Page 146 of Somebody's Watching Me
Staring at the closed bathroom door, Samuel continued to hesitate, like he was rooted in place. The crowd in the hallway thickened, with people flowing in a constant stream around them.
“I won’t move, Samuel.”
The muscle in his jaw ticked. “I know.”
Eventually, he gave in and left with Pam, the two of them entering the cluster of patients and their families. Jamison watched as theydisappeared around a corner, noting they were turning right so she would know where to bring Evie.
She checked her texts as she waited, reading through the thread of baby name suggestions popping in. Annabeth liked the name Maxwell, while Selah thought they should go with Samuel Alexander Fairweather Jr.
Abe suggested Homer, and everyone proceeded to give him shit for it.
“I’m sorry!” a woman with a stroller exclaimed when the wheel jammed into Jamison’s shoe. “This place is insane today.”
“It’s okay.” Jamison pressed back against the door to let her pass.
Everyone moved with purpose, Patients and staff hurrying about to their destinations. At the end of the corridor, a woman raised up to see over the crowd, her dark head popping up and down every so often as if searching for someone.
Glancing to her right, Jamison looked to see if there was a stray man who was lost. It probably wouldn’t be the first time someone’s husband or boyfriend got turned around in a gynecologist’s office.
Not seeing anyone, she pulled out her phone to call Liam. It didn’t even ring before connecting. “A boy! Can you believe it?”
“I need you to listen to me,” Michael Sinclair hissed. “Where is your sister?”
Hearing his voice had her vision blurring until the edges of her sight were nothing but a kaleidoscope of colors. A tightness seized her throat, cutting off her oxygen.
“Jamison?”
Dizzy and in shock, Jamison locked eyes with the woman searching for her husband. She was closer now, weaving through the crowd.
“Get off my phone,” she wheezed, his voice banging around inside her skull. “Leave me alone.”
The lost woman fought against the fresh tidal wave of humans entering the fray, dodging pregnant bellies and crying toddlers. Thecloser she came, the more the vision of her changed. A distorted image of dark hair wearing a white dress, swirling in and out of focus.
When she reached Jamison, the woman stopped to stand a few feet away in the center of the hall.
“Where is your sister?” Michael demanded. “Jamison! Where is Evie?”
She couldn’t answer. Her response stuck in her throat as the woman’s white dress took shape. With her head down, she hid her features beneath the long, wet strands of her hair dripping onto the tile floor.
Raising a hand, the woman wiggled her fingers as if saying hello.
“Leave me alone.” Jamison shook as she spoke to both the woman and Michael. Were the anxiety meds making her hallucinate? “Go away.”
“Answer me,” Michael roared in her ear. “Are you or Samuel with your sister?”
Michael’s shouts clicked her brain into gear, and she yelled back at him. “Stay the fuck out of our lives.”
Jamison didn’t know how she did it. One second, the woman was in the middle of the hall, and in the next, a jagged slash of white bringing them face to face. The world slowed, and the woman’s sunken features twisted into ghoulish fear.“Run, run, run as fast as you can,”she exhaled, sharp teeth slicing chapped lips as she spoke.“Ready, Set, Go. Evie. Help.”
The call from Michael went dead, and the grotesque woman moved on, marching onward as if nothing happened. The second she disappeared into the crowd, the world restarted.
Jamison stared numbly at her phone. “Evie?”
Terror struck like a cannonball, and she pressed her ear to the bathroom door but could hear nothing except running water.
“Evie?”
No answer.
