22 | Rage

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━━━─── • ───━━━

Luna •

Searing pain went through Luna's body as her vision went dark. She couldn't breathe, or couldn't move, and her head kept spinning, threatening to shut down. 

This moment was worse than the time Chase took advantage of her. Or when she realized what a control freak he'd always been. Tiny cells in her body crawled around like they couldn't settle, and her body felt like it was tied to a log rolling over a campfire in circles, with no way to break free.

Her tears were of anger and fury — a fiery wrath of pain so potent that she could taste the bitterness in the back of her throat. The memory of what happened in her studio hit her like a bomb blew up. She despised Chase and hated him for what he'd done. She hated how he threw her into a hospital where she'd have to pretend to be better so she could exit this place. 

She couldn't connect to Amir or sense him anymore. She just wanted to see his face and tell him she was sorry for his current dilemma. She had never realized what Chase was truly capable of.

Lying flat, she heard movement on the other side of her and forced her eyes open, blinking roughly at the blinding light. 

She sighed, realizing Chase was still around. He was like a fungus, never leaving her side.

"Great. You finally woke up."

Luna turned her face up and calmed herself. 

A shudder of fear rippled through her veins as she listened to the sound of footsteps approaching the doorway.

"Hello, Mr. Marquette," the doctor said, shaking Chase's hand. "It's good to see Luna woke up. How are you feeling?"

"I haven't seen my daughter in days. How do you think I'm feeling?"

Dr. Kim gave her a look, then said, "You'll get to have a visit with her soon, but please, answer my question."

"My body is numb," she croaked.

"It's the medication flowing in your system." Dr. Kim motioned to the nurse to stand on the other side of her bed. "I had to run some tests on you."

Tests? What tests? 

"I would like to talk to you without any problems, Ms. Carlyle. My staff will release you, but you need to promise me that you won't do anything stupid." She nodded, lowering her gaze. "Do you see the camera in the corner behind me?"

She peeked over and wanted to vomit. She'd been monitored, probably for days, and there was no telling what they'd seen. Her plans to leave now were doomed.

"I'm Nurse Julia Smith," a brunette lady said, with her hand on Luna's left wrist. "I will loosen this side for you, and your hand will be free. Then I will walk around to the other side and release your right hand. If you don't make any sudden movements, I will continue and release your ankles."

"Luna," Chase uttered. "Please listen to them and cooperate."

"Why are you still here, Chase?" Luna barked. "We're over. I'm done with you."

"No need for any disturbances this morning," Dr. Kim said, glancing between both of them.

"Oh. It's morning. What day is it?" Luna asked, shifting her eyes to the doctor.

"Luna," Chase murmured. "It's best if you concentrate on getting better than worry about what day it is."

"It's Wednesday. The fifth," a voice said in the back of the room.

Faisal

Luna breathed a sigh of relief as her heart leaped when he showed up. 

"It's Wednesday?" Luna questioned, staring at all of them.

She busted out laughing when she saw their eyebrows raise and glance at one another like she said something strange.

"How did you know that?" Chase mumbled.

"Do you want to know? I'm psychic," Luna remarked, smirking.

Chase looked away, focusing on the doctor's file in his hand. 

"It doesn't matter how you know. Let's proceed." Dr. Kim was just as eager to chat with her as she was with him. "Now that your arms are released, I want to stay clear. We don't want to hurt you. Will you cooperate with me?"

"I will." 

"We don't want you to be more confused than you already are. That is not what this institute is about. It's forty miles North of New Orleans, and you may not like being institutionalized, but we do want you to feel comfortable. I want to understand what you've been through and are going through."

"You want me to relive some horrible memories I buried." 

The doctor's nose twitched. "It's not about that. I just want to know your psyche."

"I'm not sure how I can help you."

She looked over at Faisal as he had a flare shooting from his eyes.

As Dr. Kim tried to help Luna sit up, she flinched. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I was just trying to help you stand if you feel up to it."

Given that her limbs and entire body were weak, there was no way she was in any condition to refuse assistance. 

The doctor helped Luna with an arm and guided her up to her feet. She hadn't walked around in so long, and the narcotics in her system flowed rapidly. She clutched to the edge of her bed, keeping her breathing steady. 

"You're probably dizzy, but it should pass. You don't have to keep everything hooked up if you continue to cooperate," Dr. Kim offered.

Luna stayed mute.

Dr. Kim nodded to the nurse and motioned her to give Luna a cup with clear liquid in it. She drank it quickly, only to please them. The coolness of the water went down her throat smoothly.

