A familiar, but incredibly annoying musical tone cut through the peaceful silence of my sleep. It was jarring and maddening, but it wouldn't go away. No, it kept repeating, piercing my head like daggers to my brain. I had to get rid of it, but my entire body felt like a dead weight. I tried to move, but my body would not respond. The sound continued. It took me several moments to realise it was my ringtone. It took all of my strength to lift my hand and grab my phone. Squinting at the screen I saw Lilly's profile picture on my lock screen and adrenaline took over. In my rush to answer the phone, I nearly dropped it to the floor, but I managed to catch it at the last second and answered the call.

"Hi Lilly," I said rubbing my forehead. "What's up?"

"I know you said to avoid making contact with you, but this... this is kind of an emergency. Or at least I think so, even if the others don't necessarily agree with me," Lilly rambled.

"Hang on, when did I ever say don't contact us? I never said that," I frowned. "You're always free to contact us."

"You said so last week? Or was it the week before?" Lilly thought out loud. "Oh I know, it was when I sent you the message about Richy's parole approval!"

"Wait, what? I know I am still half asleep, but did you say Richy received parole?" I sat up as I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "You said his parole was denied!"

"Uh, no, it was most definitely approved," Lilly insisted. "I know we all wish it wasn't, but no amount of denying that is going to change it."

"No, but you sent me a message saying it was denied! I know you did!" I exclaimed.

I lowered my phone and put Lilly on speakerphone so I could go check the message history, but anything prior to my new phone was gone.

"Shit, new phone. I can't even double check!" I rolled my eyes.

"Really? Weird, when I got a new phone my old chat history was still there," Lilly commented. "Let me take a screenshot of my history and send it to you."

After a minute or so of waiting, I received an image file from Lilly. I opened it and my blood ran cold.

Lilly: MC... they approved his parole!

Lilly: How could they do that?

MC: What?

Lilly: I know! Dan's here losing his mind!

Lilly: Why Richy and not Hannah!?

MC: The system has failed us. The truly guilty never receive adequate punishment.

Lilly: Will you let Jake know? I don't think I can bring myself to tell him.

MC: I will handle it.

MC: Lilly, I have to ask that you limit contact with us for a while. It is currently too dangerous.

Lilly: No contact at all?

MC: Only in case of an emergency.

Lilly: Got it

Lilly: Well, give my big brother a hug for me will you? And stay safe!

MC: You too, Lilly.

"Lilly..." my voice trembled. "That wasn't me."

"What do you mean it wasn't you? Oh God, was it one of your pursuers?" Lilly gasped. "Shit, I'm sorry!"

"No, Lilly, it's worse than that," my breathing became erratic. "That was Jake."

"Huh? Why didn't he tell me he was using your phone?" Lilly pondered.

"Because he wasn't," I bit my lip. "I had my phone the entire time. He hacked my phone to filter my messages and respond to you."

"Why would he do that? It doesn't make sense!" Lilly pondered.

"The bigger question is why did he impersonate you and tell me the parole was denied? Why didn't he want me to know Richy was getting out?" I tried to search my mind for an explanation.

"Oh, um, that brings me to reason for my call," Lilly said nervously. "The thing is, Richy got out three days ago. He chose to stay with his cousin in Colville rather than return to Duskwood. I couldn't blame him really. Anyway, his cousin says Richy went out to buy some drinks two nights ago and he didn't return."

"He's missing?" I stood up as the pieces started to come together.

"He is. Alan called me. He called everyone. He wanted to make sure we hadn't seen or heard of him. The cops think he might have... ended things somewhere. They said he had taken the parole hearing very poorly and his cousin was meant to be watching him to make sure he didn't do anything destructive... Oh, MC, the others don't think he's worth worrying about, but I don't know. Something about it feels very wrong to me," Lilly explained.

"Lilly," I paused as I almost mentioned we were still in Colville. "This is worth worrying about. But I'll need to get back to you, ok? There's some things I need to check into."

"You don't think..." Lilly began.

"Let's not jump to conclusions," I said rather hypocritically. Jumping to conclusions was exactly what I was doing. "I'll call you back later when I have more information."

"Ok," she said hesitantly. "Please stay safe, MC."

