My Hockey Alpha novel Chapter 101

Nina

While I slept, I had a strange dream.

I dreamed that I was walking through the forest just outside of campus. I recognized where I was, and I knew the path well as I walked. Up ahead, I could make out the clearing where I had last kissed Justin on the night that I discovered that he was a rogue.

It was nighttime, and the moon was full. The air was perfectly still and warm.

As I stepped into the clearing, however, I knew that I wasn’t alone. Across the clearing, moving in unison with me, was a large wolf with red fur and a cream-colored streak across its face.

I stopped in the middle of the clearing. The wolf stopped in front of me. I reached out to touch it…

But then, I woke up.

I wasn’t in the forest; I was back in my room. When I tried to move, I realized that the restraints were around my wrists and ankles again.

“Good morning,” a familiar voice said from beside me. I looked over to see Edward sitting on his stool next to me with a smile on his face. “Which Nina am I talking to today?”

“Good Nina,” I replied, remembering what had happened earlier in the closet. Evil Nina had taken over for a bit, but Edward saved me, and now I was in control again.

Edward’s smile widened. “That’s good to hear.” He paused, reaching over to the table next to him and picking up a cup. “I’m going to start giving you some new medicine,” he said. “It’ll taste a little funny, but it’ll help make sure that Evil Nina doesn’t come back again. We wouldn’t want that to happen, would we?”

I shook my head. Edward, still smiling from ear to ear, leaned forward. He lifted my head with one hand, then held the cup to my lips with the other. I drank. It did taste funny -- a little bitter -- but I drank all of it, because I didn’t want to lose control to Evil Nina again. I wanted to get better so that I could go home to my family, just like Justin.

“There,” Edward said, setting the cup down. Next, he unbuckled the restraints around my wrists and ankles, and helped me sit up. “I’m not going to keep you restrained now that you’ve taken your medicine. But you have to promise to take your medicine every time I give it to you, otherwise I will have to restrain you again. Okay?”

I nodded.

“Good. Now, I’m going to take care of the bad man who came to steal you away. You might hear some scary noises, but I promise that they’re just the sounds of him resisting his treatment, just like you did at first.” He patted me on the head like a dog, then headed toward the door. “I’ll be back later to give you more medicine,” he said, then disappeared through the door.

Not long after Edward left, the medicine must have begun to kick in, because I started to feel a tingling in my body. I stood up and crossed over to the desk in the corner to draw, but realized then that Edward had taken away my drawing supplies.

“Hm,” I said out loud to myself. “I guess I’m not allowed to draw anymore.”

“He’s a liar.”

I jumped, whirling around to search for the source of the disembodied female voice that echoed in my head -- but there was no one there. I shook my head and walked over to the other side of the room.

“Edward is not your savior. He’s brainwashing you. He’s using hypnotic abilities to make you his minion.”

“That’s not true,” I replied without thinking. “Edward is really nice, and when I’m better, I’ll get to go home.”

“Nina, if none of your experiences over the past four years are real and Enzo never existed, then why did Enzo come to save you?”

I frowned, then clapped my hands over my ears and began to repeat my mantra under my breath. This voice was clearly just another one of my hallucinations… If I just repeated my mantra enough, I could make it go away.

“My name is Nina Harper…”