“How did group session go, Moira?”
She sat in Dr. Cassano’s office the next morning. Sunlight streamed through the windows, and she found herself wishing she were outside, enjoying it with Adam. The thought surprised her a little, considering Jack’s threats the day before. But she had stood up to him, and she was proud of herself for doing so. “Group session was great. I like Dr. Whyte.”
“She’s got a good reputation.” He studied her for a moment. “How do the other patients seem to you?”
“They’re okay.” Moira fiddled with the hem of her T-shirt. “There’s this one guy in the group. Adam.”
“What about him?”
“He’s…different.”
“Has he been giving you any problems?”
“No. He’s nice enough.” She caught Jack’s eye. A mixture of fear and recklessness hit her. “We had dinner together. In the dining room.” She couldn’t stop the small smile that touched her lips.
“I see.” He made a note.
“What are you writing?” Moira asked.
“Nothing. Just that the sessions are acceptable for you.”
Isabella peered over his shoulder. “Oh, I don’t think so.”
Jack glanced Dr. Cassano’s notes. He clenched his fists and turned his back to her.
“The session was very helpful,” Moira said quickly. She didn’t regret time spent with Adam, but she worried about following him up to the rooftop. The last thing she wanted to do was to get into trouble.
“That’s good,” Dr. Cassano replied. “Can we…discuss what happened the other day?” He glanced at his broken name plaque, which was held together by a rubber band.
Dammit, she thought. Did you really expect him to let that go?
“You said that you could see Jack,” he continued. “Is he here today?”
She glanced nervously at Jack, who was still facing the window. Moira braced herself. “Yes.”
“Is Isabella here too?”
A line of tension ran along her spine. “She is.”
“Can you point them out to me? Tell me what they’re doing?”
“Why?” she said. “You can’t see them.”
“True.” A small frown crossed his brow.
Jack is going to flip out, Moira thought, her heart pounding. But I can’t stand this anymore, I can’t. “Isabella is standing beside you looking at what you wrote just now.” Dr. Cassano’s hand moved reflexively over his notes, which she found kind of funny. “And Jack,” she said, glancing at him, “is sulking.”
“Fuck you, Moira,” Jack murmured.
“Why is he sulking?”
“Because that’s what he does,” she said. “He doesn’t want me to tell you I can see him. I guess it’s supposed to be our dirty little secret.”
Jack turned to her, his face furious. “If you tell him anything else about me, Moira, anything at all…I will break you.”
“Now, he’s pissed off,” she continued recklessly.
Jack pointed his finger. “You don’t know what he’s writing!”
“I don’t care,” she retorted. “It’s your fault I’m here. Deal with it! I’m tired of your tantrums.”
“He writes down every, little thing about your personal business,” Jack said, emphasizing each word.
“That’s what he’s supposed to do!”
“It’s not for the reason you think,” Jack argued. “He wants to keep you here!”
“No, he doesn’t!”
“You want to know why? I’ll tell you why!” Jack continued. “He wants to fuck you!”
Moira felt a rush of anger. She trusted Dr. Cassano implicitly and knew he’d never cross that line. “You were no better,” she raged. “And guess what, Jack? It was no then, and now it’s just impossible.”
Jack stalked over and gave her chair a shove. The slap that followed rocked her head backwards.
Dr. Cassano stood abruptly.
“Fight, fight!” Isabella skipped around the room, laughing shrilly.
“It’s my fault you’re here?” Jack yelled. “I think it’s the other way around!”
“That’s not true!” She rubbed her cheek and caught Dr. Cassano’s look of horror. Before Dr. Cassano could say anything, she fled his office.
Moira ran down the hallway towards the elevator. I blew it, she thought frantically. They’ll never let me leave this place. But she hadn’t expected Jack to hit her either. He had only done that once before.
And he had paid for it.
The elevator door opened.
“Hey,” Adam grinned. “Come here often?”
