The Treatment

by C. L. Taylor

  ‘Are we still going ahead with you know what?’ Jude says, as she squeezes up beside me.

  ‘Yeah.’

  I turn my back to her and shove a hand up my long-sleeve T-shirt. I fumble the staff pass from under my bra, palm it and give Mouse a nod to come closer. As she does, I knock my hand against hers and signal with my eyes that she needs to take the pass. She shakes her head. No, she doesn’t want to or no, she doesn’t understand?

  ‘Tell Kyle you dropped your inhaler,’ I whisper as I press it into her hand. ‘You’ll find it in the corner of the stairwell downstairs. Once you’ve got it go and find Mason.’

  She gives me a startled look. ‘What about you?’

  ‘I’ll stay here. It’s the only way.’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Hey?’ Jude says from behind me. ‘What are you two up to?’

  I twist round. ‘I’ll tell you in a minute.’

  ‘To get out of the tunnels,’ I whisper into Mouse’s ear, ‘you go straight ahead, take a left, then another left, then a right, then another right. Left, left, right, right. OK?’

  ‘So it’s straight ahead then –’

  ‘Hey!’ Jude shoves her way between me and Mouse. ‘Tell me what’s going on. I’m sick of you leaving me out of things.’

  I give Mouse a gentle shove. ‘Go, now!’

  ‘Go where?’ Jude reaches out to stop her but Mouse is too fast. She sidesteps her and heads towards Kyle, still standing on the steps.

  ‘Jude!’ I grab her arm. ‘It’s OK. She’s only gone to find her inhaler. She’s dropped it somewhere.’

  ‘I don’t believe you. This is part of the real escape plan, isn’t it? You’re going to leave without me.’ She shakes her head slowly back and forth, her eyes narrowed. ‘I knew you couldn’t be trusted, Drew. I knew it the second I set eyes on you.’

  Mouse has reached Kyle now. He’s shaking his head and she’s remonstrating, miming taking an inhaler whilst pointing down the stairs. He seems to relent, gesturing with his head that he’ll go down and look with her. Damn it. That wasn’t part of the plan.

  ‘Drew!’ Jude shoves me in the chest. ‘You’re ignoring me again! What did I tell you about ignoring me. Hey!’ She twists away and raises her hand high in the air. ‘Hey, Kyle! Come over here. You need to hear this. Drew’s planning on kidnapping one of the –’

  I’m sorry, I say in my head, as I hook a foot around one of Jude’s and shove her in the chest, hard. Her eyes meet mine, glassy and terrified, as she tips backwards. Her outstretched arms swipe at one, two, three students as she falls. Kids try to twist out of her way but there’s nowhere to move and she smacks into the boy who’s standing on tiptoes, trying to see what’s going on in the doorway. The weight of Jude’s falling body unbalances him and he lurches to his left, knocking over the short girl beside him. Down they fall, bodies tumbling like dominos, almost in slow motion.

  ‘Go!’ I mouth at Mouse. ‘Go now!’

  As she flies down the stairs and a startled Kyle leaps forward to catch three kids who are tumbling towards him, I inch to my left, ready to follow Mouse down the stairs as soon as there’s a gap in the bodies. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement, a flash of grey, at the top of the stairs that lead up to the staff quarters. A pair of trousers. A shiny black shoe. A grey sock. And a flash of curved metal where the other foot should be.

  Chapter Thirty

  Dad?

  I take the steps two at a time. That was my dad I saw at the top of the stairs. He always refused to wear a realistic prosthetic leg. ‘Why hide something I’m not ashamed of?’ he used to say. ‘Why conform to society’s view of normal?’

  But why would he be here?

  ‘Dad! Wait!’ I shout, but my voice gets lost in a wall of sound as the students in the stairwell below continue to scream and shout.

  I reach the top of the first flight of stairs in seconds and speed across the second-floor stairwell. As I reach bottom of the next set of stairs, I scream my dad’s name but there’s no one here. Whoever it was has already passed through the door to the staff quarters. It’s open but it’s starting to close.

  ‘Dad, wait!’

  I haul myself up the steps but, before I reach the top step, the door swings shut. The three red lights on the locking unit flash once, twice, three times.

  Locked.

  ‘No!’ I power up the last few stairs and yank on the handle but it holds fast.

