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"And for the reasons stated above, I think the best course of action is to resign from my position as a Clinical Psychiatrist at Holston's Institution"

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. This was it. It felt like I was running away but what else could I do. I just didn't understand how I could suddenly meet someone and have such a strong... attraction. It just didn't make sense. How was he able to make that guard just collapse? Something strange was happening behind the scenes and I didn't want to be a part of it.

I was debating on what I should tell my parents. I mean, they wouldn't mind if I came back - they might even be happy. But trying to explain the reasons why was already giving me a headache.

KK watched me from her perch on the armrest on the sofa.

"Should I send in my letter of resignation?" I spoke mostly to myself but KK meowed back in response to my surprise. She stood, stretched and yawned and then made her way to where I was where she promptly sat on my keyboard, adding random keys to my meticulously made resignation note.

"KK! What are you doing?! Get off!!"

I tried shooing her off and when that didn't work, I picked her up and set her aside. She meowed at me a few more times to get my attention.

"Why are you acting so weird?"

Ping.

The sound came from my laptop grabbing my attention immediately. I ran to my laptop to see why the notification had popped up and my heart skipped a couple of beats when I saw it was from work. I opened it and scanned over the lengthy email quickly in shock. They were going to promote me? For what?

I fell back on the sofa in confusion. Why would they suddenly want to promote me to high-risk patient?! I had only been working there for less than a month and my trainee phase hadn't still ended. I read the last line again.

"For your further enquiries, please come and see me.

Dr Patel"

I sat back and closed my eyes to think with a sigh. This wasn't right. Although, honestly, I would take this 'high-risk patient' any day over Jessica after what happened. Who was this high-risk patient anyway?

Maybe I was glad that I wasn't going to treat Jessica anymore after what she tried to pull off yesterday but I wasn't that naive. After what just happened, only a crazy person would willingly go back there.

Suddenly my phone started ringing and when I picked it up, I realised it was a video call from my parents which I reluctantly answered.

"Hi, Mum and Dad", I smiled whilst internally groaning.

"Hi princess, how is work going? Wait, why do you look so sick for?!" My dad's voice rose with every word he spoke in barely concealed panic.

My mums face popped into view and she gave me a critical once over.

"Arya, you're an adult now, I hope you're not staying up all night watching stuff".

"Mum! I was a legal adult around about seven years ago!" I exclaimed in frustration.

"So why do you not look well? Are you sick?! That's not good, your mother and I are coming over so you stay put".

I sat back and contemplated. There was no way in hell I was letting them come over. Most of the food my mum gave me still sat in my freezer untouched and there were packets of instant noodles in the bin. I wasn't even sick anyway, but I was obviously visibly affected by what happened yesterday.

"Arya?" Dad's concerned voice rang out from my phone.

"Well, last night I may have watched a few things and it's my day off today so why not? I wouldn't have time normally" I lied smoothly.

My mum sighed and tutted whereas Dad gave me a cheeky wink and a sneaky thumbs up.

She then began to lecture me about wasting my time and how important it is to get a good night's sleep which I completely zoned out of as I could feel a headache creeping up on me slowly.

"Speaking of work, guess what! I got a promotion" I cut in hoping to change the subject.

My parents face lit up and they began gushing on about how proud they were in me and asking for details about what my promotion would mean.

Shit, I thought. I wasn't planning to stay in Holston's but now I pretty much had sealed my fate by telling my parents about the promotion. I sighed because deep down I knew that no matter how many excuses I made, I would never have been able to send in that letter of resignation in. The same feeling that made me feel like running for the hills also drew me into whatever was going on. Not to mention him.

I answered their questions half-heartedly and after showing my parents what KK was doing and answering a few more random questions (as well as sneakily changing the subject when asked about what I was eating), I cut the phone under the pretence of having 'loads of work to do'.

And as soon the phone call ended, I heard a knock on my front door. With a massive sigh at the thought of having to socialise, I forced myself up and went to look out via the peephole in the door. Standing there, laidback with his hands in his pockets was Karl, his mop of red hair pushed back neatly. I went to open the door whilst watching through the peephole when I suddenly found myself filled with revulsion at the sight of Karl.

