“What? Who are you?” I looked into the dark hallway. “Where is this?”

“Please.” She gulped, tears streaming down her face. “Get me out of here.” She frantically pushed buttons on the panel.

“Damn it! Shut, you fucking door. Shut!”

The doors didn’t move. I quickly removed my shirt and wrapped it around her shoulders, her blood soaking into the stark white fabric. She was shivering, so frightened.

“What happened to you?” I asked.

“Just get me out of here. Get me out of here!”

This time I began punching at the buttons. Move, damn it. Move!

Then footsteps.

“No!” She gasped. “No! They’re coming.”

“Who? Who’s coming?”

“They want to… They tried to…” She burst into sobs. “Please. Please get me out of here!”

Then a voice. “We know you’re around here somewhere, bitch. Don’t try to hide.”

I knew that voice.

That voice had been raised to me many times.

My father.

“Who are you?” I said. “What did he do to you?”

“Not he. They. They’re going to kill me. Please, get me out of here.”

“I’m trying.”

“It’s a game,” she said. “They’re playing a game.”

A game? My father? They? Who were the others?

“What kind of game?”

“A hunting game. And I’m the prey.”

My eyes shot open once more. “God, I remember now. I remember.”

“Take it slow, Mr. Wolfe. What do you remember?”

Get out of here! This has nothing to do with you! Go do your sissy art!

“My father. He came running through the dark hallway, and behind him was…” I gulped. “Our priest. Father Jim.”

53

Charlie

Roy’s eyes were circled with shadows when he emerged from Dr. Woolcott’s office.

“We need to get everyone together,” he said to me. “Now.”

I nodded. I didn’t even think of questioning him. His eyes were dead serious.

An hour later we were back in the conference room where we’d sat during the afternoon to get Lacey’s news about Zinnia.

I, along with Rock, Reid, and Lacey, heard Roy’s story for the first time.

“How could you have kept that inside for so long?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Roy said. “I buried it so deep, I guess. All this time, I knew there was something in there, something fucking with my mind, but I kept it buried, let it come out in my artwork. The only way I could deal with it.”

“Did our father do something to you?” Rock asked. “Something to make you forget?”

“I wouldn’t put it past him.” Reid stroked his chin.