Page 87 of Unspoken Lies

I’m trying my best to keep one foot moving after another, because otherwise I’ll spiral and Mr. Emil is right. I need to run down the drug supplier and then blow him off the map. I’m done playing nice. I’ll pack the grenades on my next hunt.

The Kings aren’t the only ones who enjoy the chase. I simply enjoy the kill more.

ELIJAH

Fuck, this place gives me the heebie jeebies. Dressed in dark blue scrubs, I notice there are different colors. I wonder why, but decide not to ask. There’s an employee entrance I go through on my first day with a fake name, and go through the motions to get my badge and the rundown on the different areas of the institution.

As I walk through with a tall female nurse with a severe smoker’s cough and bottle blonde hair, I see Rachelle out of the corner of my eye staring off into space. I wonder if they’re giving her more medication, and what they’ve done to her.

Anger flows through my system, but I keep my face impassive.

“This is where we need eyes today. These inmates, ah, patients are some of our more dangerous people,” Nurse Roles explains. “We keep them very well medicated. This will be a fairly cushy job for you. We’ll be running training for this section of the facility, which means we’ll be pulling most of the staff from here.”

Ah, is she being for real right now?I’m a brand new floater for this facility on my first day. While this works out for me, it’s still negligent.

“That’ll be fine,” I say gruffly instead, my thoughts staying in my head where they belong.

The nurse smiles brightly at me and turns to the staff on the floor.

“We have coverage, folks. Let’s get to where we need to be,” she says loudly.

Within minutes, most of the floor is clear of staff outside of a nurse on the opposite side, and I blow out a breath as I lean against a wall, gazing at Rachelle. Occasionally, she moans as if she’s in pain, which sets off everyone else as well unfortunately.

“Argh, can’t you keep them quiet?!” yells the nurse down the hall.

Rolling my eyes at her uncaring words, I gaze up to see if there are any cameras. Frowning, I see there’s a disturbing lack of them anywhere.

“Working on it,” I call back at the unfeeling cunt on the other side of this unit. I honestly don’t believe these people should be working in this field. They’re all monsters.

Moving over to Rachelle, I crouch by her seat.

“Hey there,” I murmur softly.

Fuck, she whimpers as she flinches at my words, and I wonder what she hears if she’s on an antipsychotic that shedoesn’t need. Are they giving her more? How long does this shit last?

I’m going to have to fight dirty to get inside of her mind, and I refuse to feel badly about it.

“Liliana says hello,” I tell her, watching as her eyes look over at me. Her pupils aren’t focusing, but I know she can hear me. That’ll have to be enough. “You know, she was a super cute kid. The punching came later.”

She grunts softly, her lips twitching, and I decide to keep going. Sitting beside her so I can watch the room to avoid being jumped by an opportunistic patient, I continue to talk. I tell her all about how Lili once climbed a tree and couldn’t get down, and how Nacio, Jared, Theo, and I had to figure out how to help her.

It was recess, which is why she was up there at all. She accepted our dare that she couldn’t do it. We were seven, if that. It was a stupid, fucking dare, but Jared went up that damn tree and guided her back down. She burst into tears before cursing the four of us in Spanish.

However, it didn’t matter, because she was safe.

The sound of my voice calms everyone in the room down. Launching into my next story, I feel fingers playing in my hair. My eyes dart around me, but there’s no one other than Rachelle close enough to me. Taking a breath, I keep talking.

If this is the only way I can help her right now, I’ll talk until my voice gives out. If this is a small way I can give her peace and I can earn some penance, then so be it.

RACHELLE

“You, my dear, have a visitor,” a nurse says as she walks into mybedroom.

I share it with a woman who screams all night, which means they follow me into my fucked up dreams. I make a small sound, my tongue beginning to feel a little less swollen in my mouth. I have no idea how long I’ve been here, I know that the voice that tells me about Liliana visits me in my mind, and gives me something to hold onto.

I’m pretty sure he’s not a real person. This means my very overactive mind is creating entire conversations about a past that doesn’t exist. Fuck, I think I may finally be bat shit crazy. It’s this place. It smells like sadness and desperation, the screams and grunting moans of the patients only seem to punctuate how awful this place really is.

Did she say I have a visitor?