The Psychological Mystery of Thomas King

Chapter Thirty-Five: Something's Wrong with Thomas

Sienna

"You need to come to the psychologist's office." Dana Adams says over the phone. "Something's wrong with Thomas."

"Okay." I say, my voice filled with confusion. "I'm coming." I take my keys, get in my car and drive quickly to the Autumnwood Psychology Center. I hurry into the lobby, where I see Dana.

"Where is he?" I ask.

"I saw him go into the basement of the building." She says, walking down the hallway. I follow her and together we go down to the basement. On the floor, in hysteria, I see my husband muttering something to himself. I drop down to the floor and take him in my arms.

"They never left." He kept saying to himself, on the verge of tears. "They never left."

*******

"When I was 18 years old," Thomas begins. I'm sitting on the edge of the bed, while he's pacing. "My parents got a divorce and me, my mom and Ava, moved to Willow Falls. After we moved, I kept having dreams of a woman in red heels and a doctor experimenting on me. I was seeing ghosts everywhere in the house, and I had a sleep paralysis and a sleep-walking episode where I saw a terrifying creature. After I accidentally hurt my sister, a psychologist, Dr. Owens admitted me to a mental institute."

I try to remain calm, but I'm panicking inside.

"As soon as I got there, I could sense that something was wrong. The workers there weren't sympathetic, and I always felt like I was being watched. I told my sister this and she, along with two of my friends, broke me out of there, fearing that something bad was gonna happen to me. All four of us saw the same monster I used to see in my house. It even hurt one of my friends. I found out that one of the head coordinators for the experiment, Jane, had my mother kidnapped and killed. Jane's consciousness was somehow downloaded in my mother's brain. The day we left home, she killed my father."

How did he stay sane throughout all of this?

"I told my sister, but she made me promise that I wouldn't say anything. In the end, it didn't matter because Jane confronted me herself. She tried killing me, but Ava knocked her out and we left the house. All four of us planned to burn down the asylum, hoping to kill everyone there. We burned it down and after graduation, we went our separate ways." He sighs. "After 15 years, I had my first flashback to everything that happened...." He takes a deep breath. "Today I learned that they aren't dead. They were never dead. They all escaped."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" I ask him. "Why didn't you trust me with this?"
"It's not necessarily about trust," He answers. "I didn't want to hurt you. I didn't want you to think that your husband is crazy." I walk up to him and hug him.

"It doesn't matter to me what happened in the past." I say to him, "It matters to me who you are now."

He gives me a smile, and takes me into his arms, kissing me. As our room is bathed in the silver moonlight, he whispers how much he loves me.

*******

"What are you gonna do?" I ask. Dinner is over and the girls are both asleep in their beds. Thomas picks up the plates and sets them in the sink, turning on the faucet. I grab the glasses and do the same.

"I don't know." He admits. "I have to tell the others but... we're not exactly on speaking terms."

"We can't do this by ourselves." I tell him, glad that he was including me in all of this. "We need more people."

"I know." He says. "We can't go to the police either. They won't believe us."

"You need to make amends with your sister and your friends." I tell him, washing the dishes. "That asylum was probably scary, but pushing everyone you love away is more terrifying, especially when in you're in a difficult situation."

Thomas nods, drying the dishes and stacking them away. He's silent for a while. 

"You're right." He finally says. He closes the cabinet doors and looks at me. "One of my friends lives somewhere close by. I think, perhaps, it would be best to visit him first. There's a lot that we need to talk about."