Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
It takes her a moment of consideration before she answers. “I can and I will, but afterward. I don’t want to influence you. It’s important that we do this right.”
I give in. Mostly because I figure I don’t have a choice. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”
She points to the door again. “Change into the clothes provided and meet me back out here.”
So I do. And when I’m done changing Penny leads the way into a large room where the machine is. I’ve had a lot of MRIs in my life, so all of this is familiar until I am handed a remote to click. Once for yes, twice for no. The next thing I know, I’m inside it, answering questions.
None of the questions are meaningful. I figure this out pretty quick. They have nothing to do with me personally. They are yes and no questions meant to stimulate a reaction in my brain. And there are a lot of them.
“Olive,” an unfamiliar voice says through a speaker inside the machine. “Please remain still as we process some of your results. The test is not over. It will resume in a few minutes.”
That’s probably a bad sign.
But there’s nothing I can do about it, so I close my eyes and let myself drift, so tired, I could fall asleep in here.
Olive! Olive, where are you?
My eyes fly open. “Brose?”
“Please remain still, Olive,” the voice in the speaker says. “The test is not over.”
It’s me, Brose says. But the weird thing is, he’s not here, but I can hear him inside my head. Bet you thought I bailed, huh?
I can’t answer him. Not without being chastised again. And anyway, I don’t want whoever is on the other end of that speaker to hear my conversation with Brose.
So I have it inside my head, which doesn’t even feel weird.
I find myself inside a room. Brose is sitting in a chair at the far end. He looks good in that suit. No tie. The collar is open. The chair is kind of low and wide, so he’s a little bit slumped into the cushions and his legs are open. My eyes get stuck there between them for a moment, but automatically scan back up to his face when he grabs himself and chuckles. “Do you miss me?”
“Oh, God, you have no idea. Where did you go? Why did you leave me? What the hell is going on?”
Shhhh, he says. Then he beckons me to him with a single crooked finger. Come here. Sit in my lap. Let me hold you.
I don’t, though. Because this isn’t real. “Where are we? What is this place?”
What is this place? Brose snickers. It’s your head, love. It’s where I live.
“I… don’t understand.”
Yes, you do. I live here, Olive. Inside your head. Just as you live in mine.
I’m trying to force these words to make sense, but they just… don’t.
Listen. Brose’s words are sharp now. We don’t have much time. Where is Shep?
“Shep? I don’t know. Somewhere around here.”
Look for him.
“How? I’m inside an MRI machine.”
You know how. Relax and concentrate.
“I don’t know what you want. I—”
“Olive?” the voice in the speaker says. “We’re going to begin again. Once for yes, two for no.”
Easy, Brose says. I’m still in the room with him, he’s still in the chair, but none of this is making sense to me. Just relax, Olive. Answer their questions. Press that button each time—however many times you want, it doesn’t matter. But while you’re doing that, I want you to find Shep. I want you to look for him. He points to the door behind me, which I didn’t actually realize was there. You can go out there, Olive, and look for him.
The speaker starts the questions again, and without even thinking, I’m pressing the button on the remote in my hand.
Go on, Brose says. Go look for him.
I turn back to Brose, confused. “Why?”
He gives me the same smile that Penny woman did. Who thinks for you, Olive?
I deflate a little. “You do.”
And who acts for me?
“I do.”
Yes, good. Now go look for Shep. His voice changes a little at the end here. It sounds… deeper. Meaner. Older?
But it’s still him in that chair. And he’s given me a task.
He thinks for me, I act for him.
So I leave the room and go looking for Shep.
24 - Brose
Are you ready, Ambrose?
“Yes.” I do not hesitate. I don’t know what my grandfather’s talking about, but I don’t need to know. He thinks for me, I act for him.
Good. Let’s begin. Do you know where Olive is?
“No.”
I need you to find her. Can you look for her?
At first, I don’t know what he means because I’m asleep. I think. But then, in my mind’s eye, I see a tunnel. Like a funnel. It’s black with bright glowing lines. Like an outline or a skeleton of the shape of the tunnel. Something that reminds me of a 3-D model. And it’s moving. Racing. Like I’m inside this tunnel, rushing through it at an incredible speed. It’s something you’d see in a movie. A special effect.