The Shrink Program

Chapter 159

Where I was driven to the brink of insanity and back out again by the mind-numbing task of navigating the dark via the twisted bread crumb trail left by old men playing Hansel and Gretel.

But it was either this or wait for Jack to find and torture me to death so...

I'll have to let Jack know he only lost by a very small margin.

The closer I came to my destination, the more frequent the drops of blood became and the faster I was able to travel.

My nerves felt about ready to snap, and by the time I actually encountered the reason why I had been asked to go this way, I felt about ready to cry.

Both relieved that the search was over and terrified of what I would find...

Behind the ajar door with the smiley face drawn on it.

In blood.

Whether this was meant scare or reassure me, one thing was clear,

....I do not appreciate it.

I had seen doors and empty rooms in my travels down the long hallways, but never wasted the moment it would take to investigate the abandoned destruction inside each one.

I don't have the stomach for horror, but since this is where the blood is leading me to... I don't really have much of a choice... But to die horribly to whatever is waiting for me on the other side of this door.

Swallowing a frustrated whimper, I slipped through the opening, expecting to be jumped scared the moment I stepped into the room.

... It looked like the least comfortable waiting room in all clinical history.

The remains of metal furniture scattered the room, bent and rusted beyond use. Every inch of floor space seemed to be covered in paper documents, magazines, plastic cups from the fallen water cooler and other random objects left abandoned.
The place even had a corpse in the corner, if dead pot plants could be counted.

More importantly.

"See? Told you she could do it."

I had found what was taking Alex so long.

"Shut up. " Alex hissed, speaking to the phone that lay at his side.

Where he sat, slumped against the wall.

Covered in blood.

"I can forgive you for being confident enough to bet your life on her safe return." The grumpy redhead breathed, sounding more furious than I had ever heard him before. "But for betting hers, I'll make you pay for this PeriWinkle."

All I could do was stand in the doorway and stare at the damage.

Being what amounts to an expert on the subject, I could tell that Alex had just gotten his butt handed to him on a silver platter.

He was bleeding from nasty cuts on his arms and legs, but the majority of the blood dripped down from his chin, from the wound hidden behind his blood-soaked hair.

Lark Linquesta doesn't screw around.

When I didn't make a sound, Alex sighed, his lips twisted into a grimace. "Don't go quiet on me Maddison. It gives me the creeps."

He didn't lift his head, obscuring my sight of his face.

His eyes...

A wound that wasn't intended to kill, but to immobilise...