Every Waking Dream

by Lauren Eason

  “An hour. If I don’t hear anything from you, I’m going to march in there myself,” Jess relayed in a low tone. “You better come back to me.”

  I smirked. “You can trust me.”

  “I know.” Jess reached over the seat and hugged me as if she would never see me again. While it was meant to be comforting, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth behind her desperate embrace.

  Getting out of the car, I walked inside and headed to the front desk. I sighed in relief as I saw that Jo wasn’t there. The receptionist I had seen before looked up from her typing and smiled as she recognized me.

  “We don’t normally get as many frequent flyers as you. Dr. Clayborn told me to buzz you in,” she said, standing from her desk. “I just need you to sign in, and I’ll need any electronics you may have.”

  “What?”

  The receptionist looked at me confused, and then her expression changed to that of understanding. “Sorry. We changed our policy for visitors since our patients were getting ahold of cellphones. You’ll get it back when you leave.”

  Taking my cellphone out of my back pocket, I placed it begrudgingly into the small white basket she held out for me. It certainly put a wrench in my plan, but I was sure I’d come up with something. She took my belongings to a locker behind the desk and placed them in a numbered spot. She handed me a slip of paper with my number on it to reclaim later. Once I signed my name, she buzzed me through the doors to the back of the rehab center.

  Walking through the corridors and past rooms, I found Dr. Clayborn’s office. Knocking on the door, I heard her voice call me in. Turning the knob, I entered the room and went to sit in the chair in front of her desk. Dr. Clayborn looked up from her files and folded her hands on top of them.

  “Aislin, I’m glad you could make it. Now, what’s so dire that you had to make a special trip to see me?”

  “I need your help,” I stated. “I need you to believe me.”

  Dr. Clayborn raised an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

  I opened my mouth before stopping. A new picture adorned her desk, and this time, it wasn’t of her ex-husband. Picking it up from her desk to get a better look, I saw my doctor with her arms around Detective Highwater. They seemed happy together.

  “Oh, that,” she smiled. “It’s a new thing. John is supposed to meet my daughter this coming weekend. I’m a little nervous.”

  I placed the photo back on her desk while clearing my throat. “Have you spoken to Raven yet?”

  “Raven? No, I don’t believe I have. Is she in trouble?”

  “Isn’t she on your roster to be seen for therapy soon? She admitted herself yesterday,” I replied, perplexed.

  Dr. Clayborn took out a folder and glanced over her schedule and patient intakes. “I...don’t see her name on here. Are you sure?”

  Of course, she wouldn’t have a record of her. Raven was gone, vanished exactly like the others. “Maybe I was mistaken. Do you mind if I use your cellphone? They took mine at the front desk, and I need to make a quick call.”

  Dr. Clayborn cocked her head to the side but took her phone out of her desk drawer and handed it to me. Taking it, I stood from my chair. “I’ll be right back.”

  She rose from her seat as I took the phone with me outside her office. As soon as the door closed behind me, I raced down the hallway, passing nurses and patients as they looked after me. Slowing my pace as not to raise too much suspicion, I ducked into a stairwell leading down to the lower level of the rehab center.

  As I made my way downstairs, I stopped on the stairwell, glancing overhead. Panting, I swiveled around, looking for a way to ensure I’d be alone while exploring the bowels of the facility. Seeing the fire alarm on the bottom landing, I raced towards it and placed my hand on the alarm. Taking a deep, ragged breath, I pulled the lever down as it sounded. The stairwell floodlights flashed as I heard the nurses calling for patients above.

  Backing up, I spun around and continued my way through a door leading into a dimly lit corridor. Plumbing pipes and wires crossed overhead as I saw doors on either side of me as I pushed myself forward. The flashes through the semi-darkness illuminated the area briefly as I slowly approached one of the doors.

