Addicted (M)

Chapter 7: Shadows Of The Past

Avery had barely slept. The storm that had passed through the city the night before had nothing on the tempest swirling inside her head. The conversation with Detective Calloway kept echoing in her mind, a constant hum beneath her thoughts as she tried to piece together the jigsaw puzzle that was Jadin Walker.

By morning, she felt like a different person—someone more aware of the precarious edge she was teetering on. She wasn't just a psychiatrist anymore. She was a detective, too. She had to be. But every time she tried to rationalize the situation, the more questions she had. And the more Jadin seemed to slip through her grasp.

Sitting in her office, the steady hum of the fluorescent lights overhead felt like a distant murmur, barely noticeable compared to the surge of her own nerves. She had already spent the morning digging through the psychiatric reports on Jadin's history, but it wasn't the therapy notes or the records of his violent outbursts that caught her attention today. No, it was something else—something unsettling.

The reports had alluded to an incident where Jadin had been near a power line during one of his violent episodes, something Avery had missed in her previous reading. But it wasn't just that. The more she went through the records, the more the electrical surges began to seem less like an anomaly and more like something calculated. Something intentional.

Her phone buzzed, pulling her from her thoughts. It was a text from Detective Calloway. "We need to meet again. Something's come up. Tonight. Same place."

Avery's breath hitched. The gnawing feeling in her gut flared. It wasn't just the surges, not anymore. There was something deeper, something connected to Jadin that neither she nor the detective could quite figure out.

That evening, the diner's neon buzz seemed louder, more oppressive, than the night before. The storm clouds from earlier in the day had rolled back in, casting an eerie gloom over everything. Avery stepped inside, her heels clicking sharply on the linoleum floor as she walked toward the same booth where Calloway had been waiting last time.

He was already there, slumped slightly in his seat, looking like he hadn't gotten much sleep either. His eyes were shadowed, but the moment she sat down, they locked on her, hard and urgent.

"I don't know what to make of this," he muttered, pushing a manila envelope across the table toward her.

Avery opened it, half-expecting more reports, more records. But this time, there was something different—crime scene photos. More of them. A series of images showing the room where Jadin's mother had died. The same scorch marks on the walls. But now, there was a new one—an image of Jadin standing over her body, a faint but distinct pulse of light flickering in the background.

"Those marks," Calloway said, his voice tight, "they don't make sense. The lab couldn't find any trace of electrical wiring that could've caused them. But here's what's odd: the light in the background of the photo isn't visible in any of the other crime scene shots."

Avery stared at the photo, a chill creeping down her spine. The light—was it related to the surges? Had it been present during the murder, or had it appeared after? Was it something Jadin had triggered?

Calloway noticed her hesitation. "Look, I'm not saying I believe the kid's innocent. But something about this doesn't sit right. And I need you to keep looking at him. He's not just a disturbed kid. He's a dangerous one."

Avery's stomach twisted. "So, you think he's capable of doing this... creating this kind of power? Just by being near someone?"

"I don't know," Calloway said, shaking his head. "But the patterns, Avery... they keep repeating themselves. The surges, the strange behavior, the deaths. It's like it follows him. And every time something like this happens, he's always there, standing in the middle of it, calm as can be."

Avery closed the folder, her mind reeling. "I need to see him again," she said suddenly, the words escaping before she could think them through. "I need to know if he's been hiding something from me."

Calloway's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you think you're going to find, but just be careful. If this kid has some kind of ability... you need to stay out of the way."

Her heart pounded in her chest, but she didn't answer him. She didn't need to.

Later that night, Avery found herself walking the sterile halls of the detention facility once again, a quiet dread settling over her. The lights flickered as she passed the holding cells, a faint hum echoing against the walls. The deeper she went, the more she felt the weight of the darkness pressing in on her.

When she reached Jadin's cell, she hesitated. Something was different. Something had shifted. Jadin stood at the back of his cell, his hands resting on the bars, his gaze fixed on the floor, as if he knew she was coming. She could feel the charge in the air before she even stepped inside.

She sat across from him, setting her notes down on the table between them. He didn't look up.

"Jadin," she started softly, "I need you to tell me the truth. About your mother. About what really happened."

For a long moment, he didn't respond. Then, finally, his eyes lifted to meet hers. There was something unsettlingly calm in them. But it wasn't just that. There was something else. Something that made her blood run cold.

"I've told you what I remember," he said, his voice almost a whisper. "But it's not about what happened. It's about what comes after."

Avery's heart skipped. "What do you mean?"

He leaned forward, his voice low, as if he were confessing something that was both forbidden and inevitable. "I told you that I didn't do it. But I didn't say I wasn't there."

Avery's breath caught in her throat as the air between them seemed to crackle, the faintest hum filling the space. Her hand shook as she reached for her notes.

"I've been wondering, Dr. Weaver," he continued, his gaze fixed on hers, "how long it would take before you noticed."

The electrical surge was faint at first, but Avery felt it—deep in her bones. The air around him seemed to shimmer. Something was happening. Something more than she could see.

Something that would change everything.