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“Two little Indians fooling with a gun. One shot the other, and then there was one.” Tessa didn’t know where the rhyme had come from, but saying it over and over again filled her with serene joy. It was as if all her troubles, all the bad things she’d faced in life, were scrubbed clean of their griminess, leaving her unburdened and unblemished. And yet, every now and then, her thoughts would wander to that cute, curious boy. When he’d approached her, she’d felt a nagging tug at the back of her mind as if she might know him from somewhere.
But the thought always passed quickly, Tessa content to be left without an answer. And she was happy—happier than she’d been in all her years with her stepfather, happier than she remembered being in the years before even, when she and her mother had lived a close, quiet life filled with love. She flinched at the thought of her dead mother, but that pang in her heart, too, passed quickly. She focused on the crossword puzzle on the table in front of her with almost zealous exuberance. She thought that maybe the world would be an amazing place if she could just work on an endless stream of crossword puzzles every day. As it was, life in the nuthouse lately had been better than it was cracked up to be.
“Where’s Jeb?” A high, tinny voice called, snapping Tessa’s concentration. Francine marched by her table like a soldier hungry for war. Her body was stiff and straight, her walk brisk, and her cheeks flushed.
Tessa offered Francine a wave and a smile, then shyly let her hair fall over her eyes as the nurse failed to notice her. After all, Francine was busy and had lots of patients to care for. Even if the nurse hadn’t seen her, Tessa knew Francine would be there for her if she needed her. Those nights Francine had checked on her in her bed and eventually brought her to see the doctor—Tessa had been a real jerk to the nurse, not understanding that she was just trying to help. And Francine and Dr. Horvat were her champions. They’d helped her see light when all around her was darkness. They were more than caretakers. They were her friends.
Not like that dirty Bandage Man. A chill ran through her at the thought of how he’d grabbed her and pulled her into a room, made her believe all sorts of lies about her friends. She cast her head down, a rush of shame welling up in her for having been so easily fooled.
How she’d needed a friend. But the scowl Francine was wearing then unsettled Tessa, and her fingers began to fidget. “Two little Indians fooling with a gun,” she muttered in a barely audible voice. “One shot the other, and then there was one.”
Repeating the phrase on silent lips, she watched as Francine moved inches away from the bodybuilder orderly—Curtis, according to his nametag—a three-hundred-pound monstrosity with a surprisingly delicate touch. Of the hospital’s staff, he paid her and the other patients the least amount of attention. In fact, he didn’t seem to do anything but read magazines or play on his phone unless someone told him to do something or a patient needed help or restraining.
Curtis shrugged. “Haven’t seen him.”
Francine jabbed a finger into his chest. “That’s exactly my point—nobody has. Dr. Horvat sent him for a patient, and now both he and the patient are missing. That new boy, the kid with the red hair, he’s missing too.”
The meathead shrugged. “Well, I don’t know where they are. I just got here. Maybe they both just needed to take a—”
“Find them, Smales! And bring them to the back office when you do. We can’t have them running around unchecked. Besides, Dr. Horvat asked if someone could push her desk back, closer to the far wall, so do that, too, will you? Oh, but wait at least twenty minutes. I think she’s meeting with someone right now.”
“Dr. Horvat’s jacked.” The orderly huffed. “Can’t she do that shit herself? I mean, how hard could it—”
“Just do it, Smales.” She softened, put a hand on her hip, puffed out her lips, and stepped closer. “Please? To be honest, I was supposed to, but I have to do some, uh, damage control.”
“Ooooh, that sounds ominous.” Curtis chortled. “But you need to practice those feminine charms on that officer you’ve been chatting up. If you were going for sexy, I read constipated.”
When she scowled at him and started to speak, he threw up his hands and said, “But yeah, I’ll do it. Relax.”
A clack came from the entrance doors, and Tessa turned toward it. She thought she saw a patch of red hair duck under the window and out of sight.
Curtis, who’d been facing the doors the entire time, hadn’t seemed to notice. “I’m sure they’re fine.” He chuckled. “Jeb probably just got that massive head of his stuck up—”
“Go!” Francine pushed his arm.
The orderly barely budged.
