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I pressed my hands over my ears to block them out. “They aren’t real. They’re not here.”
But it was like a door opened somewhere and he let them in. They hadn’t been here before, and now they filled the basement. He was torturing me, just like he said, making it so I wouldn’t want him to leave me.
And as they climbed through the bars of the cell, I realized I had nowhere to run. I was locked in here, forced to sit through a night of terror, fighting off rodents that gnawed at my flesh.
“It’s not real,” I repeated. “It’s not real.”
* * *
“It’s not real,” I whispered, tugging at the restraints on my wrists. I stared up at the ceiling with tears spilling down my face. How had I gotten here? I’d come so far, finally escaped the island, only to end up in the psych ward at the hospital.
Because of him.
Ebarardo wouldn’t leave me alone, and now I was afraid he never would. He’d dug into my brain and latched on like a leech. Would there ever be a time when I could just live my life without him ruling over me?
“It’s not real. None of this is real,” I murmured again.
“Isabelle?”
I rolled my head to the side, blinking back the tears as a woman walked in. She had kind eyes and a pretty smile. She didn’t look like the last woman who held that needle, promising to put me under if I didn’t calm down. That woman looked like she dealt with crazy people all day and was tired of her job. She had no use for talking to people like they were humans. She didn’t care what happened to me or if I could be helped. She only wanted to get through her shift and get home.
Could I really blame her? When I was admitted, I was out of it. But I wasn’t anymore. I could feel the pain in my hand. I knew what I had done.
What Ebarardo had forced me to do.
But that stopped now.
“How are you feeling?”
“Better. Clearer.”
“That’s good. Do you mind if I sit?”
I shook my head.
“Would you like to sit up?”
I nodded. I didn’t want to have a conversation lying flat on my back. She raised the bed, then sat down smiling at me again. “I’m Doctor Ellsworth. I’m here to talk to you about what happened. About why you’re here.”
Tears instantly flooded my eyes again. I didn’t want to cry anymore, but it was like all those feelings that I should have had when I got off the island were finally coming to the surface. I was free. After thirteen years, someone had rescued me. I was no longer a prisoner.
“Here,” Doctor Ellsworth said, handing me a tissue as she released one hand from the restraint.
“Thank you, Doctor Ellsworth.”
“Call me Linden.” She smiled kindly at me, waiting patiently for me to talk.
I thought it would be difficult, that telling someone would be hard, but I’d held it in for so long that it was like it all wanted to spill out of me.
“I was abducted fourteen years ago and held captive up until a year ago. I— I was forced to marry him. He beat me regularly. He forced me to do things that no woman ever…” I trailed off as I remembered the vial things that would happen on a sometimes daily basis. “I never thought I would make it off that island alive,” I whispered.
“But you did,” she smiled. “Someone rescued you.”
I gave a slight nod. “My brother. I didn’t even know I had a brother.” My eyes flicked to her. “He gave his life to save mine. I…” There were just so many feelings to sort through. I didn’t know how to get through them all.
She grasped my hand, giving me a tight squeeze. “Why don’t you tell me what happened recently?”
I took a deep breath and remembered what it was like to come home. “It was like I was still married to him—like I still belonged on that island. I put on a face for everyone else so they would think I was fine, but… I missed him. And then—and then he started visiting me.”