Page 26 of When Sinners Rise
“That's it. Nice and relaxed,” he murmurs.
“Yeah. Um…” I frown as my vision blurs out of focus as I look at Shaw. He doubles in front of me, before the image rights itself as I blink and shake my head.
“Time to get you out of there.” He stands, I think, and I feel arms wrap around me. My eyes feel heavy, but I don’t want to sleep. Something is telling me to keep my eyes open, a tingling at the base of my skull that seems to connect to my chest and keep my heart pounding.
“There we go. Let’s get you dressed.”
“Dressed?” My voice sounds off.
“Shh, everything will be clear soon. Come on.” My limbs are moved, and I feel light, a little disorientated, but there’s a buzz in my mind that makes me want to smile. It’s a good feeling – I feel safe. “I need you to walk now, Miri.”
“Walk. Yep.” I’m upright, and I think we’re moving. Then there’s a funny feeling that makes my stomach drop. “Weeee!” I laugh but stumble against Shaw.
“I gotcha. Now, we’re not going to have any trouble in the lobby, are we?”
“Trouble?” Why would there be trouble?
My feet move, but the images skip in front of me, not quite making up a full picture.
There are voices talking, but I can’t tune in to it.
“Miss Miri, do you need me to call Mr Broderick?” I recognise the voice, but it’s not meant to be in the apartment. Bob doesn’t leave his desk.
“He’s already on the way. We’ll meet him at the hospital.” Was that Shaw? Who’s going to the hospital? Why does Shaw sound worried?
Sitting.
I’m sitting, but Shaw’s still with me.
I close my eyes.
“Wakey wakey, sweetheart.”
What?
“We’re home. Back where it all started.”
“What?” I pry my eyes open and blink, trying to process what’s around me, but my body feels heavy, like I’m stuck, and none of my limbs want to cooperate. “It’s cold. Where are we?” My heart begins to race again, and I can’t focus. The pounding in my chest and something in the back of my mind is screaming. But I can’t hear it. I can’t hear what it’s saying.
We’re moving again, but I can’t work out where we are. Snippets. Flashes.
There are bricks. Walls. A building. It’s dark.
“Shaw?” I struggle for words.
“Don’t worry, Miri. You just need some time. It will all be clear soon.”
CHAPTER NINE
SHAW
Letting her settle into her situation and ease the drug out of her, I walk around the broken building that used to be The Priory. There’s not much left of it other than the far end where she is. And the area around it is just as barren and empty. Boarded-up buildings, barely any houses to speak of. She might even be in the room that Elias died in. It’s the only one that’s got a closable door left on it, and that’s where Knox said he’d eventually found him. Neck broken, snapped in two. Dead. Gone.
I stare at the rubble and warning signs outside through a single pane of glass that survived the carnage Reed created. That’s all that’s left of the doors my brothers must have walked through – warnings and wrecked things. It’s usually the reverse everywhere they go. They do the damage, and I’m usually included in that. Not this time, though. This time I’m here with some girl while they deal with the kinda crap this family engages with in New York.
I should be there, not here.
It’s dark out. Rain’s falling heavily and splattering old dust and wreckage like it’s attempting to drown the past. Can’t drown the fact that my brother – Elias – is dead, though. Nothing can get rid of that memory inside me, and regardless of this fucking annoyance inside me about where I should be, I guess I’m here to avenge that to some degree. I have to be, and I have to think like that. It’s the only way Abel sending me here makes any sense to me.
