34 | Phantom

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━━━─── • ───━━━

Luna •

A shriek escaped Luna's mouth, a prickling sensation creeping along her spinal cord like pins and needles. 

By now, she was used to the true taste of trauma each time the nurse took off the halo device from her forehead. The staff believed that was the only way to stop the delusions she had.

She had one illusion of Sam, but she knew she had to stay strong and not say anything about it. It was a blip and wouldn't happen again.

Or she hoped.

Her heart raced faster and faster like a runaway train each time a staff member came near her body. She didn't know how long she'd been on the Orange floor, but she was sure two days had passed. She'd woken up in a treatment room, frightened.

She tried to connect to Cami, but that didn't work. She tried Faisal and couldn't get through. The only soul left was Amir, and he felt distant and away from her. She closed him out after that, so he wouldn't feel everything the staff was doing to her. She didn't want him to experience the same agony she faced hourly.

Catching a glance at the window, Luna saw it was daytime and heard light sprinkles hitting the glass. She missed the outside and what it felt like to step on the grass. It was a privilege to enjoy those moments.

Lying still and reminiscing about the old days, she'd closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

When Luna heard something fall, her eyes sprung open, and she saw sunlight peeking over the closed shade.

Sergeant Decker yelled for a nurse to come to wipe Luna's face. Sweat dripped down her sides, gathering in batches on the floor. As they helped her up, the sergeant led her toward the door while the nurse stayed on her other side, holding her up. Nausea settled in her stomach, afraid of the unknown, afraid of her next transfer.

"Where are you taking me?" 

"Dr. Kim has a few things to discuss with you," Sergeant Decker said.

The sergeant placed his forefinger against a medium-sized security pad, and the light flipped from yellow to green. Mechanical clicks sounded, and Luna held her breath as the door slid open. 

The room inside was lit by a dim light bulb above a large clear glass along the side. Only one small chair and a table sat in the middle of the room, with a screen holstered on the wall. 

"What's going on?" she asked, gazing at the people in the room; Sergeant Decker, Nurse Smith, two guards, Dr. Kim, and a housekeeper.

"I have something I want you to see, Luna," Dr. Kim said, then turned on the monitor for them. "Something I hope will shed some light on why you're in this facility." 

"There's nothing you can show me that will make me understand why I'm given these treatments. You can try, but I've seen just enough to continue hating what is being done here." 

"As I have explained before, we must make sure you and anyone else inside are stable enough to go into the outside world. That is the purpose of these treatments. What you are about to witness may give you the answers to questions you have." 

"What's on the other side of the glass?"

"Answers," the nurse chimed in. 

Did she really have to answer for Dr. Kim?

Luna snorted, causing a slight ache to hit her forehead. "Then you have a room full of people doing strange things and want me to see them in action?" 

Dr. Kim gave Luna a cold stare as he reached over to flip a switch on the wall. Sudden light burst from the other side of the mirror, like in a police station. But the room wasn't empty. 

Her heartbeat acceded in her chest as she stepped closer to the glass. "What the . . ."

There was a man on the other side lying on a bed with his back against the wall, holding the air. An IV pumping whatever medicine into his body was attached to his left arm, ensuring him he'd stay put and had no way to jump out of the window above him. The window had bars around it, but that wasn't what concerned Luna. 

The man was talking to himself and appeared like he was kissing the air. Somehow, Luna could sense who he was.

He's a Tethered Soul.

His smile and his soul gave him away, and so did the way he held out his hands. Luna couldn't see who he was holding, but the way he looked reminded her of how Amir would gaze into her eyes like he was in a parallel universe.

"Can . . . can he see us over here staring at him?" Luna asked Dr. Kim. 

It seemed like the man probably could if he turned his head in their direction, but he hadn't. The man stayed in his little world with another person who was a Tethered Soul.

"No." Dr. Kim moved forward, leaning against the edge of the glass. A small intercom box was close to his arm, in case he needed to chat with the patient. 

The discomfort was clear in the man's youthful face. Veins bulged along his forehead and around his neck as his chest rose up and down. "I don't know when I'll get out of here," the man whispered into the air. 

Luna turned to look at Dr. Kim and said in a quiet, hushed tone, "Who's he talking to?"

He shrugged. "We don't know. He is one of many patients who does that in this hospital. Talk to the air. No one around them."

The man continued to sob and tremble, looking like he was in anguish. 

"He's hurting. Why are you doing this?" 

"The medicine that is pumping through his veins is a pain killer. He has a wire attached to him under his clothes that shocks him. Every time he is in this state of mind, we flip a switch to shock his body, and then he goes back to being sane again," Dr. Kim explained. 

Luna gave Dr. Kim a pissed-off expression and had a fantasy of shocking him in the same method. To her, he deserved it. Everything about this was unethical.

Dr. Kim flipped on the intercom switch and stared back at the man. "Hello, Robert." 

The man's lips trembled harder, and he scooted himself upward. "I was just dreaming, Doctor." 

"This has been going on for many years." Dr. Kim shook his head and glanced at Luna. "He prefers to continue trying to hide whatever it is that's going on inside his mind. As you already know, no one can keep up their charade like this." 

"Who's in there with you?" Robert asked, his gaze following along the glass wall. "Is it another patient? Do they appear as psychotic as I do?"

Luna gasped loudly and earned a snort from Sergeant Decker behind her, who was still beside the door. It wasn't what the man asked, but the meaning behind his words. They weren't psychotic or mental, but the facility made Robert feel that way, and that was a sad feeling. 

