The Madness of Annie Radford

by Amy Cross

  “Focus on the puzzle,” Elly replied. “You're good at puzzles, Annie.”

  Annie shook her head.

  “I believe in you,” Elly added. “There, I said it. You're crazy, you might even be completely insane, but you've got us this far and I have absolute faith that you can get this done. You just have to think.”

  “The cult lured us to Lakehurst so they could take Katia,” Annie explained. “They're basically working to further the efforts of the entity, which means the entity wants Katia. The only possible answer is that somehow the entity thinks it's found a way to put itself inside her body. It wants to have a physical presence, and it must have co-opted Doctor Langheim's brain transplant technology in order to come up with a technique. I mean, I came up with that theory earlier, but it seemed so outlandish. Unless...”

  Her voice trailed off for a moment.

  “Unless what?” Elly asked.

  “I'm still missing part of the bigger picture,” Annie continued. “Someone's working behind the scenes, manipulating everything. The entity couldn't be working alone.”

  “You don't think it's Nurse Winter, do you?”

  Again, Annie shook her head.

  “But how do you know for sure?” Elly asked. “Nurse Winter doesn't exactly have a history of being on the right side.”

  “It's not her,” Annie replied. “It's someone else. I just need to figure out who.” She paused for a moment, trying but failing to come up with an answer. “We have to get going,” she added finally. “I don't know how we're going to do it, but we have to find out where Eldion House is and then we have to make our way there, and then we have to figure out what's going on and we have to save Katia. Do you understand?”

  “Maybe we should go to the police,” Elly suggested.

  “There's no time!” Annie snapped, storming past her and starting to march along the riverbank. “There should be a road up ahead, and I think I remember there was a motel just a few miles away. I saw it once when I was out with Nurse Perry. Come on, we have to hurry!”

  “What use is a motel?” Elly asked as she began to follow. “We don't even have any money!”

  “We'll figure something out,” Annie replied, before stopping and looking back at the submerged SUV, then at the straws that lay discarded on the mud. “I'll figure it all out,” she added softly, speaking mainly to herself as she felt a faint twist of pain in the back of her head. “I've almost got it. I just need to figure out the last little part, I need to -”

  Stopping suddenly, she turned and looked back at Elly.

  “What's wrong?” Elly asked. “You're looking at me with a really strange expression.”

  “I don't know what's going on here,” Annie said, “but I swear I'll get to the bottom of it. And then we're going to find Eldion House, and we're going to figure out who's behind all of this.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Are you sure we're going the right way?” Elly asked a couple of hours later, as they continued to trudge through the forest. “We've been walking for a while now. Maybe we should double-back to Lakehurst. At least from there, we know how to get back to the road.”

  “We've already been to Lakehurst,” Annie replied, keeping her eyes fixed on the trees ahead as she saw the path starting to fade into the undergrowth. “There's nothing there.”

  “We barely looked.”

  “There was nothing.”

  “And it was dark, Annie.”

  “So?”

  “So we might have missed something. This is like those cartoons where someone tries an idea, and it fails, and then they never try it again. We should go back and systematically examine the ruins of Lakehurst. Those men won't be there this time to chase us away.”

  “There's no time. Lakehurst's a distraction.”

  “But we might find a clue. Lakehurst has been at the center of this for so long, it's hard to believe those ruins don't have anything more to tell us. You've got an analytical mind, Annie. We should go back there and go over every inch of the place, and then we can move on once we're sure there's nothing left to find.”

  “We have to find Katia!” Annie snapped, turning to her. “Don't you get it? We were supposed to protect her and now they have her! We have to get her back before they hurt her!”

  “How are we going to do that?” Elly asked, sounding exasperated. “In case you haven't noticed, we currently have no car, and no money, and no phones. We don't even have dry clothes! Look at us! We're not going to get anywhere in this state!”

  “Then go find the police,” Annie replied, “like you keep threatening.”