"You too, Lilly," I nodded, then ended the call.

I suddenly started to feel woozy so I sat back down on the couch. I know I was woken up abruptly, but I shouldn't be feeling so lightheaded. While I waited for the feeling of vertigo to pass, I checked my other notifications on my phone. There were two emails from Dr. Cumming.

<<I am sorry to hear you are not well and couldn't make it tonight, but please call me. I have the name and address of a clinic where you can receive treatment anonymously. It is dangerous to be on the street this time of year without proper treatment.>>

<<Even if you're unwell, please come to tonight's session. I will arrange for some general antibiotics that you can pick up from my office. If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.>>

What was the doctor talking about? We had seen him just last night! I marked the emails unread to respond to later, then went back to the home screen to swap to the browser to check the local news. That's when I saw it...

<<Saturday>>

Saturday!? What the fuck happened to Friday!? Nausea quickly built up in my stomach and I fought the urge to hurl. Not that it mattered. There was nothing to vomit up. I hadn't eaten in over 24 hours.

I glanced over and noticed a bottle of water sitting on the desk. I picked it up and left the office. Of course Jake wasn't anywhere to be seen, but that didn't even surprise me anymore. I went straight for the kitchenette downstairs and dumped the "water" into the sink. After rinsing the bottle out several times, I then refilled it with fresh, untainted water from the tap. As I started to drink it, I suddenly became aware of just how dehydrated I was and ended up gulping the entire bottle in one go. I refilled it again and drank some more. Slowly I could feel the fog in my head lifting.

I grabbed the box of muesli and ate it straight out of the box while I wracked my brain on what to do next. Some voices in my head tried to reason a plausible explanation for all of this, while others could only see one possibility. Jake enacted revenge on Richy. Killed him even. No, I was jumping to conclusions again. One wasn't necessarily connected to the other. It could all just be a coincidence. A weird, crazy coincidence.

Fuck, who was I kidding?

There was only one way to find out for sure. Where was Jake now? I checked my phone and sure enough he hadn't renabled the tracking on his phone. That would have been too simple, right? Let's not forget I didn't have access to the CCTV anymore. I literally had no idea where he was now or where he had been for these past few days. I was at a complete loss. I needed answers and I couldn't trust anyone, not even Jake, to give me them. If only I could somehow follow Jake and see what he was up to.

I paced around the room, trying to figure out how to follow someone who not only didn't want to be followed, but he drugged me to make sure I couldn't get involved. Did I really sleep through an entire day? Surely the drug had its limits. It couldn't have kept me asleep all that time. I closed my eyes and tried to recall my last memory. I remember him pouring the glass of wine and talking with him in this very room, but then everything became cloudy. Why couldn't I remember anything after that? Suddenly, I recalled his voice speaking calmly to me.

"Did I wake you?" he said gently.

"Mmh," I tried to open my eyes, but the light was too bright.

"Drink, angel," he cooed. "It's full of vitamins to keep you going."

A warm, somewhat sweet but also bitter liquid entered my mouth. Swallowing was challenging at first, but became easier slowly. My eyelids fluttered open and saw Jake holding my head up lovingly.

"I just need a bit more time," he assured me.

I finished the drink, but I was confused as to what was happening. "Jake, I'm still so tired."

"I know, angel. Let the sleep take you softly again," he leant down and kissed my lips softly. "You're safe here."

My skin crawled and my stomach churned again, but that memory did reveal one truth. He had returned to make sure I stayed asleep. He probably thought he knew exactly when the drug would wear out and I would wake again, but he made a miscalculation. My ringtone acted as an alarm and woke me up prematurely.

I had one of two options. Either I could pretend I was I still asleep, but then I would somehow have to feign drinking the next dose under his watchful eye. Or somehow get my hands on some sort of anti-sleep drug to counteract the one I was being given. No, that was far too risky. It was better to stick with the truth. I had woken up early. He didn't need to know how or why. He also didn't need to know that I was aware of what was happening. It would be easier to pretend to consume a contaminated drink and feign sleep from there. Once he was confident I was asleep, he would leave again, none the wiser. Then I could follow him and find out what he was up to. To pull it off though, I had to convince him my wake up was genuine and natural.

MC: Hey, where are you? I only just woke up and it's already 4.

