Chapter 8
Indie
see you again - carrie underwood
“Where’s your new computer, by the way?” I ask Regina, watching her tapping away on the laptop in her bedroom. She’s due to leave with Dawson tomorrow, and I can’t help but be glued to her side before she goes. Seeing as later I have a ‘ training session’.
She tugs a drive out from the side of the device, leaning back from her makeshift desk to face me. “After yesterday’s plans, we thought it was best I got it set up beside Dawson’s own one. Just loading all my programs so I can install the software on it.”
My smile cocks up the side of my mouth. “Aww, you’re working together.”
Regina still hasn’t divulged much more information about her and Dawson’s relationship, however, I did catch them smooching when I snuck out for a midnight snack in the corridor.
“It’s not that deep, Indie,” she says, turning back to face the computer, flustering with her hair.
I bark a laugh. “Yes it is. You’re blushing again.”
She snaps her head to me, her hand drifting up to press against her cheek, then begins to tug on the neck of her hoodie. “It’s just getting hot in here.”
My laugh flows from me, and it feels genuine for once. “Yeah, okay, don’t break into song. It’s freezing, and snowing.”
“Shut up.”
I wait.
And I wait.
The moment realisation washes over my best friend, she turns at breakneck speed, almost taking out the suitcases her laptop rests on. “Wait, what?!”
“Damn, you must really be loved up if your snow meter didn’t go off.”
Rolling her eyes, she leaps from the bed, throwing her words over her shoulder as she peers out the shutters. “We should have a snowball fight later. I have a strong urge to pummel you to the point you look like you got stuck under an avalanche.”
“Ha! Game on, biatch.”
I rise from the floor, walking over to peer out the small window with her. It’s gotten pretty deep over the last few hours. Saint’s people are scattered throughout the grounds, clearing the pathways to the entrance gates.
“Ladies.” Both of us turn to the open bedroom door, finding Dr Beverley standing at the threshold, “Jenna has asked to see you both.”
“What?”
“Right now?” we both reply in unison.
My heart pounds against my chest.
Jenna’s progress has been steady since she’s been here, but I didn’t expect this.
The doctor nods with a smile, tilting her head for us to follow her. She leads us to a wing I haven’t been in before, the long corridor seemingly vacant, all apart from a room that amber light bleeds from beneath.
She stops just a few feet away, dropping her voice low so that only we can hear. “Before you go in—I know it’s difficult, but try to refrain from high emotions; she startles easily and is prone to panic attacks. I’ll be right outside the door if you need me or get concerned about her.”
Regina and I bob our heads frantically, looking at each other.
A silent message passing between us.
This is it.
This is the moment we’ve dreamed of for the last six years: being reunited with the missing part of our trio.
I swallow heavily, pushing open the door wider with a shaky palm as the room comes into view. Now I know why most of these rooms are vacant.
This is like a hospital wing, the entire room set up for medical attention.
Its walls are painted light and airy, cabinets line the space, and an IV drip stands in the corner of the room, right next to the bed, where an alive Jenna sits perched up with wide, sunken eyes.
Her voice is so small, so vastly different to the wild girl we knew. “Indie? Gina?”
“Oh God, Jenna.” My voice breaks, a broken breath trying to get through my chest, but it can’t. My heart has swelled twice the size as I stare into her glittering eyes.
We both run to her, each of us taking a side as she holds her frail arms out, catching us as we crash into her.
How the hell can one expect us not to have high emotions?
“We missed you so much,” Regina sobs.
“We’re so sorry we weren’t there.” I squeeze her tightly, and she squeezes right back, her body spasming in my hold as her own tears fall.
We stay like that for what feels like forever. Sniffles and stuttered gasps of breath fill the room as we hold her for all the times we missed together.
“Is this real?” she whispers as we pull away, sitting on each corner of her bed.
“Yes, yes it is,” I answer, my gaze really taking her in. Asking myself the same question.
She pushes her dark hair back, shaking her head as she stares directly ahead. “I keep thinking I’m hallucinating.”
“We’re definitely real,” Regina says softly, gently taking her hand and pressing it to her cheek. Jenna’s eyes crinkle at the corners, a tear finding its way down her pale skin as she shakes her head. “I can’t believe you’re both here.”
