Veneration of Dreams // Ransom Drysdale

ten // run

Ransom grabbed Katarina's hand as she hurried outside, holding her in place until she stopped struggling and turned to face him, her eyes lit with fury. What she had heard challenged everything she thought she knew about her father and erased every shred of trust she placed in Ransom to do the right thing. For some time, she had really started to believe that if he knew the truth, if he knew anything at all, he would tell her but that was never going to happen. A part of her wanted to run from her own embarrassment but mostly, she just wanted to scream.

"I moved to Whitegate because he died there, Ransom. He was performing a psych eval on one of the criminals when his heart just...stopped. The autopsy confirmed it was a heart attack but I knew him, I knew what he was like and it didn't make any sense. I didn't believe it, even back then. They never offered to let me see the body and I was so afraid of the truth I didn't ask. It was only after I started working there that I realised how strange it all was. I managed to find the phone logs and it turns out they never called an ambulance either. Not on a campus phone. Maybe one of the guards used a private radio but it didn't seem right, Ransom. It wasn't right-"

"Kat."

"But you know the truth, don't you? You know what happened in that room and you kept it to yourself so you could have something to hold over me. What were you afraid would happen, that I'd turn you in when I found out, that I'd leave you to rot?"

Ransom stepped forward, eager to close the distance between them now that he could see her facade cracking.

"I don't know what happened in that room, Kat." He said, his words measured and slow but sounding hollow to her ears.

"Yes, you do!"

"Kat," Ransom started again, gripping her by the shoulders when she turned away, "I knew your father, okay, I did but I have no idea what happened to him."

"Tell me," Katarina replied quickly, raising her head to meet his eyes.

Ransom dropped his hands, coming to terms with his own offer. He had hoped he wouldn't have to tell her from the moment he realised who she was but as usual, he found himself without another choice. Not if he wanted her to stay, and he did.

"Maybe we should sit down," He began and Katarina scoffed.

"I'm not going to faint, Ransom, tell me!"

"Yeah, it was me I was worried about," He said beneath his breath but the mood remained solemn. Taking a breath, he crossed his arms and looked to the door as if seeing his mother walk in with a dozen officers would be a greater alternative to their conversation.

"I met him in rehab," He continued when no such event occured, "He was my therapist. I was at the lowest point in my life, Kat, lower than this if you'll believe it. Your dad and I had a few private sessions. No more than three and he ruined the next six months of my life."

"I don't understand..."

"Drugs," Ransom said, the back of his throat feeling dry, "I don't know what was in the 'medication' he gave me but I knew it wasn't legal and...I took it. I paid for it, again and again. He never forced me, Kat, it was my choice but he sure as hell didn't give me the first 'pill' by accident. I was in rehab for a reason. I needed to recover around people I could trust and your father manipulated me for a profit; that's why I didn't want to tell you. I didn't want to ruin the perfect image of him you have in your head even though the thought of it makes me sick."

"Then why didn't you turn him in? If you hated him so much and you're telling the truth, why didn't you turn him in? It doesn't make any sense." Katarina said, vying for a reason not to believe him although the puzzle was beginning to click into place. Her father's absences, his secrecy about his work, his paranoia...It made more sense than she cared to admit. Still, after everything Ransom had done she didn't, she couldn't, put it past him to lie.