know about.

It would appear at first glance to have melted into the rocky base of the hill, overgrown trees shrouding most of the roughly hewn wood slats. They don’t conceal the dark blood splatter staining a portion of the door, though.

I can’t make myself enter, the air leaving my lungs in a fell swoop.

“Little bird, fly away. They’ll get you,” her soft childlike lilt warns me. Suddenly, another voice pounds in my head…the malicious snarl unmistakable.

“They’ve been dying to meet you.”

“Hopefully, you’ll never need to come here. Let’s get back. Let’s go.” My panic causes me to move Eden a foot back before grabbing her hand, doing double time back to the main building of the center.

Eden’s voice is quivering when she asks, “Hutton, w-what was that?”

I can’t talk about this right now. Memories press down on me, the voice awoken in my head making me want to rage. This was a bad idea. Her terrible, taunting nature digs into my thoughts. I neglected showing Eden the second spot, which would’ve taken us through the shed, but there was not a chance in hell I was stepping any closer, much less inside.

“H-Hutton?” Her hand grips mine tightly as I pick up the pace to get back.

“Hell…that place is hell. But no one else knows about it. I hope you never need to use it.” I kiss her hand before looking her in the eye. “Just in case. It’s just in case.”

That was my tormenter’s “special” place where, in demented fits of rage, she’d beat and torture me. Hell on earth. She’d use anything learned about me in testing against me. The physical beating was the least of it.

Chapter Nineteen

Worst nightmare

Eden

Everythingthismorningfeelsoff. From Weston missing the bus because he had to check on Petunia, the goat who is recuperating from a leg surgery, to Harrison and Bristow discovering trees the neighbor has been cutting down near the property line. Blaine is giving everyone the silent treatment, Hutton is avoiding any discussion about the shed of horrors on the center’s property, and…simply put, my anxiety has me distracted.

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