She turns to me, turning her hand as I place mine in it, holding onto it for dear life as I speak. “We can’t believe you are. How are you feeling?”
She huffs a laugh, cocking an eyebrow. “Nauseous as fuck if I’m honest; it’s a pain in the ass.”
There she is.
That little hint of the girl we love.
My eyes travel to her arm, noticing the cannula stuck just below the crook. Her voice breaks my stare. “You both haven’t changed. Your hair is a bit longer.”
She takes her hand from mine, reaching out to glide a strand between her fingers.
“Neither have you.” I smile at her. Despite what she’s been through, she looks and sounds exactly the same.
Dark hair and eyes, a melodic voice that feels comforting. The only difference is the spark that once flared behind her eyes.
It was once full of mischief, full of life; now it’s dulled and holding pain.
“Yeah, not on the outside anyway,” she whispers.
We’re silent for a minute, letting Jenna lead the way. There’s no doubt Regina and I want to ask her a million questions, but this is our first encounter.
The last thing we want is to upset her progress.
“The doctor said you guys rescued me? Saint and…Rex too.” The way her voice lowers around Rex’s name, I just know she still has feelings there for him.
“That’s right,” Regina answers her.
“How?” She looks between the both of us. Fuck, where do we even begin with that?
“That might be a lot for one day. We don’t want to overload you,” I say softly, watching her for any changes in her behaviour.
She drops back against her fluffed-up pillows, leaning over to take a drink of water. “Give me it please, I’m either bored to tears in here or…tears over everything else.”
I nervously glance over at Regina, and she nods.
Deciding to take the lead, I tell her everything that happened when we left her house. How I left to find Saint, searched the entire city for him.
Then, I move on to when Regina got the call, how we raced to her house and found the body, thinking we’d found our best friend murdered at her own front door.
When I get to the part about how we both broke into the archives and decided to be vigilante killers, her eyes widen, but she doesn’t freak out the way I would expect her to.
Certainly taking it better than Saint did when I told him.
Her mouth pops off the straw from her water. “You know, if you told me that six years ago, I’d have definitely thought I’d been drugged,” she laughs, and it’s light as it fills the room, “and now I’m worried I might be hallucinating again.”
Regina shuffles on the bed. “We promise you aren’t. We’ve all maybe gone into another dimension after that night, but it’s all true, Jenna.”
Jenna rubs her hands down her face, and for a moment, I’m worried we maybe did go a little overboard.
Anxiety trickles through me, until she reveals her face, a smile etching her lips.
“Jesus Christ. You two? Hitwomen?” She swings both index fingers between the two of us.
“That’s actually quite…badass. I’m jealous I didn’t make the trio.
” She pouts at the end, and the expression relaxes the strain in my shoulders.
Hiking my shoulders up, I try my best at wrangling a face of innocence. “We try, and once you’re better we can help you learn the ropes.”
“I could be wrong, but I bet the doctor would say that’s very unethical advice, Indie,” Regina scolds, but each of us breaks into laughter, and God does it feel good.
Even though we’re only at the beginning of the marathon, my spirits feel high. Hope doesn’t seem like such a negative emotion anymore.
Jenna’s face softens. “And you did this…because of me?”
“One of the main reasons, besides what happened. They weren’t getting away with hurting anyone else,” I answer, and she wraps her arms around herself, biting her lip as she looks heavenward, a sob breaking free.
“Do you need us to leave?” Regina asks, and Jenna’s eyes flare.
“No! Please stay, my chest just gets a little tight, that’s all.” She rubs her hand across it, sleeve tucked over in a fist.
I recognise immediately what she means.
“The doctor has probably given you something already, but when I get like that, we learned these breathing and tapping exercises. Sometimes they help.”
I stand, going over to find the clipboard at the end of her bed, taking a loose piece of paper, and writing down the method that helped Regina and I so much, then show her on my own wrist and other places she can do it.
I hand the paper to her, and she gives me a lopsided smile. “Thanks, she’s sprouted so much information my head hurts trying to contain it.”
