Mind (the) Game

by Kelly Shade

  Jane Blake

  Mind (The) Game

  by Kelly Shade

  COPYRIGHT © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form and by any means without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  All characters in the publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  Chapter 1 – The abyss of nothingness

  Chapter 2 – Riddle me this

  Chapter 3 – Flight back to reality

  Chapter 4 – Redemption

  Chapter 5 – The wedding

  Chapter 6 – Payback time

  Chapter 7 – What if he’s not?

  Chapter 8 – Never trust a thief

  Chapter 9 – Elizabeth Cole

  Chapter 10 – A step away from all

  Chapter 11 – The cover up

  Chapter 12 – No one can escape the past

  Chapter 13 – The man behind the scenes

  Chapter 14 – Sweet revenge

  Chapter 15 - Undercover

  Chapter 16 – Venomous blood

  Chapter 17 – The lost memory

  Chapter 18 – Who’s the killer?

  Chapter 19 - Wanted

  Chapter 20 – The insider

  Chapter 21 – He is back

  Chapter 22 – No re-Morse

  Chapter 23 – The chase is on

  CHAPTER 1

  The abyss of nothingness

  Jane suddenly woke up from the excruciating pain in her back. She tried to stand up, but her waist and lower back wouldn’t cooperate, like if there were invisible knives stabbing her every time she tried to move. Blake decided it is best to look around, cautiously turning only her neck, leaving her upper body still. She glanced to her left and saw an old wooden wall soaked with water, so Jane turned back, staring at the ceiling. She saw shabby and rotten, wooden boards with holes here and there, which were supposed to serve as a roof. Jane turned to her right. Her vision was blurry, sweat was dripping from her forehead into her eyes. With great effort, she lifted her hand to brush and rub her eyes. Now she could see, not well but bearable. Jane looked at her hand- it was all in scratches and bruises. What the hell happened to me? She thought. After examining her hand and arm, she turned her eyes to the room she was in and with fear realized that she had no idea what was that place. The room, at least the part that Jane could see, was a small unpleasantly looking place. The floor was covered in plates and pans, which were collecting the water dripping from the ceiling. An old table with a chair next to it and a bed covered with ragged blankets and a pillow, were the only other pieces of furniture in the small room. An old-fashioned radio was hanging unevenly on the wall, next to it was a drawing, painted on what looked like, an old and torn cardboard box. Jane moved carefully just to see what she was laying on, the “knifes” in her back went deeper, but despite the pain she was able to see the couch she was on- a light green velvet puffy sofa which looked like once was very fancy and comfortable, but now Jane could feel the boards and springs poking her entire back. Blake fixed her eyes on the ceiling again, trying to remember what happened. Just now she realized, that it smelled like rain and forest, and, to her surprise - like barbeque.

  Blake wanted to gather strength, to fight the pain and to stand up, but every time she tried, she failed. It was unbearably painful every time she contracted her muscles and lifted her upper body even a few inches.

  Jane heard the sound of footsteps –someone was slowly walking on the wet grass outside, coming her way. Soon an elderly woman went quietly into the room, leaving wet footprints on the floor as she approached Jane. Blake tried to stand up, but the woman raised her hand and kindly said “Don’t! You are too weak!” and smiled. Jane leaned back on the couch with her eyes fixed on the woman. As the woman put a pot on the table, Jane noticed her arms were covered in scars, her hands in blisters. Blake blinked several times to clear her vision and looked up again. That mystery old lady was skinny and looked exhausted, there were leaves in her untidy grey-white hair, her pants had been patched up on several places, her shirt was at least three sizes bigger with old stains on it, but the lady was moving swiftly and with finesse.

  “Who are you?” asked Jane and for her surprise, her voice was hoarse and quiet even though she tried to talk loud and clear. Jane coughed several times, and the woman waited for her before she answered.