  ‘Dad!’ I pound on the door with closed fist. ‘Dad, I know it was you. Open up! Please, Dad! Please! Please open the door.’

  Angry, desperate tears roll down my face as I slam myself against the door, over and over again. Why won’t he open it? He must have seen me standing at the bottom of the stairs, outside the dorm. He must know that it’s me.

  As the noise from the floor below dims to a low hum, I drop to my knees. It can’t have been Dad. He wouldn’t abandon me again.

  *

  I sit with my back to the door for what feels like hours but it must only be minutes before I hear the sound of footsteps.

  ‘Hey!’ Kyle climbs the stairs purposefully, his arms pumping until he stops about a foot away from me. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s going on?’

  I drop my head and stare at my arms, hugging my knees to my chest. It’s all over. For me, anyway, but I can still help Mouse and Mason escape. If I keep Kyle talking that’ll be one less person looking for them.

  ‘Have you been crying?’ Kyle drops his voice as he crouches down beside me.

  I shake my head but I know my eyes must be red and puffy, my nose swollen and my cheeks streaked with tears. I always look a mess when I cry.

  ‘What are you doing up here …’ He pauses. ‘Sorry, I don’t know what your name is.’

  His big, brown eyes are full of concern and his brow is furrowed with worry but I’ve seen all that before. Destiny made out she was all nicey-nicey – until she decided to twist my arm behind my back.

  ‘Drew,’ I say softly. ‘Drew Finch.’

  ‘Cool name.’ He smiles. ‘Mind if I sit here?’ He gestures at the wall beside me. ‘My back’s killing me. Side effect of being the beast from the North-East.’ He laughs and runs a hand over his beard.

  ‘If you want.’

  He lowers himself to the ground, keeping his radio tightly gripped in his hand. I glance at his staff pass, on the end of the lanyard, sitting on his stomach. I could grab it and make a run for it, but there are more footsteps on the stairs now, and adult voices, calling to each other.

  Kyle touches his staff pass. ‘Don’t even think about it, Drew. I could see you looking,’ he adds with a half-smile.

  ‘Yeah, well.’

  Abi appears at the bottom of the stairs. Her ponytail has come loose and tendrils of hair are hanging over her cheeks. She moves to climb the stairs but Kyle raises a hand.

  ‘I’ve got this.’

  ‘But …’ She glances to her right, as though checking with someone else. I can’t see who it is because of the angle of the stairs.

  ‘Seriously, Abi,’ Kyle says, ‘I’ve got this.’

  ‘Is there anyone else up there?’

  ‘No, just me and Drew.’

  ‘OK.’ She tucks her hair behind her eyes. ‘But radio if you need backup. We’ve just done bed check. Another student’s missing. Megan Jones. Short girl, long brown hair, light brown eyes, on the heavy side.’

  My heart skips a beat. Run, I send Mouse a silent message. Just run.

  ‘OK. I’ll keep an eye out.’

  ‘Why’d you push Jude?’ he asks, as Abi disappears again.

  ‘She was annoying me.’

  ‘You could have killed someone. Josh would have fallen down the stairs if I hadn’t caught him.’

  I hang my head. ‘I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.’

  ‘No. I don’t imagine you did. But that’s no excuse.’

  I lean my body away from Kyle’s then shift over a couple of inches. I’m still close enough that he c
ould grab me if he wanted but we’re not sitting so close that I feel uncomfortable any more. ‘What’s going to happen to me?’

  He shrugs. ‘That’s not down to me.’

  ‘Mrs H.?’

  ‘You’ll need to speak to her and Doctor Rothwell, yeah.’

  ‘They’re going to send me to isolation, aren’t they?’

  ‘Like I said, Drew, I don’t know. But you broke a pretty major rule. It could have ended badly.’

  ‘I know, and I’m sorry. Is Jude OK?’

  ‘She’s fine, they’re all fine. I got everyone into the dorm in one piece.’

  We lapse into silence.

  ‘Do you know Israel?’ I ask, breaking the silence.

  ‘The country?’

  ‘No, the boy. He’s in the san.’

  ‘Not … er … no …I haven’t met him.’ He shakes his head. ‘I was shown around the san and there a boy in one of the beds but I was asked not to talk to him.’

  ‘He had a psychotic breakdown. Caused by whatever happened to him in isolation.’

  Kyle smiles. ‘Is that the new rumour doing the rounds?’