“Find them. Now!”
Curtis rolled his eyes but finally headed toward the double doors.
Without so much a glance in Tessa’s direction, Francine walked toward the staff-only door at the opposite end of the rec room. Although Tessa wasn’t sure, she assumed that door led to the other wings of the hospital. Francine held her badge over a device beside the door handle. It beeped, and a small red bulb flashed green. She opened the door and stepped through it.
“Hey, aren’t you—”
The big orderly’s sentence hung in the air just outside the double doors, immediately followed by a loud thump that rattled the floor and fluttered the doors. The red-haired boy—Jimmy, if she remembered correctly—pushed through one of them, and behind him, the Bandage Man followed.
“Whew!” Jimmy said. “I thought for sure you’d have to shoot him, or at least whack him a few times. Did you see the size of that sucker?”
“Of course you need to hit them hard, but placement of the strike is key,” the Bandage Man said as he tucked something behind his back. “They don’t really teach you that at the academy.”
“Tessa!” Jimmy sprinted toward her and grabbed her arms as she stood to meet him. “You have to come with us!”
She smiled sheepishly and twisted on her toes, her gaze retreating floorward. The edge of a plastic bag scraped along her bicep but she couldn’t see what was inside.
“Are you crazy?” The Bandage Man stared at the boy and placed his hands on his hips. “We can’t take her with us. We’ve gotta keep moving. That nurse could be telling her boss about us as we fart around here.”
“We have to take her,” Jimmy said. “She’s in danger.”
Tessa had no idea what danger Jimmy was referring to, but she admired his passion. That said, she had no intention of going anywhere with them. She was exactly where Dr. Horvat wanted her to be.
“She’s a liability,” the Bandage Man snarled then paced. “We have to keep moving.”
“What? You mean like you? Or me?” Jimmy frowned. He reached for Tessa’s hand. “Come on. We’re leaving this place.”
Tessa recoiled and fixed Jimmy with a pointed stare. She wasn’t about to be bossed around by him. “I’m staying here.”
“Jimmy,” the Bandage Man hissed. “We don’t have time for this!”
Tessa tilted her head as the boy’s expression contorted into one of overwhelming concern, worry lines appearing in droves. All that feeling, all that fear... Is that for me? She blushed and bit her lip, unable to keep her gaze above his knees. Though she wouldn’t be going with him, some deeply rooted part of her longed to.
She dismissed the thought. Dr. Horvat knew what was best for her, far better than any silly boy could. A bead of sweat tickled her cheek as she tried to keep her smile from wavering. A soft crack came from her hands, and she looked down to find her crayon broken.
Jimmy’s gaze darted from her to the Bandage Man and back again. He balled up his fists, stiffened, and let out a grumble of frustration. Then he did something Tessa would have thought completely unlikely had it not just happened—he kissed her. It was light and on her cheek, but it made her stomach gurgle as if it were hungry. She stepped backward, her hand over the spot his lips had touched, not knowing what to say or do.
“I’m sorry, Tessa.” He had the big-eyed, sad look of a neglected puppy. “We need to go, but I will keep my promise. You’ll see. We’ll come back with help—for everyone stuck in here.”
He left at that, heading for the door with the bag in his hand, which appeared to be holding a cell phone and something metallic and shiny. He ran to the Bandage Man, who was pressing a keycard over the reader at the staff-only door. None of it made any sense to her, but her mouth uttered a word as soon as it had formed in her mind. “Wait.”
But Jimmy didn’t hear her. He passed through the doorway, letting the door swing shut behind him. Tessa sprinted for it, lunging forward with her foot to block the door from closing all the way. Something told her she needed to follow them. The boy seemed kind, and for some unknown reason, she worried about him. Maybe it was the Bandage Man, filling Jimmy’s head with lies about Dr. Horvat. Did that nasty man mean to harm the doctor?
The door’s weight pressed hard against her slipper as she debated what to do—stay put and be good, as the doctor wanted, or follow the Bandage Man to make sure he didn’t hurt Dr. Horvat. Or the boy?
She slid forward onto her trapped foot, wrenched open the door, then stepped through it, a pinging in her subconscious spurring her on despite her better judgment.