by Vivien Reis
"Thank you for your concern, Sheriff."
He hesitated, looking like he wanted to say more, but nodded and left.
Mer already knew Ben was getting sick, and she knew what that voice sounded like too—rough and impossibly deep.
She’d heard him using the same voice in his sleep.
# FIFTEEN
It was nearing the end of visiting hours at the hospital, but Ravi strode toward the double doors. The principal, his boss, had held him up at work. The old man had wanted an update on Ben's health, hands clasped over his big belly as he asked. His boss claimed he didn't want to bother Meredith, Ben's grandmother, with so much going on. Really, he had just wanted to hear the latest gossip.
Ravi had filled his boss in on the broad topics. He had no children of his own, but felt a fatherly instinct flutter in him when he spoke of Ben and Abi. He had left that meeting satisfied, like the principal had thought of him as part of the Cole family.
Now he was paying Ben a quick visit. Meredith had asked him to stop by earlier in the day, hoping that a familiar face would do Ben some good.
The nurse at the check-in desk warned him of the proximity to their closing hours but all Ravi had to do was flash a grin at her.
"Don't worry," he glanced down at her nameplate, "Allie, I'll be out of there in a jiffy. Have a good night!"
He strode down the hallway, carrying a book in his hands, toward Room 233. When he rounded the corner into Ben's room, he bumped into Dr. Brandon.
"Oh, excuse me. Are you all right?" He grasped the doctor’s shoulders, steadying him..
The man looked like he might wet himself at any moment and patted at something in his coat pocket before sidestepping Ravi. "Excuse me," he said. "I was just giving Ben his evening medicine."
Ravi nodded once, but the doctor explained further, "To help him sleep."
"Good. Any updates?"
His demeanor changed, regaining confidence. No doubt Meredith had torn into him about something. "Nothing major, but Ben or Mrs. Cole would have to fill you in on the details."
"Very well." Ravi patted the doctor on the arm once and smiled at him. "Thank you."
When he entered Ben's room, he wasn't surprised to see him fast asleep. Ravi had stayed in a hospital once when he was younger and remembered his irritation at the hourly blood pressure checks. It was impossible to sleep well at a hospital. He wished he had come earlier—he didn't want to wake him.
Ben’s room was in stark contrast to Adam’s. There were no bandages on him, no bruises or scraped skin. He still looked alive.
"Gran." She stood up when he entered and hugged him. Mer was a tiny woman, but she'd been carrying a lot in the last week. "Any news on Abi?"
She shook her head. How did Abi fit into all of this? Mary he could understand, but Abi...
Ben rustled, opening his eyes. They drooped down again but he fought to keep them open.
"Mr. Flynn?"
Ravi didn't like that Ben called him that. Not right then, where he was there as Ben's family, not his teacher. "Hey, Ben."
"I'm going to get a snack at the cafeteria before they close.” Meredith paused at the door. “You two want anything while I'm down there?"
"No, thank you," Ravi answered. Ben shook his head.
And they were alone.
"How have you been feeling?"
Ben chuckled, the bed whirring as he raised himself up. "Crazy."
There wasn't a hint of humor in his voice. Ravi had seen this before, with Mary. He had watched her decay until nothing of her old self remained. Ravi sat in the chair next to Ben.
"I wanted to talk to you about something, Ben." He paused, not sure how to start. Ben waited.
Should he tell him? If he did, it might do more harm than good. The boy's mind was already so frail. Would it crack him?
"Yeah?"
He couldn't do it. Not yet.
"I brought this." He set the book on the bed between them.
Ben picked it up, running his fingers over the rough cover. "A yearbook?"
"Yes. Your mother and I went to high school together."
The confusion spreading across Ben's face didn't surprise Ravi.
"But I thought you two met through my dad. When they were in college."
Ravi nodded. "Your father thought that too."
Ben's eyes widened, accusing. "Why would you two lie about that?"
"It's not as bad as it sounds. Your mom and I were just friends. I thought you would enjoy looking through her pictures. See how frizzy her hair was back in the nineties."
His face twisted until Ben shoved the book away from him. "I want nothing to do with her. She's a murderer."
Ravi took the book back, feeling the weight of it press down on his legs. "We don't know for sure she did it, Ben. Have faith."
"In what? In my mom not being crazy? In her not being responsible in some way for my dad? For Abi?"
"Look, I came to tell you your mom and I have been friends for a long time. I know her and I also know she wouldn't do this. Not ever. You should have been there when we were all in college. They were such a beautiful couple and so happy." Heat stung his eyes, and he took a deep breath. "I know your mother did not do this."
Ben looked conflicted. He didn't speak, but his hands balled up around the sheets, face hardening.
"I'm sorry. I thought it would help."
Ravi got up to leave, taking the book with him, but decided against it. He set it on the table and left the room. Ben didn't protest or call after him.
He wished he could tell Ben the truth.
# SIXTEEN
Pain swept over Abi's body in rush. As she came to, every inch from her head all the way down to her legs throbbed. Cold, hard stone pressed against her back. Goosebumps raised on her arms from the chill in the air.
