Rest In Peace Read Online Free Page A

“Circumstances beyond your control,” he’d remind her, and “You can’t keep torturing yourself.”
    Good old Dr. Fielding. Aunt Irene’s personal choice of prominent friends, who was supposed to be helping Lucy through the nightmares, helping her to readjust, helping her to come to terms with all that had happened.
    Except Dr. Fielding didn’t know the half of it.
    And Lucy knew she could never tell him.
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    â€œIt’s only been a week, Lucy,” the doctor had reminded her in their session just that afternoon. “These things take time. Often, quite a lot of time.”
    And Lucy had given her dutiful nod and tried to listen politely. Because how could Dr. Fielding even begin to have a clue as to what she was going through? How could she even begin to tell him everything that had happened to her since she’d first come to Pine Ridge?
    â€œLike I explained to you in the hospital, you might experience dizziness or light-headedness—possibly fainting spells. You may become disoriented or suffer memory lapses. There could be flashbacks pertaining to the accident, or you might even experience panic attacks.”
    â€œGreat,” Lucy had responded. “That certainly gives me something to look forward to.”
    But Dr. Fielding had smiled his kind smile and patted her on the shoulder. “These occurrences are all very common with a head injury, Lucy—nothing to be overly concerned about. The important thing is to accept the fact that even if they do happen, you really are okay. And you really are going to get better.”
    â€œBut you still think I made everything up.”
    She’d watched his face, that carefully controlled doctor face, as he’d steepled his fingers beneath his chin and studied her from his leather chair.
    â€œI think that trauma-induced memories are very tricky things,” he’d answered, as she’d known he would.
    â€œI’m not lying about what happened.”
    â€œI know you’re not lying. I believe that you believe everything you’ve told me. And it’s still amazing to everyone how you could have survived that accident, much less survived for three days afterward.”
    Lucy’s hands had twisted in her lap. “I told you. I was in a cave. But I don’t know how I got there.”
    â€œAnd those are three days and nights still unaccounted for,” he’d sighed. “The police didn’t even know you’d been with Byron until your aunt came home the next day and reported you and Angela missing. And even then, it took time to track down witnesses at the Festival who saw you and Byron leave together. After that, search parties combed that entire area around the accident site. Hundreds of people, even scent dogs, spread out for miles. No one discovered a cave. There wasn’t a house or a trail or a single clue. But you must have found shelter somehow, somewhere. It’s a total mystery. And nothing short of a miracle.”
    Lucy had heard it all before. She’d told the police everything she could remember about her ordeal—the muffled sounds and shadows, the pools of blood, the dead rabbit, how someone had tried to camouflage the entrance to the cave, and how she’d finally escaped in spite of it. She’d told the doctors, too, and Aunt Irene, and even the private investigator her aunt had hired to search for Angela. But she knew they didn’t believe her. Like Dr. Fielding, they all thought she suffered from delusions, the results of her head injury, exposure, and shock.
    â€œBut someone found me and brought me to the hospital,” she couldn’t help reminding him. “And that was real.”
    Dr. Fielding had conceded with a smile. “Yes. That was definitely real. Three days after the accident, someone left you outside the door of the emergency room. No one saw this person come or go, and no one’s been able to find out who it was.