Maggie slides through the art room window. Eli is sketching under a moonbeam of stain glass light. The muscles in his shoulders and arms flex and straighten with each line and curve he draws. 

Maggie was in every class with Eli today, yet she has missed him. In those public spaces, they've been extra careful to not linger too long in one another's company. They don't touch, talk, or laugh, the way normal couples do. It's as if they're under a wide spotlight and the entire world has a watchful eye. Now that they are in their private place, she can touch him, uninhibited. 

She reaches out and smooths her hands over his shoulders, firm underneath her touch. Hugging him from behind, she buries her face into his neck and kisses his ear. "You're drawing the lighthouse again?" 

Eli tilts his head, inspecting his sketch. The crease between his eyebrows deepens. 

She laughs. "You're obsessed." 

He spins on the stool to face her. "I am obsessed. With you." He pulls her into him, his lips meeting hers in a deep kiss. "Cherry today?" he says smacking his lips together. "I like it." 

She pulls the bubble gum from her mouth, wraps it in a piece of paper, and stuffs it into the front pocket of her jeans. "I'm sorry I'm late. I got caught up with Charlie." 

"Yeah, about that," Eli says, gesturing to his sketch. "I had the weirdest vision today." He turns the pages of his sketchbook. "You weren't by any chance stuck in a spider's web, were you?" He laughs as he slides a drawing onto his easel. 

Maggie gasps. Her eyes widen as she inspects Eli's sketch of her in a spider's web with Dread's talons inches from her face.   

"I fell asleep in the hammock and had a sleep terror." She holds up her wrapped hand. 

Eli runs his fingers over the bandage. His gaze travels up her arm and down her wrist. 

She pulls her hand away. "That's the only cut," she says. "I screamed and Dread disappeared." 

"Disappeared?" Eli tilts his head. "How?" His eyes are round with curiosity. 

She shrugs. "I don't know how. That never happened before." She stares at Eli's sketch. "At first I didn't even know it was my scream. It came out of nowhere and hit Dread like a bullet." She shakes her head. "Charlie saw the entire thing. He said I was screaming like a banshee. He nearly called 9-1-1. He was totally freaked out and worried. He is worried." 

"Worried? About what?"

Maggie's conversation with Charlie reels through her head. She gulps at the emotion swelling in her throat. She and Eli trust one another more than anyone else in the world. She doesn't want their bond to break. If anyone knows how lies and secrets break trust, she does. Wouldn't she want to know if those rumors were spreading about her? She can't keep it a secret. She has to tell Eli. 

"He followed us to the art room the night of the football game. He knows about us." Maggie looks down at her fingers. "And that's not all he knows." She takes a deep breath. "Cay told Drew and Drew told Charlie about your psych ward stays. Charlie thinks you're on the brink of a psychotic break. He said you could hurt me." 

"Hurt you?" Eli drops his head into his hands. "No," he whispers. "I would never..." He lifts his eyes to Maggie.  

"I told him you couldn't hurt a fly." 

Eli stands from the stool. "I was afraid of this happening." A look of resignation slides over his face. "I have to leave, Maggie." 

"Leave?"

"Dr. B has been acting weird lately. You saw the way he treated me at the football game. It's gotten worse since then. I swear, he's been following me."

"Following you?"

Eli nods. "Yes. Following me. He's going to throw me back into the psych ward any day now. I can feel it. And after what Charlie told you, I know it's true. I'd rather die than go back there."

Maggie shakes her head. "No Eli. That's not going to happen as long as he believes you're following his treatment plan. He believes you're following the plan, right?"

Eli's jaw tightens. "I want you to come with me."

The sting of shock pulls at Maggie's face. "Come with you? You want me to leave Cayder Bay?"

Eli nods, folding her hand into his. "I want to be with you, but I can't stay here." 

Maggie's heart thumps against her ribs. This all feels so impulsive and irrational. As much as she wants to be with Eli, she can't see the two of them running off together to who-knows-where. Two psych ward kids on the run. It's bad enough being hunted by Dread, but by Dr. Banes and Connie and the cops too? Maybe Dr. Banes was right -- maybe she is triggering Eli into a psychotic break. Maybe she's on the brink of one herself. 

"I have friends. I can't leave school. I can't leave Connie. It would break her." 

Eli grimaces as if he's been punched in the gut. 

"I want to be with you too," she says, smoothing her sharp tone. 

Eli covers his face with his hands and slides them down his cheeks. 

"Dr. B isn't going to lock you up, Eli."

"Please Maggie. There'll be no second chance for us. He'll make sure of that."

She takes a step closer. "Dr. B is not going to lock you up. We can be together right here, just as we are."