  ‘It’s not a rumour. I talked to him before he went in. He was normal. He was funny. And you … you lot, you broke him. He was decent and you’ve screwed him up.’ I can’t hide the anger in my voice.

  ‘Or maybe it was Israel’s problem with weed that caused his illness?’ Kyle gives me a long look. ‘Did that ever occur to you?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. I definitely shouldn’t be telling you this, but the nurse told me it was on his record. Israel’s. He was a heavy smoker … toker … before he came in. That can lead to psychotic breakdowns, particularly, y’know, the strong stuff. Skunk.’

  ‘Well that’s convenient.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  I laugh dryly. ‘His record saying that. If Dr Rothwell tells you guys Israel likes the odd joint you’re not going to question his weird behaviour, are you? You’ll accept that’s what caused his psychosis. Have you actually seen the isolation room?’

  ‘I don’t see how that’s relevant, Drew.’

  ‘Have you seen it or not?’

  Kyle’s face shuts down. I’m being too bolshy. I can’t talk him round to being on my side. He’s one of them. He might be new but he’s no fool.

  ‘I’m not having a go at you,’ I say quickly, ‘it’s just that –’

  I’m interrupted by the sound of Kyle’s radio crackling. It’s Abi, asking him to respond.

  ‘Yes, Abi.’ He raises the radio to just below his chin. ‘I can hear you.’

  ‘Please take Drew Finch to the library and wait there until you’re called into Dr Rothwell’s office. We’ve found Mason Finch and Megan Jones.’

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ‘Sit down, please, Drew.’

  Dr Rothwell and Mrs H. are sitting side by side behind Dr Rothwell’s large oak desk. They both have notepads in front of them and their forearms on the desk. They look like a couple of local newsreaders, waiting for the red light on the camera to come on so they can smile and read the news. But they don’t smile as Kyle ushers me into the room. They track me with their eyes, neither of them saying a word until I take a seat in the soft, padded leather chair opposite them. I’m so scared I have to press my hands between my knees to stop them from shaking. An hour. That’s how long I had to sit in silence in the library with Kyle. He wouldn’t let me get up to look out of the window. He wouldn’t let me take a book off the shelf. He wouldn’t let me do anything and he ignored every question I threw at him.

  ‘Where are they?’ I say. ‘Megan and my brother?’

  ‘You don’t need to know that,’ Mrs H. says evenly, her blue eyes narrowed.

  ‘Yes I do.’ I jolt forward in my chair and grip the edge of the desk. ‘I need to know they’re OK. If you’ve –’

  ‘Drew.’ Kyle grips my shoulder, gently, but firmly enough that I know he’s serious. ‘Sit back in the chair, please.’

  I glare at him but shuffle back into the chair and grip the arm rests. He’s such a sheep, just like Abi and Stuart. Destiny was a cow but at least she wasn’t as brain dead behind the eyes as the rest of the ‘friends’. If Dr Rothwell asked them to march us off a cliff they’d ask which one.

  ‘Megan and Mason are safe,’ Dr Rothwell says, pressing his glasses up towards his nose. ‘We’ve spoken to them both and they’ve told us everything. We know all about the escape plan. Now we have a few questions for you.’

  They haven’t told you anything, I think. And you must think I’m really stupid if you think I’m going to fall for that. I’ve watched third rate TV detective shows too, you know.

  ‘We’ve reviewed the CCTV footage of the stairs and stairwell,’ Mrs H. says in her perfect, clipped tones. ‘We saw you, Jude and Megan standing at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the staff quarters. We then saw Megan approach Kyle.’

  ‘She said she’d dropped her inhaler outside the rec room,’ Kyle pipes up.

  ‘Yes, Kyle.’ Mrs H. smiles tightly. ‘We’ll talk to you in due course. Let’s just focus on Drew and what she has to say for now. If that’s all right?’

  ‘Yes, yes of course.’ He takes a step back, chastened.

  ‘So,’ Mrs H. continues, ‘when Megan was talking to Kyle you decided to push Jude. Why was that, Drew?’

  ‘Because I don’t like her.’

  ‘Interesting, when we spoke to Jude she said she likes you very much.’

  I stiffen. They’ve talked to Jude? I force my raised shoulders down and try to relax. Dr Rothwell hasn’t said anything for a couple of minutes but his eyes haven’t left my face since I sat down. He’s analysing me, trying to work out if I’m lying or not.

