Sisters of Misery (26 page)

NEED

T
hey sped along the winding road carved through the passage of trees to Ravenswood Asylum. Out of the corner of her eye, Maddie detected movement in the darkness, but told herself it was only the shiver of low-hanging tree branches. She scanned the asylum grounds for any sign of life as her mother spoke in slow, even tones.

“They called her Houdini, she escaped so much,” her mother said wryly. “She resented me for putting her into Ravenswood. Thought her time would be better spent out looking for Cordelia.” Her mother laughed a dry, tinny laugh. “Rebecca quickly discovered the tunnel system beneath the hospital. That’s when she started paying us visits, always at night. She hid in the basement.”

Maddie tried to imagine Rebecca, the stranger she’d visited briefly at Ravenswood, a shell of her former self, returning to Mariner’s Way again and again. But she seemed so far gone mentally, and so frail, that Maddie couldn’t imagine her having the strength to actually go through with it.

Maddie looked at her mother in the glow of the pale moonlight. Her face, usually angular and stiff, looked softer, almost remorseful.

“But why would she do these things to you, Mom? Why blame you? If she wanted to blame anyone, she’d blame Kate and all the rest of the girls from the Academy. They were the ones who made Cordelia’s life hell. Or me, for that matter, for not sticking up for her when I had the chance.”

“I don’t know. You’d think that she’d go after the bastard who got her pregnant. Your new best friend there. Reed Campbell.”

“What are you talking about?” Maddie pulled the car to a stop in front of the monstrous building. “Reed had nothing to do with Cordelia’s disappearance. They were never involved. End of story,” she said furiously, slamming the car door.

“Then why did he give her money for an abortion?” Abigail’s voice was muffled behind the car window as Maddie walked over to the weed-covered stairs of concrete.

Spinning back to face the car, Maddie blurted out, “How could you possibly know that?”

Abigail thrust her jaw to the side as if she realized she’d gone too far.

“I have my ways,” she said firmly as she got out of the car.

Just as Maddie was about to grill her for her sources of information, a woman’s scream pierced the silence.

Maddie pivoted, trying to see where the sound came from. Shadows danced along the boarded up doors and windows. There had to be a way inside.

“Mother, you stay here. I’m going to find a way in. Get back into the car and wait for Finn. If he shows up, tell him to try to find me in there.”

“I don’t want to stay out here by myself. I’ll come with you.”

“No, Mother,” she instructed. “I’m sorry, but you’ll just slow me down. I need to find Rebecca before she does anything to hurt herself. I owe at least that much to Cordelia.”

Thrusting her cell phone into her mother’s hands, Maddie turned toward the vacant building. Maddie had to find Rebecca before she did something to hurt herself. She wasn’t the same woman who had moved back to Hawthorne months ago. Her aunt had been drastically psychologically altered. And in this huge monster of a hospital, anything was possible.

“If I don’t come out in twenty minutes or so or if you hear or see anything unusual, call the police,” she ordered. As Abigail started to object, Maddie said, “Listen, I don’t know what reasons you have for not wanting to get the police involved. But right now, I really don’t care. You will do as I say, understand?”

Abigail nodded meekly for the first time ever.

Maddie turned on her flashlight and circled around the perimeter of the building, trying to find a way in. In the moonlight, Maddie could see tattered window shades blowing in and out of broken windows like ghosts. It looked like the monstrous building was breathing. As she crept around the building, the first thing Maddie came upon was the faces of the Pickering sisters and Cordelia carved into the wall. They took on an unearthly glow when her flashlight illuminated their hollow eyes and cavernous grins, as if they were daring her to enter, daring her to join them.

Maddie stumbled her way around the building. Guided by instinct, she groped the walls as brick and mortar came loose in her hands. She smelled dank, mossy decay mixed with something more pungent.

She fell to her knees when she noticed a loose board covering a basement window. Maddie pulled at the board, cursing as splinters wedged their way under her fingernails. Finally, she pried the board loose and kicked the glass out of the window. Yanking off her jacket, she placed it along the bottom of the window, hoping that it would protect her from any remaining shards of glass. Maddie then lowered herself down, trying to ignore the scurrying sounds. Clinging to the flashlight, she dropped down to the cement floor. Once on level ground, she directed the flashlight’s beam around the room and tried to get her bearings. The subterranean room was freezing.

This had to be the creepiest thing she’d ever done in her life. There she was—someone who couldn’t even watch a moderately scary film—right in the middle of a real-life horror movie.

