Chapter 50 - The Husband I Buried

Now

Dr. Avery didn’t look back to check if we were following.

He didn’t need to.

The empty corridor stretched ahead of him, seeming almost endless. Soft lighting and clean lines created a sense of peace and tranquility, every design choice carefully calibrated to calm the mind.

No signs on the doors.

No indication of where the corridors led. Maybe the regulars didn’t need them.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked.

‘We don’t have signage plastered around,’ he said, as though reading my mind. ‘It’s important to think about where you’re going. To seek out places without being led. A few wrong turns along the way are a blessing. They teach you unexpected lessons.’

Keith exhaled beside me, raising his eyebrows, as if asking if this guy was for real.

‘That’s not an answer,’ he said.

Dr. Avery ignored him. He kept walking like he had all the time in the world.

But in the pit of my stomach, I couldn’t curb the anticipation of seeing Luis again.

How would he react?

Would he be glad to see me, or would he be shocked I’d found him?

The building changed the deeper we went.

Not dramatically.

Subtly.

The air felt thicker. Quieter. Like sound didn’t travel properly here. The waterfall feature cascading down the wall was muted, making me think of a cave.

We passed an open door.

Inside, a man sat at a table.

His hands were folded in front of him. His eyes were open. But he was completely still. Not moving, not blinking.

I slowed, pausing in front of the doorway. He was looking toward me, but it was as if he looked right through me.

He didn’t react at all. Didn’t acknowledge that we were even standing there.

‘Is he—’ I started.

‘Engaged,’ Dr. Avery said, sounding particularly pleased. ‘A sort of meditation. He’s doing important work.’

It didn’t look like work. He looked vacant, like he was daydreaming, but not about anything good.

Dr. Avery gestured for us to keep walking.

Reluctantly, I kept going, fighting the urge to turn back and ask the man if he was OK. I wasn’t an expert on meditation, but I wasn’t sure you were supposed to do it with your eyes open. It looked creepy, like he was thinking about something very unpleasant.

We turned a corner.

A woman crossed the hallway ahead of us.

She stopped when she saw me. Her gaze held mine for too long, like she was forming an opinion.

Then, she smiled unexpectedly.

It didn’t reach her eyes.

‘Are you new?’ she asked, looking from Keith to me.

‘We’re just visiting,’ I said.

Her smile deepened slightly. ‘Everyone’s just visiting,’ she said.

Before I could ask what she meant, she walked past us.

So close her shoulder brushed by mine. Deliberately. I turned to watch her go but she didn’t look back.

‘Do they all talk like that?’ Keith muttered.

‘They’re learning to express themselves more honestly,’ Dr. Avery said.

‘That didn’t feel honest.’

‘Honesty can be uncomfortable.’

We kept moving, slower than before. Or maybe it just felt that way.

The people seemed to be getting stranger the deeper we went. More distant. And we still hadn’t arrived at wherever Luis was.

Another woman passed us, her face expressionless. She walked with a perfectly straight back, like she had been trained to do so. She carried a tray with a lid on it. Possibly delivering a meal to one of the rooms. It was impossible to tell.

Voices drifted towards us from somewhere up ahead. Low and measured. I strained my ears, trying to hear what they were saying. I couldn’t make out the words at first. Then, a man’s voice. Calm and controlled.

‘It won’t happen overnight. It takes time.’

Something in my chest tightened.

I stopped walking. For a second, it sounded like Luis.

But maybe it was just me, hyper-aware and looking for signs of him in this place.

Keith glanced at me. ‘What?’

‘Listen.’

The voice continued.

‘. . . what you think you saw doesn’t—’

Silence. The words cut out abruptly. Like someone knew we were there and had stopped talking.

Dr. Avery had stopped ahead of us. Waiting.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked.

‘I heard people talking,’ I said. ‘It sounded like . . .’ I shook my head. His name stuck in my throat. I didn’t dare to hope. Now that I was this close, I was more scared than ever of losing him for good.

We passed a glass panel. Frosted, but not completely. We stopped in front of it. There was movement behind it. Shifting figures. Another figure stood still, facing right toward us.

I slowed. The outline didn’t move. Didn’t turn. Didn’t leave. Just stood there. Watching us.

My pulse kicked. ‘Is someone in there?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ said Dr. Avery. ‘But he is busy. We need to keep moving.’

I wanted to stay, to look inside and make sure it wasn’t him. ‘Is it Luis?’ I asked, trying to prepare myself for the crushing blow of being told it wasn’t him.

‘It could be,’ said Dr. Avery cryptically. ‘Do you want to go inside and find out?’

‘Is this a “three doors and you’re out” kind of deal?’ asked Keith. I looked at him. It was a fair question. We both waited for Dr. Avery to answer.

‘No. It’s up to you if you want to go inside,’ said Dr. Avery after a pause.

Was he enjoying watching me sweat like this?

The door ahead was closed. Unmarked, like all the rest. Was this a meeting room? Or was it someone’s quarters? The rooms here were laid out like apartments, but they might still be workspaces.

Dr. Avery looked at me, waiting to see what I’d do.

His gaze was long and measured. Like he was waiting.

I lifted my hand to knock on the door.

‘Before you go in,’ he said quietly, stopping me, ‘you need to understand something.’

‘She doesn’t need a speech,’ said Keith, clearly thinking that Dr. Avery was stalling.

‘She might.’

Avery turned back to me and made a show of starting again.

‘You accepted our invitation because you were expecting a reunion,’ he said. ‘That’s not what this is.’

My hand tightened at my side.

‘Then why did you invite me here?’ I asked.

‘We select our members carefully. And you are a potential candidate. We think we could offer you just as much as you offer us.’ He smiled. ‘That’s why we’ve agreed to your requests so far. We want you to consider our offer carefully, were we to make one.’

I stepped up to the door. If he was playing games, if Luis wasn’t here, I’d walk right out of there and never look back.

I swallowed hard, wondering what I would do if he was inside.

I still wasn’t sure. I pressed my knuckles against the door, thinking before I knocked. The glass was cold against my fist. I was hesitant not because I was having doubts, but because something in me already knew this wasn’t going to be simple. What if I found Luis sitting there like the man I’d seen earlier? What if he looked straight through me, too?

I sucked in a breath and knocked. Three raps in a row.

Then, I waited.