Page 38 of Straightjacket

The voice rings in my ears like a brick to the head and I squeeze my eyes shut, forcing him out of my mind.

“I know about that little voice inside your head, Silas. He’s telling you not to listen to me, isn’t he?”

“No, no! You’re all lying.” I cry out, my mind being crushed under the weight of the options that lay before me. “My... my sister is dead. I know she is.”

A black haze covers my eyes and for the first time in a long time, I’m frightened of myself because I don’t know who to believe.

What if everything was a lie?

What if Sophia is alive, and I just imagined the whole thing, or the body that I saw wasn’t really her?

She’s dead, Silas. You have to listen to me, listen to yourself!

He’s right... I... I have to believe what I saw. There’s no other option.

“Prove it.” I say, urging him to come closer to me. “Prove to me that she’s alive and I’ll stay, as long as Iris is safe.”

A proud smile spreads across his face. “All in good time, my boy. You just have to seal the deal with me first, don’t you? Convince me that you’re willing to stay with me.”

He stands above me, nudging my knees further open to stand in between them, then he begins to unbuckle his belt. This time, I ain’t letting that happen.

Thorne will never touch me, or Iris ever again. Not as long as I’m breathing.

Just as the leather strap is out of the buckle, I jump out of the seat and wrap my arms around his neck, squeezing as tight as I can. His entire body shakes and he begins to claw at my arms, struggling to catch his next breath.

“Show me my fucking sister!” I yell into his ear, but I’m so consumed by the thoughts of her, alongside the weight of getting Iris out of here that I completely miss him grabbing the remote once again. Jolts of electricity fire through my veins, burning my nervous system to ash. He continues to send the shocks through me, but I don’t give up on the grip I have around his neck.

“If... if you kill me... you’ll never... find her.” He gasps out with his thumb firmly pressing down on the remote.

“That... doesn’t mean I can’t knock you... the fuck out.” I hiss through gritted teeth and continue squeezing his neck until he becomes limp in my arms, forcing the remote to fall out of his hand. It clatters to the floor, immediately stopping the electric current and I stumble backwards, dropping Thorne in the process. He lands in a slump on the floor whilst I grapple with the haziness that’s clouding my vision.

The entire room begins to spin, and I swear my heart is ready to explode out of my chest.

We gotta move, now!

“Yeah,” I blow out. “Just gimmie a second. I’m pretty sure my insides are frazzled.”

After a couple of seconds, the dizziness recedes and I lift my hand to assess the damage. Blood coats the entirety of my right hand and the skin around my wrist has been torn to pieces, the metal of the cuffs have shredded it to reveal the stark redness underneath. Even my finger is completely bent out of shape from where I had to snap the bone and pop the knuckle through the cuff. And now that the adrenaline is wearing off, I can feel every ounce of fucking pain that’s running through my body.

Exhaustion weighs heavily on my shoulders and I’m so desperate to rest, but time is running out. It won’t be long before Thorne gets back up and the guards swarm the place so I give my head a shake, shoving the tiredness away and grab the remote from the floor, then I hunt through his coat pockets in search of a keycard that Iris mentioned previously.

In his left pocket I find a plastic card with a picture of Thorne on the front and a barcode, in the other is a lone key with a single metal keyring on it. I have no fucking idea what it unlocks, but I’m taking it regardless.

What if this is where he’s keeping my sister?

Fuck no, I can’t let him get into my head like that. It’s already a fragile place and the last thing I need is for him to crack it wide open. Iris needs me to get us out of here, and I promised that I would.

Gripping the card and key in my decent hand, I jog over to the door and swipe the card over the lock. Immediately the light turns green and I slowly pull the door open to assess the hallway, finding it empty. It’s almost too empty but I have no time to second guess myself, I have to find Iris and get the fuck outta here, so I step into the hallway, keeping my steps silent as I walk towards another door. As soon as I reach it, I plaster my back to the door and peek through the glass, a loan guard roams the hallway with his head down, completely engrossed in his phone.

Rookie mistake on his part.

I wait until he’s done another lap of the hallway, then once his back is turned to me, I swipe the card and open the door, stepping quietly behind him until I’m breathing right down his neck.

“Watching porn on the job?” I quip and he spins, causing his phone to clatter to the floor then he attempts to grab his baton but I’m faster, and his reactions are far too slow to stop my fist from colliding with his face. Blood sprays from his nose and he stumbles backwards, cupping the fractured bone. He sways on his feet, and I quickly shove the key and card into the pocket of my jumpsuit before taking his jaw in my hands and spinning it, snapping the fragile bones in his neck. Tremors shake his body then he lands with a thud on the floor.

Fire courses through my hand but I quickly manage to brush it off, just enough for me to grab the handgun from his belt and check the magazine.

“Ten rounds.” I murmur to myself then shove the magazine back into the gun and I flick off the safety, a deadly concoction of determination and exhaustion coursing through my system as I walk the length of the hallway towards another door, completely unaware of what lies before me as I feel the warmth of my own blood seeping out from beneath the dressing that’s holding the gunshot wound together.