Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Forgetting bad things sounds nice.
Will I forget the good stuff too?
“Will Neil save me a seat too?” I ask, voice small. At least that’s what I think his note to him said.
Bastian chuckles. “Of course, kiddo.”
His words are tight and rushed. He always talks like that whenever he lies. I’ve heard it when he speaks to Dad, to his best friend, Neil, and even to me. I don’t like it when Bastian lies. It hurts my feelings.
“Look,” Bastian says, pointing out through the window. “We’re here. This place is really cool, Romy. I wonder if they have horses.”
I perk up at the mention of horses. I’ve asked Dad for a horse every birthday and Christmas. This past Christmas, he got me a huge stuffed horse that’s taller than me for my bedroom. I have to tell him next time I want a real horse that I can ride.
The driveway to the place we’re going is long. A huge home sits surrounded by trees and big fields. There aren’t any fences or barns. Probably no horses.
I notice an ambulance sitting out in front of the big house. Is someone hurt?
“Don’t worry,” Bastian explains, “you’ll be better in no time. Then you can come back home.”
Wait… Come back home? Are they leaving me here?
Before I can protest, the car stops and Bastian unbuckles my seat belt. The door opens and Dad waits, offering me to take his hand. I start to grab my bag, but he stops me with a gruff, “Just take one toy. No need for a bag full of distractions here.”
I stare down at my backpack and wonder how I’ll choose just one toy to play with. Bastian unzips it for me and pulls out a doll. Then Dad tugs me out of the vehicle.
Staring up at the huge house, clutching my doll to me, I wonder what’s going to happen.
I’m scared.
I think they’re going to drop me off and leave.
If I promise to forget the bad stuff right now, can we turn around and go back home?
“Our methods are leaps and bounds above everyone else’s,” a deep voice says, drawing me from my sleepy memories to the present. “You’ll see.”
I rub the sleep out of my eyes, noting that the sun is lower than before. It might be four in the afternoon. Maybe even later. Wherever this place is, it’s not close.
The driver turns onto a road and a sense of dread washes over me. I know this place. I’ve been here before.
Snow-dusted fields stretch as far as the eye can see and thicker, fuller trees curl around the stately home as if protecting it from the elements.
They took me here when I was a child.
To forget.
To scrub my brain and fill it with other nonsense for me to believe.
Here, they turned truth into lies.
It’s at this place they created the mind maze in hopes I’d never navigate my way through it.
And now Kaitlyn is here.
History is repeating itself.
I have to stop this. I have to help her.
I’m grateful that enough time has passed that I have full control of my body. When the vehicle stops, I don’t wait to be told to get out. I fling off my seat belt and climb out, eager to get a better look as to where she might be.
I’m met with a familiar face standing near the front door, hands shoved in his coat pockets. My own coat was left behind in the hotel. I curl my arms around me, shivering against the cold.
Theo.
“You,” I bark out, storming over to him. “You drugged me!”
His normally expressive face remains impassive, reminding me of Caius. That won’t earn him any favors in my book, though. I hate when Caius acts like he has no emotions or feelings. I know Theo has them.
“Explain yourself,” I hiss, fighting hysteria. “How could you do that to me?”
He darts his gaze to Doc Junior, who comes to stand beside me. “Theo was asked to deliver Kaitlyn,” Doc Junior says from beside me. “He obeyed. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
I ignore Doc Junior, keeping all my anger fixated on Theo. “What do you plan on doing with her? She needs love, not brainwashing.”
I want to smack the dead expression off Theo’s face. Before I can, Doc Junior grabs me by the shoulder. At first, I think he’s just trying to stop me. Then I feel the sharp prick in my neck.
Whirling around, I find him stepping away and recapping a syringe. Heat from the injection site burns through across my flesh toward my heart.
What did he give me?
Am I going to die?
“We have new methods since you were a patient here, Romy,” Doc Junior says jovially. “Kaitlyn is a good recipient of those new therapies.”
I wobble and my knees begin to buckle. Theo jumps from his frozen stance, capturing me before I hit the ground.