Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Michael.
Then he disappears and Clayton is dragged out of sight, just as Lauren and Rav run into my room, followed by the others.
“What is it, what happened?” she cries out. “I heard a gun!”
I point at the tree, shaking my hand violently. “Clayton! It’s not a cougar, it’s Clayton! He was in the tree and they shot him. Oh my god, they fucking shot him, they killed him!”
“Clayton?” Lauren repeats.
“Clayton went home on the seaplane,” says Patrick.
“I know but he didn’t! Kincaid lied, he lied.” Oh my god, he lied to me. “He lied to us all. They’re all lying to us! That was Clayton. I know it was. Go outside and check, there will be blood! They shot him out of the tree!”
“Okay, calm down,” Michelle says from the door as she pushes her way into my room and through the crowd, grabbing me roughly by the shoulders. “You’re the one who is lying, Sydney. Clayton went home. You saw a cougar.”
“No I didn’t,” I snarl, trying to get away from her. “Let go of me! Get your fucking hands off me!”
Michelle’s nails dig in harder, her awful pink lips in a sneer, and then Lauren is there, yanking at her sleeve.
“She said to not touch her, now fuck off!” Lauren yells, and then Natasha steps forward, grabbing Michelle by the other arm. If I wasn’t freaking the fuck out I’d be utterly touched by their support.
I stumble backward until I hit the wall. “I am not lying! I saw Clayton. They lied about him, they’re keeping him here, he looked operated on and—”
“Alright, alright, what’s going on here,” says Michael.
I freeze when I see him walk in the door, followed by Everly and David. “Everyone clear out, including you, Michelle.”
“No!” I yell, trying to hold on to Lauren. “No, I’m not going to be alone with you people. You’re murderers!”
“You’re overreacting, Sydney,” Everly says in her calm voice. “It’s okay, everyone here knows that you’re prone to such things.”
I shake my head in confusion. “What do you mean everyone here knows?” I stare at Lauren. “What did they tell you?”
She just stares at me, blinking.
“They know you’ve been through a lot,” Everly says, coming closer. She looks at Lauren and gestures with her head for her to go. Lauren looks torn. “It’s okay, Lauren. You’re a good friend. But clearly she didn’t see Clayton in the tree. None of that makes any logical sense. If you don’t believe us, we have logs of the seaplane. We have his flight information from Vancouver back to Montana. We would be happy to show you, but first we have to deal with poor Sydney.” She pouts at me.
“Fuck you!” I yelp and try to run at her, but Michael jumps in front of me and with a quick maneuver wrenches my arms behind my back.
“Everyone out!” Michael bellows. “David, escort them all to their rooms.”
David tries, but it’s like herding cats, none of the students want to go anywhere.
“Don’t leave me alone with them,” I plead.
“That’s enough Sydney,” Everly snaps. She looks at everyone. “As you can see, she’s in need of treatment and TLC. Please, go back to your rooms. We’re just going to check her over in the nurse’s office. We’ll release her when we’re done.”
“Now!” Michael barks, and that’s enough for everyone to jump and then start slowly shuffling out of the room.
“You need to calm down,” Everly says, turning her back to everyone as she brings out a needle from her coat and jabs it in my arm. “There. Now we can take you to get your rabies shot. You’re due for your last one.”
I feel the shot almost immediately. The room starts to swim and my knees buckle. It’s only then that I notice Michael’s dark shirt has been splattered with blood.
“You’re going to be okay,” Everly says as the world starts to get fuzzy. “You’re having an episode. But don’t worry, Nurse Everly is going to make it all better.”
CHAPTER 25
My mind keeps slipping in and out of reality. One minute, I’m floating in darkness, an eternal void, and the next, I’m being dragged down the stairs, Everly on one side of me, Michael on the other. I can hear the students asking if I’m going to be okay. I can hear them asking each other if I really am crazy. One of them mentions that I tried to attack Everly and I’ll probably be reprimanded, maybe sent home.
But I’m not taken to the nurse’s office. Suddenly, the door is opening, the shutters gone, and I’m brought outside into the cool night air. The mist is damp against my skin, and I try to breathe, try to think of what I need to do.
I need to be free of them. Yes. I need to escape.
They start pulling me toward the lab.