Page 217 of On a Fault Line

The sound of the door opening causes me to scream.

“Penny, calm down. It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

My body whips around to see Dr. Radinsky standing in the doorway, wearing her signature dress pants, camisole, and cardigan. “You startled me.”

“I’m really sorry about that. The power is acting finicky but other than that, you are safe here.”

I shake my head. “I’m not safe at all. We need to get out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“I see him.”

“See who?”

I point to the window. “He’s outside.”

But when I turn to look, I see nothing but the ghost of my memory. I grab my head. It’s throbbing. “He was just there.” My words come out as a whisper.

“Shh…don’t cry. Let’s get you tucked back into bed.”

I try to push past the doctor, only to have two male workers wearing white scrubs and surgical caps join her, one on each side.

Then I remember the note. “He’s sending me threatening messages,” I say, pointing over to where the crumpled paper is resting on the floor. My eyes blink.Was.“The paper was right there.”

My throat closes up. I’m going to be sick.

“I’m going…” Crazy. I’m going crazy.

I look at the male worker on the left, pleading with my eyes for some sign of comfort. But when my focus locks in on the man on the right, I am struck with familiarity.

“What the hell…”

He grunts in response, morphing before my eyes from someone safe to someone determined to bring me harm.

I see the evil behind the twinkle in his eyes.

“Rex?” I choke out. My throat feels dry, and suddenly I’m overcome with a nagging thirst.

It can’t be. I’m seeing things.

Blinking hard, I feel the start of a migraine forming at the center of my head.

Nothing is making sense.

Like blocks falling from an unstable tower, I feel the pieces of my mind plummeting down into a pit of uncertainty and despair. I’m not putting a puzzle together. I’m tearing a constructed one apart.

Then I see Dr. Radinsky take a little vial out of her pants pocket, followed by a clear plastic syringe. She’s convinced I’m a danger to myself, and maybe I am.

Except everything about this feels wrong, and Rex’s sneer is indication that’s so.

“No, no, no,” I say slowly, backing up until I’m pressed firmly against the wall. “No drugs.Please.”

It was drugs that landed me in Soulful Mind to begin with last year, and here I am full circle and just as helpless as I was then.

Nothing has changed. I’m still just as broken but for a completely different reason.

I can blame it on Mark all I want, but it’s my inability to stay afloat when I feel like I’m drowning that is causing all my turmoil.

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