All that is dark | ✓

6| recklessness

"WHY ARE YOU ACTING like you have seven lives?"

Helene glanced up at Dante as he pulled her along through the hallways, having given up on protesting a while ago. He was persistent, she had to give him that. After scolding all the guards for minutes, he had grabbed her right before she could walk away and pulled her along. Now they were headed towards the doctor's office, Dante seeming to be fueled by the anger which always blazed in his eyes.

"I knew what I was doing," she said," I wouldn't have made progress with the guards around him."

"He's a serial killer," Dante said, voice filled with disbelief," what does progress matter if you're throwing yourself in a dangerous situation for it?"

"I appreciate your concern, I do," she said," but he's chained, Dante, what was he going to do?"

"The same thing he did to the guards a week ago," he replied," two were injured simply because they were within his reach for a fraction of a second. You knew that, it was in his file."

"I'm going to take care not to get within his reach then," she said, dodging his accusing gaze.

They stopped in front of the doctor's office and he let her go, his gaze burning. Patients had confessed murders to her and she hadn't even blinked, but here she was, not able to look a man she didn't even know that well in the eye, ashamed that someone was taking care of her. After inhaling softly she mustered the courage to lock gazes with him, something undecipherable in his as he watched her.

"You never asked why the other psychiatrists left."

She blinked, shaking her head. "I mean, I assumed it was just too much for them."

"But why would it be?" Dante said," weren't you curious? All the other ones asked, but you didn't."

"Okay, why did they leave?" Helene asked.

"Because Parker threatened their families," Dante said, leaning forward so their eyes were at the same level," he somehow knew their addresses, the names of their loved ones. In the last session, he started graphically describing his last murder, switching out the victim's name with the name of the psychiatrist's son, at the last minute. An accident, he said."

"So you already knew he had a spy," she said.

"Yeah," Dante said, the unwavering expression he always carried gone for a moment," but I didn't want to start accusing anyone. I'm still searching for the person on my own, because Nathan's purpose in revealing that information was most likely for us to start an investigation, which would only cause chaos. We were covering up the fact he had a spy by pretending he knew the information from letters from his fans. It isn't even a complete lie, with how many he gets."

He was silent for a moment then, as if trying to read her thoughts. "I was surprised at how quickly you caught on to the fact that he had a spy in here. Anyway, take this as a warning. I don't know why he's waited for so long, but he's going to threaten your family too, sooner or later."

"It's fine, Dante," she said, placing her hand on his cheek in a silent thank you for his worry," I won't leave."

"No one would blame you," he said quietly.

"I know," she said, pulling her hand back," but I don't have any loved ones, so there's nothing for me to lose."

She didn't wait for his answer, instead walking past him away from the doctor's office. To be honest, she hadn't meant to say anything, but somewhere along the years she had made peace with her loneliness. It had always been a better companion than any of her family members anyway. Sometimes when she closed her eyes she could still hear the screams echo off the walls, the cacophony of insults, the nails digging in her skin as she was told she should try harder, achieve more, be perfect -