I let her arm go. I should walk away from here. Pretend I never met her, that I didn’t see any of this. Instead, I wrap my arms around her. She tries to fight me off, but I hold her tighter. “Let me help you.” I whisper in her ear. Her shoulders shake, and I don’t release my hold on her. As wrong as this is, I know she thought she had no other way.
“I can’t run, Priest. They’ll always be here, hurting others, damaging them the way they damaged me. This is a dark place, and I can’t outrun it. It will follow me.” She sniffs.
“Come with me.” I plead.
“They’ll find me. They’ll find us.” She looks so small and fragile, I want to hurt every person who made her feel this helpless. I know the car is waiting for me outside by now, but he has instructions not to leave until I’m in the car.
“They? What do you mean, Celeste? Father Thomas, Sister Concessa, they’re gone.”
She shudders. “Who are you talking about?”
She blocks her ears, but there is absolutely no sound.
“Tell me how he got rid of the others.” I ask her.
“The well.”
I nod. “I need you to get whatever you need from your room. I’ll take care of this.”
I watch her walk away, dreading the task ahead of me.
Epilogue
The sun streamsin through the floor to ceiling windows in our bedroom. I sit up in bed, yawning. I slept through the night, and that means the nightmares are slowly fading. There was a time I thought they’d never end, I’d wake up covered in sweat from running away from the monsters in my mind. I turn around and Priest smiles up at me.
“Good morning, beautiful.” His smile is warm and inviting. I could curl up in bed with him for the rest of the day, but someone else needs my undivided attention. And on cue, the baby monitor lights up, and the melody of Brighton’s cries fill the room. I lean down and kiss Priest’s cheek before climbing out of bed. I walk down the hallway into our son’s room. He’s just over a year. I look down at his smiling face, picking him up from his cradle. Priest and I have new names, new identities, and live in a new country. My life in the convent seems like a lifetime ago. I don’t know how I got so lucky.
I hold Brighton close to me, inhaling his baby scent as I return to our bedroom. Priest immediately starts to tickle him when I place our son on our bed, their laughter following me into the bathroom. I’ve been thinking about my biological parents lately, wondering who they are and why they abandoned me all those years ago. Apparently, becoming a parent does bring up those kinds of questions. I wouldn’t be able to walk away from Brighton, not after birthing him and falling in love with him the way I have.
I look in the mirror and Charity Holmes stares back at me. She has shoulder length blonde hair, wears glasses and has freckles on her nose.
You can’t hide from me.I shake off those thoughts and open the medicine cabinet. I grab the glass holding the toothpaste and toothbrushes and grab the small bottle of pills I can’t seem to operate without. Empty. I shake it again to be sure. How did I forget to order a refill? My hands start to shake, and the glass slips from my grip, glass shattering into the basin. I shut the cupboard and jump back when I see the image in front of me.
“Where the hell is Charity?” I yell at the raven haired woman in the mirror.
“She isn’t here, is she, Celeste?” she sneers. I take a few steps back, hearing a knock at the door. “Babe, you all right in there?”
The woman in the mirror grins back at me, she raises a piece of broken glass, pressing it to her wrist.
You can’t hide from me.
I stand against the tiled bathroom wall, and watch as she cuts from one side of her wrist to the next. Nothing happens, but she looks satisfied. She does the same to her other wrist, but it’s a failed attempt. I grin. “I’m fine, honey.” I call when Priest knocks again.
“You don’t win.” I say through gritted teeth to the bitch in the mirror.
“I feel a warm trickle of liquid run down my arm and gasp when I realize my wrists are bleeding. Two clean cuts on each of them.
I will always find you.Your sins follow you.
* * *
I suck in a breath, my eyes flying open. The room I’m in is white and padded. I try to move my arms but they’re retrained. “Priest!” I yell. The door creeks open, and a tall, gangly man with a white coat and rimless glasses enters the room.
“Celeste, I’m Doctor Bartlett. Do you remember me?”
“No.” I hiss. “Where the hell am I?” Where is my husband, my son?”
“Celeste. You’re at Horizon View, a psychiatric facility. You were brought here by Father Heath Thomas, do you remember him?”