Chapter 23: Twenty One - Company

Company

I couldn’t remember if I’d screamed.

Sure, I knew that I’d screamed in my nightmare – but had the same thing happened in reality?

I hoped to God not.

I wiped away the sweat that was dripping from my brow with the edge of my sheet. I was still shaking from the horrible nightmare. For once, it wasn’t something that the voices had put into my head. It wasn’t even one of those “I-watched-a-horror-movie-just-before-bed” nightmares, either. It was one that was fueled by some sort of subconscious thought.

Questions tumbled into my head. What had that strange creature been; the one that was trying to kill me? And why was it trying to kill me? Had I done something to it?

And more importantly, whose voice was it that saved me?

“October?” I sat up straighter upon hearing my name. “October, are you okay?”

Apparently I had screamed.

With a sigh, I rolled off the bed and dropped to the floor. “Bad dream” Was all I told Parish.

He didn’t seem to buy it. “Are you sure? That was some pretty serious screaming you did just now.”

“Just a nightmare, I swear.” I assured him as I spread the sheet on the floor and lay down on top of it.

“You don’t need to lie to me you know, I told you before I’m—”

“For Pete’s sake Parish, would you drop it already?!” I hissed at him angrily, “I told you, it was just a nightmare. Could you just let it go?”

He fell silent after that, and I suddenly felt bad for snapping at him. After all, he’d just been worried, hadn’t he? I let a few silent seconds pass before sighing again.

“I’m sorry.” I ran my hands through my hair, frowning when I noticed a couple strands that had come loose in my fingers. “I didn’t mean to snap.”

When he replied, his tone was light. “It’s okay. You’re still shaken up; I get it.”

“I guess I am…” I nodded up at the incredibly white ceiling. The lights were still on, which meant that it still wasn’t dark enough for the nurses to call Lights Out.

“Wanna talk about it?”

I bit my lip, considering this for a moment.  “Not really…”

“Okay then.”

We fell into silence again until I caved. “Something was trying to kill me. A ghost, or a spirit or something. It was choking me, and just when I thought I was going to die, this voice saved me.”

“A voice?” He repeated quietly.

“Yeah.” I nod, blinking up at the blank ceiling. “It sounded familiar… but so strange at the same time.”

“Okay, that’s confusing.”

“Tell me about it.”

“What did the voice do?” He asked after a beat. “To chase the ghost-thing away?”

“Nothing really,” I answered. “It just… spoke.”

“What did it say?”

“It kept calling its child.” I’d already guessed what the next words out of his mouth were going to be.

“Was it one of your parents?” Bingo. Ten points to October Grimmes.

I shook my head firmly – and then realized that he couldn’t see me. “No. Definitely not my parents. I would have recognized them.”

“Yeah, good point.” I could practically see him scratching his head in confusion. “Then who was it?”

“Not a clue.”

“Hmm…” I plucked at a piece of thread sticking out from the mattress and yanked. “Maybe you’ve—”

A heavy groaning noise erupted from somewhere in Parish’s room and he immediately stopped talking.

“Parish?” I whispered quietly, only to be shushed very harshly in response. I fell silent. Something was obviously going on; he wouldn’t have shushed me otherwise.

Through the vent, I heard the sound of a door being shut, followed by the muffled clicking sound of shoes on tile. I vaguely hoped that Larkson hadn’t stopped by and heard Parish talking to me and wasn’t going to separate us. He could be annoying sometimes, but when it came down to it, I’d take his company over being locked up with an empty room with my own nightmares and evil voices any day.

“Parish? Why are you on the floor?” I heaved a mental sigh of relief when Parish’s guest spoke. It wasn’t Larkson, it was Darren.

“Not much difference between the floor and the bed.” I heard Parish reply nonchalantly before changing the subject. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, since our session was, um, interrupted” Darren replied, referring to Kara’s and my little show earlier, “and we still had forty minutes left, I asked Dr. Larkson if I could use forty minutes of your sentence to complete our session.”

“You want to finish it now?” Parish spluttered. His tone was coated with incredulousness, but I could detect a slight hint of unease. I didn’t blame him; he knew that if they finished their session, I’d hear everything.

Anyone in his position would be uneasy.

“Yes.” Darren answered, sounding a little suspicious. “Is that a problem?”

“No.’ Parish lied. He couldn’t tell Darren that I could hear without risking Larkson coming in here and separating us. I didn’t understand why he lied – he would have probably been better off if Larkson had separated us. I mean, I’m the one who wanted company to keep my mind off the voices. He could probably do without someone screaming her head off every time he tried to rest.

Still. I appreciated the sentiment.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I heard Darren question. There was a shuffling noise, as I he was dragging something across the floor. “You look a little, disgruntled.”

Parish merely groaned heavily in response. “Let’s just get this over with, okay?”