  Grabbing the handle, I swung it open on creaking hinges and backed away, peering through the darkness as if something or someone would jump out at me. A sudden flash shone into the empty space revealing an outline of cleaning supplies. Blowing out a sigh, I turned to continue my search. The sirens had ceased their wailing, but it would take some time for the fire department to reach us.

  “Raven, where are you?” I whispered as I tried to listen for any signs of life. Gathering my courage, I checked all the doors I encountered, but none of them gave me the results I was looking for.

  As I neared the final door at the end of the corridor, my heart grew heavy. Palms shaking, I opened the metal door and saw another empty room. Walking inside, I clicked on the lights from the wall switch and cried tears of frustration. Slamming my hand against an old shelf, the wooden boards fell to the ground along with all its contents. I bent down to scoop up the cleaning supplies as my hand glided over a latch on the floor.

  Pulling the handle up and twisting it, the tiles lifted from the area to reveal a ladder going even further underground. I took a picture of the dark hole and sent it to Jess in case I lost service. It was a likely scenario, but I would try my best to get the evidence I needed.

  Placing the phone in my back pocket, I stepped onto the first rung and carefully lowered myself into the hole. Once I reached the bottom, I used the flashlight on the phone to navigate my way through the passageway. For some reason, I felt like I was going into a cave, but upon further inspection, the walls were smooth with concrete. It was as if someone kept this place in mind while building the center overhead.

  Locating a switch on the wall, I flipped it up, and a row of lanterns lit up down the length of the corridor. Saving the battery on the cellphone, I turned off the flashlight mode and headed down the hall. My heart pounded in my chest the closer I got to the end. It was quiet. I had expected some sort of sound. Possibly even cries for help, but I was only greeted with silence.

  An eerie thought crossed my mind that maybe the victims were too scared to reach out, thinking I was their captor. There were two doors at the end of the hall on either side. Examining them, I noticed that only one had heavy deadbolts. Unlocking them, I slid the heavy metal door open as the light from the passageway shone around the dark space.

  They blinked at me, lifting their heads to gaze upon me with what little strength they had left. Some of them were in rags, while others were in dirty clothes from their pictures in the newspaper. They were so weak, so exhausted. It was a room with no windows. A room of despair. Of fear.

  Some of them cowered away from me, not realizing I was there to save them. They whimpered like starving, abused animals. I took a step forward into the packed room as they cowered around the walls. Before I could take another step, a hand grabbed my shoulder.

  Startled, I spun around as Raven took me into a tight hug. She cried into my neck as I pried her off of me. “We have to get out of here.”

  Raven held up her hands and showed me the chains around them. I glanced around the room at the others as they started to realize I wasn’t who they had initially thought. Their manacles clinked together as I saw them chained to each other. Taking out my phone, I snapped some pictures, realizing I’d have to go back to send them off.

  “I’ll be back,” I told Raven. Stepping out into the passage, I tensed as I heard footsteps from above.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  My breath froze in my throat as my body stiffened, tensing with the steady stride from above. Spinning back towards the door, Raven tried to peek out from where she was chained. I took the handle and slid the door as her hand shot out to stop me.

  “Please, don’t leave me,” Raven whimpered.

  “I’m not leaving you, but if I get caught, th
en none of us will make it out of here,” I whispered, trying to soothe her fears. Her fingers uncurled from the edge of the door as I slowly pulled it shut, sealing the bolts back in place.

  The echo of a boot hitting the first rung of the ladder sent sweat dripping down my spine as I spun around, trying to find a place to hide. Glancing at the other door beside me, I flung it open, diving into the darkness as I closed it quietly behind.

  Holding my hands out to feel the walls around me, I guided myself to a far corner of the room away from the door. My panting sounded loud to my ears as I touched cold, hard metal. Feeling along, I found a handle and a panel of switches. Before I could investigate any further, the footsteps I heard coming down the ladder stopped outside my hiding place.

  Coming closer to the door's direction as I circled the room, I listened intensely for the person outside. Holding my breath, I leaned against the door, waiting for any sign of movement. The sudden grating of metal from the door holding the others sliding open startled me as I stumbled away. I could hear the children inside crying as chains rattled from the other side.