He shakes his head. "Just as we are?" He cuts through the air with his arm. "Hidden inside a secret room? I want to be with you. Everywhere. If we run away together, we'll be free. No more fear. No more hiding. No more secrets. No more lies." 

Maggie is getting tired of keeping their relationship hidden in the shadows. She wants to hold Eli's hand walking down Main Street and in the halls at school, like Drew and Cay do. But, if they run away together, they won't be free. They'll be running, in search of secret places to hide, constantly looking over their shoulders. And if they do get caught, they'll be locked up. For good.

"Eli, let's not be impulsive. We have time to sort this all out." She cups her hands around his face and stares him straight in the eyes. "You've been so careful. Dr. B doesn't know you're not following the treatment plan and he doesn't know about us."

Eli shakes his head. "Charlie knows about us and it's just a matter of time before everyone else does too." 

"I'll talk to Charlie." 

"Even if you talk Charlie out of believing what he saw that night, it's too late." Eli's voice lowers to a whisper. "Dr. B isn't what he seems, Maggie. And he knows I'm on to him. He wants me out of the way. I have to leave. I have no other choice." 

"We have time, Eli. You don't have to leave. We're in this together. We have each other now, remember?" 

Eli pulls her close, pressing his lips against hers. He tangles his fingers in her hair, exploring her mouth with his, intense and deliberate. Of their many kisses, he has never kissed her with such tenacity and desperation, as if this kiss is their last. 

She melts into him, plunging into the depths of his hunger, matching his desperation with her own in a whirlwind of pure electricity. Every neuron in her body is firing. His breath is hot and ragged against her flushed skin.

"Please, Eli. Don't leave. It's not too late. We can figure this out."

He rests his head against hers.

"Please, Eli. Stay with me. It will kill me if you leave."

He smooths his hand over her hair. "It will kill me if I stay." 

A door slams in the distance. Maggie jumps. "What was that?"

The muffled sound of a man's voice travels down the hall, followed by a beam of light. 

"Someone's here," Eli whispers. "We have to go." 

He grabs Maggie's hand. They pace past the long wooden tables, the potter's wheel, and the bulletin board covered in charcoal drawings.

Maggie pushes her legs out the window until her Doc Martens hit the ground. She turns to help Eli, but he's pacing in the opposite direction, toward the easel. 

"Hang on," he says "I forgot my sketchbook." 

"Eli, don't. There's no time." 

A police officer rounds the corner into the room. Maggie's eyes widen as one second, she's watching Eli reach for his sketchbook and the next, he's scurrying to break free from the vice-grip of two police officers.

One shoves at his shoulder as the other one yanks his arms behind his back.

"You have the right to remain silent ...," the officer says, slapping handcuffs onto Eli's wrists. 

Eli twists and turns. "For what?"

"You can't go breaking into schools, son." 

Eli drops to his knees as they drag him past the long tables. "But...I...I..." He squirms to break free.

"Save it for the judge." The officers huff and puff, as they drag Eli out of the art room door.  

"Eli!" Maggie shouts.

 A hand slaps over her mouth. Hot, ragged breaths assault her ear. "It's too late. He can't hear you," the voice says through clenched teeth. "He's already gone." 

She turns and stares into the bulgy eyes staring back at her.

"How could you do this to him?" 

A tight-lipped scowl spreads across Dr. Banes's mouth. He pushes his horn-rimmed glasses against his face. "I told you to keep your distance, but you didn't listen." He straightens the sleeves on his trench coat. "I told you, you could trigger him into a psychotic break, but you just wouldn't stay away." He steps closer and raises his finger to Maggie's face. "I warned you. Make no mistake, Margaret. You did this to him. Not me. This is ALL on YOU." 

She's tempted to bite his finger right off his hand and shove it down his throat. "He doesn't need to be locked up."

"And how would you know that?"

"He's my friend." 

Dr. Banes scoffs. "Stop lying Margaret. I've seen the way the two of you have been falling all over one another." 

Maggie's eyes widen. "Eli was right. You have been following him."

"You may think you and Elison are meant to be together, but what you believe to be true is a delusion. Remember Margaret, the line between reality and psychosis is thin."

"I know the difference between reality and psychosis." 

Dr. Banes huffs. "Do you now? Elison thought he did too." 

Maggie doesn't know what to believe anymore. She glances at the art room window. Eli's sketchpad is covered in that red-yellow glow. Her arms and legs are too heavy to move. She drops her face into her hands and shakes her head. This can't be happening. She squeezes her eyes shut. Maybe Dr. Banes is right. She wouldn't back down. She pushed Eli to the brink of insanity and then she shoved him over the edge.

"What will happen to him?" 

