The Inception (Book #1 of The Inception Trilogy)

chapter thirty-three

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

HARRY LOOKS AT THE lab with distaste, horrid memories surfacing in his mind. He tries to push them aside to focus, but more and more steadily rise. The fights. The punishments. The surgeries. Everything he's endured, everything he's fought so hard to forget, comes rushing back like a tsunami. Too fast for Harry to close the gate in his head, and the memories break it as they flood his brain.

Aces and Spades wait for him to make the first move, but Harry lingers in the trees as he listens for company. No scuffling, no heartbeats except for the three he should hear, and no footsteps marching down either side of the street. Still he waits. And waits.

And waits.

He didn't think it would be so hard.

His feet don't want to move, don't want to step closer to the place that should've never existed. Too many horrible things happened there that make his stomach churn with dread. He tries to straighten his spine, let out a few deep breaths, but even then his legs are stiff. His entire life had been destroyed in this building.

Coming back had been a stupid, terrible idea.

But it's too late for him to walk away, especially since he lost Evelyn and Robbie and Sasha just to come.

Finally, he stands from his crouched position, Aces and Spades quickly following suit. It's so strange to have them waiting for orders, but he supposes that's what they're used to. It'll take a while for them to realize that Harry isn't Micah, and he certainly isn't after any sort of power. Hopefully they won't be too disappointed when they notice there will be no grand battle.

They follow him closely across the street, yet keep their distance once they reach the door. It's padlocked, but it takes only a little effort from Harry to snap it off. He tosses the chain to the side, letting out a steady breath before yanking one of the double-doors open. The inside, shockingly, has not been touched. Everything is in place, just as it once was. It looks as if someone has been keeping the place tidy, or the gang members simply thought there was no use to break in.

Harry hates how he feels as if the former may be true.

His stomach knots with that bad feeling again.

The building is spacious with three stories and never ending hallways. There's rooms upon rooms, or more like cells upon cells. Both the second and third story were both used to hold the experiments, and the first story is for the lab itself. Harry rummages a bit through the drawers and desks, but finds nothing of value to him. The doctor's desk in the back of the room has been cleaned out.

Biting the inside of his cheek, Harry has to force himself up the stairs. He doesn't want to be here nonetheless venture to the cell he had once been prisoner in. But he wants to give the building a full sweep before deciding there's nothing useful left behind. He doesn't really know what he's looking for. All he knows is that he won't stop trying. He would give anything to remember even a small portion of the life he once lived.

His old cell is the very first one on the right of the corridor. He refuses to glance its way, and picks up his pace.

Aces and Spades are tiptoeing behind him, seeming frightened.

"This place is still creepy," one whispers.

"I don't miss it at all," the other adds.

"Why are we here again?"

"Surely you have somewhere else to be."

Harry shushes them, stopping dead in his tracks.

Nothing--perhaps he's merely paranoid.