Preston froze, but not out of fear. He seemed like he was calculating. “Well, this just got more interesting.” He purred as a smile stretched across his face.
“Let me leave or I will dismember you like your victims.” Pat was trying to sound menacing, but it didn’t feel natural.
“Please, you’re not getting out of here alive. Even if you kill me, you won’t get past my staff.”
It took Pat only a moment to deliberate and then he spun on his heel and rammed the pointed end of the scissors into the center of the window. Spidery cracks spread across the glass and chunks fell out and onto the ground of the greenhouse. Preston was so surprised he didn’t react at first, which gave Pat time to ram a bony shoulder into the remaining glass to clear the way for him to climb out.
The humidity in the greenhouse was oppressive and Pat struggled to catch his breath as he ran up and down the dirt pathways looking for an exit. A set of double doors lay at the end of the path he was on so he picked up speed to make it to them before Preston saw where he was going.
Normally, running with scissors was something Pat didn’t do, but now he held to them tightly for safety reasons. Unfortunately, this security was short-lived because Preston came around a fat palm tree trunk still holding the fishing twine and an amused grin. Pat made the mistake of glancing back and was surprised that Preston was running as well. He didn’t seem like a man who would physically exert himself.
When Pat burst through the double doors, he found himself in a smaller greenhouse with much smaller plants and there was no other set of doors in this room. He deflated as he heard the double doors open again and Preston was there blocking his only exit.
“Well, that was fun.” Preston growled. “Time to rest a bit.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
“HEIDI…” ARROW’S VOICE almost failed him as he gazed at the newcomer.
Clive watched his friend closely and could see a change come over him. The jovial confidence was replaced by sadness. Every part of his face now showed the lines that didn’t seem as visible when he was smiling and talking. His shoulders sloped downwards with the curve of his mouth. An utterly defeated man.
This was a short-lived moment, however, because the woman in the doorway pulled out a switchblade and pointed it toward Arrow. His arms flew up in self-defense and Clive’s eyes widened. Not wanting to make the situation worse, Clive held himself perfectly still. Her blond dreadlocks seemed to blow behind her by an unseen breeze and she glowed with an otherworldly glow.
“Get out.” She whispered menacingly.
“Heidi…” Arrow tried again. “I’m sorry.”
She continued to try to bring him down with her eyes. “Get. Out. Of. Here.”
“We don’t know where ‘here’ is.” Clive interjected desperately.
Heidi whipped around and stared at Clive as if she had just seen him. The knife was still trained on Arrow.
“Where are we?” Arrow asked cautiously.
Her eyes flitted back and forth between the two men. She was beginning to look like a cornered animal. If they had to overpower her, they could. She was much more petite than Clive or Arrow. However, she had the knife and that could be deadly if it sliced the wrong artery.
“Oblivion.” She said finally. “Things people wish to forget get sent here.”
“Why are you here?” Arrow asked.
“Wrong question.” She growled.
She took a few steps forward and Arrow froze in place.
“Who is she?” Clive whispered to Arrow.
She trained her eyes on Clive again and said, “If you don’t know then you might want to reconsider your friendship with this man.”
Tears were making Arrow’s eyes shine, but he refused to let them spill over. “Why would somebody want to forget you?”
“That’s a good question.” Heidi said sarcastically. In one swift movement, she grasped his right wrist and flipped it over to look up and down his forearm. Unsatisfied, she grasped what little hair he had and bent his head down to examine the back of his neck. She released her grip roughly and Arrow straightened up. “I suspected it was you, but I don’t see any scarring from a chip installation.”
Dejected, she lowered the knife. When this happened, Clive and Arrow released some of their tension as well.
“I wouldn’t ever do that.” Arrow said, hurt.
He took an involuntary step forward, but she backed away. “Don’t touch me. I still don’t trust you.”
“Can you explain to me what’s happening?” Clive asked. The pair turned and looked at him blankly. “I think we could help each other, but I don’t have any idea what’s going on.”
Heidi glanced at Arrow and Arrow took the hint. “We had dated. We were going to get married.”
“‘Were’ being the keyword.” Heidi spat.
“She testified against me.”
“You were breaking the law.”
“You didn’t let me explain.”
“You ruined my mother.” Arrow didn’t respond to this. “You knew she was an addict, but you sold codes to her anyway.”
Clive’s heart skipped a beat. He was thinking of Mayre sitting motionless in the recliner back home. “Is your mom…gone?” Clive asked looking from Heidi then Arrow.
Arrow nodded. “Heidi’s mom erased all her emotions.” Arrow whipped back around to Heidi and said, “But I didn’t know that would happen! I thought I was subverting the system to help people.”
Tears were spilling over her cheeks now and her hand that held the knife shook. “Since meeting you, my life has been nothing but pain. Get. Out.”
