Chapter Twelve Aria

Chapter Twelve

Aria

By that night, despair had settled in. Each footstep was hard to take, every moment torment as I waited for the man to return.

I’d searched for anything to use as a weapon, but considering I was in a mental facility, they were hard to come by.

The only thing I possessed was my voice ... and my touch.

Could I use this new power? Use it against him?

I swallowed around the barbed knot of uncertainty lodged in my throat as I trudged into the cafeteria for dinner.

The evening shift change had come and gone. The night counselors were back on duty, the same as the kitchen staff, plus I saw Jill, the nurse from last night.

During the change of staff, I’d felt no deviation, no defiled lust radiating from a depraved mind, no malice hanging in the air.

Jill cleaned my wound again, smiling at the picture sitting on the nightstand next to my bed while she did. “Well, isn’t he handsome,” she murmured softly.

Her intonation didn’t give me the impression she was trying to humor me.

I hadn’t expected Dr. Perry to return it. I’d figured it’d end up in my file as further evidence of my instability. But she’d given it to me and encouraged me to keep drawing, whatever it was I felt.

“Yeah, he is,” I whispered. I figured there was little I could say that could harm me. “Pax.”

I left out the rest.

That he was my truth.

My soul’s mate.

The love of my life.

The one I could never have.

“Seriously hot, right?” Jenny called from the other side of the drape, never wanting to be left out of the conversation. “Aria is crazy talented. I want her to draw me a boyfriend that looks half as good as him so I can fantasize about meeting him as soon as I leave this place.”

A gentle chuckle rippled from Jill. “I’m sure that can be arranged, Jenny. What do you think, Aria?”

“Um, hell yeah, my new BFF will totally hook me up,” Jenny answered for me.

A soft grin played at my mouth, interwoven with the anxiety that I couldn’t keep at bay. “I’ll do it first thing tomorrow, Jenny.”

“I’m going to hold you to that. Don’t forget, I like them dark and dangerous. Maybe a piercing or two in some unmentionable places.”

I could almost see her waggling her brows through the fabric separating our beds.

Amusement shook Jill’s head as she applied a new bandage. “How about we keep this one safe?” she suggested. “Maybe one of those supercute gamers. A coder, maybe? You know, someone who doesn’t have a bad bone in his body.”

“As long as he’s got black hair and a few tattoos, then it’s a deal.”

“And if I don’t?” I couldn’t help but play along.

“Then you don’t get my Snack Pack.”

“She runs a hard bargain,” Jill teased.

“Apparently so.”

Then I felt Jill sober, a sweeping of concern and curiosity. Her voice quieted, close to whispering in my ear, “It seems it would be very difficult for you to reach this area on your back.”

My heart fisted in my chest, a clutching as I felt her stretch her spirit toward mine. The goodness she possessed, searching for the questions that had formed in her mind. Was there a chance that she could believe me? Would she ... help me?

She cleared her throat like she’d immediately regretted what she’d said, and she stood up and patted me on my uninjured shoulder. “All finished.”

She shoved back the drape and crossed to Jenny, watching over her as she took her pills. Then Jill moved to the door, and tenderness filled her demeanor as she said, “Let me know if either of you need anything.”

Flicking off the light, she slipped out, leaving the door open a few inches.

The moment she did, terror slipped into my veins, rising up from where I’d tried to keep it contained. The horrible awareness that everything had changed howled from my soul.

Would this be my last night?

Would the monster come?

Did I have any chance if he did?

For the longest time, I fought sleep, my ears perked, my senses acute. But as the hours drifted, I could hold it off no longer.

The exhaustion.

The fatigue.

My eyes fluttered as I was dragged toward sleep.

I hovered in that bare space for a short time, trying to fight it.

But lights flickered at the edges of my sight before my spirit flashed, and I flew.