Jake: Sorry, I had a few things that I needed to look after. It's taken longer than I had expected. You were so beautifully sound asleep that I didn't want to wake you.

MC: Thank you, I guess I needed it!

Jake: I would say you did. I hope you are feeling better.

MC: I am definitely well rested now

MC: Will you be back soon or should I call Dr. Cumming to say we won't be visiting tonight?

Jake: No, I will be back soon.

Jake: I promise, it won't be much longer.

MC: You're going to have to make it up to me!

Jake: Will I?

MC: Yes!

Jake: And how do you propose I make it up to you?

MC: Well you could start with dinner!

Jake: Got it. ;)

It was nearly dark when Jake finally returned with Chinese food and a bottle of Baijiu, Chinese liquor.

"So sorry I am late," he gave me his best puppy-eyed expression.

"Wow, that smells delicious!" I faked my best smile.

"And I'm told this liquor goes great with it," he beamed.

"Jake, not before the appointment," I frowned.

"One drink won't hurt," he pressured.

It was apparent that he had no intention of making that session tonight. He would feed me and put me back to sleep. And who knew what happened after that.

"Ugh, you're so bad," I rolled my eyes. "Fine! You've convinced me!"

Jake smirked and placed the bottle on the table, then went over to grab glasses from the drying rack. He filled one glass with water from the tap, then returned to the table. Meanwhile after I spread the takeout containers out on the table, I went to the drying rack to grab cutlery and plates, watching Jake from the corner of my eye. He opened the bottle and poured the liquor into the second glass, but he had conveniently turned his back to me, hiding the glass from my view. There was no doubt in my mind that he laced it. Now the moment of truth was approaching, would I be able to convince him that I drank it?

Returning to the table with the clean plates and cutlery, I set the table in front of Jake then proceeded to serve out the food from the trays. Jake waited for me to finish before sitting down at the table with me.

"So, what were you doing today?" I asked as I started to pick at my dinner.

"I was meeting an old friend," he answered vaguely.

"We could've gone together," I said innocently.

"It wasn't a social call," he glanced up at me.

"Oh, that kind of a visit, huh? Did, uh, anyone get hurt?" I asked sincerely.

"No one that didn't deserve it," his face twitched ever so slightly. "How do you like it?"

"Hmm?" I looked at him confused, then he gestured to my plate of food. "Oh, it's really good! You made an excellent choice tonight."

Jake smiled, "I thought you would like it."

We ate our dinners in silence, exchanging brief looks at each other. I don't know if Jake was starting to pick up on my discomfort. The glass of liquor on the table was like an awkward elephant in the room. I was still unsure if I could successfully fool him, but time was running out. I had to at least made it look like I drank it before he got too suspicious of me. About three-quarters into the food on my plate I decided it was time if I was going to make this at least look convincing.

Putting my fork down for a second, I picked up my glass trying my best to feign interest. I gave the liquor a quick swirl and sniffed it.

"Oh, that's strong," I commented honestly.

Jake put down his fork and picked up his glass as well, "It had a lot of positive reviews online so I hope it is good."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," I raised my glass in a small toast. Jake met mine with a small clink. "To us."

"To us," Jake smiled.

I lifted my glass to my lips mirroring with Jake. I could taste the liquor on my lips, but I didn't dare let it into my mouth. Instead, I swallowed my saliva slowly in small, calculated gulps, then dramatically lowered the glass back down on the table, imitating my best whiskey face.

"Wow, that's real good," I laughed and returned to my dinner.

"I'm glad you like it," Jake smirked.

"Oh, before I forget, my computer has been acting a bit weird today," I lied.

"Weird how?" Jake narrowed his eyes, concerned.

"I don't know. Sluggish? Glitchy? Like I swear it opened up some applications on its own," I shrugged.

Jake paused for a moment, then his expression went sour, "You didn't leave it running, did you?"

"Um, I might've?" I tilted my head innocently. "I honestly can't remember."

Jake abruptly got up from the table, "We should leave it disconnected from the internet for now."