  “I’m just a woman who is helping you. You can call me Nancy.” Said the lady and took some food from the pot, put it on a plate, hesitated for a second and then made a few steps towards Jane and handed it to her. “Eat,” Nancy spoke quietly and with almost unnoticeable fear in her voice. Blake didn’t take the plate.

  “What happened to me?” asked Jane, trying to overcome the pain and sit up.

  “You don’t remember?” said Nancy with surprise and held the full plate with both hands. “Do you know who you are?” she asked while waiting for Jane to manage to sit up on the couch.

  “Yeah, I think so. My name is Jane Blake.” she said thoughtfully and Nancy nodded in agreement. “So how come I’m here with you? Do we know each other?” Jane continued.

  “We will talk later, you need to eat and to rest.” Nancy handed the plate to Jane who was already somewhat comfortably sitting up. The lady went out again leaving Jane alone.

  Blake started to eat the chicken with mushrooms the woman gave her, which to her surprise was unbelievably delicious. She ate several bites fast, but her stomach started to hurt severely. Apparently, she hadn’t eaten for a while, her stomach couldn’t take any more, so she decided not to push it and left the fork in the plate. Jane tried to stand up on her feet but it was impossible - her legs felt like they were made of jello. She even couldn’t move them off the couch. Blake was holding the plate with one hand, wondering where to put it, and realized it was too heavy for her. In a matter of seconds, her whole arm started shaking.

  “NANCY!” shouted Jane hoping the woman is not far from the house, or whatever she was in.

  “Are you okay?” Nancy ran in with a worried expression.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, considering!” said Jane and breathed out heavy as if she had just run a mile, then continued. “Nancy, why I am here?”

  “A young man brought you to me a few days ago.” Said the lady, took the plate from Jane’s trembling hand and sat on the bed opposite the couch, where Jane was. “I don’t know what happened to you, but you were all in wounds, bruises, and blood.” Nancy shook when she remembered the moment, “And he told me to look after you, to take care of your wounds, then he went somewhere, and after a while, he came back with food and bandages and stuff, then disappeared. He said he had a plane to catch.”

  “Who was he?” Jane lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

  “I don’t know, dear!” cried the woman.

  “Can you describe him?” asked Blake, thinking that the man should be Ryan or someone else from the team.

  “No, dear, I was looking at you, I thought you were going to…” Nancy hid her face in her hands.

  “Okay, it’s okay! Don’t be upset, I’m fine!” Jane tried to calm Nancy, but she had to know what happened and kept asking questions “Where are we? I need to go to the station.”

  “What station, dear?” Nancy lifted her head and looked at Jane suspiciously.

  “The Headquarters of the LAPD,” Jane answered casually.

  Nany looked at her with compassion and slight confusion.

  “What?” Jane notic
ed the old lady’s expression.

  “Dear, we are in Chile,” Nancy spoke quietly. “I thought you knew, I’m sorry, dear!”

  “In Chile?” Jane jumped back a little which caused another “stab” in the lower back.

  “Dear, what is the last thing you remember?” Nancy wanted to help. “Be careful!” she added when Jane made another sharp move and squeaked in pain.

  “Well, I – I was with Gray in my house, I think.” Jane found it hard to recall the last events she remembered. Her memory was a mess. How much time was she missing out? Why was every inch of her body aching? And why was this woman, Nancy, looking after her?

  “Okay, so we are in Chile.” Jane bit her lower lip, looked down and continued “Where exactly?”

  “In the forest.” said Nancy, stood up, took the cup she brought and gave it to Jane. “Drink, it will help!” she looked at Jane with an expression that clearly meant ‘drink it now’ and Jane, without further thinking, drank the tea-like liquid. It had a bad taste, sour and bitter at the same time. Jane couldn’t hide the ugly grimace which showed on her face after the disgusting remedy burned her throat.

  “You need to rest. Sleep!” said Nancy after Jane swallowed all of the ‘tea.’ She then turned and headed to the door.

