Page 188 of Brainwashed

“His time with us has come to an end. Which is sad because his research was impeccable.” The Warden stops talking and glances somewhere behind me. “Oh, enough with the sour puss, Templeton. You’ve gotten what you wanted. Love is gone, and now you’re up.”

There are so many things bounding through my head, I feel like I could pass out.

The Ivory sighs. “Yes, it was no surprise that many of my employees questioned Dr. Love’s intentions. But the fact remains… I hired him, knowing he would do things differently.” He pauses and turns to smirk at me. “And he didn’t disappoint.”

“W-why…” I gasp, feeling like I’m crumbling to bits inside all of this strapped up material.

“He had some business to attend to with a former patient. Something urgent.” He turns a wickedly knowing look on me. “More important than what he was working on here, apparently. And when you leave this island, you don’t come back. That’s my rule… whether some people like to disobey it or not.”

He gets this furious etch to his face for a moment, but I’m not paying attention.

I’m too busy falling the fuck apart.

“No…” I whimper, my face growing tight, pressure building behind my eyes so thick they might pop out of my skull.

He can’t be gone…

Why would he leave without at least saying goodbye??

I feel like someone is carving my heart out of my chest with dull tools. I’ve never suffered such extreme emotional pain. Nothing I’ve experienced haseverfelt this awful…

He left me. He fuckingdesertedme.

A tear slides down my cheek.

“Felix, I can see that you’re upset,” the Warden says. “I know Lemuel must have meant something to you. After everything he engaged in with you, I’m sure it was inevitable that you’d grow attached. But I’m going to be brutally honest here…” He leans over my face. “He’s just a doctor, and you’re just his patient. Nothing more.”

I feel the empty socket in my chest decaying already. My soul is rotted, covered in black mold and the stench of death.

This is what I deserve.

“You served your purpose for him,” the Warden goes on, still hacking me apart with his words. “He got what he always dreamed of… To slip inside the mind of a serial killer. And boy, he sure carved out his spot inside yours.” He grins, a sly, damning curve to his pink lips. “But Lemuel is not like you, Felix. So he’s returned to his life. And you’re still here with us.”

My limbs are trembling, wet tears rushing from my eyes, blurring my vision even more. I can’t breathe well, sniffling beneath my muzzle.

It hurts. Thishurts.

“It’s for the best, my pet.” The Ivory winks at me. “Brainwashing complete.”

He twirls away from me, waltzing across the room with a flip of his hand in the air. “Bring him back to the dungeon, Templeton, my dear boy. You and Hassan have much work to do.”

We’re moving again, but I can’t feel it. I can’t feel anything but throbbing pain, like the ache that comes from a wound.

Like the ache in my chest where he cut me. Marked me and drank my blood…

I thought we had something. I thought hewantedme.

I cry softly. “I want… I wantLove.”

Templeton mumbles something, but I can’t hear him.

I’m empty once more. Just like I knew I’d be. I can’t believe I fooled myself into thinking he would stay…

No one stays. They all leave me in the end.

Because I’m a worthless loser. A creep, a monster…

I’m sick… and he left before I infected him.