In a haste Jake left the cafeteria and went upstairs. As soon as I heard his first footstep on the stairs, I quickly got up and ran over to the sink with my glass, dumping its contents down the sink. I shifted an unwashed plate to cover the drain to hide the faint smell. Jake never washed up anyway so I didn't need to worry about it. Then just as quickly, I ran back to the table and continued eating. My heart raced so I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths until I heard the heavy footsteps of Jake descending the stairs.

"No, you had it closed, but I removed the battery just to be safe. I'll have a look at later after the appointment," he assured me as he sat back down at the table. "Oh, that was fast."

"You know how it is with me and alcohol," I joked.

"I would offer you more, but we need to leave soon," Jake casually moved the bottle closer to his end of the table. He didn't want me drinking too much with the sleeping drug. How considerate of him.

"Nah, I'm fine," I yawned. "I think it's making me a bit sleepy actually. Though I have no idea how I could possibly sleep more."

"You shouldn't have drunk it so fast," Jake commented with a slight undertone. I glanced up and saw a darkness wash over him.

"Maybe I should go upstairs," I tried my hardest to sound groggy.

"Let me help you. I don't want you to slip on the stairs," Jake stood up and walked around to my side of the table. Like a gentleman, he pulled back my chair and helped me to my feet.

I faked a stumble into him and giggled, "My hero! Catching me so I won't fall!"

"Always," he stroked my cheek gently with his fingers, then leant down and kissed my lips softly.

"Mmmh," I broke the kiss before he would notice the lack of alcohol on my breath. "I had the strangest dream last night."

"Did you?" he smiled.

"What was it again?" I pretended to be trying to recall a dream. "Oh yes! I was travelling through the forest trying to find you. I swear I could hear your voice, but no matter where I looked, I couldn't find you."

"You're scared of losing me again?" he questioned. I nodded and leant my head against his chest. "You shouldn't worry about that. I will always find my way back to you."

Jake wrapped one arm around my waist, keeping me against him, while his other hand rubbed circles on my temple. I couldn't help but inhale his scent. Normally I would find it reassuring, but there was a faint chemical smell on him, which was disconcerting.

"Let's get you upstairs before you get too sleepy," Jake whispered.

Jake lifted my arm and wrapped it around his shoulders so he could support my weight as he led me towards the stairs. It was as if he anticipated me to lose my balance.

"But your appointment," I mumbled.

"You needn't worry about that," he insisted firmly.

I let my eyelids get heavy and lowered my head as we went up the stairs. I made sure to drag my feet lazily to try to make it look convincing. I wasn't looking to win an Academy Award or anything, but I figured every detail counted. My toes got caught on the last step, which was actually real because I was trying so hard to fake it.

"Careful," Jake reached out and caught me. "I don't want you to get hurt, angel."

"Stop calling me that, I'm no angel," I shook my head with a chuckle.

He smiled, "It's what you are to me. My beautiful, perfect angel from up high."

"I don't think angels trip on stairs," I mused.

"Ok, my clumsy, little angel," he laughed as he opened the door to the manager's office. "Still every bit beautiful though."

I blushed at Jake's sudden behaviour while he helped me over to the couch. I nearly forgot what I was doing, but managed to fake slumping down on the couch just in time. Jake knelt down in front of me while I pretended to start nodding off. He took my hand and held my palm to his cheek. I had to resist the urge to 'wake up'.

"Sleep well, angel. It won't be much longer," he spoke so quietly I barely heard him.

Jake stood up again and helped me to lie down on the couch, then took one his spare hoodies and draped it over me. Softly he kissed my forehead. Quietly I hoped he wouldn't notice the goosebumps on my skin from the chills he gave me while he gently caressed my cheek. He was still waiting for me to fall asleep. With all of my energy, I slowed my breathing right down to a soft, gentle pace, trying my hardest not to lose my cool while I felt his eyes on me. I nearly lost it when I felt his thumb run over my lips. I started to panic internally that he might try to kiss me again. I wouldn't be able to react or prevent him from finding out I didn't actually drink any of the alcohol. I felt his fingers trail down my neck, over my shoulder, down my arm and then pull up the hoodie to better cover me.

Why did he still have to be so sweet on me? Why couldn't he make it easier for me to hate him? Just what the hell were you up to, Jake? What didn't you want me to know?

At last, the light turned off and the door quietly closed behind him. Still, I didn't dare move and lied in wait.