The Hidden - Jessica Verday [41]
“Not sure yet.”
Okay …
A nurse came to greet us as we got out of the car, and Uri went to speak to her. She shook her head, then ushered us into this weird little side building. It looked like a guesthouse or staff living quarters, because it was filled with half a dozen tidy little rooms.
“Looks like we’re going to have to meet him tomorrow,” Cacey leaned in to tell me as we walked down the hall. “Visiting hours are over.”
I was shown to one end of the building and given a small, colorless room filled with only a bed, a wash table, and a picture of the crucifixion. A frozen dinner was brought to me on a dingy silver tray fifteen minutes later.
Cacey came in when I was almost done eating (or rather, when I was almost done tentatively pushing my spoon through the gloppy mess) and told me that we were in for the night and she’d be back in the morning. Sternly, she warned me not to leave the house, that there were strict rules about who was allowed to wander the property and I didn’t want to be caught somewhere I shouldn’t be.
I just shrugged and quickly agreed. Like I wanted to go wander around an insane asylum at night? No, thanks.
The next morning, light filtered in through a small window cut high above my bed and woke me up. It was early, and I lay there for a while contemplating what it must have been like to live here all those years ago. When things like electroshock therapy and lobotomies were commonplace. Different rules, different medicines, different times.
What would they have done to someone like me? If someone had told them I thought I could see Caspian and Nikolas and Katy? Would I have been trapped here? Would I have ever gotten out?
The thought left me feeling grim, and my body was like lead as I got dressed. There was a small basin and a pitcher of water on a table nearby, and I washed my face and hands. A hot shower would have been nice, but all I really wanted was to just find whoever Cacey and Uri needed to see and get the hell out of there.
A knock came at my door, and I opened it to find Uri standing there. “Morning,” he said.
“Morning.”
“There’s breakfast in the dining room.”
“Okay.” I grabbed my bag. I didn’t want to come back here if I could help it. We walked silently down the hall, but I noticed that Cacey hadn’t joined us yet. “Where’s Cacey?”
“She snuck in the Coke cans last night and drank the rest of that twenty-four-pack. She’s not feeling too hot.”
I laughed. Then I felt bad. “I hope she’s okay.”
“She’ll be fine in a couple of hours. And then maybe she’ll listen to me next time.”
I shot him a look.
“Yeah, maybe not,” he said wryly.
I was actually kind of relieved that she wasn’t going to be with us. Without her around I might be able to get some answers. “So can I come with you, then?” I asked.
He hesitated. “I thought you might want to stay here with Cacey.”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I’d much rather go with you.” I didn’t want my enthusiasm to show too much, so I added, “This place really gives me the creeps.”
Uri laughed. “Where we’re going isn’t much better.”
I gave him my best puppy-dog eyes. “Pleeeeeeeeease?”
“All right. Fine.” He sighed heavily.
“Do you mind if we skip breakfast?” I asked as we got closer to the dining room. The smells wafting out of there were revolting. “I’m not hungry.”
“Fine by me. I hate hospital food.”
He pushed open a nearby side door, and we went outside. There was a golf cart with a driver sitting there, waiting for us. Uri sat down in the back and motioned for me to sit beside him.
We drove down a winding road and up a short hill before finally stopping in front of the middle building. The biggest one.
“Just stay with me, okay?” Uri said. “Nothing will happen, but better to be safe than sorry.”
I nodded solemnly and followed him in.
We were buzzed into an entryway by a nurse who was simultaneously doling out pills into empty cups and entering something into a computer. She came around to get us, and we trailed behind her, walking past peeling walls and poorly lit patient rooms with their doors open. Her thick rubber-soled