Duskwood: And Beyond

46. Richy

Oryn

I waited to hear from Anabelle but it had been hours since she left and there was still nothing. I tried my best not to think of horrible scenarios. The truth is after dealing with masked figures and weird stalkers, kidnapped and dead girls, it was almost impossible to not think of everything that could go wrong.

Oryn: Is everything ok?

I waited for a response but she did not text me back. I decided that it was time for me to leave this place. I got up from the hospital bed and changed my clothes to a pair of black jeans and a hoodie that Anabelle brought. It was stupid for me to be wearing a hospital robe anyway as I only got cut. I gathered my courage and made a plan to get out of the hospital.

To my luck, there was no one around to stop me. I sneaked out of the hospital.

Now what? I didn't really think about how to go back to Duskwood or how to find a ride. It was cold and I was standing alone in the parking lot. This was a stupid idea. I started to go through my contacts to see who would pick me up without giving me a lecture on how stupid this was.

"Oryn?" A familiar voice called out.

I froze. I couldn't turn back or respond. I just froze.

"I am so sorry."

I felt pain before everything became blurry. I heard a metal fall as did I. Someone caught me and started carrying me to a van. Then everything turned black.

---------------------------------------------

I opened my eyes slowly as the sunlight coming from the window was bothering my eyes. My head was pounding and the back of it was burning. I tried to touch it but it was wrapped up. I slowly got up and notice that I was shackled to the wall.

"Oh good. I thought I hit you too hard."

I turned towards to sound to see Richy sitting in the corner.

"You did." I spat. "Let me go, Richy."

"I will. I just need you to listen to me." He looked exhausted.

"I can listen to you without this." I jiggled the shackle.

"Please Oryn. I need to explain."

I gave up and reached for the water and sandwich next to me. I started eating after motioning him to go ahead.

"OK. You already know why I kidnapped Hannah and why I was the man without a face." He started. "And you can see that I survived the fire."

I nodded.

"Well, after I set the cave to fire I rushed to the back entrance. And I managed to find a way out. But I was exhausted and severely hurt. I don't know how I ended up at the hospital. They told me that someone found me next to the road."

"I mourned for you." I interrupted. "I still do. You hurt me so much Richy."

"I am so sorry. Please let me finish." He looked as if my words hurt him. That made me even angrier but I managed to hold it together and told him to continue.

"OK. So while I was at the hospital I pretended to not remember anything. The hospital, as you probably figured out, is far from Duskwood and the news doesn't travel there that fast. It's not like the one Dan stayed in. Anyway, I stayed there for three days when I decided to call Hannah. She came to see me immediately."

"Not the reaction I would give to someone who kidnapped me," I said under my breath.

"But that's the thing Oryn. I told you that I wanted to make myself the victim so I wouldn't be charged for Jennifer and Amy. Well, Hannah was in on that too. And it worked out for her. I told her that I wanted to turn myself in and let this be over. But she convinced me not to, she said that it would hurt everyone even more. That you all forgave me after my death. She rented the apartment that Anabelle and Jake went to. I stayed there but kept relocating between Hannah's house, the cabin, and the apartment. But I am so tired. I will turn myself in this time."

I had so many questions but now that he told me I didn't know what to say.

"And the flowers?" I asked. 

"Hannah wanted to give you a new big bad so you would stop looking for me. I agreed because I thought you would move on. You were the only one that visited Grimrock."

"So you knew. You knew how bad I was feeling. How much did you hurt me? And you just watched me look for you?" I started crying. "I really missed you, Richy. And what you did was awful but that didn't mean you had to die."

Richy was also holding back his tears. "I missed you too. All of you. I want to make this right. I can't keep living like this." He unlocked the shackles. "We should go to the police station."

"Well, first we have to deal with Hannah," I said. "Tell me what she did and how she is involved."