For Nevermore Season 1

any luck.
    She waited for a half hour before the cold night chill prompted her to start walking. She wasn’t quite sure how, but she eventually found her way back to the neighborhood where Randy had held her prisoner. She wasn’t sure which street Randy’s murder shack was on, but she kept following instinct until she finally happened upon a street bathed in red flashing lights. She walked down the road and saw dozens of local police department squad cars, along with a few sheriff’s deputy cars from Aurora Falls, and an ambulance.
    Her eyes widened, as she saw a policewoman coming from the open front door of the house.
    “I’m sorry, miss, you can’t go in there,” the woman said.
    “No, I was held prisoner in there. My aunt Josie’s in there. Is she okay?”
    “Noella?” Josie cried from behind. She was standing in front of a car with Dr. Foster of all people.
    What’s he doing here?
    Noella ran to Josie, hugging her tight.
    “You’re okay!” Josie said, “Oh my God, my poor baby.”
    “How is Sam?” Noella asked, remembering the last time she saw him, bloody on the ground in the dungeon.
    “They took him to the hospital. I’m not sure how he’s doing. He was hurt pretty bad.”
    Noella felt her guts churn at the thought of Sam hurt, or possibly dying.
    “How’s Tori?” Noella asked. “Is she okay?”
    Josie’s eyes were grim, red, and swollen and filled with bad news.
    No. Please.
    She remembered the last thing she’d heard from the cell beside her, thumping on the wall, weak.
    “Is she . . .?” Noella asked, unable to finish the sentence.
    “She wasn’t in there,” Josie shook her head. “There was some other woman, but she didn’t make it.”
    Noella stared, unable to register what Josie was saying.
    “Did they check everywhere? She has to be in there! He had her!” Noella approached the house, pushing her way past cops, screaming, “Tori!!”
    Two cops blocked her from going inside.
    “You have to let me in! He took her! I have to find her!”
    “Please, step back, ma’am,” one of the cops, a young chubby man, said.
    “No, she’s in there! I’ve got to find her! Tori!!”
    The cop grabbed Noella by the arms and pushed her back. “I can’t let you in there,” he said. “Please, step back.”
    Noella pulled away from the cop, balled both fists, and began to wildly swing, battering the cop, unleashing the entire night’s rage and fear in one violent outburst.
    “Noey!!” Josie screamed as she tried to break up the battle.
    Two more cops joined her, and Noella felt hands closing in on her, forcing her to the ground. Memories flooded her brain: being trapped in the net, being confined in the cell, being held down against her will in her bed . . . though she wasn’t sure where that memory came from.
    “No!!” she screamed, feeling the world tighten around her as handcuffs slipped around her wrists.

    * * * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

    Two weeks later…

    Noella opened her eyes in King’s Point Psychiatric, just like she had every morning for the past two weeks, wondering if this would be the day when she’d finally get a visitor again.
    She waited for Dr. Lipton to bring her the paper cup with the pills, trying not to appear too eager. The more even she kept her emotions in check, the less questions the doctor had. A nurse, Ms. Franklin, had been bringing Noella’s meds, but for the past three days, Dr. Lipton had taken over the morning job for reasons Noella didn’t know and didn’t care to ask about.
    Noella kept her questions to herself, figuring the less waves she made and less questions she asked, the sooner she’d be home.
    Dr. Lipton handed her the pills, four in all — a pink one, two whites, and one large red capsule – always the hardest to swallow.
    “All gone?” he said, his way of asking her to open her mouth and show him that there were none hidden under her tongue, like she’d done the first few days. Having to show the doctor that she swallowed the pills sent waves of anger through her.
    I’m not a child!
    Swallowing the anger was about as hard as swallowing the pills.
    “Good girl,” he said.
    Condescending jerk.
    She wished she had Dr. Foster back, but she hadn’t seen him since her arrival, and no one would say why, or where he went. She wondered if all psychiatric hospitals were so secretive, or if it was just this crazy place.
    She hated returning to King’s Point. But after Randy kidnapped her, things got bad again. She had