26 - Olive
I ’m wearing a headset too , not for the conversation, just for the ear protection, so I hear everything Collin says to Shep. Immediately, I want to jump in and insist the bar was real.
But I already know it’s not.
It never was.
Just like Brose and I were never real.
There’s something wrong with my head. That’s why they took me for the brain scan. I’m crazy. I’m hallucinating. I made up my entire life. The reason why the estate looked abandoned when I woke up the other day is because it was abandoned. It was never what I saw. Or thought I saw. It was some… I dunno. Just another old estate that fell into disrepair after the elderly owner died. And I was squatting there. Homeless and insane. Seeing things that weren’t real.
I mean, come on. What was I thinking? A train in the basement? A secret underground train that stopped at the bar in the forest of West Virginia? Which, as Collin just proved, doesn’t exist.
And Brose. Another hallucination. He’s not real. None of this is real.
The helicopter lands and the men who came with it all spring into action, opening the door so Amon and a couple of other guys can come in to escort Shep and I out. They’re serious too. This is not a joke because they’ve got those rifles at high ready.
Neither Shep nor I put up any kind of fight. I’m sure he’s lost in his own thoughts, just like I am. Fake? he’s asking himself. How could it be fake? I saw it!
I saw too.
But I also think I was a secret agent for some global shadow government, so…
This actually makes me laugh as I hop down the steps of the copter. Which Collin hears, so he’s giving me a look of concern as his men zip-tie my hands behind my back and start pushing me in the direction of the church.
I could put up a fight. I could maybe escape and call the police, or Jim Bob, and report an attempted kidnapping. But it wouldn’t matter. Since when does my brother live by the same set of laws as the rest of us? And anyway, where the hell else am I gonna go? Would Jim Bob Baptist even recognize me? Would anyone in Disciple care? Do I even have parents? Are they alive? Where are they ?
It’s early morning and the air is crisp and cool. I don’t say anything as Shep and I are encouraged to walk towards the church. I just put my head down and look at my feet.
We go inside, go downstairs, and then I pause at the door as Amon comes forward to key the lock. He opens the door, refusing to meet my gaze. Can I blame him? I’m Collin’s crazy sister. When I go though, his eyes lift up to find mine. And I can see it. The mean inside him that he hides so well with that charming and handsome exterior.
But I did, after all, try and kill his best friend. So I guess I get it.
I enter the little prison and walk down the corridor, then stop in front of the cell I was in last night. Collin comes up behind me. “I’m sorry, Olive. I really am. But it’s for your own good until we figure things out.”
I just let out a breath as the glass door slides open, then walk into my cell without saying a word. I mean, what am I gonna say? There’s nothing to say.
I turn, expecting Collin to back out and close the door, but instead he waves Shep into my cell. Of course, he and I were both in here before, but I felt certain, now that they know he’s crazy too, that we’d be locked up separately.
Collin’s reading my mind because he shakes his head and frowns at me. “I love you, Olive. I don’t want you to be hurtin’. I’m not doin’ this to punish you. We’re gonna get you help. We’re gonna fix this. But until we do, this is how everyone stays safe.”
Then, as Shep enters, he backs out. Closing the door on both of us as he continues to look me in the eye.
I turn away first, and when I turn back, he’s already exiting the little prison.
So I turn to Shep and find him looking back at me. I’m just about to open my mouth and try for a joke to lighten the mood, but the main door comes swingin’ back open and Lowyn McBride appears, hands full of blankets and pillows.
She smiles at me. And just for a moment, I’m a little girl again. Of course, Lowyn and I were never friends. I was nothing more than her boyfriend’s annoying little sister. But she was always nice to me. After Collin killed my kidnapper slash father that New Years Eve, we never really talked again though. It was just over. Everything was just over.
“Hey,” she says through the glass. “Collin texted me while you all were riding back on the helicopter and told me to get you a little care package ready.” She holds up her armful of pillows and blankets with a smile. “Collin’s filling up the air mattress.”
“Air mattress?” I ask, my eyebrows nearly up to the ceiling.
“I’m pretty sure that concrete cot over there is meant for bad people, not little sisters. You’re only in here because we’re worried about you, Olive. You know that, right?”
I don’t get a chance to confirm or deny because the door opens again and this time it’s Collin pushing a blow-up mattress through it. Someone in the control room opens the cell door, and Lowyn steps forward with her arms out.
Which makes me open mine in return. I take the blankets from her and step back as Collin shoves the mattress through the door.
“I packed you some snacks too,” Lowyn says, shouldering off a backpack.
