Chapter 4 – Anna Escapes the Asylum
I held my head in my hands, trying to make sense of what happened. What I saw wasn’t possible. I knew that. At school, I was near the top of my Physics class. I knew that objects couldn’t just materialise out of thin air. Taking deep breaths steadied me. What I experienced was obviously a hallucination. It was hot in the office, and the window was closed. I was probably over excited, or dehydrated, or maybe the heat was too much for me. Kairo’s desk was a mess. It would have been easy to overlook the bouquet. Yes, that was it. The bouquet had been there all the time; I only noticed it during the phone call. That was logical. That made sense.
Cranking open the window cooled down the office. Out of boredom, I picked up one of the pages on Kai’s desk. A strange, spiralling language covered the paper. It looked completely alien to me. The other pages were similarly written on. Weird. I dropped into the chair, scowling as I realised that it was the type that could spin. That was just unfair. I eased open one of the desk drawers. A gun weighed down some more papers. Tentatively, I pulled it out, surprised by how heavy it was. I’d never held a weapon before, and it gave me a satisfying feeling of power. Feeling like a real spy, I held the gun with both hands and pointed it at the wall. I spun the chair around and pointed it at the opposite wall. That made me grin. Maybe this job wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Having fun?”
I dropped the gun in surprise, wincing as it crashed on the floor.
“You’re lucky the safety was on, or you would’ve blown your foot off. What are you doing at my desk anyway?”
“Nothing,” I retrieved the fallen gun and dropped it back in the drawer. “I thought you’d be gone longer.”
“I got what I needed quickly, so I didn’t see the point of staying longer. Did anyone call?”
“There was a woman who phoned, Anna she said her name was. She complained about some tulip emergency. I didn’t take it seriously, though. She sounded like she broke out of an asylum.”
“How did you know that my sister escaped from the hospital?”
“Your sister...What?”
I was glad to be sitting, because I was sure I would have fallen over otherwise.
“My sister, Anna...She was at Pleasant Ridge a few years ago, but she got herself out.”
My eyes widened with shock. Pleasant Ridge Mental Health Facility was where they kept really unbalanced individuals...The kind of individuals who would happily go to the mall with a machine gun for target practice. Psychopaths. It wasn’t your ordinary depression and drug rehab, but a real mad hospital.
“Oh goodness,” I whispered.
“So how did you know?”
There was an edge of anger to his voice. I couldn’t determine if it was because I called his sister crazy, or some other reason.
“I didn’t mean it literally...It was a lucky guess, I suppose. How was I supposed to know the psyc – How was I supposed to know that Anna was your sister?”
“You should have figured it out. I have a picture of us on my desk – the desk you’re currently sitting at.”
“Your desk’s a mess!” I retorted. “I don’t see any picture. And even if I could find this supposed picture, how was I supposed to connect it to the woman on the other end of the line?”
“You really are hopeless...” he muttered. “Just...Just stay at your own desk for the rest of the year, okay? I have to go see to Anna. Remember to answer the phones and -”
“Keep the door closed because of the troll. I got it, and that joke’s not funny,” I finished.
“What joke? Never mind. Just, stay at your desk.”
“Whatever.”
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The Raven Conspiracy
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