  ‘I don’t know why Jude would say that. She definitely doesn’t like me.’

  ‘Why don’t you like her?’ Dr Rothwell asks, leaning forwards slightly.

  ‘Personality clash,’ I lie. Well, it’s a half-truth. Our personalities clash because she’s a nosy, jealous big – mouth and I’m a secretive, laid-back loner. Well, maybe not so laid-back.

  ‘Hmmm.’ He leans back again.

  ‘Why did you run up the stairs after Megan ran down the stairs?’ Mrs H. asks.

  ‘I didn’t know Megan ran down the stairs.’

  ‘But the first question you asked,’ Dr Rothwell says, ‘when you entered this room was “Where are Megan and my brother?”’

  Did I? Yes, I did didn’t I? Um …

  ‘That’s because I overheard Abi on the radio. She told Kyle that you’d found them. I want to know where you found them. I want to know what’s going on, the same way you do.’

  A bead of sweat dribbles down the centre of my back. I’m having to think very quickly to talk my way out of this. One wrong word and they’ll twist it around.

  ‘OK then, Drew.’ Mrs H. rubs her hands together. They make a horrible dry sound that reminds me of the leaves in the park when I went to meet Zed. ‘Why did you run upstairs?’

  ‘Because everyone was falling over after I pushed Jude. It seemed the safest place to go.’

  ‘How did Drew seem when you found her upstairs, Kyle?’ Dr Rothwell asks.

  ‘She was upset. She looked as though she’d been crying.’

  ‘Why was that, Drew?’

  ‘Because … because I was scared.’

  Dr Rothwell looks at me for a long time then runs a hand over his beard. He tugs lightly at the end then says, ‘And why was that?’

  ‘Because I thought I’d hurt everyone.’

  The beard tug again. ‘Is that so?’

  Mrs H. leans towards him and whispers something in his ear that I can’t hear. A frown crosses his brow then, barely perceptible, I hear him say the word ‘impossible’ in reply. As they continue their whispered conversation my palms grow sweaty against the polished wood of the chair arms. My stomach is a tight knot. I need to know where Mason is and that he and Mouse are OK. I don’t care if th
ey ask me a million questions or interrogate me for hours but not knowing what’s happened to those two is torture.

  The enormous grandfather clock in the corner of the room tick, tick, ticks as Dr Rothwell and Mrs H. continue to talk quietly. I was kept in the library before I was brought in here so Megan and Mase can’t be there. They could be in the café, or Mrs H.’s office. Maybe they’re keeping them in the basement? Oh God. Please don’t let them be in isolation.

  ‘Where’s my brother?’ I ask.

  ‘Drew.’ Kyle touches my shoulder and shakes his head.

  ‘I need to know. All this whispering and secrecy is driving me cra–’

  I break off as Dr Rothwell gives me a slow smile. I’ve shown him where my weakness lies. I’ve given my enemy a weapon to attack me with. Damn it. Why couldn’t I just sit here and play dumb? Because I’m not a robot, that’s why. I love Mason and if they’ve done anything to hurt him I swear I’ll … I’ll …

  ‘Do you know what this is?’ Mrs H. slides a small plastic card across the desk towards me.

  ‘It’s a staff pass.’

  ‘Do you know how Megan Jones got hold of it?’

  I pause before answering. Do I tell her I stole it to stop Mouse getting into trouble? Or do I pretend I’ve got no idea. Which answer would help Mouse? This is like a terrifying version of one of those choose your own adventure games – open the door on the left and fall into a fiery pit, open the door on the right and run to freedom.

  ‘No,’ I say.

  If they have put Mouse and Mason into isolation there’s no way I can help them if they lock me up too. Although that’s almost a certainty. They’ve got CCTV footage and witnesses who saw me push Jude. ‘No harming the staff or students.’ It’s one of the major rules.

  ‘Do you know what this is?’ Mrs H. pushes a crumpled piece of paper across the table. It’s my map of the steam tunnels. They must have taken it from Mason.

  ‘No.’ I look Mrs H. straight in the eye as I ball my hands into fists and squeeze my fingernails against the palms of my hands. They know everything.

  ‘Have you had any contact with your brother since you entered Norton House?’ Dr Rothwell asks.