Page 74

“Hmm…” he hummed.

“I’ll find more information on Doctor T and Hannigan.” He nodded, and I scoffed. “You have no intention of staying inside, do you?”

“I’ll stay inside.” He gave me a wave, turned and left, leaving me staring at his back, wondering what the fuck I had gotten myself into.

I took a look at the clock, and grabbed my coat. I had a session in ten minutes. I quickly picked the upended chair back up and sat down, fingering the diary, waiting for Millie to come in.

“Hi, Millie. How are you feeling today?” I asked when she came in with Shelly.

She gave me a nod, clutching the sketchbook closer to her chest.

“What have you got there? A new picture? I saw you gave Asher a picture,” I said with a smile as she sat down. “It was beautiful.” Haunting.

She nodded again, her smile shy but proud.

“Nothing for me?” I said. She stiffened before her eyes went to her sketchbook. She hesitated, tapping her fingers against the book. “It’s okay. You don’t have to give me anything.”

“I want to,” she said, leafing through the pages before she stopped. Her eyes narrowed, and she gasped before she ripped it off and handed it to me. “I don’t… this…” Her fingers trembled as I took the picture from her.

Sweat trailed down the side of her cheeks.

“This…”

“Where’s this place, Millie?” I stared at the thick woods.

“Deep in the woods where nobody goes…” she bit her tongue. “Dark. You can’t see. Everything… so dark. You can’t run.”

“Did you have a nightmare, Millie?”

She nodded. “Nightmare.”

I studied the picture with a frown. Dark and disturbing, with violent black and gray lines. There was a faceless girl in the middle of it all. Vines, black and gnarled, twisted up her body in a relentless grip. Some of them cut through her flesh, and came out of her chest, leaning toward the sky, as if begging for release.

“Do you want to talk about the nightmares?” I asked. She hated talking about them, but sometimes, you had to rip open the band-aid to heal. “You don’t have to be scared. I’ll be right there with you.”

“In my nightmares? You’ll save me?”

My heart clenched.

She closed her eyes, a soft whimper leaving her lips.

“I don’t want to be there.”

“No? Okay, it’s okay. You’re okay. We don’t have to. What did you eat today for lunch?”

She scratched her cheeks, her lips trembling. “Salad,” she whispered. “I keep running. There’s nowhere to go. Everything… is dark.” She gripped her pencil tighter until it snapped. “Sorry. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

She closed her eyes, swallowing hard. “Someone’s following me. It’s so dark… and cold. I see trees with hands and claws. They want my blood.” She bit her nail, shaking her head. “No, my… my feet hurt, and I—he won’t stop following. I don’t run, no… no use. He catches me. He always catches me.”

She was only sixteen when she came to Hollowhaven.

“I’m sorry, but this time he won’t catch you, Millie. You can escape.”

“You-you don’t understand. You-you don’t. No.” She slapped her head. Again and again. “Not in here. No. He is… he chases me until...” Her fingers shook as she waved her hands in the air. “Let go, let go.”

“You’re fine. Look ahead. Do you see me? I’m waiting for you. Let’s wake up together. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I promise.”