Page 24 of Antihero
***
Charlotte looks like she hasn’t slept again. Beth is practically singing in the halls. If she recalls our conversation in her doorway, suspects me in any way, she doesn’t show it. They found a body matching Declan’s description, floating near themarshes, though most of it was gone. They’re trying to figure out the cause of death.
It’s been two weeks since the night of the club, two weeks since the Wraith’s last kill. In a rather annoying twist, I’ve slept like a baby ever since. I still have the nightmares, of course, but they’re so commonplace they hardly count anymore.
Her words come back to me every morning, accompanied by recollections of what she was doing while she said them.You need someone to hunt… someone to save.Any further thinking on that occasion usually results in needing to pump myself until the overpowering urge to go to her home and bend her over goes away.
That she might be right about me only makes it all the more frustrating. Because Idofeel more alive, more awake each day, like there’s colour even on this grey island. Colourin meagain.
Charlotte stifles a yawn as I sit across from her in this room of velvet furniture and dark blue walls. Maybe I should let her do her job today.
“I see your injuries have been healing up. How did they happen again? You slipped?”
I know she’s got the answer in her notes. She probably just doesn’t believe it.
“Yeah, I’d been drinking.”
“Mm.”
My shoulder is still wrapped, my ankle better except for the occasional twinge. No crutch or sling, anymore. “I’ve been wandering the island more, actually, going further afield.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve been wondering about the island’s history.” That much is true. There’s plenty of it, maybe more than what’s commonly known. Something tells me the Wraith’s motivations are tied to it, and finding answers to one might solve the other. I’m well and bitterly aware that I’m proving Paige right by hunting herand her victims, finding purpose in it. Purpose and distraction. I was dying, being just John. Now… I feel the spark in me again. Maybe I was fooling myself to think I’d find it somewhere else. “This institution’s history.”
“It’s true that Eternal Light used to be a… less gentle place for the clinically insane.”
“More insane after their stay, reportedly,” I say flatly. There have been rumours about what happened inside Eternal Light. Neglect, beatings. Strange and cruel ‘cures’. But as far as anything concrete, the island has tried to move away from that, to leave it all in the past. Maybe the Wraith is trying to keep it in the present.
Charlotte shifts. “…Yes. There’s no denying White Rock has a dark history.”
“What about the orphanage? I’ve seen the ruin on the eastern tip. What happened to it?”
Charlotte peers at me. "I used to work there." My eyes widen. I open my mouth, but she holds up a manicured finger. “I'll tell you. But give me something first.”
My lips close. I hold her eye but don’t agree or disagree yet.
"Tell me who you've lost.” She's watching me closely. I've never mentioned losing someone, but she's either a good guesser, or here, everyone has lost someone.
"A sister,” I bite out.
She nods slowly, like this was the only possible answer. "How?"
"Murder."
A slightly raised eyebrow. "In Tregam? One of the serial killers?"
I almost laugh. "Yes, I lost her to one of those." And that’s it. The thing I can’t face, and can’t escape. What I did.
A pause. “The orphanage," she starts, and I let out a quiet, tense breath as the subject moves on, “It burned down about adecade ago, maybe more. A home for girls, children sent out of Tregam mostly, and a couple of other places, too. It was one of the last homes like that to exist. We're always a bit behind here."
"How did it burn down?"
"Why do you feel guilty about your sister's death?"
I keep myself from biting the inside of my cheek. The question makes me angry.
She presses. "Do you avoid thinking about her? Do you see her sometimes?"
