Fort Oakley | Part One

11 | The Order

15 February 2022 - Tuesday

The next morning, I woke up from a nightmare-filled sleep. The nightmares were similar to the ones I always had - masked figures staring down at me - but this time, these masked figures had been walking around me in a circle, repeating a chant in a foreign language.

Similar to what I saw in the ambulance yesterday. 

Common sense was telling me it was just because what I saw in the ambulance scared me, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to it than just a simple hallucination. 

 Over the course of the night, my mobility had somewhat returned, though I still felt a bit unsteady on my feet. When I woke up this morning to get some water, I narrowly avoided stumbling over my school bag, which had been placed next to the door to my studio.

I figured it must have been Jacey who had taken it along when he took me to the hospital and then brought it here for me. I assumed that he e gained access to Claire's house through the same window in my studio, just as the mysterious person had when returning my sketchbook.

I had decided to stay at home for the day after what happened yesterday, and I was listening to a new episode of Keep It Down, when I noticed the time on my phone.

Out of habit, my hand instinctively reaches for the pill bottles resting on my bedside table. As I close my fingers around the familiar antidepressant bottle, Jacey's word to Zelene at the hospital yesterday come rushing back to me.

Besides slowly poisoning me, the antidepressants had played a hand in surprising my memories. While Jacey hadn't revealed much, it was clear that Dr. Mallory and whoever else was after me did not want me remembering my childhood.

My head was brimming with questions for Jacey, yet his warning about the dangers of being seen together by the wrong people caused me to stay where I was, and wait for him to reach out when he felt it was safe.

It had occurred to me that each time Jacey and I had talked or interacted, it had been in the woods, where no one else would see us. The way he had avoided looking at me at the police station after the Lt. Cobbet situation had made sense; his father was there, and Diego Andino was clearly one of the wrong people he had been talking about. 

I grab the two pill bottles and make my way to the bathroom. While I wonder how Claire could have allowed Dr. Mallory to prescribe the pills to me, I pour the pills into the toilet bowl, watching as they vanish into the swirling water when I press the lever.

A sudden knock on the front door startles me, and I throw the emptied pill bottles into the trash. Descending the stairs slowly and with caution, I grip the banister for stability until I reach the front door.

Peering through the peephole, I see an unfamiliar man with tousled sandy-brown hair who keeps looking around discreetly as if he's trying to do something wrong. Keeping the door chain securely in place, I unlock the door and open it as wide as the little chain allows.

''Yes?'' I ask the man as his eyes land on me. A quick, enigmatic emotion dances across his face, and then he gives me a small smile.

''Charly Priace?'' My name is said as a formality, rather than question - this man already knows who I am, and he's only trying to look less suspicious.

It's not working.

''Who are you?'' I ask, scrutinizing him from head to toe. His outfit, consisting of jeans, a hoodie beneath a denim jacket and a pair of sneakers, would typical pass for a fashionable outfit, but it looked out of place on him.