Page 9 of Fire Island
“A few small discrepancies. If we can pinpoint them, we can evaluate the impact better.”
“So, there is something wrong.”
“Look, Callum, brain injuries are a very individual thing. What’s normal for one person can be detrimental to another. Someone who knows you as well as Iris will help shed some light on the assessment is all.”
He pats my shoulder like he’s my best fucking friend, giving me the most pathetic smile I’ve ever seen scrawl its way across a man’s face. He leaves me to the silence he broke before his mind-bending stupidity.
Hope Iris hands him his ass twice when she gets here.
Fuck me.
Then I realize he never told me if I passed.
Three
EVIE
The Fresnel’s light sweeps over my curled-up, shivering body as the day’s first rays of warmth splinter through the sky. I hold my eyes shut tight.
Thank god.
The cuffs around my wrists rattle against the wooden floor with every shiver. A rhythmic, endless tune of captivity. I hope T rotted in the bed he laid in last night. Hope his deranged mind snapped and he?—
The locks on the opposite side of the lantern room door clunk against the timber.
No such luck, apparently.
I push once to sit up, then again to move up against the far wall. As if that will save me. The door opens, and the gangly, pale man gripping a tray of food creeps closer, rounding the lamp’s base as he bends, sliding the tray toward me.
“Good morning, Butte—Eve.”
I don’t take my eyes off him. I’m not stupid enough to be distracted by the food my aching stomach is desperate for.
He squats. “Eat something, then... Did you want to come downstairs? You look cold. We could snuggle in the bed for a while. Til the sun warms up the day.”
My heart ratchets up speed as he sweeps a bony hand ending in long nails through his oily hair.
“No thank you,” I grind out.
“Eve.” He shuffles forward. I inch away. “You’re cold. This doesn’t have to be hard, precious girl.”
“Don’t you dare call me that!” Rage flies through my veins, searing every inch.
His jaw clenches. Hurt flickers through his pale-blue eyes before he snatches up the tray. He places a cup of water from it onto the lamp base and stalks for the door. “Hard way it is, Eve.”
The door slams.
The locks snap shut.
Thirst finds me the second my body calms down. I stagger to my feet and grab the cup, draining it in a heartbeat. It runs down my chin and neck. I sink back to the floor and pull my knees to my chest.
“Fuck you, T. Or whatever your name is.”
As the sun starts to warm the room and my weary bones thaw, I feel the buzzing. The heaviness of a wet blanket draped over my entire body claims me, pulling me down.
What on earth?
I slide down the wall and lie on the floor. The buzz turns to fuzziness, dragging my eyelids down.