Maddie had to mentally bark orders at herself to stay motivated and not crumble with fear.
One foot in front of the other…just move forward…push on…keep moving…you can’t stop now…

She was in some type of medical storage room with metal gurneys haphazardly lined up next to each other. Maddie knocked into one, and the cool metal clanged, announcing her entrance, as it slid into the others. Maddie tried to hold the flashlight steady to find the door. Running her hands across some metal file cabinets that lined the walls, Maddie edged her way across the dank room. It wasn’t until she saw one of the drawers fully open that Maddie realized where she was; her stomach began involuntarily heaving when she realized that she hadn’t been clinging to file cabinets after all.

Maddie was in the asylum’s morgue. She charged for the door, which was, mercifully, unlocked.

Don’t lose it, Maddie. You can’t freak out now. Keep it together.

Who knew what was waiting for her? Maddie simply wanted to find Rebecca and be done with this place, this family, and this town once and for all. With every step deeper into the asylum, Maddie wondered if she would live to regret coming here, as she regretted going to Misery Island on Halloween night, for the rest of her life.

Here she was in the middle of the night in a deserted insane asylum looking for a woman with a death wish.
And who said that small towns were boring?
Maddie thought as she brushed cobwebs and God knows what else from her clothing.

Maddie crept through the tunnel, searching for a door or a staircase, anything that led up to the main level of the building. She desperately hoped that her terrible sense of direction wasn’t leading her away from the main building, off into one of the many corridors that stretched out away from the heart of the hospital like a spider’s web.

Echoes reached down to her from above. Maddie heard heavy footsteps just above her head. Was that Rebecca? And then, silence.

Maddie raced ahead blindly, praying for a staircase, a ladder, an elevator shaft, anything that would help her climb up out of the depths of this evil place.

As she finally reached a staircase that led up to the main floor, Maddie began to wonder what would bring Rebecca back again and again to their basement.

What happened in that basement?

Maddie could only think of one logical reason for her aunt to return: Cordelia.

WARNING

M
addie ran up the stairs, desperate to find where the footsteps were coming from. Reaching the top of the staircase, she slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open, stepping into the hallway right off the admittance area. There was a shuffling sound to her right. Creeping across the room, Maddie headed in the direction of the footsteps, stepping gingerly, not wanting to startle Rebecca.

Who am I kidding?
Maddie asked herself.
Rebecca knows I’m here. She planned this. She knows this place better than I ever could. She wants me to pay for whatever happened to Cordelia.

Maddie heard different, heavier steps—slow, steady, methodical—heading in her direction. Maddie prayed it was Finn, but she didn’t want to take any chances. She sucked her breath in, squeezing her body against the damp, mildewed wall, wishing for invisibility. It would be one thing if it was daytime, and she could at least see her surroundings. Suddenly, everything quieted down. The footsteps were gone. She tried to quiet the sound of her own breathing, but was convinced that the sound of her heart was loud enough to fill the entire room with pounding, unrelenting noise. A hand reached out and covered her mouth. Maddie swallowed her scream and bit down hard on the hand, pulling away with every ounce of strength left in her body.

“Jesus!” Finn yelped, shaking his hand wildly. “What the hell did you do that for?”

“Oh, my God, Finn,” Maddie yelled, adrenaline pumping in her chest, her body shaking. “What are you doing? Why did you cover my mouth?”

“Well, I didn’t want you to yell and attract any attention to us. But I guess we need to move on to Plan B. Come on, let’s head up this way. I heard some footsteps right before you decided to make a meal outta my hand.”

Maddie obediently fell into step behind Finn, feeling a little more secure. At least she had company.

“Thanks for coming,” she said sheepishly.

“Now, tell me what’s going on. Why didn’t you go to the police?” Finn whispered as they crept through the corridor.

“My mother didn’t want us to go to the police. Not yet. I guess she was afraid that we’d get Rebecca in trouble,” Maddie said weakly. She was making excuses for Abigail, though she didn’t really understand her mother’s reasoning. “Besides, everyone’s looking for her over at Fairview. This was just a hunch.”

“So you drag me out of bed in the middle of the night to go on a wild goose chase in the creepiest place on the planet, all because of a hunch?” He reached behind and grasped her hand, pulling her forward in order to speed her along.

“I don’t really know. My mother isn’t one for airing our family’s dirty laundry. She probably was afraid that it would get around town and embarrass her.”

“So she’d rather read ‘Teenagers Arrested for Breaking and Entering Ravenswood’ in the paper tomorrow?” Finn offered sarcastically.

“Well, if you had gotten here earlier, it wouldn’t have been breaking and entering. It would have been entering with a key. That’s not a crime.”

“This is definitely out of my jurisdiction right now. I could get into all kinds of shit for doing this. You’d better be right about your aunt being here.”

“I am, Finn,” Maddie said, her voice quivering. “I have to be. If I’m wrong…I…I don’t know where else to look.”

