Identity (Eyes Wide Open) by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

that isn’t real. It’s only reflective glass, and yet it reveals something entirely new.”
    Austin was telling himself that he should run, but the man was so calm—so precise and reasoned in his demeanor—that Austin found himself caught off guard.
    Fisher flipped the mirror around so that it faced Austin. “What do you see?”
    All he could think was: I just saw a girl with duct tape on her face. I’ve just stumbled into something horrific and I don’t know what to do.
    “Hmm? Your face, right? But the mind easily deceives itself.” He set the mirror on top of a cardboard box to his right, lifted his hand, and motioned come to his right without removing his eyes from Austin.
    “You think you saw something in the mirror that took the red out of your face,” Fisher said, still relaxed.
    The girl stepped into view and stood beside Fisher. Maybe seventeen or eighteen. There was no duct tape on her face.
    “And yet the tape was there, just a few seconds ago.” He looked down at the girl and smiled kindly. “Wasn’t it, Alice?”
    She kept her eyes on Austin and slowly nodded. No expression.
    A wadded up ball of tape slipped from her fingers and plopped on the floor. She’d taken the tape off herself.
    “Go sit down, Alice,” Fisher said.
    She turned and retraced her steps.
    “You see, Mr. Hartt, we employ some rather unusual therapies at Saint Matthew’s. Very effective, I might add. We take some of the hardest cases and produce results other facilities only dream of.”
    “I can see that.”
    “Can you?”
    “Sure.” Half of him couldn’t, but the other side knew that science had few limitations, if any.
    “Then feel free to see yourself out. The stairs are just down the hall. If you run into any trouble just follow the exit signs. They’ll lead you out to the main hospital.”
    His mind still trying to makes sense of what he’d seen, Austin gave the man a short nod, backed up a step, and turned toward the door.
    By the time Austin saw the man’s sudden move in his peripheral vision, it was too late to avoid him. A fist crashed against the side of his head with the force of a sledgehammer.
    Austin’s head snapped sideways, and his legs collapsed beneath him. He crumpled to the ground. Thick shadows swirled and crowded the edge of his sight.
    He felt a sharp kick in his side. The force rolled him flat on his back.
    Austin’s eyes fluttered as Fisher stood over him, then the world grew dim as he felt himself being dragged across the floor.
    The girl said something but her voice faded, replaced by a high-pitched ringing that he was sure would kill him.
    Austin felt a sharp sting in the crook of his arm and a warm sensation rushed through his body.
    His eyes drifted closed, and he surrendered to the darkness.

 

     
    THE LOUNGE they’d led Christy to while they cleared up the confusion was located near the administrator’s office. It was a typical waiting room with two groupings of blue cushioned folding chairs set around oak coffee tables, several large ficus plants, magazines, and a counter that offered coffee and water.
    The round white clock on the wall had clicked off forty-three painful minutes, and still, no one had come for her. Why everything concerning doctors took so long, she would never understand.
    One of two doors led into the administrator’s reception room, where Christy had met Beverly, Kern Lawson’s secretary. The other led into what appeared to be a larger patient lounge or recreation room.
    She knew this because she’d opened it, poked her head through the door, and looked around the room for a full minute before retreating to the relative security of the lounge.
    There had been about a dozen patients in the room, half gathered around a television, the rest either sitting at one of the tables playing games, or seated alone, some still, some repeating obsessive behavior. All wore blue smocks.
    She’d watched Linda, the nurse who’d found her, talking quietly to a woman