Chapter 34

Although Oliver doesn't remember anything from the past he knows very well that he is good at holding his breath underwater. Previously, when the center was not yet under the General's supervision and the boy's only friend was Matthew, then he did not keep in touch with other people; he shunned them with a wide eye and disregarded any person who expressed a desire to start a conversation with him. Oliver often locked himself in the bathroom, intoxicated by false memories. He would fill the bathtub to the brim with cold water and dive into it, thus relaxing himself.

Finding himself late at night at the bottom of a dark pond, he has no fear. Holding a waterproof flashlight in his hand — which he found last year when he was serving his sentence — he helps himself to a valuable item that is claimed by phantoms in his friend's dreams. He wants to find it at all costs and give Sarah the peace she craves.

More precisely, he is shining a flashlight when a box catches his attention. He extends his hand toward it, and then something unexpected happens. A shocking flash appears in his mind. A memory that starts the first mental pain.

A muffled scream escapes from his throat. He panics.

Sara huddles near the edge of the pond, nervously biting her fingers. She feels a growing sense of unease as Oliver still does not surface. It's been a long time, and it could be dangerous for him. She is terrified.

The roommate who accompanies her looks much calmer. She believes that Oliver is a tough guy and nothing can put him down. In her mind she compares him to MacGyver.

- Another moment and you will fall into that water yourself. Come on, he's fine. Shortly, you will see his head. There aren't even fish there to eat him," she claims, rolling her eyes.

The girl does not respond. She ignores her words as she begins to get weak from nerves. She blames herself for letting him do this foolishness.

Furthermore, she opens her eyes wide and plunges them into the boy, who unexpectedly emerges on the shore. He swims up to her and sits down next to her, and she immediately takes his face in her hands, looking at him with obvious concern. She doesn't even pay attention to the fact that he is holding a box in his hand.

She sees his frightened, pale face, and that's enough to make her realize that he has met some obstacle underwater.

- Oliver, I almost died of fear for you. - Her voice trembles. She slaps his chest, not taking her eyes off his fear-filled face.

- I'm fine. Remember, that Grim Reaper is so afraid of me that he never dares to face me," he announces, forcing a smile. He tries to relieve the tension and forget for a moment the flashback from the past.

- That was the last time you did something so dangerous....

Laura, who is watching them, wrinkles her eyebrows getting the impression that lately they are increasingly acting out scenes of cheesy melodrama. Her attention is drawn to a metal box that Oliver is shining a flashlight on.

- I managed to take it with me. I think this is the thing that does not give you peace of mind," she turns to her friend. Sara opens her eyes wider, noticing a rusty metal box in front of her.

- Did you really make it?

- I'm great, no? - She lifts her face and notices his excited look. His eyes enthrall her intently, and he waits until she finally compliments him.

- At this point, I must admit that you have made an electrifying impression on me. You are appealing. - Laura, who is standing over them, is whooping with her saliva. She is surprised by her friend's words. She amazes her more and more every day.

A satisfied smile creeps onto Oliver's face.

- It was worth risking your life for such words.

Sara touches the metal box with her fingers and swallows her saliva harder. Her heart rises to her throat as she fears what she might see there shortly.

Oliver and Laura carefully look around to make sure no one is around. The boy shines his flashlight, and then Sara, with her heart beating hard, lifts the lid. They look at each other as they are surprised to find a wine bottle inside.

- So much noise about such a grandfatherly thing? The spirits have obviously made a mockery of you, Sara," Laura spoke, snorting under her breath.

- Wait, there's something inside," says Oliver, pulling the cork out of the bottle. A rolled up piece of paper falls out from inside.

The girls are surprised.

- I don't know about you, but I feel a strong fear of looking inside. - Sara holds her breath as the boy unwraps the paper. A map of the entire building is drawn there, and only one point on it is marked.

- Are you thinking the same thing as me? - exclaims Laura, snatching the paper from her colleague's hand. She brings it to her face, wondering where they should look for it.

- Yes. I think this LP is the answer to where uranium is.