It was damp and humid, the air musty, like mold.
Raising her hand to rub at her temple, she froze, and then blinked rapidly. She couldn't see her hand.
She couldn't see anything. Abi's eyes were open, she knew that, but why couldn't she see? Was it too dark?
Her trembling hands moving over her face, her eyes. She jerked upright. What had they done to her? Her cheek was huge and swollen, smarting when she touched it. Blood pumped quickly through her body and she felt every pulse at her temples.
Something banged above her and she stilled.
Had she really heard that? She strained to listen but her ears only rang out with thumping heartbeats.
She felt around, looking for a weapon or a hiding place, but there was only rough stone underneath her and as far as she could reach. Abi moved her arms in slow, sweeping motions in front of and beside her. There was nothing but the wall and the floor. Pushing against the ground, she tried to stand, but her legs shook too much and she collapsed. She was afraid to go farther into the room, not knowing what she might stick her hand into.
There were no more sounds. No breathing around her, no shuffling. Rising to her hands and knees, she inched forward, tentatively searching her surroundings.
Cold.
A wall.
More cold.
Another wall.
Four walls later, she was back to where she started, a slightly warmer space on the cold ground where she had lain.
She was alone. At least as far as she could tell. Abi pressed her hands into the ground, trying to push out the shakiness. She needed to come up with a plan. When they eventually came back...
They. The two men. They had kidnapped her. She was one of those girls in the horror movies, except this was real.
The tremors returned, except this time in more than just her hands. She grew sick, acid churning in her empty stomach.
How long had she been out? Was it hours? Days? Despite the cold, sweat trickled down the sides of her face.
Wait. It was no longer cold. It was hot. The warmth emanating from the floor felt good on her sore muscles. She lay down and tried to take a few steadying breaths. She had to think. W
hen would they come back? Did they know she was awake?
She couldn't see. Don't think about it.
The events after the sheriff visited were blurry. It was like waking up after a nightmare, the details missing, but the anxiety lingering on.
But she remembered the men's faces. The fake cop with greasy-looking hair and stubble, and the redheaded one with dreads..
And the trees. They came back to her. She had been in the woods near their house, but why? And how did the men find her there?
Stop. Make a plan.
Another loud bang exploded in the tiny room. She pressed her back against the closest wall, her eyes wide, trying to see something, anything.
Scraping and screeching. Her breath came in so rapidly her head swam. The world in her mind spun too. She was unable to orient herself.
Another bang. Directly in front of her this time, in the room with her.
Footsteps echoed, each one like an electric shock as the person moved closer. almost burst into tears.
"Abigail."
Her head instinctively jerked toward the voice. She didn't recognize it. It wasn't one of the two men.
Had they sold her? Was she being trafficked? She had seen posters and documentaries for things like this.
"I've been waiting for you to wake up." He was calm, and he spoke steadily, like a parent trying to soothe a wailing child.
"Where am I?" Her throat caught and she coughed weakly.
"You're safe." His voice changed, deeper. "For now."
Abi needed to be strong, to keep her wits about her, but the man's statement moved into her mind like a dark cloud, polluting it. She could almost see the swirling mist of smoke that had become her thoughts.
She swallowed, something that had never felt so unnatural with her dry mouth. "What do you want from me?" Did she really want to know the answer?
"We think you might be able to help us with something."
Her face flushed at that and she desperately wished she could gauge the man's behavior, read his facial expressions. There was another scraping noise and then a hollow metal sound. A chair. Rustling followed, the nothing. He was sitting in the chair, watching her.
"What's wrong with my eyesight?"
"Oh, we've taken that away from you momentarily." He said it so calmly that Abi was positive she’d misunderstood.
"Wh-how can—what does that even mean?" She touched her eyes again, fearful that she had missed something earlier. There were no stitches or damage as far as she could tell.
"Like this."
The world forced its way into her skull with a blinding white light. She doubled over, pressing her head against the cement, her hands pressing just as hard from the sides.
Shrill. White. Pain.
She was screaming. Lightning streaked across her vision, following predetermined paths through her mind.
No, it wasn't lightning.
It was the pathways through her brain. Light pulsed from her eyes, traveled behind them, through her head, and all the way to the base of her skull. How was she seeing this?
The heat in the room suddenly switched to chilling cold again and she gagged.
Light. She could see.
Abi uncurled herself and looked up at the man's feet, wincing.
She saw boots. Thin metal legs of the chair. Beige pants. Black shirt. She could see his face in her peripheral, her body shaking from the cold and the effort.
And then it all vanished, sucked through the tiny holes of her mind again. Darkness blocked out the world and she let out a frustrated whimper.
The source of the light had disappeared, but its after-image burned into her mind. She could see the outline of the man, but she couldn't make out the details of his face.
She panted, not understanding what was happening, who these people were, what they had done to her.
A vacuum pulled her through space.
Strange sounds filled Abi's ears, her body floating on something, but not in the clouds. She was at sea.
In rough waters.
Sinking fast.