Shit. Moira stepped in quickly and punched the second floor button. The doors closed.
Adam’s smile disappeared. “Bad session?”
Moira tried to answer him but couldn’t. Jack’s tangible anger told her they’d be fighting more as soon as she returned to her room.
“I have those all the time,” Adam said carefully as he took a step closer to her. “Especially when I tell my doctor to piss off.”
Moira pressed the second floor button again.
“You already pressed it,” Adam said. “What happened to your face?”
Though Jack had backed away from them, Moira still felt his icy presence. She stuffed her panic down. “Nothing.”
“If he touches you again, I’m in room three oh two,” Adam said, all trace of his normal cockiness gone. “You want me to stay with you until he calms down? My session’s not for another half hour. I don’t even have to go.”
She shivered involuntarily and shook her head. The elevator doors opened.
“Remember the circle.” Adam’s gaze shifted behind Moira and his jaw hardened. “Fuck you. You had your life already.” He returned his attention to Moira again. “Room three oh two,” he repeated.
* * *
Moira slammed her door just as Jack threw one of her sketchbooks against the wall.
“Are you trying to make me angry, Moira?” he yelled.
“Don’t you touch me ever again!” she yelled. “Ever!”
“I’ll touch you when I want to,” he countered. “I’ll bet you’d let your precious doctor touch you.”
“Shut up!”
“And that other guy. Asshole!” He pushed a stack of magazines off the table. “Who does he think he is, telling me to fuck off?”
“I think he likes her,” Isabella squealed. “But his eyes are creepy.”
Moira shot her an angry look. “They are not.”
“Ooh, Moira’s got a boyfriend!” Isabella teased. “Moira’s got a boyfriend, Moira’s got a boyfriend!”
“I had my life already,” Jack continued to rant. “He doesn’t know shit about my life! Like I had a choice!”
“You had a choice,” Moira muttered.
“I begged you.” Jack advanced, backing her against the wall. “Just a little glimmer to show you cared.” His voice softened. “Was that so much to ask? That’s all I needed, all we needed to move forward.”
“There was never any ‘we.’” She glared up at him, her voice low. “You thought there was a ‘we.’ You tried to force a ‘we,’ but there wasn’t one.”
“That’s a lie,” he replied between gritted teeth. “Don’t lie.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Isabella sang. “Whee!” She jumped off the bed and landed beside them.
Jack grabbed Moira by the shoulders and gave her a shake. “I don’t like how you’re acting lately, Moira. Don’t push me like that ever again.”
“Or what?” Moira’s voice broke. “What can you possibly do to me that you haven’t done already? You tried to force yourself on me when you were living, and you’ve taken away my freedom now that you’re dead. What else could you possibly do?” She regretted the words as soon as she spoke them. The look on his face told her there was much, much more he could do.
In a panic, Moira broke free from his hold. Fleeing her room, she almost collided with Tessa in the hallway.
“Hi.” Tessa smiled awkwardly.
Moira all but ignored her as she hurried to the stairs. She ran into Dr. Cassano half way up the first flight.
“Moira—” His eyes fastened onto her cheek.
“Please let me go. I need to see Adam.”
“Adam,” he repeated. Dr. Cassano’s expression was unreadable. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I-I just need to see him.”
“I’ll be in my office all day today,” he said. “Probably until late this evening. If you need me…”
Moira nodded and pushed past him. She quickly made her way to the third floor.
“Can I see Adam Blackwood in Room three oh two?” she asked the station nurse breathlessly.
“He’s got session in fifteen minutes.” The nurse gave Moira a no-nonsense look as she took in her distress. “Is there something I can help you with?”
“No. I just…wanted to ask him something really quick.”
“I’ll walk you down.”
Moira followed the nurse down the hallway. As they passed the stairwell door, it was pulled open.
Tessa let the door close behind her and leaned against it nonchalantly. “Hi.”
