The Face Behind The Mask

36

Aside from the police, who knew Kesley had been rushed into the ICU? If word somehow got out that Kelsey had been hospitalized, most of the McKenzie's friends, neighbors, and family would assume she had been admitted to a hospital in the Pittsburgh area, not some regional hospital in Washington County. Maybe Brick mentioned something to Jonas or Alexa and her mother.

Or maybe the visitor was the kind man who found Kelsey out on that desolate street and brought her to the hospital. Maybe he had come by to see how she was doing.

Skyden messaged Cameron: Did Brick tell anyone where Kelsey was?

He didn't respond.

She waited. No answer. He was probably asleep.

And then an ugly thought bubbled up in her head. Suppose the visitor was Kelsey's abductor.

Before the thought was fully formed, Skyden was out of her chair swiping the medical scissors from the cart, concealing them in her hand, and exiting Kesley's room. On her way out of the ICU, her heart pounded as she recalled Kelsey's description. A thin, pasty-faced man with body odor, thick-rimmed glasses, and greasy dark hair.

Please let me find him standing in the waiting area. Please.

She stepped onto the elevator on its way down to the lobby. A man and a woman occupied the elevator with her. Or maybe two men. It didn't matter. They were extraneous. They had nothing to do with the mission.

She imagined the elevator door opening and seeing him standing there. She fantasized about bolting into the lobby, charging the monster, and driving the scissors into his throat, riding him to the floor while savagely ripping and slashing over and over again until security guards pulled her off of what was left. By then he'd be dead or dying. She'd watch him bleed out, his feet kicking, his hands twisting, flailing for his broken glasses.

She'd never entertained a violent thought in her life. But she was now something different. Something made of pure vengeance, something wild and out of control that wanted blood.

It should have occurred to her that when she saw him, the actual living breathing monster, she would go cold, she would freeze, she'd lose her breath. But rage was at the wheel and rage was far more powerful than fear. Whatever was coiled tightly inside her was about to detonate.

The monster drugged her daughter, threw her into a car, drove her to some remote location, and planned to rape her. Despite Kelsey's crying, pleading, and screaming, he would have her, he would force himself between her legs and take her. And then what? Strangle her? Suffocate her? Skyden's heart thundered. Her hot breath nearly burst into flame. She would kill this son of a bitch. Send him back to hell.

Please let me get my hands on him. Please let me hear his cries, watch the fear blaze in his eyes, tell him before he draws his last breath, "You pathetic little bitch. You attacked my daughter. Feel my wrath. Feel my pain. You wretched piece of shit, I am ending you."

When the elevator stopped at the lobby, no such creature was visible. She jogged across the visitors' area to the front windows and scanned the parking lot. Where was he?

"Skyden." A familiar voice spun her around, snapping her out of the hunt.

It was a woman. A familiar woman with penetrating eyes.

Skyden knew she was hardly presentable. She looked like she'd just escaped from a psych ward - a naked puffy face devoid of makeup, her hair wild, her eyes bulging. It took her a minute to fully register. The woman standing in front of her was Lori.

The sight of her best friend demolished a protective wall Skyden hadn't realized she'd built. She burst into deep sobs, wrapping her arms around Lori. The scissors dropped from her hand and landed on the carpeted floor.

"Sky, I'm so sorry." Tears filled Lori's eyes. "Is she gonna be okay?"

Skyden nodded and then wiped her wet face with her sleeve. She noticed the scissors on the floor, squatted, and retrieved them.

"How did you know?" Skyden sobbed.

"Cam. I couldn't reach you so I called him. He told me about..."

Skyden buried her face in Lori's shoulder. She wailed, "I... I did this to her."

"What?" Lori pulled her friend close, felt her trembling.

"It's all my fault." She sobbed beyond consolation. "How could I have been... so careless and stupid?"

"It's not your fault. It's not."

Skyden withdrew, her eyes filled with despair. "She's in the ICU. They won't allow–"

"I came here to see you," said Lori gripping her friend's hand. "Of course, I'm worried about Kelsey. But..."

Skyden shot a steely glare out the window. "That fuckin' monster is still out there."