Room 14's Secret novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Through the Vent

On Wednesday, Giselle came alone.

Zachary had shown me the vent the night before.

It was an old brass grate low on the wall behind my bed, and it was the same grate that opened into Room 14.

"You can hear Leanne breathe through it," he had said. "Don't use it unless you have to."

At two o'clock, I had to.

Giselle sat in the plastic chair and opened a book she did not read.

She had brought me lemon shortbread in a tin with a ribbon.

She set it on my tray, and then she took my hand and held it.

"You always loved these," she said. "Remember the dorm? You'd eat the whole tin and say it was for your nerves."

I stared at the ceiling and let my jaw hang.

"I wish you could hear how much I miss you."

She sounded like she meant it.

That was the worst part of Giselle. She always sounded like she meant it.

At two-twenty she kissed my forehead, put the tin back in her bag, and told the nurse she would sit with the other patients for a minute.

I counted her heels down the hall, past Room 13.

The bolt slid.

I slid off the bed onto the floor without a sound and put my ear to the grate.

A chair scraped.

"Hello, Leanne," Giselle said.

Her voice was different.

It was lower and easier, with none of the sweetness left in it.

"You look better today. Someone's been giving you less, haven't they? You're tracking me."

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