Every time, I reached my hand to open the door, I would be filled with anxiety, worry and the feeling that I didn't want to see him. I didn't know where any of this came from but it hit me like a truck and I flung myself away from the door to get away from the sudden unease. I felt like I wanted to run away as far as possible and my palms were sweaty from my fear. I crept up to the door again and watched nervously as he rang again, tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

Finally, he sighed and turned back, heading away from my house and a huge feeling of relief washed over me. I slumped back against the door with my phone still gripped in my left hand.

Moreover, than anything else, I was confused. Whatever just happened now didn't normally happen. I mean normally, I looked forward to seeing him but right now it felt like he was the last person I would ever want to see.

My phone lit up with a notification and upon checking it, I noticed it was from Karl.

"Hey, u. knocked on ur door but u might be sleeping :("

I looked in disgust at the text. Why was his texting so abbreviated like that? Why was that bothering me for God's sake?!

It felt like everything he was doing was getting on my nerves and pissing me off so I put my phone to the side to gather my thoughts.

"What is going on KK?" I whispered softly. "I saw this man yesterday that I've never seen before but I can't forget about him, his face, and his presence".

She sat silently, not blinking.

"And now, I can't stand the sight of Karl, but why, it doesn't make sense! Everything was fine until yesterday..." I trailed off as I came to a realisation. Ever since I came here, weird things have happened and are happening. It had nothing to do with the village and its inhabitants that's for sure, rather the blame was all pointing at Holston's and more importantly, the man that appeared from the depths of the basement and stole away all my logic and rationality.

I sat up determined. I was going to get to the bottom of this no matter what. I needed to know what happened between Malik and me and why it was affecting me so badly as well as why there were so many secrets swirling about Holston's.

Pushing myself up from the door, I firmed my resolve and composed a reply on my laptop confirming that I would be coming into work tomorrow and I would accept the high-risk patient. There was no backing out now and I was no coward. The scientist inside of me was burning with curiosity at all the unexplained mysteries. I was going to find out what the hell was going on no matter what.

___

Work had a sombre mood that I detected before I even got into the main building. There was clear infrastructure damage which was already being fixed by a swarm of construction workers. I hesitantly stepped into the main building and tried to ignore the wave of emotions and fear washing over me. I patiently waited for Dr Patel to come down and receive me but instead of hearing the firm sound of his Oxford shoes, I heard the clicking of heels. Looking up, I met the gaze of Dr Seacole who, as usual, had not a hair out of place.

"Dr Patel is not available right now, so he is not able to show you to your patient and I too, am rather busy. Nurse Carter will be taking you where you need to go, just take the second exit through this corridor", she nodded brusquely at me and walked off without a second glance. I groaned silently, she was acting colder than usual and it was probably because of yesterday.

I stood and did as she told me where I found Nurse Carter waiting patiently. She brightened up as she saw me and smiled widely.

"Arya! How have you been?"

"Alright, I suppose. Just need to get my mind of what happened yesterday", I sighed.

She laughed nervously as soon as I mentioned yesterday and gestured for me to follow her as she took off. I hastily followed after her wondering why she was rushing. The path we took, was long and winding and I had a strong feeling that we were somehow descending from the ground floor.

"Nurse Carter, who exactly is this new patient?" I asked quizzically.

"Oh", she laughed restlessly. "You'll see when we get there".

"But what about patient notes?" I interjected. "I know nothing about who this patient is so how can I do anything".

"Oh will you look at this, we are here", she said as she pushed through a door with a pair of guards posted whilst tapping her ID and pin code in, in a way that seemed like a regular practice. "Arya, in advance, I am sorry, but the patient requested you specifically and there was not much we could do about it due to his position..."

I completely ignored her as my gaze drifted behind her and landed on something which sent my pulse soaring. Not something, but someone and specifically him.

My breaths seemed harsher than before as I stared in shock. Separating us was a one-way mirror and a heavily padlocked entrance to get to his room. He sat at ease in his chair, shackled to the ground with a straitjacket wrapping itself around his body much like a chained predator waiting for vengeance and the moment to pounce.

"Malik", I breathed out.

As soon as that cursed name left my lips, his head slowly turned up until his fiery gaze met mine. His eyes never left mine, pinning me with its intense raw emotion and I felt instantly overwhelmed and small. A small, smug smile made its way across his face.

I had been tricked.

Soo,

This was one day late so it's a little longer than usual. (I'm ignoring the pile of work I need to do to update Captivated TT) 

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