Oliver rises from the ground and turns his back to the girls. Both of them pay no attention to him, as they are interested in the discovery. They are trying to figure out exactly where the place is.

The boy closes his eyelids and rubs his forehead with his fingers. An unpleasant current sweeps through his body as he recalls the flash that appeared in his head while he was underwater.

Someone was holding his head, not allowing him to emerge. He was waterlogged and couldn't catch his breath. The worst part of it all was the terror and fear of dying shortly, and then he was just a child.

*

Erik hangs around the psychologist's office for a while and eventually goes down to the underground part, as the man does not speak to him despite his exhortations. At first, he thinks that the man is indeed not in the room, but experiences a giant shock when he spots him unconscious on the floor in a pool of blood. He runs over to the man and crouches down beside him to check for a pulse. It's too late, because the psychologist is dead. Someone cruelly murdered him in his office.

With his hands dirty from blood, the boy retreats backwards. Tears appear in the corners of his eyes, because the psychologist was the only man he trusted, and he was the only one who could help him and his brother get out of this hell.

A mentally ill man, fiercely bangs on the glass, as if he wants to say something at all costs. He is restless and behaves dangerously, as he is the only witness to the incident and knows perfectly well who killed the psychologist.

Erik runs out of the office and as he heads down the corridor, he hears familiar voices. He runs in that direction and, with clear panic, jumps at the teenagers. Laura screams when she notices blood on his hands. To be safe, the boy covers her mouth.

- What happened? - Seeing the horror on his face, they are sure that something terrible has happened.

- The psychologist is dead. I found him dead in his office.

Everyone freezes. Even Laura, who by was now jerking off as she felt the taste of blood in her mouth.

 *

Sara looks at them with concern in her eyes as they try to figure out who killed the psychologist. They discuss the General, as he is the first to come to mind, but this cannot be true, as the man has not been in the building for a long time.

The girl at one point freezes. The thought of one person glues together all conjecture.

Could Alan actually kill the psychologist?

She completely cuts herself off from the conversation, trying to relate recent events. Alan warned her about the psychologist because he claimed the man was cheating on her and would get to the point where she would suffer. She didn't believe him. Could he actually have killed him for her safety?

She trembles with fear.

Is it also possible that the phantom who haunted her in the form of her grandmother and forced her to kill Alan is the psychologist's mother? She insisted that the teenager would kill someone again.... At all costs, she tried to protect someone and prevent this from happening, but destiny failed to change.

- Just not that," she whispers, putting her hands to her mouth.

- Sara? - Oliver's voice makes her focus all her attention on him. - What's going on?

- I could have avoided this... - she says, but the others still can't understand her. - If only I had listened to the phantom, I might have been able to save the man who was our only hope of rescue.

Oliver crinkles his eyebrows and walks over to the girl. He puts his hands on her shoulders and leans over her, looking carefully at her worried face.

- What do you have in mind?

- I think that to some extent I am complicit in the death of the psychologist. - She plunges a frightened look into his eyes. - I'm afraid you are all in danger. Each of you, just not me.

Oliver does not take his eyes off her for a long moment. He thinks intensely about the words she said and finally begins to understand it. His face twists into an ironic smile.

- Alan is the one who killed him. - He looks at the other people accompanying them and snorts under his breath. Sara nervously tightens her lips. - He was the one who killed him, wasn't he? - He again looks into the girl's eyes, which are darkening with anger. - I won't let him kill another person. We will not live in fear because of one damn asshole, in whom the blood of a murderer flows! - he screams, not controlling his anger.

He perceives that Sara is concerned about his behavior. And she is not afraid that he will become a murderer, but she is terrified by the thought that he is actually capable of killing Alan.

- Stop it, Oliver. - Her voice trembles with fear. - You are angry, so your thinking is not fully healthy. By doing so, you will only hurt yourself, and I can't stand it.

- What won't you put up with? That I will become a murderer, or that someone will finally kill this sick fuck!

- That another person I loved would become a murderer. - No one expected to hear similar words from her mouth. Sara surprises everyone once again today.