  “Hey, wait!” Jane reached towards the woman as if she wanted to grab her. “What happened to me? I mean why I’m in this condition?”

  “The man said you fell from a cliff, you rolled down a hill and stopped in a tree. I’m surprised you didn’t have any broken bones, but you obviously hit your head badly. I hope the amnesia is temporary.” Explained Nancy without turning. She took a deep breath and added “That’s why you have to rest. After you recover, I’m sure the memories will come back.”

  Jane smiled after the woman’s as Nancy was walking out of the room. Blake cautiously slid down on the pillow and felt sleepy at the moment she laid her head down. Her eyelids felt as if made of led, the room was spinning, the rays of sunshine coming from the small window were making strange shapes. Jane was struggling to keep her eyes open. What was in that tea? She tried to sit up again, but it felt like her body was already asleep. She wanted to stay awake, but slowly the darkness fell in front of her eyes, she couldn’t fight it anymore, she heard the sound of a door closing, and she dozed off.

  Weird dreams were coming and going. Ryan was smiling at Jane with a gun pointed at her, then she was in Chicago again, and Lilia was chasing her with a scalpel in her hand, after that, she was in a field with beautiful flowers, taking photos with her phone, a man came out of nowhere and pushed her, she was falling down into the nothingness. Jane tried to scream but no sound came out of her mouth, she felt scared and powerless, she was sure this was the end. And when a sharp pain pierced her, she opened her eyes. The shabby room was there again, Blake looked around, searching for Nancy, but the old lady wasn’t there. Jane thought she had slept for half an hour or even less because there was sunshine in the room as it was when she fell asleep. The whole place looked exactly the same as before.

  Jane’s heart was beating wildly, her whole body was shaking, drops of sweat and tears were rolling down her forehead and cheeks. Blake took a deep breath and convinced herself this was just a dream, a weird, scary illusion created by her twisted imagination. She had to calm down, she had to stand up and get out of here, she had to get away from Nancy and that tea. Blake sat down in the bed with unexpected ease. She examined her legs, all covered in scratches but overall okay, she noticed an IV on her arm, then she lifted her wide white shirt and saw a huge bandage on the left side of her waist. Now she knew where the pain was coming from, maybe she tried to turn in her sleep, and tore a stitch. Why was she feeling better? What was that IV doing on her arm and how long was it there? Why was the pain coming only from there? Before that Jane’s whole body hurt, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t even breathe normally. Blake stood up on her feet but blackness fell in front of her eyes, and she couldn’t keep her balance. She sat back down.

  With her head in her hands, Jane was seeing things, like movie trailers one after the other. Jane saw herself on a tree, spying someone, then the scene was replaced with her standing on the edge of a cliff, two big black dogs growling at her. Blake rubbed her eyes and looked up. Nancy walked into the room, smiling at her.

  “What did you give me?” Jane yelled but the sound that came out wasn’t as loud as she intended it to be, she coughed and felt thirsty. “Water!” Jane said through the coughing.

  Nancy went behind the wall, that separated Jane’s room with another, and came back with a plastic cup of water. Blake drank it at once, but she felt nauseous and almost puked.

  “Careful, dear!” kindly said Nancy.

  Jane looked at her with hate in her eyes, then she glanced at the IV and ripped it off with rage. Blood started running down her arm but Jane didn’t care, she was angry, and that anger helped her stood up. The adrenaline was giving her the strength to move.

  “What did you do to me?” Jane spoke with her usual scary, monotonous, quiet tone.

  “Sit down, dear, please, you need to…” Nancy stepped towards Jane, reaching with both hands.

  “I – do -not – need – to – do – anything!” Jane said every word loud and clear, and Nancy froze. Blake took a breath and continued calmly “Tell me the truth! Now!”

  The woman shook her head and waved to the bed, showing Jane to sit, and as Blake did it, Nancy made herself comfortable in the chair next to the table.