"Robert shows signs of hallucinations and visions of people who aren't there," the doctor murmured. "He once showed improvement for a while. We monitored him and another group, who all seemed to share the same delusions. They had planned to bust out of here and blow this facility up, endangering many lives and causing chaos."

"Just your life, doc. Yours and anyone else who had a part in my time here. The ones who caused harm against me in every way possible," Robert said, interrupting Dr. Kim's speech. "We would've found you and tied you up the same way as you did us. Then we would've gotten some of those narcotics and injected you with them."

"But you haven't. You'll never have that chance." Dr. Kim grinned like he was proud to talk down to him. "Robert was the only one we cared about bringing to this floor. This is the isolation area, and he can't see his group of terrorists, as we classified them for Orange Security." 

Robert laughed harshly. "You think you have prevented the plans to capture you, but you have prevented nothing, you simpleminded loon. We are everywhere, and we will be successful. You might as well dig up your own grave." 

Dr. Kim turned the switch off, gazing down at his watch. "I have heard this threat more times than I can count." Turning toward Luna, he tilted his head to the side. "This is what the world is dealing with. The person in that room wants to harm people, specifically me."

"He might just be acting out," she commented. "Sometimes people do that. Even me."

Ignoring her remark, Dr. Kim continued. "There are many who are like him who see people who aren't there. And therefore we are doing what we need to." 

Staying quiet, Luna glanced back at the man in the room and pondered what must be going on in his head. The intercom was off, but Robert's lips were still moving with his eyes gazing directly at where she was standing. 

"Do you understand now?" Dr. Kim asked, drawing her attention back to him. 

"No. Because you shouldn't judge what he expresses. We have the freedom of speech, and no matter how he feels, he is still a human being. These treatments are unethical."

"You're right," Dr. Kim said, quietly. "But we also have certain protocols in place. People like this patient are wild ones, and we must keep a close eye on them." 

After Dr. Kim was done, Luna was brought back into her room and laid down. Minutes turned into hours, and hours turned into days. Now she understood why Cami said it was hard to keep track of time in Orange Security. Everything blended, and she couldn't remember the last time she saw daylight or the night sky, or even when it rained outside.

In there, she was given her meals every five to six hours, and the only way she knew twelve hours had passed was when Dr. Kim would send a staff member down to collect her for lab work.

She had lost a few things since being on this floor. Weight. The ability to feel happy and smile. Laughter. Tears. And telepathy. Her telepathic ability was no longer within reach. 

The only thing that restrained her anger was thinking about Sarah. She missed her so much and thanked God for Liberty and Vikram for stepping up to watch her. Their parents didn't give a damn about Luna being in there. They think she had brought it on herself since she refused to take prescription medication. Updates from Dr. Kim were all they believed.

Luna's breath hitched when the doorknob turned and Sergeant Decker came inside, then closed it. "You're awake. That's good. You've missed a few routine meals and medications."

"Why is that?" Luna asked, her throat stinging a little as she winced.

"You've been asleep for almost six hours." 

She brought her eyes back to the ceiling and lay there, thinking. If they wanted her up to take her medication, then why didn't they taser her again? Sergeant Decker hadn't always come to her room. Neither was her usual nurse. She hadn't seen Nurse Smith in a long time and she hoped she was fired for stealing something. But that was a long shot.

Sergeant Decker brought his hand forward with a small cup of pills in it, and a cup of water. "Normally, a nurse will administer your medication, but I was instructed to do so. It's only an Advil and a relaxer to help with any weariness in your body." 

"I don't need them." 

"Them being the medicine I just brought?" he asked, eyeing her. "They will help you." 

"Shouldn't I eat something first?" she inquired.

"I have some crackers from the lounge I could get for you," he answered. "I'm sure you're probably hungry."

"If I hadn't eaten in a long time, I should say so."

"Well, drink the water and I'll get you something to eat in a moment."

"Thank you, I guess." 

Several minutes of silence passed as she stared at his brown-and-green camouflaged shoulder, searching for something to say. She wanted to ask about the date, but he probably wouldn't answer her. After not coming up with anything, one question did come to her mind. 

"If I asked you something, would you answer it?" 

"It's best if you don't talk right now. Dr. Kim will be in shortly." He kicked his leg up over his other and then leaned back in a chair near the door. 

"Are there people like Robert here? People who want to cause harm to others as he threatened?"

"Are there more stable people in the world or bad ones who are like the patient you saw who isn't stable, Ms. Carlyle?" 

"I think there are people in this facility that shouldn't be in here in the first place," she said, sitting up straighter. 

"Because everyone who is here is all sane, right? They won't roam the country and the world to cause harm to others?" he asked, and Luna stilled and shook her head. "Would you risk those kinds of people approaching your daughter or any of your family members?" 

"No. But I know for a fact that there are a few people who don't deserve to be in a psych hospital." 

"There are mentally ill people in the world, Luna, who aren't able to take control of their emotions. You haven't seen the things that I've witnessed. People see phantoms in their minds. Ghosts. Watching patients here talk amongst themselves as if someone's in the same room with them doesn't seem a little off to you? You've done it, right?" 

She didn't have a chance to respond when the door sprung open with Dr. Kim gradually waltzing in, a laptop in his hands. But what surprised her the most was seeing the person who strolled in after him. 

Her heart stopped, and everything around her came to a halt.

When the man walked forward, the back of her throat and her eyes began to burn. Only at the last possible second, Luna caught herself from tipping over on her bed as she viewed the face of the person who was right in front of her body.

Amir.

And he was no phantom.

It was truly him.

━━━─── • ───━━━


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