Chapter 9

It was almost Christmas, though it did not bring it's usual merriment. Eva had been unable to sleep that night, she couldn't keep her mind from revolving around the possibility of Oliver being bloody face. On every rational level she knew it not to be true, but there was a whisper of doubt within her. She couldn't place why though. She looked down at the Christmas dress before her, burgundy red. Quite fitting for this time of year. 'I need to find out what happened to Lana. Hopefully that will shed some light on this warped situation.'

She arrived at Briarcliff just before 9am. She had missed the patient's breakfast and she knew they would be in their rooms before going off to the day room. Making her way up to the women's block she greeted the nuns as she passed.

She knocked on the door of the cell before entering.

"Lana, it's Dr Sparrow. May I come in?" She heard a faint yes in response and went in. She pulled up a wooden chair to her bedside.

"If you are ok with it, I would like to ask you some questions about what happened to you while you were out of Briarcliff?"

"Yes, that would be ok." She replied rather timidly.

"Lana, you said you were with Dr Thredson, could you elaborate more on what happened for me please."

"He… he came to me a few days ago and told me he would get me out of here. So that night he snuck me past Frank and took me to his house. When I went inside there was…." She stopped mid flow as if remembering the horror.

"It's ok, carry on." Eva coaxed softly.

"There was a bowl on the coffee table, it looked to be made from a human skull and the lampshade had a nipple. He locked me in his basement and chained me to a bed. He killed my Wendy and disposed of her body."

She paused and then looked Eva dead in the eyes. "Then he raped me. Repeatedly. He told me we had reached an impass, said it was the kindest thing to kill me, he was gonna put me out. But I managed to escape, I choked him with the chain that held me. Then I was in the crash and I woke up here."

"Ok. Thank you for sharing with me Lana."

"You'll talk to the police won't you? Tell them about Thredson, that Kit Walker is innocent!"

"I'll try Lana. But I cannot make any promises."

Eva left the room feeling sick to her stomach. There was a war raging inside her.

"These are just the ramblings of a mental patient. Accusing Oliver of being Bloody Face, how bizarre! It almost makes me laugh. Then why can't I shake the feeling that it might be true. Oliver is a good man and a great doctor, but there is something about him, something I cannot quite put my finger on. Something in his eyes, that twists."

Eva pushed the thought to the back of her head and carried on with her day.

Dr Sparrow had spent very little time in her office since Thredson's departure. With the increased work load she had spent most of her days in the company of the patients. That evening, while the patients were around the Christmas tree, Eva went to the office to sort out her holiday paperwork. There was a small closet to the side of the office in which she had stored her patient files. She sat down on the floor and began to sort through. It was 8pm, she hadn't heard the office door softly creek open and the sound of the telephone being dialled.

She looked up from her file when she heard the door close and Thredson's voice say, "Hope you're not planning on making a toll call."

She heard the telephone cord be ripped from the wall. "How did you find me?" Lana asked fearfully.

"We you were in a car accident Lana, the details were in all the papers. 'Escaped mental patient returned to ward.'"

"You'll never get away with it, not as long as I have a voice"

'He'll deny it he has to. Oliver deny it, I know you didn't do it!' She thought frantically.

"Is that what you were doing on the phone? You were going to call the police? You know what I've been doing since you left me? I've been mourning. You made me kill bloody face."

'What? No!'

"I've been through every inch of my house with a toothbrush clearing up- no... Bone, no... Skin, no... Drop of blood escaped my scrutiny, and the furnace has been burning red hot believe me."

"You haven't made me dissapear. I'm a witness."

'She was telling the truth, Lana was telling the truth all along.'

"To the courts? An unreliable one at best. In fact, I was just gonna let you talk, with no hard evidence, who do you think they'll believe, the doctor or the patient? But then I thought about how you betrayed me. I opened my heart to you, I told you my story, and you used it to confuse me. You made me give you my intamacy, and that is a wrong that I need to make right. I should never have chose you Lana, you blinded me from my real one, and with you gone, Eva will fall right into place."

'What!' Eva threw her hand over her mouth to stop from crying out.

"You're insane. Everyone is gonna be able to see that. Especially her."

"I've lost so much recently, I feel like I've been set adrift in the open sea... But now... That you're here so close to me again, and with Eva unknowingly downstairs, well I feel like I have been found."

She heard Lana gasping and the force of her body being thrown around like a rag doll. Her shouts were muffled and Thredson sushed her. Eva didn't know what to do, he could kill Lana easily but he could kill her as well. She couldn't call for help, it isn't a rare sound to be heard especially in an asylum. Eva just froze.

"Do you believe in fate Lana? Hmmm? You've help draw Eva and I together like a magnet, and I must admit I didn't fully understand your purpose till now. But now like the Phoenix, who had to turn to ashes. Bloody Face had to burn so he could be born again. And your skin... Will make the start of a whole new bloody face for Eva and I to enjoy."

Her blood ran cold, and she felt faint by every word he said. She heard Lana's wailing and cries for help. She wanted to stop this, get her away from him, but she couldn't do anything she couldn't move. A large crash made her jump and she felt the vibrations of a weight hitting the floor.

There was silence for a few moments.

"We have to kill him." She heard Lana say.

"Wait wait wait stop! Stop it! Wait a minute." It was Kit, he was with her. He must have hit Thredson. That must have been thud on the floor.

"You have to let me do this." She begged.

"We need him. He's the only thing standing between me and the electric chair."

Eva listened to them talk about the manhunt and why they hadn't turned Kit in yet. Even she didn't know he was back at Briarcliff.

"What are we going to do with him?" Kit asked.

"Get me some rope. We can tie him up and put him somewhere."

"The supply closet down the hall. No one goes there, we can leave him there til we get to speak to the cops." Kit said.

Eva heard grunting, she peeked a look through the crack in the door to see Thredson's unconscious body being dragged out the door.