Chapter 101 Tortured Love

While I slept, I had a strange dream.

I dreamed that I was walking through the forest just outside of campus. I recognized where I was, and I

knew the path well as I walked. Up ahead, I could make out the clearing where I had last kissed Justin

on the night that I discovered that he was a rogue.

It was nighttime, and the moon was full. The air was perfectly still and warm.

As I stepped into the clearing, however, I knew that I wasn’t alone. Across the clearing, moving in

unison with me, was a large wolf with red fur and a cream-colored streak across its face.

I stopped in the middle of the clearing. The wolf stopped in front of me. I reached out to touch it…

But then, I woke up.

I wasn’t in the forest; I was back in my room. When I tried to move, I realized that the restraints were

around my wrists and ankles again.

“Good morning,” a familiar voice said from beside me. I looked over to see Edward sitting on his stool

next to me with a smile on his face. “Which Nina am I talking to today?”

“Good Nina,” I replied, remembering what had happened earlier in the closet. Evil Nina had taken over

for a bit, but Edward saved me, and now I was in control again.

Edward’s smile widened. “That’s good to hear.” He paused, reaching over to the table next to him and

picking up a cup. “I’m going to start giving you some new medicine,” he said. “It’ll taste a little funny, but

it’ll help make sure that Evil Nina doesn’t come back again. We wouldn’t want that to happen, would

we?”

I shook my head. Edward, still smiling from ear to ear, leaned forward. He lifted my head with one

hand, then held the cup to my lips with the other. I drank. It did taste funny — a little bitter — but I drank

all of it, because I didn’t want to lose control to Evil Nina again. I wanted to get better so that I could go

home to my family, just like Justin.

“There,” Edward said, setting the cup down. Next, he unbuckled the restraints around my wrists and

ankles, and helped me sit up. “I’m not going to keep you restrained now that you’ve taken your

medicine. But you have to promise to take your medicine every time I give it to you, otherwise I will

have to restrain you again. Okay?”

I nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m going to take care of the bad man who came to steal you away. You might hear some

scary noises, but I promise that they’re just the sounds of him resisting his treatment, just like you did at

first.” He patted me on the head like a dog, then headed toward the door. “I’ll be back later to give you

more medicine,” he said, then disappeared through the door.

Not long after Edward left, the medicine must have begun to kick in, because I started to feel a tingling

in my body. I stood up and crossed over to the desk in the corner to draw, but realized then that

Edward had taken away my drawing supplies.

“Hm,” I said out loud to myself. “I guess I’m not allowed to draw anymore.”

“He’s a liar.”

I jumped, whirling around to search for the source of the disembodied female voice that echoed in my

head — but there was no one there. I shook my head and walked over to the other side of the room.

“Edward is not your savior. He’s brainwashing you. He’s using hypnotic abilities to make you his

minion.”

“That’s not true,” I replied without thinking. “Edward is really nice, and when I’m better, I’ll get to go

home.”

“Nina, if none of your experiences over the past four years are real and Enzo never existed, then why

did Enzo come to save you?”

I frowned, then clapped my hands over my ears and began to repeat my mantra under my breath. This

voice was clearly just another one of my hallucinations… If I just repeated my mantra enough, I could

make it go away.

“My name is Nina Harper…”

“Your name is Nina Harper, and you are a student at Mountainview University.”

I clamped my hands down harder on my ears and scrunched my eyes shut. “…I am a patient at

Mountainview Psychiatric Facility.”

“You are not sick, and Edward will not fix you.”

I shook my head and began to pace. “No,” I said. “You’re not real. Get out of my head.”

“I am real, Nina,” the voice replied. “I’m your wolf, and my name is Cora. Werewolves are real; Edward

has been lying to you.”

Still shaking my head vigorously, I laid down on my bed in a fetal position and began to rock back and

forth.

“My name is Nina Harper… I’m a student… No! I’m a patient at Mountainview Psychiatric Facility… I’m

sick…”

“Nina, please listen to me.”

“Shut up!” I shouted. I sat up and pounded my fists against the side of my head, as if doing so would

knock the voice out of me and make it go away. “You’re not real! Stop talking to me!”

Just then, my thoughts were broken by the sound of pained grunts coming from next door. It sounded

as though someone was being beaten. With each sound of something hitting flesh, I would hear

another strained grunt. They only got louder with each repetition.

“See?” I said out loud, standing and walking slowly toward the wall. “Edward is fixing the bad man who

tried to steal me away. He’s protecting me.”

The voice didn’t respond.

“Edward is protecting me…” As I slowly walked closer, repeating those words quietly to myself, I began

to realize that my voice was quivering. I stopped in front of the wall and slowly held my shaking hands

out, pressing my palms against the concrete, and then leaned forward until my ear was pressed up

against the wall.

There were muffled voices on the other side. I couldn’t make out exactly what they were saying, but I

recognized Edward’s voice, and…

Enzo’s voice.

There was another sound of something hitting flesh, followed by another pained grunt, this time far

louder than all of the rest. I flinched and jumped back, my eyes wide.

It wasn’t until I felt something wet on my face and lifted my fingers to touch my cheek, pulling them

away and looking at them curiously, that I realized I was crying.

A sob escaped my throat. I ran back to my bed and covered my ears again, this time covering them

against the sound of Edward beating Enzo and not from the sound of the strange voice in my head. I

wasn’t sure how long I was there, but eventually, I must have fallen asleep because I was awoken

sometime later by the feeling of someone shaking my shoulder.

When I opened my eyes, I looked up to see Edward standing over me. I scrambled backwards on the

bed, but he was too quick; he grabbed me by the neck and held a cup up to my lips.

“Open your mouth,” he said. When I didn’t do it immediately, he rolled his eyes and forced my mouth

open with his hand before pouring the bitter-tasting drink down my throat. I sputtered and choked on it,

coughing up some of it onto the front of my hospital gown, but the majority of it made its way down my

throat.

“I’m only doing this to protect you,” he said, tossing the cup aside and pushing me down on the bed. I

squirmed, confused, as he buckled the restraints again. Then, he left me alone once more.

“Wait! I’ll be good!” I called after him, but he didn’t listen. I watched, struggling against the leather

straps as he punched a number into the keypad on my door, then disappeared through it. Another sob

caught in my throat.

An indistinguishable amount of time passed. The straps were tight around my wrists, burning my skin if

I moved too much. The medicine made me drift in and out of consciousness, but each time it did, I felt

myself slipping back into that strange dream of the wolf in the forest…

And each time I woke, I smelled something tantalizingly sweet drawing me toward the room next door