“Get back to your floor, Tessa,” said the nurse. “Men’s floor only unless you have business here. You know that.”
Tessa’s face fell. “Yes, ma’am.”
The nurse continued to room 302. She knocked loudly on the door.
My nurses never knock, Moira thought. Maybe Adam scares his nurses.
“Enter.”
The nurse opened the door. “Visitor, Adam.”
Adam rolled off his bed. “Thank you, Susan. We’ll have our milk and cookies sent in later.”
She gave him an unimpressed look and left.
Adam’s grin faded. “You all right? Sit down, you don’t look good.”
Moira sank into a chair. A sudden wave of light-headedness hit and she placed her head between her knees. “I’m okay,” she said faintly.
“I can see that,” Adam said. “They didn’t follow you. You’re safe.”
Moira looked up, her gaze sweeping the room. “I guess they didn’t.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “I wonder why?”
“Tell me about him.”
Moira’s shoulders tensed. “Who?”
“You know who,” Adam said. “I saw how pissed off he was in the elevator. What’s the deal?”
“Jack.” She ran her hands over her face fitfully.
“I don’t like to call them by name,” he said. “They’re dead. They don’t have names anymore.”
“Jack’s someone I used to know.” Moira pressed her knees together to still their shaking.
“Boyfriend?”
“No,” she replied defensively, “why do you say that?”
“Possessive son-of-a-bitch. Did he want to be your boyfriend?”
She looked away, not trusting herself with an answer.
“He keeps shifting forms.”
“What do you mean?”
Adam gave a small shake of his head. “Nothing. So, what happened?”
Memories came, unbidden. Moira steeled herself against them. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Maybe that’s why he’s still around.” He brushed a thumb against her cheek. “Ghosts have to harness a lot of energy to do something like this.”
Moira put her head between her knees again. She heard Adam turn on the bathroom faucet.
He returned with a cool washcloth. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She took it from him and laid it on her cheek. “That circle you were talking about, how do I do that again?”
“You close your eyes.” He kneeled beside her. “Close your eyes, Moira.”
Hesitant, she closed them.
“Now envision a circle around you.”
“What kind of circle?”
“Any kind. What makes you feel safe?”
The first thing that came to her mind was Liam’s music. Moira’s shoulders relaxed.
“You got something?”
She nodded. “It’s made of musical notes.”
“That works,” Adam said with a chuckle. “Now imagine it’s the strongest thing there is between you and anything evil.”
Moira opened her eyes in alarm. “Evil?”
“Your ghosts.” He placed his hand over her eyes. “Concentrate. They can’t come in, especially him. You won’t allow it. And if he does, he’ll disintegrate.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” She pulled his hand away.
“There are other things you can do too.”
There was a knock at the door and the nurse poked her head in. “Session, Adam.”
“You’re interrupting us,” he replied, slightly irritated.
“Session, smart guy.”
He turned to give the nurse a flat stare until she left.
Turning his attention to Moira again, Adam gave her hand a squeeze. “Wait for me in the common room.” His brow furrowed. “On second thought, not there. Wait for me in the dining room.”
“They won’t be serving lunch yet.”
“But you’ll be around other people,” he said. “In fact, I’ll walk you there.”
* * *
Moira sat at one of the dining room tables holding onto Adam’s promise to return after his session. After a couple of ill-concealed dirty looks by the dining room staff, they went about their business in the kitchen.
“I didn’t give you permission to leave,” Jack said.
Moira edged away. “I didn’t ask for it.”
“Are you going to do everything he tells you now?” Jack said. “He tells you to wait in the dining room, so you wait? Nice, Moira.”
“Sit!” Isabella teased. “Stay!”
Why did Jack and Isabella show up only after Adam left? Moira closed her eyes and tried to envision a circle of musical notes. They’re around when I’m with anyone else. What’s different about Adam?
“Maybe he’ll give you a bone,” Jack murmured in her ear. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Moira’s a puppy,” Isabella giggled.