Abi thrashed and kicked, trying to breathe at every turn.
Had she died?
Heaven doesn't have rough waters.
She was in Hell.
Lights again. Bright lights. Too bright. Her arm shielded her face but did nothing to diminish the brightness.
Whispering, too soft to hear at first, increased in volume. She couldn't understand the words but she could feel them. They ran up and over her spine, through her nerves and deep into her chest. They were warm and sticky and hungry.
And then darkness.
Her hands crushed her ears, trying to block out the sound. She was still spinning, still blinded, still feeling the voices.
On and on it went. Light, dark, hot, cold.
It was just her and the pain.
At every fiber of her being, it stretched and squeezed and tightened around her. It threatened to smother her, to rip her soul to shreds.
She tried to fight, to push back. Tendrils of relief would reach her before the bright and loud world would shove her back again. She grew weaker, unable to hold tight of her grip.
Her grip on what?
The sensation crept along her body, filling every corner and vein and joint. It spread and spread until little threads snaked out in her vision. It reached her eyes, bringing depth to the darkness around her.
She wasn't strong enough anymore. The weight was too much, the force of it too suffocating.
So, she took one final breath and gave in.
Darkness enveloped her and crushed her chest, squeezing all the air out of her lungs. They burned and her heart pounded, tightening as well.
With a whoosh, Abi hit the floor hard, her head cracking against the cement. The ocean exploded around her, rushing in a current across the floor, splashing against the walls.
She turned on her side, spewing water from her burning lungs.
Her scream turned into a sob.
"Your mother was weak, you know." He was calm, mocking.
The fight was leaving her, burning defeat building higher and higher.
"Her mind was rotten—tainted."
Footsteps thumped near her head. He was standing right above her but she didn't care to turn toward him anymore. She fixed her gaze on the wall, still coughing with each burning breath..
"And your brother's is too." Her vision blinked out again, the dark sweeping across her in a flash.
A flicker of Ben came to her. He was sick. Just like her mom had been.
His hand gripped her chin and gently turned her face. She felt his breath on her skin as he spoke. "Soon. Very soon we will be reunited with our King once more. And you're going to help us, Abi. One way or another, you're going to help us."
She tried to speak but all that came out was a quick, hiccupping exhale. Again, she tried. "Help with what?"
The rubber on the man's boots squeaked against the ground and the chair screeched as he dragged it away.
"Help with what!" she screamed as the door slammed shut.
# SEVENTEEN
"You need boring, Ben. You need ordinary." Gran stood her ground, wiping her floury hands on her favorite apron.
He had just gotten back to Gran's house, and she was already trying to get rid of him. An odd sensation came over him. He thought maybe a headache was coming on again, but it wasn't. He could almost sense the weight of the air on his skin and something about it made him nervous.
"I don't want to go back, Gran. What's the point?"
She rolled dough out on the counter, pushing hard into it—more pie for the sheriff and his office. "Because you need to finish high school, that's why. You need to go back to your routine as best you can."
"As best I can? I think we're past that, Gran." Never in his life had he talked to her like that, but the odd feeling fueled him. His life had changed. There was no going back to the way things were.
"Please, Ben? Just try?" she asked softly, and the anger m
elted off him.
Maybe she wasn't trying to get rid of him, after all.
"Yeessssssss." It was nothing but a tiny whisper but it echoed and repeated in his head in rapid succession.
Yeessssssss.
Yeessssssss.
Go away. He squeezed his eyes shut, and the voice disappeared.
"You okay?" Gran moved closer, but he quickly nodded, trying to remember his train of thought.
"I'm fine. What am I supposed to do at school? I'm not going to be able to concentrate on trig when Abi is out there somewhere."
"We can't do anything else but keep going, Ben. There's no difference between waiting here and waiting at school, except the latter allows you to graduate on time." Gran sounded tough, but there were bags under her eyes and her hands shook every time the phone rang.
"I'll be a distraction. Everyone will stare—I'm a freak." He was grasping at thin arguments now.
"Benjamin!" Her brows knitted together. "What has happened to this family does not make you a freak. And if you think you're a freak, then so am I. Now, I won't hear talk like that, do you understand me?"
He nodded slowly again.
"Yes, people will stare at you. But you need to talk to your friends. You need a distraction from what's going on right now."
School as a distraction? Life usually distracted Ben from school, not the other way around.
"What do you say? School on Monday?"
He really, really didn't want to go. But Gran seemed to think it was a good idea. And in any case, she was probably hoping for some time alone. She wasn't used to raising two teenagers—
Abi. There had been no updates since last night. No traces, no anonymous tips, nothing. His sister was out there somewhere and had been for two days.
"I'll think about it."
She seemed to take that as a victory and turned back to the pie.
"I'm going out for a walk." He didn't wait for approval, and Gran didn't stop him as he left. Ben agreed with Gran on one thing—he needed to get away. Everything constantly reminded him of his parents, of his sister, of his own health problems.
His head was in a fog and he hoped that the chilled air would help clear it. But he was also leaving the house for another purpose. He wanted to talk to Cora.