Page 57 of Ward D
“So, you know, it’s kind of hard to take what you’re saying at face value.”
He nods slowly. “Okay, I can see why you would feel that way. But honestly, I don’t think I need those medications. The voices… they got better on their own. It must’ve been… you know, one of those things.”
“One of thosethings?”
“Look.” He grits his teeth. “Iwantedto take the medications, okay? I took them in the emergency room, but… you really feel shitty on them. I couldn’t handle it. The side effects…”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“I saw that blood,” he insists. “I didn’t hallucinate the blood, and neither did you. It was there. I mean, even if you don’t trust me, why don’t you trustyourself?”
Will is looking at me intently, searching my face for answers. He doesn’t understand, and I’m not about to explain to him anything about my history.
“I’m just…” I rub my temples with my fingertips. “I’m tired. I don’t know what I’m thinking anymore.”
“Well, I’ll tell you something else you might not have thought about.” He settles down on the sofa beside me. “That other med student—what was his name? Carter?”
“Cameron…”
“Right.” He drops his voice a notch. “I heard him screaming.”
“What?”
“Right.” His eyes dart over to the door, a fearful expression on his face. “And it washoursago.”
“But… where?”
“I heard it from my room,” he says. “And then here’s the really crazy part…” He takes a deep breath. “When I came out to the hall to see what was going on, I think I saw the door to Seclusion One slamming shut.”
I feel like somebody just punched me in the gut. “What? Are you sure?”
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “I said IthinkI saw it. It all happened really fast. But if the door to that room was open, then…”
He doesn’t have to complete the thought. If the door to Seclusion One was open, then that means Damon Sawyer got out. And I can’t even wrap my head around that possibility, considering how dangerous Dr. Beck warned us he was.
“I was hoping I imagined the whole thing,” Will says. “But then when he didn’t show up to that whole deal with Miguel, I got worried that something happened to him.”
I lean back against the couch, trying to calm my racing thoughts. “Cameron went home. He had a family emergency.”
“He told you that?”
“No. He left a message on Dr. Beck’s voicemail.”
Will arches an eyebrow. “And do you think Cameron is the kind of person who would do that? Just leave a voicemail message and take off?”
Maybe. If something spooked him…
“Let me try to call him,” I say. I leap off the couch and cross the room to get to the landline in the corner of the room. Of course, I don’t know Cameron’s number by heart, but thankfully, I didn’t delete him from my phone in anger, although I was sorely tempted. I bring up his number on the screen, and I pick up the receiver.
There’s no dial tone.
Will is sitting on the couch, watching me, his expression neutral. “The phones aren’t working,” I report.
“Yes,” he says. “I know. They stopped working when the power went out.”
Damn Miguel—why did he have to urinate on that light socket?
“Something is going on here,” Will says. “Don’t you think so?”