Her gaze travels over my writing, and I watch the rise and fall of her shoulders as she mimics the movements, then her eyes lift when Regina speaks. “You know we’ll always be here when you want to talk. Don’t think we haven’t asked because we don’t care. We just want you to take your time.”
Jenna’s eyes glisten again, her bottom lip wobbling as she drags in a breath. “I thought I was going to die in there, and no one would ever know the kinds of fucked-up shit those people did. I keep pinching my skin to make sure I’m not in a room somewhere, messed up.”
“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” I say, gently stroking her arm.
She nods her head, casting her eyes downwards. “No, it’s okay. It feels…a little easier with you both.”
Jenna tenses her shoulders, taking in a deep breath before looking straight ahead, like it’s easier to tell it out loud without looking at either of us.
And I get it.
Talking about your trauma and looking into the eyes of those you care about just makes it harder.
“The details are a bit fuzzy, but someone broke into my house. They stripped me out of my clothes and put them on this girl; she was terrified. I’ve no idea who she was. They made me…watch. Said if I didn’t comply, then I would take her place for real.”
I didn’t see Jenna’s face when we got to her house; all I noticed was the clothes she had on from when I last saw her in the morning. That, mixed with her body sprawled in blood in her pitch-black hallway.
I wouldn’t have thought to question any of it.
“They kept the people they kidnapped at the manor; they’ve got a basement there…and another place one of the twins owns. We were mostly drugged up at the manor when providing services.”
My stomach feels like waves are crashing into each other.
Being subjected to that kind of horror for six whole years doesn’t bear thinking about the destruction it would have on your mind.
Both Regina and I reach out to hold her and, and she grips our hands tightly, her palms beginning to heat with a light sheen of sweat on them. “They kept me there for months before they…fuck,” she chokes, dragging in a breath before blowing it out harshly.
I speak up. I don’t want her to force herself. “It’s okay. We’ve got all the time in the world. It’s always on your terms what you tell us. We don’t need to know but will always listen when you feel like sharing.”
She bobs her head, but the monitor attached to her arm starts to beat rapidly, the beeps picking up by each second as her heart races.
“Do you want us to get the doctor?” I ask.
“Please.”
I slide my hands from hers, trying to not make my movements rushed and startle her. “Gina, stay with her.”
I speedwalk to the door, opening it and looking down the hallway to find Dr Beverley sitting in a chair, scrolling on her phone.
Closing the door softly, I try to keep my voice as quiet as possible, but it’s no use; it travels down the hallway. “Dr Beverley! Jenna needs you. I think she’s having a panic attack.”
The doctor rises to her feet, running in as I hold the door back open for her.
I watch as the doctor tries to soothe Jenna, handing her a soft toy I hadn’t noticed behind the window as Jenna squeezes it to her chest, nodding as tears fall from her eyes, staring straight ahead as she tries to control her breathing.
“Indie! Is she okay?”
My head snaps to the owner of the deep voice, finding Rex standing in the middle of the corridor, dark eyes tight at the sides.
“She was telling us a little bit about what happened. I think it’s been too much for one day and overwhelmed her,” I say, walking to stand closer to him.
The doctor said Jenna needs to stick to female visitors only for now, and despite her knowing Rex, I don’t want the sound of his voice making her worse.
“Did she mention anything about…what they did?” he asks, eyes darkening as he looks above my head, gaze burning holes through the walls.
“No, but with what we know, it’s not hard to connect the dots,” I say quietly.
I watch his shoulders tightening, his hands fisting at the sides as he drags his gaze to me, a sharp tilt of his head.
Everything is beginning to make sense now, things I missed before and took them as off-the-cuff comments. Saint said that Rex would burn the place to the ground. I thought it was because of them killing her.
Now I know the exact meaning.
My hand reaches for his forearm, squeezing as he looks at me, eyes softening when I speak. “She just needs time…” I take a steadying breath, hoping my suggestion doesn’t cause him to freak out. “You should write her a letter too.”
He glances down at the ground, biting his cheek, and when his soft eyes land on me, my heart twists when he answers, “I don’t think there’s enough paper in the world for the things I want to say.”