"I would like to speak with you about why you're here." Dr. Kim placed her cup on the end table and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a notepad. "After that, I will show you to your new room."

"New room?"

"Yes, Luna. You have a room on the seventh floor that's reserved for you."

"You're acting like I will live here. I want to go back to my daughter."

"Well, Luna, I don't know of any other way of informing you of this, but you are here for at least a few weeks. Maybe longer." 

"Because of him?" She seethed through her teeth. "Get that snake out of here, and you can ask me anything you please."

"Now baby, you don't have to act like that," Chase replied.

"To hell I don't! You're punishing me. You're not the Chase I know! You are the spawn of Satan!"

"Luna, just take a deep breath. Getting upset won't do you any good." Dr. Kim was trying to play peacekeeper, but she didn't want anything to do with Chase anymore. He took advantage of her healthcare and her body.

"Mr. Marquette, if you could . . . " the doctor murmured to the nurse to usher him out of the room.  

"I don't want Chase to visit me, Dr. Kim. He is not allowed to, nor will he be allowed to see Sarah. Can you make that happen?"

"I can on him being a visitor here, but not for the request that has to do with your daughter. I can request a family court personnel to contact you, and then you two can go over whatever needs to be done."

Luna nodded. "All right."

"Now, why don't you tell me what you can remember before waking up here?"

Swallowing hard, she glanced at the window and tried to focus on happy moments, but that was nearly impossible. She hated the idea of being stuck in a place against her will.

"I remember little." 

"What do you remember?"

"I was heading home with Chase after leaving my studio and blacked out."

"Do you remember anything else?" 

She stared at him, at the white walls, then at the camera, remembering how she was monitored. "Was my answer not enough?"

Silence. 

"I guess I've been seen supposedly talking to myself. Is that what you want to hear, doctor?" 

He was quiet as if he couldn't confirm if that was what he needed to admit. She didn't know whether she should laugh or cry because when she gives him her new cover story, she was sure she'd go home. 

The nurse entered the room and came to Luna's side, taking her temperature, and examining her. "Your vitals look okay." 

"What's next?"

"I would like to know if you see people who aren't there," Dr. Kim replied. 

"Can I tell you something?" 

He nodded as she inched closer and laid her elbows down on her knees.

"That's why I am in here, right?" 

"One of the reasons. Yes."

Luna's brow furrowed. "One of the . . . reasons?"

Dr. Kim stayed quiet while she pondered what other reasons she was stuck in there. He was holding information back, and she was determined to find out what it was.

"Well, I wasn't talking to myself. Not like talking to a ghost or something. But I was doing something for me," she told him, hoping he'd buy this story she came up with.

"What was that?"

"Please don't laugh at me."

"Does it look like I would laugh?" 

Luna shook her head and proceeded.

"You know how we live around entertainment?" she asked, and he nodded. "I had signed up for an acting workshop. I wanted to try acting since a client of mine was an actor. I was simply getting ready to audition for an upcoming role."

"You're saying that you were practicing for an audition each time you were seen talking to yourself?" Dr. Kim contemplated, and she nodded. "Why wouldn't you tell Mr. Marquette?" 

"You don't have to keep everything so formal. You can call him Snake," Luna muttered.

"Ms. Carlyle, you seem highly upset about your fiancé signing you in here. Why is that?" 

"He had no right!" 

"Your fiancé claims that your late boyfriend," Dr. Kim gazed down at his notes and looked back at her, "Samuel Davidson is who you talk to. He passed away six years ago from an undisclosed health reason. Have you been seeing him?" 

"No," she said. "The last time I saw him was over two years ago. I was in a terrible place, and I got help." 

"Okay." 

"So I can leave now? You understand that this was all a misunderstanding?"

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy. Your family has agreed that it was in your best interest to keep you here. Chase is your proxy, and he is the only one who can release you." 

"You're the doctor! You can!"

Luna stood to her feet, rage surging inside her.

"Ms. Carlyle, please calm down." 

"I'm tired of everyone telling me to calm down!" 

"If you don't settle down, I'm afraid I must sedate you."

"What you're doing is illegal!" Luna shouted.

Faisal stepped forward and brought his hands out. "Luna, you need to calm down. This doctor has something on you and it's written in his notes. He's just not saying anything."

She glanced at Faisal and motioned for him to tell her what it was, but he shook his head.

"The notes are listed as 'classified' in a document that's not shown on his laptop," he explained, and then moved around to the back of the room. "I'm sorry. I can't exactly see them. Only Dr. Kim can."