  “I gave you a tea with herbs, nothing dangerous, it just had to calm you down a little bit, so you can get some sleep. But through the night I heard noises, and I came to see what was happening. You were tossing in the bed, and apparently, the stitches were torn, you were losing too much blood. I had to stop the bleeding and saw the wound again. It was horrible, I haven’t done this in nineteen years. Anyway, I thought it can happen again, so I went to the nearby town to buy glucose, an IV line and some anesthetics to keep you asleep, while you are with the IV on your arm. That’s it!” finished Nancy and smiled again “You’re feeling better now, don’t you?”

  “I… yeah, I do,” Jane said and felt awful about the way she treated her savior. “How much time was I out?” Blake asked with confusion.

  “Five days.” Answered the woman. “The stitches have to stay two more days.”

  “Five days?” Jane was confused and surprised. “Why are you helping me?” the question popped into Blake’s head and she asked it right away. “Why go through all that trouble?”

  “If you think I know you, I don’t!” Nancy hurried to drop the suspicious Jane had and continued “I can’t leave a person die, I’m a human, dear, and also once I was a nurse.”

  Jane nodded. Nancy walked out and left Jane alone with her thoughts. Blake felt sick again and leaned on the couch. New flashes of memories came back to her, she knew these were real, she wasn’t imagining them. Blake shut her eyes tightly, hoping everything will come back at once but it didn’t. She decided it was time to see where she was, what was behind the wall of this room, what was behind that door. Blake headed to the exit, holding the left side of her waist, where the bandage was, with one hand and the other slightly raised up for balance. After several painful steps, she was in front of the wooden door with no lock or handle. Jane glanced at the room which she couldn't see before because of the wall which was until the middle of it. Now Jane could see it was a small space looking like a kitchen. There was a hand-made counter, on top of which there were several old pots and pans. Forks, spoons, and knives were spread on an old newspaper. Food boxes full of herbs and big bottles of water were in the far corner of the small room. Jane pushed the door open, and the view outside made her lean on the door frame and to put her hand in front of her mouth in surprise. She was really in the forest, a beautiful forest – tall trees were surrounding the small shack. It was a late afternoon, and the sun rays were hardly going through the thick branches and leaves, making it look as if Jane was in a fai
ry tale. Nancy was several feet away, in front of the house, stacking sticks, apparently preparing a campfire. A basket of vegetables, fruits, and some packaged products was next to her on a wooden bench. Jane blinked several times just to be sure she wasn't dreaming again. It looked like they were deep in the forest, far away from civilization.

  Nancy saw Jane and hurried to help her walk and sit on the bench. Jane thanked with a smile and the old lady got back to starting the fire.

  Blake was loving the fresh air, it was clearing her head, she didn’t feel as dizzy as before, it was like she was breathing for the first time. Jane enjoyed the heavy smell of wet grass and flowers for a few minutes before that wonderful aroma was replaced with the scent of freshly cooked food which took her out of her day-dreaming.

  “Dinner will be ready soon!” chirped Nancy and added, “I hope you like it!”

  “Yeah, thanks for making it,” Jane answered absently and fixed her eyes on the little path covered in leaves, formed maybe unintentionally, by the footsteps of Nancy. Blake stood up and went that way, Nancy followed her with eyes. The first tree had a small broken branch with blood traces on it, Jane noticed and reached for her right forearm. There was an almost healed scratch on it. Jane touched the branch carefully and turned back. Now she knew that when she feels strong enough, she can trace her steps to the place, where she fell and lost her memories. It was so infuriating she didn’t know why she was in Chile in the first place. How could she lose memories before the fall? It was a natural instinct of the brain to eliminate memories due to a psychological trauma but only the tragic event, not before that. What happened, how much time was she away from LA? Why nobody searched for her? Jane felt angry at herself, she could hypnotize almost everyone, she could play with people’s minds and reach in their memories in a blink of an eye, but she couldn’t control her own brain, she couldn’t make herself remember.

  “Dear, are you okay?” shouted Nancy from the bench.