Finn stopped and turned, unexpectedly pulling her into his chest. He smelled of laundry soap and cedar, not at all what she had expected.

“We’ll find her,” Finn whispered. “I won’t let you lose any more of your family, I promise.”

Then, as if on cue, a woman’s wail echoed off in the distance.

“Let’s go,” Maddie said.

They raced down the hallway, carefully avoiding the stray wheelchairs and piles of loose plaster and debris that cluttered the floor. They were in a part of the hospital that had been shut down over a decade ago, and it was already in a severe state of deterioration. Passing from room to room felt like being in a neverending maze in a rundown funhouse. Still in the distance, Rebecca’s cries propelled them further and further into the core of Ravenswood. “I don’t know why she’s doing this,” Maddie said, gulping down air as they ran, the muscles in her legs burning. Finn confidently navigated them through the long corridors, never faltering.

“Maybe she blames you for what happened on the island,” Finn called over his shoulder. She came to an abrupt halt. Maddie had never told him about that night on Misery Island. And she was sure that no one else had either.

“How could you know about that?” Maddie asked, becoming all too aware of what a vulnerable position she was in. Finn stopped and slowly paced back a few steps toward her.

“I was there, Madeline,” he said quietly. “I know what you girls did to Cordelia.”

Maddie never realized how dark Finn’s eyes were until that moment.

“You…? But how?” Maddie stammered as she backed up slightly, realizing she had gotten herself into a place of horror with someone she barely knew, someone who knew his way through the belly of this beast all too well. How could Maddie even be sure that Finn wasn’t involved in Cordelia’s disappearance?

Finn turned and walked slowly toward her, shining the light into her face so that he became a darkened shape behind the blinding glare, ignoring the screams and shouts coming from up ahead of them. Finn didn’t seem to be in any rush to find Rebecca. Not yet, anyway.

“I overheard what was planned for Halloween night. All the Hawthorne Academy assholes talk about all sorts of stuff around me because in your minds, I don’t matter. I’m just the handyman’s kid. Some poor, working-class schmuck who didn’t deserve any attention,” he growled. “But Cordelia paid attention to me. She was the only one. To all the rest of you, it’s like I don’t even exist.”

Maddie’s breath came in ragged gasps. The water-stained walls felt like they were closing in on her, and Finn continued his story, his voice hard.

“So,” he flashed the light directly in her eyes, “I heard about this hazing ritual you girls had planned for her. Kate was the one who came up with it, but she wanted to get the guys from school in on it, too. She told them to boat out to Misery sometime after midnight, that they would all get a chance to join in on the fun. Now, I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I knew that it couldn’t be good. Not the way they were laughing and carrying on about it, like it was friggin’ hysterical.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maddie stammered, trying to squint and avoid the bright light glaring into her eyes. “There weren’t any boys. It was just us girls out on the island, the Sis…”

“Yeah, I know, the Sisters of Misery. I know all about your little sorority,” Finn snapped. “And I know what kind of savage crap you did to her…all that bullshit about fire and earth and whatever. It was just an excuse to beat the shit out of her. And you just stood there and let it happen. She was your cousin, for Christ’s sake.” He shook his head in disgust. “Yeah, I saw it. I saw everything.”

Maddie’s emotions were out of control, swirling like the madhouse that had engulfed them. She was overcome by guilt, elation, fear, hope, and finally relief that there was someone who could finally give her the answers she’d been looking for all along. As she tried to absorb what Finn was telling her, tears started falling down her cheeks as she slowly backed away from him.

“Finn, I…I never knew what they had planned. You
have
to believe that,” Maddie cried, her voice rising up and filling the space between them. “I never would have hurt Cordelia on purpose. And…and, I know that you’d never hurt her either, at least not on purpose.”

“But
they
did. And they weren’t satisfied by just humiliating and degrading her.” His voice grew angrier and louder, echoing off the walls. “No, they wanted a bunch of Academy boys to come out to the island to hurt her even more. I heard them talking about it out on the sports fields. Your rich bitch friend Kate promised them ‘a night of fun’ with your cousin if they came out that night. ‘You can all have a shot at that slut, Cordelia,’ was what she said. All your old Hawthorne buddies planned on taking a boat out to Misery. But I beat ’em out there. I watched and I waited for the guys to show up. But while I was waiting, I saw what you girls did to her. And I’ll tell ya, I’ve seen a lot of shitty things in my life, but I’d never seen anything like that.”

His voice grew thick with disappointment and disgust, even sadness.

“So I guess the guys from the Academy never showed up then.” Maddie said. Finn allowed the flashlight to drift down from her face so that her eyes were able to adjust to the darkness again.

