Chapter 49
W hen I get back to Will’s room, he sets down his copy of Owen Meany and stares up at me. “That was more than five minutes.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He presses his lips together. “What did they say to you?”
Of course, I knew he would ask me that. I have to play this very carefully. “She was feeling anxious about everything that happened. She just wanted to talk to me.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
He narrows his eyes at me. The diagnosis in his chart is paranoid schizophrenia, but he claimed it was a lie.
That he was faking it. But in retrospect, everything he has done or said since we’ve been here has been incredibly paranoid.
He has created an entire conspiracy theory.
When, in fact, he is the most suspicious person of all.
“Your hands are shaking,” he notes.
“Is that so surprising?” I retort, as I try to get my shaking hands under control. It’s not easy. “I mean, given everything that’s going on here…”
“Yeah, but they weren’t shaking before you went out to talk to Jade.” He hops off the bed, keeping a distance of a few feet between us. “What did you talk to her about? Tell me the truth.”
“I did.”
“I don’t believe you.” Now his own hands are shaking as he tugs at the hem of his worn T-shirt. “Look, I know this whole thing is crazy, but I swear to you, Amy, everything I’ve told you has been true.”
I don’t know what to say to that. It’s not true, anyway. From the moment we first talked, he’s been lying to me. And he knows it.
“You’ve got to believe me.” His eyes are wide. “I need you on my side here. I can’t trust anyone else. If we don’t stick together…”
There’s a knock on his door. We both jump and turn to look at the door. Without waiting for an answer, the door swings open. Dr. Beck and Ramona are standing in the doorway. There’s a syringe jutting out of the pants pocket of Ramona’s scrubs.
“Hello, Will,” Dr. Beck says. “Do you have a moment to talk?”
All the color drains out of Will’s face. He backs up against the wall. “Oh no. No .”
“Will…” Dr. Beck steps into the room, his face creased in concern. “There’s no reason for you to be scared.”
“Please,” Will says. “I… I don’t want to cause any trouble…”
“A little late for that,” Ramona tuts.
Dr. Beck walks over to the nightstand, to the pile of Will’s books. He sorts through them and when he gets to the copy of Garp , he flips it open. He frowns at the hollowed-out center with the pills hidden inside.
“Oh, Will,” he murmurs. “This is so incredibly disappointing. Don’t you want to get better?”
“I’m fine.” Will squirms. “Really. I… the voices just went away on their own. I don’t hear them anymore. So I’m fine.”
Dr. Beck cocks his head to the side. “And what happened to Mary Cummings, Will?”
Will’s mouth falls open, and he shakes his head. He looks like he’s about to pass out.
“We don’t have to talk about it now,” Dr. Beck says. “But in the morning, the police will be here, and believe me, we’re going to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, we have to make sure you don’t hurt anyone else.”
“I would never…” Will chokes out.
“We can’t exactly take you at your word , Will,” Ramona says.
That’s when Will sees the syringe in her pocket, and intense panic fills his face. Like I did in Mary’s room, he looks over at the window, wondering if escape could be possible from the ninth floor. But like me, he realizes it’s futile.
“Amy.” He appeals to me instead now, the same way Mary did in her last moments. I get a sick sense of déjà vu. “Please tell them. I didn’t do anything to Mary. I didn’t hurt anyone. Tell them .”
But I don’t say a word.
Dr. Beck nods at Ramona and the two of them close in on him. Dr. Beck goes for his right arm and Ramona goes for the left. Will fights like crazy, but between the two of them, they managed to wrestle him to the ground. Even when they’ve got him pinned, he’s still screaming and struggling.
“It’s just a mild sedative, Will,” Dr. Beck grunts. “This would be so much easier if you could just stay still.”
It takes both of them to keep him restrained, which means Ramona can’t get to the syringe in her pocket. She looks over her shoulder at me. “Amy, can you grab the syringe? Just inject it right in his deltoid.”
My stomach drops. “You want me to do it?”
“Amy, no!” Will screams. “Please! I didn’t do anything! You have to believe me!”
It would be easy enough to do. A syringe is sticking out of Ramona’s scrub pants, and all I would have to do is jab it in his upper arm. Two people are holding him down, so it shouldn’t be that hard to do.
Except then I hear a snicker from behind me.
I rotate my head, and that’s when I notice Jade standing just outside the door. Her hands are folded across her boobs, and she has a smirk on her lips. I have known Jade for a long time, and I know that look.
That’s when it hits me. She’s not afraid of Will at all. She was lying to me. She was lying to Ramona and Dr. Beck. She is enjoying this.
“Amy?” Ramona says.
I swallow a hard lump in my throat. “I… I don’t think…”
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Ramona grumbles. She throws the weight of her knee onto Will’s arm, then she grabs the syringe with her left hand. She pulls off the cap with her teeth, then plunges the needle into Will’s deltoid.
It doesn’t take effect instantly, so Ramona and Dr. Beck have to keep him restrained on the floor. But slowly, the fight leaves his body. He stops struggling and goes limp on the floor.
“Ramona,” Dr. Beck says, “please help Mr. Schoenfeld back into bed.”
Will’s eyelids are droopy at this point, and he needs her help just to crawl off the floor and climb back into his bed. If he were ever dangerous, he isn’t anymore. But I’m not sure if I believe he ever was.
“Amy.” Will’s voice is slurred now. “Don’t… don’t trust…”
Ramona lays a firm hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Amy. Let him sleep.”
She firmly guides me out of the room and shuts the door behind us. I can’t help but remember that this exact same thing happened to Mary. Ramona injected her with a sedative, then we left her alone in her room. And now she’s gone, and all that’s left is blood on her sheets.
I have doomed Will.
And the worst part is that now there is absolutely nobody left I can trust.