The Arrival | The House of Voices #3

Twenty Three - Watch

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Darren:

“What the hell kind of game is your employer playing?”

Blinking, Darren pulled the phone away from his ear and squinted at the screen, not recognizing the number.

“Who is this?” He demanded into the mouthpiece.

“Dr. Lipnicki, of course,” The Warden replied, his tone clipped and annoyed. “Who else would it be?”

The Warden? Why was the Warden calling him about Dr. Larkson, Darren wondered. How did he even get his number?

“What happened?” he asked, ignoring the Warden’s question.

“She walked in here yesterday, claiming that she wanted to talk to the boy, and like a ruddy fool, I let her in. I walk into his room, not ten minutes later, to find her clawing at the boy, screaming for him to tell her where his girl is hiding. Had to throw her out.”

His girl. It was a strange choice of words, Darren thought.

“This happened yesterday?” The Warden made a grunting sound that Darren took to mean yes. “Why are you only informing me now, then?”

There was a pause.

“Listen, son. I have better things to do with my time than run after your nutjob boss. Like run this entire establishment. So I think the better question is why weren’t you keeping a better eye on her?”

Darren considered the Warden’s words. The man had a point, Darren should have been watching Dr. Larkson better, especially after that fit she’d thrown in her office the other night. But still… his condescending tone rubbed Darren the wrong way.

“Did she hurt him?”

“No, but the boy’s lucky I showed up when I did. She did a number on his face. He looks like he’s gotten in a fight with a cat.”

Darren sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “He didn’t tell her anything, did he? About where October is, I mean.”

“Of course not!” The Warden actually laughed at the question. “Kid looked like he was about to tear Pauline’s head off when she called his girl a bitch. Never seen anyone struggle so hard to stay calm before.”

As Darren tried not to fixate on the way The Warden had referred to October as Parish’s “girl”, the older man cleared his throat and continued, tone serious, “Look, Michelson, the reason I called you is because, as pissed as I am with the way Pauline is handling things, I’m also very concerned. Something’s not right with her, you hear me? Either the stress of this is getting to her or… I don’t know, but she’s starting to lose it.

“And you need to keep a careful eye on her, because if she does lose it, there’s no telling what she’ll do. Pauline is as powerful as she is relentless. You’d better hope she holds on to her sanity or we’ll all be in deep shit.”

He took a breath. “Anyway, I have to go see to some paperwork now. Listen to what I said and keep watch on Pauline. No more games, Michelson. This is serious now.”

And without so much as a “good day”, the line disconnected, and Darren was left to worry over just how much Larkson had slipped.