Dr. Banes sinks his hands into the pockets of his trench coat. "He has charges to face. He needs to be stabilized." 

Maggie's throat burns. She can't stand the thought of Eli locked up. She covers her chin to stop it from trembling. 

"I'm concerned about you Margaret. Are you taking your medication?" 

She grips the sides of her head and stares at the ground. This can't be happening. 

Dr. Banes steps closer. "Without medication the hallucinations and the delusions seem very real." He reaches out and rests his hand on her shoulder. "You must follow the treatment plan, Margaret. It's for your own good." 

Eli. Eli. Eli!  

"It's late. Let me give you a ride home. Everyone must be wondering where you are." 

Her mind tells her to run fast and far, but her feet feel as heavy as cement blocks stuck in mud. This can't be happening! Her head is swimming with the image of Eli's face as they dragged him away. Eli, Eli, Eli! If only she listened to him. He was practically begging her to believe him. She's been so wrapped up in her own stuff lately, that she couldn't see past it. She has to make this up to him. She has to find him. She has to find a way.

She peers at Dr. Banes. She swats his hand away. "I'm not going anywhere with you," she says turning toward the road that will lead her to Cove Manor. 

"Very well," Dr. Banes snips. He turns on his heel and paces to his car. 

"Good riddance," Maggie shouts as she watches him walk in the opposite direction. 

She follows the signs to Cove Beach. I know the difference between reality and psychosis. I am not insane!  And I will not allow that bugged-eyed weirdo to talk me into thinking that I am. 

A car engine revs behind her. "Margaret," Dr. Banes says from the driver's side window. "Please let me give you a ride." 

Bug off, Bug eyes! She ignores him and continues walking along the street. 

The street lights are dim against the night sky. Once she reaches the fork in the road, she'll take the short cut through the woods to Cove Beach. Just a half mile to go. 

"Margaret," Dr. Banes barks, slowing his speed to match the pace of her stride. 

She shakes her head. "I'm not getting in your car, so just drive away." 

He leans out the window. "You look just like her, you know."

If Maggie had a dollar for every time someone told her she looks just like Connie, she'd be a millionaire by now. She continues marching down the street, ignoring him. 

"Just so we're clear, I'm not talking about Connie." 

What did he just say? Not Connie?  

"It was something you said during our last session at the hospital." He presses his horn-rimmed glasses against his face as he steers the car beside her. "Do you remember what you told me?" 

Maggie is silent, her eyes focused on the road ahead. 

"Dread," he says. "You told me about the monster you call Dread." 

Maggie's breath hitches at the sound of his name – Dread. 

"You told me that he hunts you when you are asleep and when you are awake. You said you can feel him when he is near. The way you described him, it was so familiar. I knew I had heard that same description before. The same hunt. The same chasing and choking. The same panic. I had heard it all, practically word for word." 

Maggie gulps at the bile sliding up her throat. She clenches her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. 

"Don't you want to know who I heard it from?" 

Maggie pushes her hands into her pockets and continues walking, her eyes focused on the fork in the road just ahead. 

"Mary Stone," he says, studying Maggie's face for a reaction. 

What did he just say? Mary Stone?  Maggie stops and stares at him. "You knew Mary Stone?"

"She was one of my students."

"Your student?" 

He tilts his head. "Connie didn't tell you?" 

Connie and her secrets. Maggie shrugs. 

"When she was in graduate school at the university. Her final year," he explains. "She was one of my research assistants at the university hospital lab." His eyes search Maggie's for recognition. 

Maggie shrugs again. "Connie never mentioned any of that."  

"Why don't you let me give you a ride home and I'll tell you all about it?" 

Maggie doesn't want to be anywhere near Dr. Banes. She peers up ahead at the fork in the road. She pulls at her cross necklace and smooths it between her fingertips. She's been waiting, no, she's been aching to know more about her mother. She glances at Dr. Banes. She nods. "Okay, I'll go with you." 

A wide grin spreads across his face. 

Maggie paces to the passenger side, opens the door, and slides inside. 

Dr. Banes's car smells like ... Maggie's not sure what it smells like, but she swears she can smell a hint of rotten eggs underneath the woodsy smell of aftershave. Old Spice aftershave -- yes, it's Old Spice. Maggie would know the sage and cinnamon smell anywhere. Joe has been wearing Old Spice aftershave for as long as she can remember. But that rotten egg smell, is just awful. It's worse than the fishy smell of low tide and the puke smell of a garbage dump, combined. She rolls down her window.

"So talk," Maggie says. "Tell me about Mary Stone."

Dr. Banes presses the gas pedal and takes a right at the fork. "She was a rising star. Extraordinary. Smart, like you are Margaret. Gifted, really."