“Are you kidding? Turn down a sure thing with the hottest girl to ever come through Hawthorne? Of course they showed up. But they never got close to you girls. I caught them as they were pulling their boats up to shore. Met Trevor and his football buddies at the beach when they showed up, ready for their big conquest. But I was able to change their plans for the night when I showed them my dad’s nine millimeter,” Finn laughed, remembering. “You should have seen those guys scatter. They were practically shitting in their Brooks Brothers pants, trying to get back into their boats.”

His laughter subsided, and he grew more serious. “Anyway, by the time I got back to the center of the island, Cordelia had been knocked out and was bleeding. She was soaking wet and freezing, I’m sure, even though there was a fire built around her. I don’t know what happened to her jacket, but it had disappeared. You were passed out at that point. Took a big hit to the head by one of your
Sisters.”
He spat the word out like it was equivalent to a murderer or criminal. He probably wasn’t so far off from the truth.

Maddie stumbled back a bit, shocked at this new information. All this time Maddie had doubted herself. The dreams she’d had about tearing at Cordelia’s skin, Kate’s insinuations that Maddie had somehow hurt her own cousin. All of it was untrue, and for that, Maddie was overcome by relief. Kate had taken advantage of her memory loss to plant a seed of doubt in her mind, fully aware that it would grow like a horrible, strangling weed.

“So you were the last person to see Cordelia that night,” Maddie said, recalling the police report, and yet another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.

Finn nodded. “Now you know why I couldn’t tell anyone. Those kids would never admit to what they had done to her, what they were planning on doing. They’d all stick together and pin it on me. And I was the last person seen with her before she disappeared. Imagine how that would’ve looked. I could’ve gone to jail. I’m eighteen. The worst that coulda happened to those guys was that they’d get sent to juvey—and that would never happen ’cause their parents wouldn’t let it. Plus, Cordelia swore me to secrecy.”

“What did she say to you?” Maddie asked, her curiosity growing with every word he uttered.

“Well,” he said, scratching the side of his face. “I gave her my coat—man, she was freezing—and helped clean her up a bit. Luckily, I had some blankets and a first aid kit in my dad’s boat. She was beat up bad. We took the boat back to the mainland. She was still bleeding pretty bad, so I wanted to walk her home or take her to Bell Hospital. I told her to go to the police, and she said that she had other plans for the kids that did this to her. She never told me what she wanted to do. Cordelia was probably right about not going to the police because they wouldn’t have listened to her. Hell, those Hawthorne Academy kids have parents that practically own this town. They’re not going to care about a girl like Cordelia.”

Maddie nodded and waited for him to continue.

“I asked her why she went along with the whole ritual thing in the first place. She told me that they gave her an ultimatum at the start. It was either gonna be you or her going down that night.”

Maddie inhaled painfully.

She saved me
, Maddie realized, tears streaming down her face.
Cordelia sacrificed herself for me
. An intense rainstorm kicked up outside. A streak of lightning lit the darkness, followed closely by an earthshaking boom of thunder.

“Maddie,” Finn said, his voice rising to be heard over the heavy rains that echoed off the roof, “she knew that you weren’t strong enough to take whatever crap they had in store. Plus, she didn’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt. She couldn’t live with that. And she figured that whatever they had planned, she could take it.”

Maddie nodded, tears spilling down her face. “And that was the last time you saw her?”

“I was going to walk her home. But she said she had some unfinished business to attend to. She had someone she needed to talk to.” Finn stopped talking and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing sharply. “Now, this is something I have regretted until this day. Probably gonna regret it the rest of my goddamned life. I never should have let her walk home alone. But I was an idiot. I was scared of a guy like me walking a girl home looking the way Cordelia did—like she’d been to hell and back. Plus, I was still carrying the gun I’d stolen from my dad. How do you think that would look if we were stopped by anyone? A punk kid like me with a beautiful girl like Cordelia, all cut up and shit. I mean, what if Cordelia tried to pin the blame on me for some reason?”

“She wouldn’t have done that,” Maddie offered quietly.

“I know,” he said in a strained voice, almost quivering. “And that’s what gets me. That maybe she’d be here if I’d only…” Finn’s voice trailed off. He shook his head as if willing the surge of emotions away. His voice cracked when he said softly, “I really loved her. And instead of protecting her, I spent my time writing her sappy letters like some love sick puppy. I should have known better. I should have watched out for her. I-I,” he said with growing anger as he punched the wall, cursing loudly.

Maddie wanted to tell him that she was sorry for suspecting him and that she shared his overwhelming sense of loss. But words just didn’t seem like enough. Finn was the one who wrote all those beautiful letters to Cordelia. It was all making sense. Maddie suddenly wondered if he knew about the pregnancy. Was the baby his?