Chapter 36
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX
TROY
PRESENT
Pain jerks me into consciousness and my brother’s blurry face floats over me. “You’re going to be okay. They’re taking you into surgery now. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Sybil,” I whisper, through dry lips.
“They’ll find her.” His face disappears and darkness overtakes me.
The monotonous beep of a machine seems to grow louder, closer, until I pull my eyes open. My brother, Jerry, sits in a chair nearby, typing on his phone.
He looks over and smiles at me. “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Did they find Sybil?”
“Yes, she made it almost to the county line before they pulled her over. She has a broken toe and a few stitches in her hand, but she’s alright. They’re keeping her in the psychiatric section here. Jane is over there now.”
I try to sit up, and he lays a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t move around yet.”
“I need to see her before surgery. I need to—” My brain is fuzzy and it’s hard to stay awake.
“You’ve already had the surgery. It’s over. Everything went great. They had to give you some blood, but no major organs were hit. You banged your head pretty hard but there’s no sign of a concussion. You’re going to be good as new in a couple of weeks.”
“Clover is locked in my bedroom,” I mumble, losing the fight against the aftereffects of the anesthesia.
“Eric’s staying at your place to take care of the animals. Don’t worry. You have to rest.”
It seems I don’t have a choice as my body gives up the fight.
The next time I wake, my head is clearer and the pain in my abdomen is back but dulled by whatever they’re giving me. I’m alone, but Jane pokes her head through the door a minute later.
“You’re awake, good. How do you feel?”
“Sore. How’s Sybil? Jerry said they’re keeping her here. Has Dr. Waterson seen her?”
Jane walks in and takes a seat in the nearby chair. “She’s sedated and asleep right now. Dr. Waterson is treating her. She started her on an antipsychotic, but she said it could be a few days before it helps. What happened?”
“It wasn’t her fault. She was terrified. She thought I was one of the cult leaders. I was going to sedate her and bring her in, but she got loose and got to the knife first.”
“Of course it isn’t her fault. She’s never been violent toward you before.”
It’s true, but there’s no way to predict what she’s thinking.
It’s never made sense, the way she sees some things and not others.
She always packs a bag and doesn’t notice that it isn’t the bag she ran away with before, or that the clothing inside is different.
She wears it no problem but doesn’t recognize the clothes in her closet or her painting supplies in her studio.
She doesn’t see that it’s not the same car she stole.
“She’s never had an episode last this long. You know, it’s usually a day or so. I can give her a fake name, keep her safe, and wait it out. But she isn’t coming out of it this time.” My voice cracks and Jane sits on the edge of the bed, taking my hand.
“She will. She’ll come back. She always does.”
I nod, squeezing her hand. Jane and her children have become as much our family as the brothers I found after our escape.
With our faces and names plastered on the news during the trials, my biological father recognized me.
He’d been looking for me for a long time.
He passed away only a year after we moved to Kentucky to stay with him.
It was devastating, but time makes orphans of everyone eventually.
My brothers welcomed me and Sybil into their family, and we opened our auto shop together. Jane moved to town and has worked for us since the early days.
Jane promises to keep a close eye on Sybil and update me until I can get out of this bed. Once she leaves, I lie back, listening to the beep and hum of the hospital.
The last time I was in a hospital bed, I was much worse off. I can’t help but think back to that time and the horrific days that led up to it.
After Sybil ran from our prison, no one came until morning.
I told Sybil that I’d place the blame on her since she’d be long gone, but of course, I didn’t.
I couldn’t. I had no way of knowing whether they’d caught her and took her elsewhere.
I told them I stabbed Nolan and then he shoved me in the cell.
They didn’t believe me, but it didn’t matter.
I’m sure things would’ve gone the same either way.
The pain in my abdomen now is nothing compared to the beating and suffering of those days.
After they were finished, they left me in the cell, and I thought I’d die there until they returned to drag me to the meadow.
I couldn’t walk since my leg was broken.
I don’t know how long I was chained to that post, only able to stand on my right leg.
It wasn’t long enough to lose any fingers or toes to frostbite, but it felt like an eternity.
My wrist snapped when my knee gave out. I spent the hours praying to all the gods I’ve never believed in to let Sybil get away.
I would’ve died suffering in the cold a hundred times if it meant she could be free, but I didn’t die. She saved me. Every time she breaks with reality at the sight of the snow, she does the same thing. She never stops trying to save me.
The next three days are hard, knowing she’s in the same hospital, but I can’t see her. Until she comes out of it, seeing me may only make things worse.
I shuffle back from the bathroom, the stitches in my abdomen burning like fire, and ease into the bed. I’m moving around well, and my doctor is releasing me in the morning. Sybil won’t be coming with me.
Jane was here this afternoon, and she said that she’s getting better, that reality is coming back to her in flashes. It gives me some hope, but knowing I have to leave her here breaks my heart. We’ve spent too much time in a cell. I’ve tried my best not to lock her away, but it can’t be helped.
She has to come back to me.
Doctor Waterson taps on my open door as she enters. “How are you doing? I heard you’re going home tomorrow.” She’s been Sybil’s psychiatrist for over eighteen years and has seen us through a lot. I trust her, but more importantly, Sybil trusts her.
“First thing in the morning, they said.”
She snorts and takes a seat in the chair beside me with a smile. “Count on it by around noon then.” Her expression turns solemn and she looks me in the eye. “This isn’t sustainable anymore. Do you understand that? You could’ve died. She could’ve died.”
“I know. I waited too long and it made things worse.”
“The auditory hallucinations are a new symptom that concerns me. She told me she could hear someone crying through the wall. She thought you had a woman locked in another room.”
That’s who she was talking to, and why she opened that door before taking my truck. She was trying to rescue someone else. I rub my forehead as the doctor continues.
“We’ve talked before about relocating. I know neither of you want to move, but until now, snow has been her only trigger. If she’s getting worse each time, it may not remain her only trigger.”
The thought that she could start breaking from reality more often is unbearable.
“I highly recommend that she isn’t exposed even one more time,” she adds.
“One step ahead of you, Doc,” I reply, tapping my phone and then handing it to her.
She swipes through the screenshots I’ve saved and nods at me with a smile. “Looks like paradise.”
“It will be as long as she’s with me.”
After a long talk with the doctor, we have a plan to make sure this doesn’t happen again and she promises to stop in before I’m released with another update on Sybil.
There’s going to be a lot to do once I’m out of here tomorrow, so I need to sleep. I close my eyes and drift off to a daydream of walking along the beach with Sybil’s hand in mine, without an evil snowflake in sight.