Walking the Gallows ✔️

Chapter 18

Andy POV
He woke with a start to the sound of clanging metal. It startled him awake in terror as the noise of it seemed similar to an explosion. He couldn't open his eyes yet. They were glued shut by fluids and his own tiredness. Lifting his hands to rub them, he felt the tight bond of some kind of restriction around his wrist. Based on all the other times he had been tied up recently, it hadn't been too surprising. However, his hands were chained to his side instead of together.

"You awake yet?" A voice said to him. He still couldn't open his eyes but recognized the person to be Courtney. He hummed in response, not wanting to disturb his vocal cords and other senses all at once. He was in a lot of pain and a headache that felt like a pounding gong stopped him from moving almost at all.

"If you don't mind, I have a few more questions to ask you." He groaned. Andy was sick of questions. He didn't want to answer anymore. They had taken over his life and ruined his ability to be unconfined. More than anything, he wanted to go home and never socialize again.

"Andy, we can do them here if you would like. I don't think we are allowed to move you anyways." He finally gave in and began to try talking back.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't you be allowed to move me?" He felt around his body for some sort of debilitating injury. Despite the sore head and minor pain to his arms, there was nothing to be concerned about. Even though his hands were tied, he assumed that it was just a precaution.

"Another doctor has been assigned to your case to assess your mental state." Slowly, his eyes opened, fighting against the moisture build-up that caused him not to do so. It revealed a woman who looked even more sickly than she had before. Her hair ungroomed and her eyes sunken in, he gasped but quickly recovered his composure. He also noticed the many papers and books that she clung to her chest.

"Why do I have to talk to someone else?" After so long of Andy speaking with Courtney, he didn't want some other psychiatrist. She was a lot more understanding than anyone he had come into contact with since being arrested. The last thing he needed was an entire repeat of all the things he spoke about with her just so he could tell it to someone else.

"Bri- I mean, the detective didn't feel I would be safe working with you anymore." He noticed her fingers were fidgeting. There was something she wasn't telling him.

"What? Why? When was this decided?"

"Well, yesterday when you..." She trailed off. He looked at her, finally seeing more clearly than he had all morning. His eyes were trained on her while waiting for a proper response. She looked up at him and frowned in confusion.

"Do you not remember what happened yesterday?" She asked.

He thought back, struggling. What had happened? He began to recall the meeting they had. She would turn on the giant soundbox and play different tapes. One of them... one of them was Charlotte.

It broke his heart to hear her talk about him like that. She had told him that being with him was not an "experiment" and that she had liked him. It was all lies. How long had she been planning to do this to him? What had he done to her to deserve that kind of betrayal? It hurt his heart to think he had slept with her.

"Charlotte made things up about me in a recorded interview," he said.

"O-okay, and?" She gestured to keep talking. Was there something that he was missing? He couldn't remember anything else. All of it was a blur.

"I don't know, I don't remember," he confessed.

Courtney took a moment to look at him in a way she never had before. It was indescribable. Somewhere between a mix of confusion and desperation. She looked up towards where the roof and the wall connected above him. He followed her gaze, staring at the white crease of the room. Nothing was there. There was only a slightly grey shadow. What was she looking at? Her eyes started to water.