Page 83 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
“We really should get him some dog food or something.”
Wolf laughed hard.
“Good luck getting him to eat it. That dog thinks he’s a person. Jimmy fed him whatever he was eating every day from the time he was a pup. If you can get him to eat kibble, I’ll go buy a lottery ticket.”
Maeve laughed and flipped to the next picture. It was one from when Wolf was in the army. The picture was taken from pretty far away, but you could see everyone lined up in front of a tank. She lifted the photo to the next one, and her hand froze as she stared down at the close-up photo of four smiling faces.
Her heart rate picked up as a flash went through her mind, a memory that she couldn’t quite grab. Hands shaking, she dropped the rest of the pictures into the tin and held the image out to Wolf.
“Who…who is that?” Her voice shook, and Wolf searched her face.
“Walela, what’s wrong?” He sat the sandwich down and grabbed her wrists to hold them steady. “What is it?”
“Who is this?” He released one wrist, and she tapped on the photo of the man standing at the end. His black sunglasses hid his eyes, but she recognized him. She felt it in her core.
Wolf looked at the photo. “Well, you know the other three. That’s me, Jimmy, and Morry.”
“I know that but who is this,” she asked, her pulse spiking as pain bit behind her eyes.
“What’s going on, Maeve? You look like you’re about to faint?”
She looked at him with pleading eyes.
“Please just tell me who this is?” She looked at the photo again to be sure and then once more turned the picture for him to see as she pointed. “Who is this?”
Wolf looked her in the eyes and was visibly confused. “His name is Dean.”
Maeve couldn’t breathe. She tried to take a breath, but her heart was beating too quickly, and the room was spinning. She pushed away from the table and tried to stand, but Wolf was right there, wrapping his arms around her as she stumbled.
He scooped her up in his arms, walked over to the bedroom, and sat her down on the bed. “Put your head between your knees and try to take slow breaths.”
Wolf squatted down in front of her as she dropped her head between her legs. His hand ran circles on her back, soothing the panicked feeling in her chest and helping to calm her galloping pulse. She went to sit up, and if she didn’t know better, she would’ve sworn someone stabbed her in the temple.
“Ahhh.” Maeve grabbed her head as the pain exploded again behind her eyes, but this time it was accompanied by a memory.
“Isabella, wake up.”Someone was shaking her, but she was tired and wanted to sleep. The person kept shaking her, and she rolled over to see Mercurio. He was one of the only people nice to her since she arrived. “Come on. We need to go.”
He ran away from her, and she sat up to watch him grab her small purple bag and stuff her clothes into it.
“Where,” she asked and yawned.
“I don’t know.”
She made a face at Mercurio. He was acting weird. “But I’m tired, why now?”
He returned to the bed and held out a pair of pants and a sweater. “I don’t have time to explain, but we need to go. Please put these on.”
She stared at the clothes and then his face and sighed but got up and pulled the pants over her shorts and the sweater over her top. Mercurio scooped her up into his arms, and she wrapped her arm around his neck.
“I need you to be really quiet. Can you do that for me?” She nodded, not wanting to upset him. He was her only friend. “Good girl.”
He opened her door and looked out into the hall, and then they were running through the large hallways. She still didn’t know where they all went.
She suckedin a deep breath and could hear someone talking to her, but she was very disoriented. Her eyes opened, and she was staring at the ceiling. Wolf was holding her and talking to her in her ear.
“I’ve got you, Walela. You’re safe. Don’t fight the memories. Just let them come to you.”
“They hurt,” she managed to get out and then bit her lip as her mind attacked her with more of the same stabbing sensation. Just when she thought she was catching her breath and she could speak, her brain forced her to see more images that she’d buried deep.
