Mission: Insanity

Chapter 9: I've Been Going Crazy

Chapter 9

I woke up in the medical area, a space in the agency which I was basically an expert on now. I laughed and listed my new, updated list of symptoms under my breath.

"Restricted leg movement in my right leg, difficulty breathing, chest pains, irregular heartbeat, malnutrition, headaches, throat pains, broken arm, concussion (according to my bracelet, but I knew I had to be awake for them to do the tests and make it official), more lung damage, but this time from inhaling water, broken ribs from where Nathan did CPR, and my stitches were infected from the river water."

The door to my room, I know, I get a whole room now, stepping it up in the world of injuries, and Kyle walked in. "What were you thinking?"

"Excuse me?" I was confused.

"Why would you go up to the top of the waterfall by yourself?"

I held up a finger. "First of all, I wasn't by myself." I held up a second finger, but I accidentally held up another one and for a second I was holding up three in total, but then I caught myself and changed it to two. Kyle didn't miss that, though. "Second of all, did you seriously think I would jump? I felt someone push me."

Kyle took a deep breath. "Nathan explained to us what happened. He was coming back and watched you jump off the edge."

I was shocked. "No. No, I didn't. You can ask Maddie. She was there too."

It was Kyle's turn to be confused. "Who's Maddie?"

I laughed. "Seriously? You don't know my friends? I mean, she was almost invited to Elitist trials."

Kyle shook his head. "No, she wasn't. There isn't anyone here named Maddie." Then his eyes widened. "When did you start spending time with Maddie?"

I shrugged, then winced from the pain. "I guess we got really close after I was rescued. She always knew what I was thinking and what I needed to hear."

Kyle paced around the room with his hands on his head. "You've been hallucinating this entire time?"

Oh, God. It all added up. "I don't know," I said. "I can't tell."

"I need to tell your doctors," he said. "They have to know. This is huge."

"Kyle, please don't. Then they'll never let me do anything."

"Brookie, you were almost renewed as an Elitist. Do you have any idea what could happen if you were in the field on an Elitist mission and you started hallucinating again?"

"It doesn't make a difference if I hallucinate on any type of mission, or when I'm here. It's still bad," I replied. "It almost killed me today!"

Kyle took a deep breath again. "They told me not to tell you this, but I think you need to know. You subconsciously tried to kill yourself."

I laughed. "That's a joke, right? After everything I've been through, do you seriously think I would throw it all away by killing myself?"

"I don't even know what you've been doing! You haven't been telling any of us anything!"

"That's because you don't need to know! You will never know until I think it's time to fill you in!"

"What are you planning?" Kyle asked me in a serious tone.

"I'm going to stop them. At any cost."

"Stop who?" he asked, but I figured he already knew the answer.

"They're coming, Kyle. They know it's me. That's why the Elitist files couldn't be updated. They would see the truth. Realize I wasn't Chelsea, that Chelsea wasn't me. That the person they had all along was the one they were looking for. Ironic."

"How do you know they're coming?"

"Because I know them better than anyone. After all, I spent a long, long time with them."

"When are they coming?" he asked.

I shrugged, which hurt again. "Not sure exactly. Maybe today. Maybe not."

Kyle stood up from the seat which he had taken earlier. "Don't do anything stupid. Please, Brookie."

I smiled. "Of course."

He turned and left my room. After a few minutes, when I was sure he wasn't still outside talking to the doctors, I unclipped myself from all of my devices, grabbed my crutches and hobbled out of the medical area, grabbing the bag I had stashed in the lobby yesterday.

My plan wasn't complete yet. And the next step would be the hardest of them all for me.

Their mission was to get Brooke Key.  My mission was to make sure that didn't happen.