  This was it. This was my chance.

  Flinging the door open, I saw the man glance over his shoulder, eyes widening. I rushed over to the metal door to slide it closed as his hand flung out through the crack. He roared in pain as I squeezed the palm of his hand against the edge of the door and the frame. Realizing I couldn’t close it all the way, I decided to make a run for it down the passageway towards the ladder.

  I could hear the door sliding back open as the man gave chase after me. Trying to ignore the sound of his footsteps, I climbed the ladder, stopping briefly at the top to fling the door open. Before I was halfway out, I felt his hand grab my ankle, yanking me back down. Kicking at him, I reached behind me and grabbed the phone from my pocket. I needed that one little bar to save my life.

  I saw the screen flash as the pictures went through. I lost my grip on the ladder and felt myself sliding back down into the hole. Falling on top of the man, I rolled off and crawled along the floor, my vision blurry as blood poured into my eyes. Pushing myself from the concrete, I limped down the hallway until the man yanked me by my hair and slammed me against the wall underneath one of the lanterns.

  He was wearing scrubs from the center with a name badge – another nurse. “You thought you were smart, huh?”

  The slap to my face sent my head reeling back into the wall.

  “How did you get down here?” he shouted at me as I tried to regain my senses. He glanced over his shoulder as another figure made their way down the ladder towards us.

  “I figured you were close to solving this,” the voice said.

  “Detective Highwater,” I confirmed. “Why?”

  He cocked his head to the side and examined the phone I had dropped. “I was hoping you’d leave this to me.”

  “How could you?” I sobbed. “We trusted you!”

  The nurse holding me shoved me to the ground as I stared at them defiantly. He smirked at me, his face appearing dark under the shadow of the lanterns. “You’re the one.”

  “What? You recognize me from your stay here?” Harlan smirked.

  “You—you hurt Maria,” I stammered, pulling myself to my feet. My body ached as I discovered new bruises and gashes from my fall.

  His smug expression made me sick to my stomach. “She was so drugged up she couldn’t even recognize me. I followed her here after she left the asylum. Maria knew too much about the operation.”

  “You’re trafficking them,” I stated, spitting blood out of my mouth at the floor in front of them.

  The nurse took a menacing step forward before Detective Highwater placed out an arm. “I didn’t want it to come to this, Aislin.”

  “Then why?” I demanded.

  “I know you and your friend have been pulling files on our constituents. What you don’t know is that when my sister took her own life, I was a rookie back then—full of rage. I confronted him, Elias, at his home and met Susan. She hated him as much as I did and gave me the means to put an end to him.”

  “Why point me to Susan?” I asked.

  “I needed you off my trail. I needed you to trust me so I could find out what you knew and how far you were willing to go,” Detective Highwater explained. “Susan and I were bound that day by a secret, and I couldn’t let anyone else know.”

  “Let’s put her with the others. I’m sure someone will pay something for her even if she’s a little older,” Harlan said from behind Detective Highwater.

  “Shut up, Harlan! You’ve caused enough trouble already by taking your turns with the product.” He turned on the nurse, standing inches from his face. “Don’t make me call Hunter.”

  The hiss was barely above a whisper, but I could make it out as plain as day. These people—these vile, evil people, were in on everything. They were the cause behind all those broken families who had lost their loved ones. Emily’s death, Gabrielle’s disappearance, all of it.

  Highwater came rushing back towards me, grabbing me by the throat. He held up the phone to my face. “Who did you send this to?”

  Gasping for breath, I tried to pry his fingers from my skin as he continued to slowly crush my trachea. “The—police!”

  Detective Highwater threw the phone to the ground and crushed it under his foot before releasing his grip. “We’ll have to move them—”

  “All of them?”

  “Yes, you idiot! All of them. Place her with the others until we can prepare a shipment,” Highwater said as he began climbing the ladder.