  “Don't you think that I won't!”

  Sighing, Annie turned and kept walking. She was starting to feel frustrated by Elly's constant suggestions. In fact, she was starting to think that Elly would never stop coming up with ideas, and that she'd never stop criticizing the current plan. She was sick of being told to focus, and of being told to go back and do things again, and she felt as if Elly opposed and poked holes in every plan she came up with. All Annie could think about was Katia, and about that poor little girl being whisked away to some place called Eldion House. She hadn't yet figured out what was going to happen at Eldion House, but she knew she had to get there and stop it all. And she knew that Katia wasn't going to last long without help.

  “Let's just find the road,” she muttered, hoping to calm Elly's fears, “and then -”

  Stopping suddenly, she spotted a figure up ahead, stumbling through the forest. Somehow, instantly, she knew from the figure's gait that she'd seen him before, but it took a moment longer before he wandered out onto the path, allowing Annie to see his face.

  It was the face of a dead man.

  “Why don't they see him?” Mark was muttering to himself as he stumbled along the path. “Why do they keep lying? Why do they always lie to me?”

  “Who's that?” Elly asked.

  Annie froze, watching as Mark came closer and closer. He looked exactly as she remembered him, still wearing the same clothes he'd worn on the day he'd died up at the hospital. His death had been shocking and bloody, to the extent that over the years she'd avoided thinking about him too much. Now he was here again, out in the forest, and she knew enough about Lakehurst to know that ghosts were real.

  “Why don't they see what happens here?” he asked, getting closer and closer. “Why don't they care?”

  “Annie, who is this guy?” Elly asked, sounding increasingly scared. “Annie, should we maybe think about running? Is he from one of those cults?”

  “He's a friend,” Annie whispered, stepping aside to let Mark past. “I mean, he was a friend. I mean, he was someone I knew, a long time ago. Not a friend, really, more a fellow patient. He used to dream about scorpions and...”

  Her voice trailed off as Mark walked along the path just a few feet from her. At that moment, she felt the air chill all around her, and the sensation lasted for a few seconds until Mark continued on his way and wandered toward the river's edge.

  “Annie, who is he?” Elly asked. “What's going on here?”

  “Ghosts,” Annie replied, feeling a shudder pass through her chest as she looked around and watched for any sign of other figures heading their way. “The ghosts of Lakehurst. Maybe they're being drawn out by our presence, or maybe they're just always here, locked in their misery.”

  A moment later, spotting somebody moving nearby, she instantly turned away and looked at Elly.

  “What's wrong?” Elly asked. “Don't you want to see them?”

  “Don't I want to see them?” Annie replied incredulously, struggling to contain the terror that was spreading through her body. “Of course I don't want to see them!”

  “Maybe it'd be good for you.”

  “You don't know what you're talking about.”

  “We can't just stand here, frozen like this,” Elly pointed out. “We have to keep moving. If the ghosts are here, maybe it's for a reason. Maybe they have something to tell you. We should go back up t
here and take a look around.”

  “Lakehurst is a shell,” Annie replied, “and all the people here are dead. Why do you keep suggesting that we go back?”

  “Because I'm worried we're running away from the answers.”

  “We don't have time to look for answers there,” Annie replied, “even if -”

  Before she could finish, she felt something ice-cold brush against her arm. Without thinking she turned, just in time to see a familiar, slouched figure wander past. A moment later the figure glanced back at her, staring with dark, ringed eyes that seemed full of hatred and resentment.

  “Eddie,” Annie whispered, recognizing the big, burly guard who'd helped make her days at Lakehurst so brutal. She flinched, remembering his touch.

  “You could have saved me,” he grumbled, his voice weighed down with anger. He began to turn to her and, as he did so, a loud crunching sound came from his back, causing him to drop to his knees. “I was trying to get away,” he sneered, “and you and your friend just left me behind like I didn't matter. I was only -”

  Suddenly he gasped as his back crunched again, and this time he dropped down onto all-fours.