Shep takes it, looking as surprised as me.
He and Collin lock eyes as Collin puts his hand on his shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “We’re gonna figure this out. Don’t worry.”
It just now occurs to me that Shep isn’t obligated to stay in this jail cell any more than I am. This is kidnapping, unless you agree to it. So that’s the first thing I ask him after Collin and Lowyn are gone. “Why did you stay?”
He squints a little in response. “What?”
“Here,” I say, dropping all the pillows and blankets onto the cement cot. “Why did you let my brother lock you up? Why didn’t you just grab your shit and go?”
He offers me a smile. “Same reason you did, Olive. Because Edge Security is the only second chance I’ll ever get. This is the end of the line for me.”
I don’t say anything, but internally I agree. It’s the end of the line for me as well.
I pick up the fitted sheet from the cot and start making the bed. Shep joins in, stuffing pillows into cases. Then I open the blanket, drape it over the mattress, and let out a sigh. As if it’s a signal, the lights in the jail dim. It’s daytime out, so it should be daytime in here too. So this dimming is yet another way that my brother wants me to know that he’s on my side. He knows I must be exhausted and he wants me to rest.
“I’m tired,” I say. Not to Shep, mostly to myself. And then I kick off my shoes and slip my pants down my legs. Without another word, and all the while being watched by Shep, I lower myself to the mattress and slip under the cover.
Shep stands there for a moment, probably trying to work out these new arrangements. In the end, he kicks off his boots and gets under the covers with me. But it’s an easy conclusion to come to because what choice does he have?
The blow-up mattress is a good enough size that we both fit, but we find ourselves scootin’ towards the middle anyway. Drawn together, one might say. Like opposite ends of a magnet. Pretty soon, we’re huggin’ each other.
I sigh, feeling stupidly good even though my brother has locked me in a jail cell in his private underground prison with a man I don’t even know.
“I’m crazy,” I say.
Shep huffs a little. “Well, not only are you not alone, but I’ve been to crazy town so many times now I’m practically a local, so… I’ll be your guide.”
It takes me a moment to catch on that he’s joking. It’s just such a change in mood, it doesn’t hit me right away. But when it does, it’s truly funny, so I laugh. “We’re both crazy.”
“We both saw the bar, right? I mean, you weren’t pretending when I was there, were you?”
“No,” I tell him as I turn onto my side, propping myself up on my elbow. “Not only did I see it, but I was getting to the bar using some imaginary underground train system, Shep. I made up a subway station. Hell, I made up an entire underground railway because I was living in Virginia and commuting to the bar.”
“What?” He nearly snorts. “How is that possible?”
“I dunno. I was… hypnotized, maybe? To think I was in a train when I was driving a car? But… I don’t think I have a car. I don’t even have an ID. I’m… homeless, I think. A vagrant.”
“That’s not true. CORE is real.”
“How do you know that?”
“Well… Penny. Penny told me CORE is real. Penny told all of us that they do shit to people’s brains. They did something to you, Olive. You’re not crazy. I don’t know if any of that stuff exists—the train or the bar, or whatever—but you’re part of it and so am I.”
“But what if we’re not, Shep? What if we’re just nuts?”
He sighs loudly. “Yeah. I’ve thought of that too. But even if we are, Olive, it doesn’t explain everything.” Then he reaches for me, swiping a piece of hair away from my face. And I get a smile. Which makes his eyes dance a little and I start picturing what it would be like to… date him. “What are you thinking about?” he asks.
“You,” I say, a little shyly. “And how it might be nice to… you know, see you. Outside of the insanity.”
He laughs but his eyes are locked on mine and then, he leans in. It’s a slow approach. Like he’s giving me time to back away. But I don’t back away. I want him the way I never wanted anything else in my life. He is comfort, and strength, and safety. So I let his lips touch mine and the moment they do, a tingle of electricity shoots through my body, making my head buzz a little with excitement.
I kiss him back now, feeling an urgency that wasn’t there before. His hands are wandering, and so are mine. It’s like we’re drawn to each other in a new way now and our joining is the only thing that matters.
I struggle, getting out from underneath him, and then I straddle his hips, pressing my hands down on his chest as he looks up at me with lust-filled eyes.
“That’s it. That’s exactly it, Olive. Keep going.”
The voice startles me and my head whips to the right. “Brose?”
“Keep going,” Shep says. “It feels good. Keep going.”
“Yeah, Olive,” Brose says. He’s leaning against the cell wall with his arms crossed and that smug smirk on his face, his words deadpan. “Keep going, Olive. We’re almost there.”