  Harlan stalked towards me, throwing me over his shoulder as I kicked and screamed. He threw the door open, dropping me on my back on the cold floor before sliding the door shut. I heard the bolts slide into place as I slammed my body against the door. “Let me out!”

  Chains clinked together as I felt arms embrace me. I hugged Raven back even though I couldn’t see her through the darkness. I simply knew her presence. “What have they done to you?”

  “Nothing...yet,” Raven said. “The others...they’ve been through a lot.”

  “Are you Aislin?” a voice asked from somewhere nearby.

  “Yes. How did you know?”

  “I’m Gabrielle, Jess’s friend. Raven told me you two have been looking for me,” she said. I could tell she was on the verge of tears from the tremble in her voice.

  “I promised I would, but now we’re both trapped,” I replied.

  “Did you do what I asked? Were you able to find Denise?” Raven questioned.

  “Denise? What do you mean?”

  Raven sighed. “Well, I guess that’s a no. I wasn’t sure if you had gotten my message. I found out Denise isn’t who we thought she was.”

  “Yeah, she’s Susan’s daughter,” I revealed.

  “No, not that. She’s been working undercover.” Raven took my hands in hers. “She was down here with them when I was taken in by Harlan and Jo. Denise is on our side!”

  “What?” My tone was harsher than I would’ve liked. “After all she’s put my family through?”

  “That...I don’t know what that was, but she was never in on this. She was recruited by the FBI when they caught wind of Maria and disappearances at her mental institution. Since Denise was raised away from all the Lockharts and Ridgeways of the world, it was easier to employ her since she was family,” Raven explained.

  “They know about this? And yet, here we all are,” I said, waving my arm towards the others as if Raven could actually see me.

  “Denise will be back.”

  “Jess and Melissa should’ve gone to the police by now,” I said. “Jess got my pictures and should be making a compelling case right now to search this place.”

  “You mean we’re going to be rescued?” another voice said through the darkness. The voice sounded like it belonged to a boy not much older than ten.

  “Yes,” I assured. “They’re coming.”

  A gasp made its way around the group as we heard a clanging
sound outside our small room. We didn’t have much time to react as the metal door slid open, and a hand grabbed me by my hair, dragging me out of the room. Raven and Gabrielle screamed after me as I struggled to get away.

  As my hair ripped from my scalp, the hand dropped me. Lifting my head, I heard the click of a gun as I stared down the barrel and up at the hand holding it. Harlan passed by Jo back into the holding cell. He came out with Raven and Gabrielle as they fought against his strength. Shoving them down to their knees, he pulled out his own gun.

  “I don’t think this was Hunter’s plan for us,” I forced out as I held my hands up while standing on my knees.

  Jo chuckled. “We don’t take orders from Hunter. You all are more trouble than what you’re worth. We’re just tying up loose ends. We’ll be taking care of your families later.”

  Everything seemed to play in slow motion as I heard Raven and Gabrielle scream behind me. Falling over to the side as Jo pulled the trigger, I stood up, grabbing her hand and twisting it around behind her. With a grunt, she dropped the gun as I knocked her off balance. Jo landed on her face as I picked up the gun from the floor.

  Another shot resounded within the hallway as I felt a searing pain enter through my shoulder. Ignoring it, I pointed the gun at Harlan, squeezing the trigger as I felt the kickback of the force within my palm. Harlan staggered back before falling into the back wall of the passageway. Raven reached out and grabbed the gun with her handcuffed hands, pointing it at Jo before firing a few shots of her own.

  Jo lay still as blood soaked the floor underneath her. Her eyes were lifeless, staring at Raven as she dropped the gun, hands shaking. I rushed over to her, holding my hand over my shoulder to stop the bleeding.

  “Are you okay?” I asked breathlessly, kneeling down beside her. I glanced over her shoulder at Harlan’s body, blood smeared down the wall behind him.

  “Gabrielle,” she whispered. I spotted her lying on her side near the door to their prison cell.