"Why are you all doing this to me?" she demanded, reaching for a needle she saw in the corner of her eye.

"Because Luna," Dr. Kim said, rising to his feet and pressing a button on the wall to signal his staff to come into the room, "You have been seen on video footage talking to yourself."

"So that gives you the right to believe I'm delusional?"

"The needle between your fingers indicates that you have some internal emotions that need to be addressed."

"What I need is to see my baby! I don't need to be here!"

The hospital's staff rushed into the room as Luna's eyes swelled up in tears, the needle barely nipping at her skin.

Minutes after their stand-off, she felt a set of familiar hands touching hers and saw Amir standing next to her body, calming her down.

"Lower the needle," Amir breathed. "Faisal explained everything. Please, don't hurt yourself, Luna. I wouldn't be able to live with that."

She finally lowered her needle as Faisal guided him away, and her legs gave out from under her, folding like an accordion. The doctor called for backup, and she was tossed onto her bed and given a sedative. 

Before she faded away into the dark trenches of her mind, she connected to Amir and stared at him through his doorway as he was tossing clothes into a suitcase.

"Amir. Just stop. Get ahold of yourself," Faisal pleaded.

"Why, Faisal? You saw what's happening. You're okay with letting them treat her like that? Like some animal in a zoo?"

"Of course, I don't. But we need to think logically," he urged him.  

"Cassie, I know that," Amir murmured, turning to his left. 

No one turned to Luna and noticed that she was standing there, observing them. When she tried to speak, Faisal spoke first.

"I just know that running to America to break her out will do more harm than good. We need to come up with a strategy," he told Amir, standing in front of him.

"What Cassie said might work. It's risky," Amir said, pacing.

What did she suggest?

"I agree," Faisal replied. "You could go in as a volunteer and find Luna. Actually, either of us can do that." 

"We have to act fast. That piss poor excuse of a doctor has something on my girl, and he's using it to his advantage. The next thing we know he'd do something worse to her, and so help me God he hurts her. That'll be his last mistake," Amir said, balling his fists at his sides.

"We'll figure out something. But you know you can't go into the same room as her," Faisal reminded him.

"I know that, but I can't let my partner stay in a place she doesn't want to be."

Amir walked to the other side of his room and pulled up the hospital's website on his MAC. Faisal glanced toward the wall and caught Luna.

"How long have you been here?"

"Not long." She peeked over at Amir as he was clicking through different pages on the computer. "You have to stop him. He is running on adrenaline right now." 

"I'll try to hold him back as long as I can." 

"Amir can't come here. You saw what I did. I didn't want to threaten my safety like that, but the doctor left me no choice."

"I know, but Chase and the staff is making things worse."

She nodded, glancing at Amir. "I have to be careful. There are monitors in my room."

Faisal and Luna then appeared beside her bed and gazed at her heavily sedated body. "Somehow I could still connect to both of you, but he isn't able to see me. Probably because of the sedative. I can't tell you how it felt to feel his hand brush up against my skin like that." 

"When we were back in his room, he fell to his knees and said that touching you was like touching his soul. He was relieved." 

"There's something I need you to do," she said, her lips quivering. 

"What?"

"I have to let my partner go in order to get my shit together and be released. I will have to block him out, so he doesn't feel anything." 

"Luna, you don't have to do that."

She sniffed. "I have to show them I'm okay." 

"You don't like the idea of Amir posing as a volunteer?" 

"It's not a bad idea, but I caused more problems. Who knows what they'll do to me next? I could get experimented or more medicine given to me. It's happened before in other hospitals because Chase ordered them. Amir shouldn't be affected."

"You won't block me out, right?"

Luna narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "What happens to me doesn't affect you, so I wouldn't do that, Faisal." 

"All right."

"Whatever they're giving me is strong. And that's why I believe he had slept more than normal."

Faisal scrunched his brows and asked, "What do you mean?"

"I used to connect with Amir more often, but since being admitted to this facility, I've noticed changes. Something inside the medication is preventing me from doing certain things I used to do."

"Hey. We'll do whatever it takes to get you out of here. Okay?"

Luna nodded and exhaled a breath.

"Keep Amir busy and make sure he doesn't do anything crazy. Tell him I'm only doing this for his safety. I can take the pain coming my way, but I can't take the pain when it affects my companion. Once things are better, I will open our connection. I don't want him to suffer." 

"I swear, that acting excuse you gave should have worked. You could win an Oscar with that speech," Faisal said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

"Some people are dumb. Or there is another reason I'm stuck in this hospital. For that reason, I will find out." 

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