  “Who is he?” Elly asked, clearly terrified.

  “I wanted to help you!” Annie shouted, as Eddie began to crawl toward her, just like he'd been crawling along the corridor while Lakehurst burned. “I wanted to help everyone!”

  “But you didn't, did you?” Eddie gasped, reaching out for her right leg, only falling short by a couple of inches. “You failed! You're a miserable failure and you're going straight to Hell!”

  “No!”

  Sidestepping another attempt to grab her leg, Annie hurried out of his reach and pulled Elly away too.

  “It's all your fault!” Eddie snapped. “If you'd just accepted your special treatment, Lakehurst would still be there and all those people would still be alive. You're not saving the world, Annie Radford!” He reached for her again, before grunting with frustration as he found that she was too far away. “You're just a mentally-ill girl who decided to fuck up everybody else's lives! You couldn't leave well enough alone!”

  Annie shook her head.

  “You know it's true,” he sneered, slowly and unsteadily getting back to his feet as his broken spine crunched and split. “You've always known it's true.”

  “Don't listen to him,” Elly stammered, grabbing Annie's arm. “Make him go away.”

  “I wasn't even the worst one,” Eddie continued. “I was just doing my job. There were others who suffered more, and all because of you.”

  “No,” Annie replied, “I -”

  “And you know exactly who I mean!”

  “No!” Annie stepped toward him. “You have to listen to me, I -”

  Before she could get another word out, an agonized scream rang through the forest. Clamping her hands over her ears, Annie turned and looked around, before turning back to look at Eddie and seeing that he'd vanished. The scream continued, however, and a moment later Annie looked around again as the sound began to hurt her ears.

  “What is that?” Elly shouted, putting her fingers in her ears. “It hurts! Who is it?”

  “I don't know!” Annie gasped.

  “It's getting louder!” Elly hissed, grimacing as the scream went on and on. “I think my ears are going to start bleeding! I think -”

  Stopping suddenly, she looked past Annie and – in an instant – all the color drained from her face.

  “What is it?” Annie asked, before turning just as the scream ended. She opened her mouth to ask another question, but then she spotted another familiar figure coming along the path.

  In that moment, Annie felt her heart shudder.

  “It's okay,” Amanda Myrtle said, wandering closer. “Don't be upset. I'm going home today. They're coming to fetch me and I'm going home.”

  “Amanda,” Annie whispered, with fresh tears in her eyes, “I...”

  “Hey Annie,” Amanda continued, stopping just a few paces away and smiling. “I took all the green pills, and all the red pills, and all the yellow pills, and now I get to go home. Isn't that nice? I did what I was told, and now I get to go home to my old life, just like everybody promised. I just have to wait for them to arrive. I've been walking around for a while and...”

  Her voice trailed off, and she furrowed her brow as a flicker of doubt reached her eyes.

  “They're taking quite a long time to come for me,” she muttered, before her smile returned. “Oh well,” she added. “I'm sure they'll be here really soon now. They have to be! They wouldn't leave me here. They're my family and they love me, no matter what I might have done in the past.” She looked up toward the trees, and her smile broadened. “I'll fly away like a bird, Annie! No-one'll be able to hold me down!”

  Annie followed her gaze and looked up, but all she saw were tree-tops silhouetted against the morning's clouds.

  “Look at the birds,” Amanda continued. “There are so many of them. They're beautiful. I think they're crows. I hope they're crows. Soon I'm going to be like them, I'll be soaring higher and higher in the sky. I just have to work out how to get there, but then everything will be...”

  She hesitated, before looking down at her own chest.

  “What's happening to her?” Elly asked.

  “No,” Annie whispered, taking a step back as she saw a thick patch of blood starting to seep through the front of Amanda's dress, as if leaking from her heart. “Please, I don't want to see this.”

