The Private Clinic

CHAPTER 19 - JULIET HARDWIN

Hello all, this chapter has a throwback, it starts with the entire first chapter. If you're a binge reader, you can skip it if you like but if you're not, might be nice to read it again.

We're full circle people! :)

Juliet Hardwin, 15 weeks after the accident

I slide down on the floor quickly, like I'm a soccer playing trying to master the ball before my opponent. I let out short breaths, but when I hear his careful footsteps on the wooden floorboards, I press my hand against my mouth and hold as tight as I can. He didn't see me in go in this room, that's impossible. He must be furious, that he can't locate me. But it's actually more terrifying from my end. I can't see him either. The suspense is eating me alive.

For a moment, I am convinced he has left the room. But I can't be too sure. He knows I'm sloppy like that, what if he's playing a game with me – what if he's waiting to enclose me in his arms again? The thought makes me panic, and my lungs feel like they might explode any second now.

I rest my head against the wardrobe I am hiding next to, cold sweat tickles my back and forehead, I can taste the saltiness on my upper lip. I want this to be over, I want to be home, curled up in bed listening to Casper play his guitar softly in the next room. But I'm not there yet, I need my determination to play hand in hand with my survival instinct. I have to get out of here, I know my brother is still out there.

Now I am really sure that he has left this room, because I heard him talk to himself in the other room. This means the walls are paper-thin, and I need to be wary as well. Maybe I can open a window and climb down the drainpipe. It could be too much of a risk, he is the kind of person who'd block every window from the first day I learned how to walk again. I'm stupid for never even trying.

At this point, I just want to smash a window with a chair and let the bushes outside break my landing, but the scattering of the glass would alert him immediately, he would come running downstairs and drag me back inside. He's faster than me, I'm certain.

"Juliet, come out now." He spoke in the other room. Finally, a sentence directed towards me. His once soothing voice just sounds eerie to me now.

"Let me talk to you." He doesn't comfort, he demanded.

I can hear my heartbeat drumming in my ears, numbing all my senses down. If I don't take action now, this will be the last thing making me feel alive.

I reach for a clothing hook on the floor next to me. I can hear him walk down the stairs and I slowly move out of my crook, to the door.

The big staircase is to my left, and I peek to see him, but he is probably already on a scavenger hunt for me downstairs. He's not in sight. I throw the clothing hook into the other bedroom. The sound of the metal hitting the wooden floor shakes my insides, and it takes a minute for me to regain a sense of reality, I need to run. I hear him come up the stairs again, and this time I hide in the wardrobe, instead of next to it.

He scolds and swears as it is another failed attempt to locate me. All the feelings I have, he must be feeling double. His heartbeat throbbing in his throat, the sound of the blood flowing past his ears. He's screwed, and he knows he is. He understands that when I get out, he's going to be locked up forever. I would want to keep me, too.

Silence follows, and I forget for how long. One minute, five, ten? He's awfully quiet. Is he standing still? Maybe he has completely lost trace. Maybe he left – knowing the cops will be swarming all over this place like bees. I let out a deep sigh, the reality of freedom is coming closer.