Sicko(83)

I look up at Wicked. “What’s wrong!”

He shakes his head, his eyes remaining hard and passive on her frozen body. “She’s alive, I think she fainted.”

Just as he says the words, she stirs, her eyes opening up to mine. “Jade?”

I burst into tears, unable to contain the emotions that are exploding inside of me.

“Thank god!”

The curtain opens again and this time, Storm walks in, his eyes frantic until he finds me. They drop up and down my body, checking me over before he takes the steps needed until I’m in arm’s reach. Pulling me into his chest, he kisses me on my head.

“It’s almost over.”

I wish that were true, but I don’t have it in my heart to tell him that there’s no way this is over. That James would have run through that emergency door and through his passage and probably be almost at the private airstrip by now. I find the red door out of instinct.

“Not possible,” I sigh, snuffing my runny nose.

Just as I say the words, Orson appears through the emergency door, his large shoulders eating up the space. His eyes meet mine and soften before going to Storm. “Take the girls out of here.”

“What?” I snap between the two of them. “Why?”

Orson shakes his head. “You shouldn’t have to witness what’s about to happen.”

I square my shoulders, my fists clenching in my hand. The stinging on my arm is worsening. I know I need to clean it up quickly before it turns to fire and infection seeps in. “He’s gone! That!” I point to the door that Orson just came through. “Is his exit. Only I know where it is, and that’s why he announces the sales from in here, and if he didn’t get through his secret exit, he would have used the community one that—” Isaac steps through the door behind Orson, his suit stained with smudges of blood. At first, I think it’s because they’ve hurt him, until he turns to Wicked.

“Jade, Orson is right. You shouldn’t be here.”

“What’s happening!” I scream, frustration clinging to my nerves. “And where the fuck is Royce?”

“Royce is coming. But for now, you need to go out the main exit and take your friend. Friends of mine will be on their way through those doors in thirty minutes, and that’s not enough time to do what is about to happen.”

“And what’s that?” I snap.

Isaac glares at me. “Creating a suicide.”

I look around to all of them as Royce finally appears at the same emergency exit. “What the fuck!”

He refuses to look at me. I see it in the way he’s watching Wicked.

“Royce,” I wheeze, and I hate that I feel vulnerable. Exposed. The silence only angers me further, and my legs begin taking me to the door where he is. Someone reaches for my arm to stop me, but Royce shakes his head to leave me.

I shove him. “Say what you’re thinking!” I can feel the pain in my chest growing. The years of abuse, being stripped of my innocence and choices is nothing compared to the sheer agony of being dismissed by Royce the way I am now.

He continues to not stare at me. “Go get cleaned up. We’ll talk later.”

Reality claws its ugly nails into me, carving down the edges of my spine. “You think I was with him willingly?” I shove him again when he doesn’t answer. “You motherfucker! You think I wanted your father to rape me every goddamn day after you left?!” The room instantly grew cold. I didn’t think twice about the words that flew out of my mouth, because I gathered, they had known.

“Jade,” Isaac growls, his mouth in a thin line.

“Fuck you!” I snap at Isaac, turning back to Royce.

His face is pale, but not in a way that makes him look weak. His eyes turn to a shade almost black as his pupils dilate. “What did you just say?” The veins in his neck pulse beneath his ink, his soft lips curling up in a snarl. Before I can stop him, he’s turning around and heading back through the exit.

“Royce!” Wicked calls out, shooting forward to chase him.

I’m already running down the long exit, until I slam into Royce’s back, blanketed in the darkness of the tunnel. It leads to a street in the city on the other side of town. I look down at what he’s staring at and my body turns hard.

James is tied, his mask still concealing his face and his arms and feet tied.

My mouth opens, but then I snap it closed. My whole world is going to crash down and I know that I’ll most likely lose Royce forever, but he needs to know. I’m tired of secrets, and I’m tired of living in the shadows of another life that was thrust upon me.

Royce leans down, his finger hooking beneath his mask as he whips it off. My eyes close just as he stumbles back from shock.

James Doe aka Kyle Kane. I had no control over what he did to me all those years, so I decided to change his name. James Doe is the male equivalent to Jane Doe. What better name to call him than one of a soulless body.

“Jesus fuck!” Wicked’s hands dive to his hair. “Not what I suspected at all.”

Kyle’s face is calm, his eyes closed. He has bruises on his cheek and a bloody nose, but I know he’s not dead. I can see it in the way his chest rises and falls.

Royce drops to the ground, his hand coming to his mouth, his head shaking. Slowly, he looks up at me, his eyes glassed over and his face contorted into pain. “I’m—” He swallows, his eyes closing as more footsteps patter through the concrete tunnel from the basement of the complexes.