Maggie leans back into the upholstery, taking in these tiny bits and pieces of the mother she never knew. She was extraordinary. She was smart.

"What was she studying?" Maggie says.

"Psychology," Dr. Banes tells her. "She was studying to be a Child and Adolescent Psychologist. She would've been a darn good one too. The kids on the study loved her."

A smile tugs at Maggie's mouth. "She was nice?"

Dr. Banes nods. "Funny too. They loved that most about her."

She was nice. She was funny. Tears prick the corners of Maggie's eyes, as her mother's absence grows more tangible.

"What was the research about?"

"Brain development," Dr. Banes says. "Specifically, abnormal brain development."

"Specifically?"

He nods. "The kids on the study suffered brain abnormalities that caused some --" Dr. Banes clears his throat. "-- difficult symptoms. Mary was determined to help them." The line between his eyebrows deepens. "Everyone was devastated when she became ill –- the patients, the other research assistants, the doctors on the study. Who would've thought a mosquito bite would lead to such tragedy?"

Maggie's eyes narrow. "A mosquito bite?"

Dr. Banes tilts his head. "Connie didn't share any of this with you?"

Maggie shakes her head. Connie and her secrets.

"A mosquito borne virus led to a brain infection, which led to a coma and when she awoke, she was suffering from hallucinations and delusions, just like you. All of us desperately wanted to see her get well, but she refused to follow the treatment plan. She refused the medication, and the symptoms well, they got worse. The hallucinations, the delusions –- all got much worse. She dropped out of grad school and we parted ways." His eyes turn dim. "Some time after that, I heard about her death from a colleague who had remained in touch with her. Then, years later, out of nowhere, Connie contacted me -- said she was Mary Stone's sister -- said she had a daughter that she wanted me to meet."

Maggie rubs at her forehead. "Why you? I mean there's lots of doctors out there. Why did she want me to see you?"

"Eerily similar. That's what Connie told me. The way you had been behaving was eerily similar to what she had seen before –- in her sister, Mary. I suppose she wanted to know if I noticed the similarities too."

Dr. Banes steers the car and takes a right between two stone pillars. He drives down the cobble stoned driveway to Cove Manor.

Connie is at the kitchen window, scrubbing away at the sink, dealing with Charlie's Chicken Cordon Black mess, no doubt.

"And did you notice any similarities?" Maggie says.

"At first, I didn't. Then, in the hospital, as we got to talking, well you reminded me so much of Mary, in so many different ways...it all just clicked."

"Clicked?"

Dr. Banes shrugs. "I just knew you were hers." He leans in so close, Maggie can see amber specks in his dark brown eyes. His pupils grow wide. "You are Mary's daughter, aren't you?" He stills, waiting and watching for Maggie's next move.

She gulps at the lump in her throat, speechless.

A smile creeps across his face. "I figured as much."

Maggie freezes. She can't find words to refute him. She doesn't have the energy to lie.

Dr. Banes leans back in his seat. "Have you told Connie that you know the truth about Mary Stone?"

Maggie nods. "Connie told me about Mary a week before I was hospitalized."

"Ahhh," Dr. Banes says in a sigh. "A trigger event. That explains a lot."

Maggie's eyebrows knit together.

"And those concussions you had, only exasperated the underlying symptoms you were already experiencing. They may have even been the cause of them."

"Trigger event? Exasperated symptoms? Cause?"

Dr. Banes nods. "Yes Margaret. You suffered a brain injury, just as Mary Stone did. Why else do you think you were hearing and seeing things that weren't there? Why else do you think you were experiencing delusions?"

Maggie stares at her fingers. Eli's scar above his right ear flashes in her mind. The itch inside her head grows more intense.

"To. What. End?" Dr. Banes says the words slowly, pronouncing the letters at the end of each word. "Toooo whattt enddd?"

Maggie shrugs. "To what end? What does that mean?"

"The truth. That was Mary's answer when I asked her why she was refusing medication. She told me she was chasing after the truth."

Maggie squeezes her fingers into fists so tightly, she punctures her skin with her fingernails.

"That was her end. What is yours?" He leans in closer. "To what end, Margaret?"

Eli's arrest, the car's stench, Dr. Banes's information about Connie and Mary Stone, brain infections, concussions, and exasperated symptoms all mix together in a somersault of nausea in Maggie's stomach.

"I have to go," she musters, as she pulls the handle and pushes against the door.

Dr. Banes presses his lips together into a tight smile. "Give my regards to Connie," he calls out as Maggie runs up the steps and into Cove Manor. 

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easel photo: https://unsplash.com/@justynwarner