Page 71 of Gorgeous Misery

“Wendy.” Merc’s voice is calm now. Low. Steady. “Can you hear me?”

No. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. I did not fall into this trap. No. I would’ve seen it coming. I’m not the kind of girl you trap!

“Answer me. Now.”

“Yes,” I say. Even though I don’t want to talk to this asshole, I feel compelled to do so. “I can hear you.”

“Good. You’re OK. Now close your eyes—”

“Where the fuck am I?”

“You’re somewhere safe—”

“No! Where. The fuck. Am I? What the fuck is this place?”

“Close your eyes and I’ll tell you.”

My heart is pounding. And somewhere, like in some far-off place, some other reality, some other dimension, some other Wendy—I hear… beeping. Like a heart rate monitor.

“Close your eyes.”

I close them.

“Good.” His voice is soft now. Almost soothing. “I’m in your head, Wendy. But there’s nothing to worry about because you’re OK. I injected you with some drugs to knock you out two days ago. Where you are isn’t as important as what I’m doing.”

Holy fucking shit.

I am being mind-fucked by a psychopath Company PSYOPS agent. He picked me up two days ago? I’m asleep? Clearly, I am not asleep. I’m thinking. I’m walking around. I’m talking.

Aren’t I?

I try to open my eyes but they feel like they are glued shut, or they are so damn heavy, it’s not possible to open them.

I start gasping for breath again.

“Calm down. Everything is fine. You’re gonna be fine. But you need to talk to me, Wendy. You need to answer my questions and give me what I want.”

“What do you want?” But I already know. Before I’m even done talking, I know what he wants.

Nick. He wants Nick.

“That’s right. You know what I want.”

And now the whole mental delusion disappears. The shitty farmhouse is gone and everything around me is just black. “Wake me up. Wake me up now!”

“I don’t think so. I like you… still. I watched you for about a week, Wendy. You’re kinda dangerous.”

“Says the asshole who’s inside my mind.”

“It’s pretty good, right? I guess that’s why this Adam guy wants me. Do you know Donovan?”

I don’t answer him. Instead my mind flips back through time to training sessions with Chek when I was a kid. He told me about what these Company PSYOPS men could do, but it was all theoretical. There were no more PSYOPS agents in the Company to do defensive training with when I was growing up. Nonetheless, Chek was pretty thorough with his lessons. At least I thought he was. But this mental prison Merc has locked me in? Yeah. No one told me about this shit. I don’t know what to do.

“All you have to do is answer me, Wendy. Don’t bother fighting it. You’re talking, sweetheart. None of your thoughts are private right now. You just said all of that out loud. You’ve been saying everything out loud. I heard your whole story. All those touching moments with Nick and Lauren. Christmases and birthdays—

Fuck. He’s good.

“I’m very good. The best there is. And not just because I’m the last one left, either. Why do you think I’m still alive and the rest of them are dead?”