  “What is it?” Amanda whimpered, as the blood ran all the way down to the ground and then began to leak into the mud. “It's stopping me. It's weighing me down. It's so heavy, I'll never be able to fly.” She raised her arms at her sides, but now there was blood dripping from her sleeves. “Where's it all coming from?” she gasped. “It's too heavy!”

  She began tearing at her dress, ripping the blood-soaked fabric even as it clung to her bare skin. Struggling, she smeared more and more blood across her arms and face, until finally she pulled away enough of the dress to reveal the huge hole that had been gouged in her chest, and the space where once she'd had a heart.

  “No!” Elly gasped, turning away and putting her hands over her eyes. “I can't look at this!”

  “I want to go!” Amanda screamed, dropping to her knees as the wet dress still clung to her body. “Why won't you let me go!”

  “I can help you,” Annie said, stepping over to her and starting to help peel the bloodied fabric from her skin. “Let me help you.”

  “I just want to get away from here!” Amanda stammered, as she bent over and hunched her bare back. “I don't want to walk around in this forest forever! I don't want to go back to those ruins! I know what I did was bad, but I've been here for so long and I just want to leave!” With tears running down her face, she looked up toward the sky. “I don't want to be a ghost!”

  “Amanda,” Annie said, “I can help you. I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll find a way to set you free.”

  “Help me?” Amanda turned to her, and slowly her expression softened. “You already helped me, Annie. You helped me so much.”

  Annie knelt in front of her.

  “You did so, so much for me back at Lakehurst,” Amanda continued with a faint, tentative smile. “So many things. Really, I wouldn't be here now without you.” She paused, and then she once again furrowed her brow. “I wouldn't be here... I wouldn't be like this, would I? I'd be free.”

  “Just stay calm,” Annie said, “and let's try to figure out how to set you free.”

  “Everything's so heavy,” Amanda muttered, still with the bloodied fabric stuck to her body as she looked down at the hole where her heart had once been. “It didn't have to be like this. I could have survived. I should have survived. I would have survived, if only...”

  Her voice trailed off, and then she turned to look straight at Annie.

  “You caused this!” she sneered. “You caused all of this!”

  “No, I -”

  Be
fore she could finish, Annie was shoved back against the mud. Screaming, Amanda fell on top of her and began scratching at her face, digging her nails into Annie's skin as she launched a wild, flailing attack. Annie closed her eyes and turning away, and in that instant she heard the scream end and she felt Amanda fall away from her body.

  “Annie?”

  Opening her eyes, Annie saw that Elly was watching from a little further along the path.

  “Where is she?” Annie asked, sitting up and looking around. “Where did she go?”

  “She just sort of... disappeared,” Elly replied.

  “Kieran saw her once,” Annie said, getting to her feet, still looking for any hint that Amanda was on her way back. “He told me about it. She must have been haunting the forest all this time. All she ever wanted was to go home, but now she's trapped here and -”

  Suddenly she spotted a figure far away in the forest. She watched for a moment, and sure enough she quickly realized that it was Amanda again, this time making her way back up toward Lakehurst.

  “Should we go after her?” Elly asked. “Annie? Should we try to find a way to set her free?”

  “I don't know that we can,” Annie replied, as a tear ran down her cheek. “The time to do that was when she was alive. I think now she's lost here.”

  “But we have to at least try!”

  Annie paused, before turning to her.

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “No!” Annie said again. “We can't spend all our time chasing ghosts here. We'll end up becoming just like them. We have to get going, and then maybe we can save people who are still alive.”

  “But -”

  Pushing past Elly, Annie began to hurry along the path, hoping to reach the road before any more ghosts appeared. She desperately wanted to run after Amanda, to try to find some way to release her from the endless torment of haunting the forest, but deep down she knew that she had to be logical. She had to focus on figuring out where to go next, and on working out what Nurse Winter had meant with her warning about Middleford Cross. The answers and solutions had to be waiting ahead, not buried in the ruins of Lakehurst.