Page 53 of Ward D
Dr. Beck turns to look at me. “You said there was blood on the floor… here?”
I stare down at the floor, which is completely clean. There isn’t even a trace of blood. Nothing that could bemistakenfor blood.
What the hell?
I bite down on my lower lip. “Maybe it wasn’t right here. Maybe it was…”
But it had to be here. It was outside the seclusion rooms. I know because I was trying the code to open the door. There’s nowhere else it could have been. I’m not confused…
Except where is the blood? IknowI saw blood.
Didn’t I?
“Maybe you were dreaming?” Dr. Beck’s eyebrows knit together. “It’s very late, Amy…”
“Maybe…”
Except I wasn’t dreaming. I saw it. I know I did…
“And there was a sound in there,” I recall. “Like… a choking sound. And he’s gotten so quiet. Like, remember how he kept screaming and singing? He stopped doing that.”
“He probably went to sleep.”
I squeeze my hands together. “Can we please check on him? I’m just really worried.”
“Amy.” Dr. Beck shakes his head. “If he’s asleep, we should just leave him alone.”
It’s against my character, but I push past Dr. Beck and bang my fist on the door to Seclusion Two. “Miguel! Are you okay in there? Miguel!”
“Amy!” Dr. Beck looks affronted. I can’t even remember the last time I saw his dimples—he’s decidedly irritated with me. “Please! Miguel has been ramped up all night and he’s finally calm. I’d strongly prefer it if you don’t disturb him.”
I step away from the door, breathing hard. I’m never going to convince Dr. Beck to open the door, especially since the blood on the floor has magically vanished. I have not exactly proven myself to be trustworthy.
“I just feel like if we could check on him, then at least we would know that—”
Dr. Beck’s lips set into a straight line. “Amy,enough. Donotbother Miguel. I want you to go into one of the rooms and I want you to go to sleep for the rest of the night. It’s been a long night with a lot of excitement. You are hereby relieved from your duties.”
I’m itching to tell him my other suspicions about Seclusion One. About the strange noises I heard coming from there earlier in the night that seem to have somehow ceased. But I’m getting the feeling that he’s not going to take anything I say seriously. And even to my own ears, it all sounds crazy. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I do need to lie down and get some sleep.
“Okay.” My shoulders sag. “I’ll go lie down.”
“Good.”
Dr. Beck is staring at me. He’s looking at me in a way that I have never wanted to be looked at. In a way that I have always feared.
Like he thinks I’ve lost my mind.
32
EIGHT YEARS EARLIER
“Amy, Jade… I’d like to see the two of you for a moment.”
The dismissal bell had already rung, and I was packing up my books, getting ready to head home, when Mr. Riordan approached us. His arms are folded across his checkered shirt, and he’s got slight pit stains on both sides. The smell of moldy cheese emanating from his pores is almost overpowering. I freeze in the middle of stuffing a notebook into my bag.
“Now?” I blurt out.
Mr. Riordan nods gravely.
