Chapter 31
“M iguel!” I gasp.
I don’t know what happened in Seclusion Two. Maybe Miguel harmed himself. I have no idea. But he’s obviously bleeding in there. I’ve got to help him.
I start to punch in the code for the door, but then I hesitate. What if this is a trick? Or worse, what if Miguel is inside there with a knife and when I get the door open, he’s going to do to me what he did to himself. Or worse.
No, I better not open the door. Not until I have Ramona or Dr. Beck with me.
I hurry around the circle to get to Dr. Beck’s office.
The light is off inside, which means he might be sleeping, but I don’t even hesitate to knock on the door.
I pound on it with the palm of my hand until he pulls it open, looking mildly irritated.
His scrubs look crumpled and he’s not wearing any shoes.
He was clean-shaven at the beginning of the night, but now he’s started to get a hint of stubble on his chin.
“Amy.” He yawns loudly. “What’s going on?”
“There’s blood,” I gasp. “It’s leaking out from under the door of Seclusion Two.”
Dr. Beck takes a moment to process what I just said. “What?”
“It’s all over the floor.” Tears prick at my eyes. “Something must’ve happened to Miguel. But I wasn’t sure if I should open the door…”
He blinks a few times. “Wait. You said there’s blood on the floor?”
“Yes…”
He squints at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes!” I wipe my eyes. “Please come look.”
Dr. Beck finally nods. “Okay, yes. Of course. Let me just… Let me get my shoes on. I just…”
He seems a bit disoriented, which I guess is fair considering I woke him up in the middle of the night. But then again, he’s on-call. He should expect something like this. Well, maybe not exactly like this .
Dr. Beck shoves his feet into his sneakers and follows me around the hall to the seclusion rooms. My heart is pounding so hard, my chest hurts. I can’t even imagine what is inside that room. There was so much blood on the floor. There’s no way he’s all right. Poor Miguel…
We’re going to have to call 911. Or actually, I guess we’re inside a hospital so there’s no need to call 911. I’m sure he’ll have to go straight to the emergency room. If he’s alive at all.
Please let him be alive. Please.
Except when we get to the room, I get the shock of my life. On the floor outside Seclusion Two, there’s absolutely nothing there.
No blood. Nothing .
Dr. Beck turns to look at me. “You said there was blood on the floor… here?”
I stare down at the floor, which is completely clean. There isn’t even a trace of blood. Nothing that could be mistaken for blood.
What the hell?
I bite down on my lower lip. “Maybe it wasn’t right here. Maybe it was…”
But it had to be here. It was outside the seclusion rooms. I know because I was trying the code to open the door. There’s nowhere else it could have been. I’m not confused…
Except where is the blood? I know I saw blood.
Didn’t I?
“Maybe you were dreaming?” Dr. Beck’s eyebrows knit together. “It’s very late, Amy…”
“Maybe…”
Except I wasn’t dreaming. I saw it. I know I did…
“And there was a sound in there,” I recall. “Like… a choking sound. And he’s gotten so quiet. Like, remember how he kept screaming and singing? He stopped doing that.”
“He probably went to sleep.”
I squeeze my hands together. “Can we please check on him? I’m just really worried.”
“Amy.” Dr. Beck shakes his head. “If he’s asleep, we should just leave him alone.”
It’s against my character, but I push past Dr. Beck and bang my fist on the door to Seclusion Two. “Miguel! Are you okay in there? Miguel!”
“Amy!” Dr. Beck looks affronted. I can’t even remember the last time I saw his dimples—he’s decidedly irritated with me. “Please! Miguel has been ramped up all night and he’s finally calm. I’d strongly prefer it if you don’t disturb him.”
I step away from the door, breathing hard. I’m never going to convince Dr. Beck to open the door, especially since the blood on the floor has magically vanished. I have not exactly proven myself to be trustworthy.
“I just feel like if we could check on him, then at least we would know that—”
Dr. Beck’s lips set into a straight line. “Amy, enough . Do not bother Miguel. I want you to go into one of the rooms and I want you to go to sleep for the rest of the night. It’s been a long night with a lot of excitement. You are hereby relieved from your duties.”
I’m itching to tell him my other suspicions about Seclusion One.
About the strange noises I heard coming from there earlier in the night that seem to have somehow ceased.
But I’m getting the feeling that he’s not going to take anything I say seriously.
And even to my own ears, it all sounds crazy.
Maybe he’s right. Maybe I do need to lie down and get some sleep.
“Okay.” My shoulders sag. “I’ll go lie down.”
“Good.”
Dr. Beck is staring at me. He’s looking at me in a way that I have never wanted to be looked at. In a way that I have always feared.
Like he thinks I’ve lost my mind.