18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
No wistful pilgrimage
Hutton
H orizon Wellness Center, built on the grounds of Camp Carroll, is the last place I ever want to set foot again. With Eden working here, though, I don’t have a choice. Steeling myself for the drive past the unused cinder-block rows of housing surrounding grassy commons where eighty-six cult members were slaughtered close to seven years ago, I avert my eyes. They were poisoned, then had their throats slashed. I was one of those people-the lone survivor.
I look in the rearview mirror at the thickened pink raised skin across my neck. The scar. A daily reminder I cheated death. Or, at least, I was made to believe I did so I could be weaponized against their enemies.
But they didn’t think I’d ever find my Eden. They didn’t think I’d save our kids.
I can’t thank the FBI for much, but the bumbling they did when I was in protective custody put me at the same place as Eden that summer seven years ago at the original Horizon Wellness Center in Illinois. Matt’s underestimating me at every turn gave me space to pull away mentally. The ghosts on these grounds have no hold on me.
Not anymore.
Harrison, Bristow, and Matt are meeting with the sheriff about our neighbor. I’m in favor of taking a different, more effective route with the man-force him out financially since he’s renting from a trust. But I was overruled. For now.
Not wanting Eden driving to work on her own, I dropped her off. Now back to pick her up at the end of the day, I need to take this opportunity to show her hidden areas on the property. Places to hide, to get away if needed. The threats could be nothing, but the anniversary of the killings is eight days away.
With purpose I stride into the main building that looks more like a ski lodge than a mental health facility. Typically, I make it a point to move quickly, staring blankly at anyone who makes eye contact. A look of challenge keeps most people away; not a lot of people dare engage in pleasantries that way.
“...could not stop saying it. Sure, I was a real joy to be around.” Eden laughs lightly before going on, “We should be able to do that. I appreciate it.”
Filling the doorway, I see her at her desk on the phone. A small smile plays at the corner of my lips as I take her in, dressed in a fitted white dress shirt, black dress pants, and heels. She fingers the chain of the gold necklace the kids gave her for Mother’s Day last year. When she looks up at me, the grin lighting up her face makes all the worries I have fall away for a few moments.
“I need to wrap this up, but we’ll meet tomorrow and go over the treatment plan for him. You’re the best, bye.” Once she’s disconnected, she clasps her hands together on the desk, giving me her full attention. “You’re early.”
“I want you to come with me.” Holding my hand out, I tip my head toward the door at the end of the hall. “I need to show you something.”
She makes a face at me. “You already showed me the bunker near the abandoned labs, the tunnel running from the lab to the old parking ramp, the crawlspace in the ramp, and the old guard shack emergency hatch. What more could there be?”
When we built, I should say, when the foundation I started rebuilt Horizon Wellness Center, many of the old structures remained intact and untouched. I didn’t want to cover what amounted to a gravesite. A memorial was erected near the lab building, and most of the other buildings were cleared out and locked up tight. “I know. I never wanted to bring you to this particular place. It’s…unsettling.”
“Super,” she cracks with an eyeroll. “Let’s skip it then. I’d rather head home.”
I would, too. But preparing her for the worst-case scenario is necessary, even if it means I’m stepping back into my nightmares.
Walking hand in hand to the back exit of the building, we pass Dr. Wallen. When he tries to stop us, his attention is snagged by a thin, pale woman with a third eye either tattooed or drawn on her forehead.
“There is an old house near the lake.” I point in the distance to where a part of the roof can be seen through the thick trees. “That’s not where we’re going but use it for a reference.”
“Little bird, how fast can you run?”
I’m startled by the memory, her scratchy, babyish voice ringing out. But I can’t let it stop me. “If, for any reason you need to hide in a place no one else knows about, look for that roof and head toward it. Come on.” I give a light tug to her hand before we’re making our way through the brush and trees. The late afternoon sun obscured by the woods isn't helping with the clawing alarm growing in my chest.
I swore I’d never set foot in this space, condemning it to the far recesses of my mind. A bird call in the distance makes Eden jump. “We’re almost there.”
“Stop, little bird, turn back.”
It could’ve been the human skull nailed to the tree or the fading Realist symbol on the rusting door hanging on by its hinges. Maybe even the way the atmosphere feels darkly charged. Eden lets out a scream, pulling her hand away as she stumbles backward. I should’ve warned her, but I forgot just how…ghoulish this place is.
The shed no one left alive, with the exception of us, would know about.
It would appear at first glance to have melted into the rocky base of the hill, overgrown trees shrouding most of the roughly hewn wood slats. They don’t conceal the dark blood splatter staining a portion of the door, though.
I can’t make myself enter, the air leaving my lungs in a fell swoop.
“Little bird, fly away. They’ll get you ,” her soft childlike lilt warns me. Suddenly, another voice pounds in my head…the malicious snarl unmistakable.
“They’ve been dying to meet you.”
“Hopefully, you’ll never need to come here. Let’s get back. Let’s go.” My panic causes me to move Eden a foot back before grabbing her hand, doing double time back to the main building of the center.
Eden’s voice is quivering when she asks, “Hutton, w-what was that?”
I can’t talk about this right now. Memories press down on me, the voice awoken in my head making me want to rage. This was a bad idea. Her terrible, taunting nature digs into my thoughts. I neglected showing Eden the second spot, which would’ve taken us through the shed, but there was not a chance in hell I was stepping any closer, much less inside.
“H-Hutton?” Her hand grips mine tightly as I pick up the pace to get back.
“Hell…that place is hell. But no one else knows about it. I hope you never need to use it.” I kiss her hand before looking her in the eye. “Just in case. It’s just in case.”
That was my tormenter’s “special” place where, in demented fits of rage, she’d beat and torture me. Hell on earth. She’d use anything learned about me in testing against me. The physical beating was the least of it.