Chapter 4

Dinner was a quiet, tense affair. Just me, Julian, and Eleanor.

The food was rich, but I could barely swallow.

The strange, sweet scent from my room was stronger here, mixed with the smell of old wood and something like incense.

My head started to feel fuzzy, my thoughts tangled.

It was happening. Just like I planned. Just like it must have happened to them.

I let my fork clatter to my plate.

"I know what you did," I said, my voice rising, a little wild.

Eleanor Thorne' s eyes narrowed. Julian flinched.

"I know you killed them! All of them! You're murderers!" I screamed it.

Footsteps hurried down the hall. Staff, wide-eyed and scared.

Sheriff Thompson pushed through them. I' d sent him a note yesterday, a desperate plea.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, his hand near his gun.

"She's hysterical," Eleanor said, her voice sharp. "Just like the others. She needs to be sedated, restrained. For her own safety."

Julian, looking more like a ghost than a man, reached a hand towards me.

"Sarah, please..."

I recoiled. His skin looked waxy, cold. I remembered Emily, how cold she was.

I imagined reaching for his pulse, finding nothing.

"You did this!" I shrieked at them. "You made them do it!"

My vision was blurring. The drug, whatever it was, was strong.