They were here for me.
I stumbled backward and bolted for the door on the other side of the sitting room while screaming for my mom. She stood in the hallway, crying softly, her face showing her resignation. Ivan caught me as I crossed the room.
“You should have accepted me when you had the chance, Kat. Now you’ll beg me to still marry you,” he whispered to me.
He held me still and the men in scrubs advanced. One had a long needlein his hand.
“No! Don’t touch me. I’m not crazy, this is all wrong,” I shouted, frantic.
Then the needle pierced my skin, and the strength went out of my limbs. Suddenly, I was so tired, and all I could think about was closing my eyes.
Yes, close your eyes, child. You are going to need your rest—to survive.
The voice was the last one I heard, clear as day, speaking in my ear.
PART II
Three weeks.
Three weeks I’d been trapped in Hallow Hall, and I was worried that the place might be starting to rub off on me. Was insanity contagious?
Every morning, an annoying hymn played over the loudspeakers in the patients’ cells. Sorry, rooms. That meant you had to get up or be doused in freezing water by a nurse to get your ass moving.
They called the place an institute and said they helped troubled souls, but it was better fortified than a prison. It was crazy. I still couldn’t believe I was in here. I was missing studying for my end-of-term exams. I was missing my life, and all because Ivan Markovic couldn’t take no for an answer.
My mother didn’t visit; she wrote me letters. She claimed it upset her too much to see me here. I wrote back, urging her to come, telling her it was all lies, but she never answered. I suspected my letters weren’t getting through.
A knock sounded at my door mere seconds before it opened.There was only the illusion of privacy here. The staff had keys to all the rooms, and they could and would come in whenever they wanted to. Even the bathroom stalls didn’t lock properly.
“Dmitrova? Medication.” A nurse wheeled her cart in and used a checklist to tick off the pills in a little paper cup. Then she held it out to me.
“I respectfully pass. I don’t need it, thanks.” I attempted a smile.
She stared hard at me. “You have to take it or go and see Father Vargas.”
“Okay, take me to see him,” I answered her quickly.
She frowned at me and put the cup down. “Let’s go.”
I followed her along the hallway. I just needed to explain to Father Vargas what Ivan had done. None of this was right. It was all messed up.
His office was on an upper floor. The nurse knocked before letting me in.
Father Vargas’s office wasn’t like I’d imagined it would be. It was... opulent. He sat behind a huge desk and waved for me to sit. There was another man in the room in the same dark robes of Father Vargas. Another priest.
He nodded to me as I took a seat.
“This is Father Pavol. He is going to be in charge of your rehabilitation.”
“Rehabilitation?” I repeated, wary. “Look, there’s been some kind of mistake. I don’t need rehab. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“And so believe all sinners.”
I stared at Pavol.
He nodded again. “I’m going to help you, though. Don’t worry.”
I turned back to Vargas. “Please, Father. This is all a misunderstanding. You’ve drugged me, and abducted me, really, but I’m not going to make a fuss about it. I just want to go home.”