Page 91 of Unspoken Lies

They move away, and I finish what I’m doing before walking to the storage closet to put the broom and dustpan away. Once there, I stop the recording and test it quickly to make sure it works before uploading it to keep it safe in an external storage space.

Returning my phone to my pocket, I leave the closet to continue my work. It allows me to pick up snippets of information to figure out what’s happening with Rachelle, as well as allows me to sneak around properly.

When I can get close enough to the room she’s in, I attempt to look inside, but it’s completely dark inside. While the door is a heavy plated glass, it’s also frosted so I can’t see much.

“I don’t know how they’re still allowed to use this room,” Lora mutters as she passes by me. “They should have stuck her in a padded room and been done with it. This is inhumane.”

“Why have it all?” I ask, wincing as I forget myself.

Glancing at me quickly as if just realizing I’m there, she shrugs. “It keeps the patient quiet, they can’t move, and it’s easier to forget they exist.”

“Doesn’t she need to eat?” I ask.

I’m not usually around when they feed the patients, because they send me to do other things. Rachelle appears more fragile after each passing day, but I have no idea if she’s eating or if it’s the medication that’s causing her to lose weight.

“It’ll only be a couple of days,” Lora says with a shrug. “That girl looks like she could stand to cut back, you know?”

Catty fucking bitches. Rachelle has had to be fed through a tube before due to forgetting to eat. This can’t be good for her. Still, I force my lips into an uncaring smirk, determined to log photos of this room as soon as I can.

They leave me alone enough after all.

IGNACIO

Rachelle has been in the equivalent of solitary confinement for six fucking days.

“They forgot about her?” I ask, my muscles getting tighter and tighter as I grind my teeth.

My father’s skin is almost purple with anger, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

“The second they left me alone long enough, I pulled her out,”Elijah whispers, tears streaming down his cheeks. “No water, no food. They all acted as if she didn’t exist. Every time I asked about her, they’d send me to another part of the facility, or told me to clean bathrooms. The cleaning doesn’t fucking bother me, they were trying to get rid of me and my questions. We have to get her out of there.”

“How long were you able to keep her out of that room?” Lili asks next to me, her eyes puffy from crying. We feel fuckinghelpless. While we’ve managed to pinpointEl Tigre’slocation, it doesn’t make things any better.

Our emotions will simply make his screams louder and more painful. Three more college girls were found this week to have been dosed with this new blended drug, and one died. Another killed herself after realizing that she’d been raped. Liliana’s university is being hit hard with this news.

As much as they’re trying to educate the student body about how to protect themselves, a stick of gum that can cause so much damage is difficult to swallow. No pun intended.

We’re being hit with chaos from every side. All we can do is divide and conquer. We’re placing a lot of trust with my ex-best friends right now.

“They found me giving her water and trying to wake her up,” Elijah says, his voice box torn up with grief. “The sedative wore off at some point and she hyperventilated. I also found out that the room is fucking sound proofed, so they didn’t know she was screaming. Rachelle couldn’t hurt herself because of the straitjacket but she… Fuck.”

“What?” I ask, glancing at Jared on the screen to see if he knows. He looks just as worried as I am, as does Theo. Elijah has been keeping all of this inside until we could meet on the phone.

“She smelled like urine,” he says softly. “It had dried, and her clothes were only dry because of how dehydrated she was. Rachelle fought me weakly, her eyes swollen shut from how much she’d been crying. It was absolutely awful. The doctor came over to yell at me when the nurse found me, but stopped when he saw the state of her body. The reason she stabbed the nurse is because the bitch decided to cut her hair. Rachelle killed her with the scissors the nurse used.”

“That’s why she was combative six days ago?”Jared asks. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’ve barely seen you,” Elijah sighs. “I’ve been trying to record as much as possible to send it to the lawyer. The mental health facility is where people lose their fucking minds. They don’t get help there, Jared.”

“I know,” Jared mutters, dropping his head against Elijah's shoulder and leaning into him. For a brief moment, I feel an intense sense of jealousy. It’s ridiculous. I shouldn’t be feeling that.

They’re not mine anymore. They broke us.

“Did she say anything to you? Where did they take her?”Mr. Reyes asks, his fingers hovering over his phone keyboard as if trying to figure out what our next move should be.

“She said Lili’s name,” Elijah says thickly as Theo rubs his back. “The stories I tell her are about us as kids, when shit was different. She knows all about how Liliana used to climb trees too tall for her and skipping school when we were in fourth grade. Sorry, Mr. Reyes.”

“It was fourth grade, I’ll be fine,” my father says wryly.