Free The Secrets You Hide: A Mind-Blowing Thriller (The Psychosis Series) by Alex Crimson

could I be with him now…now that I knew who he was.
    “Yes, Jack,” I said, “I know what I have to write in the journal.”
    I heard a faint laugh from the other side of the phone. “So…now you know who I am, doctor. I gave you the answer to the question you had asked me yesterday night. Does that help you?”
    “A little…” I paused, before adding, “I know you don’t want to harm my wife and daughter, Jack.”
    “Don’t be so sure, doctor. You have fifty minutes to write and share your journal with me…the first part of your journal for the day. Why don’t you get to it if you are done sleeping?”
    “First part? What do you mean?”
    “Good catch, doctor,” he snapped. “Today is a special day. I have something more waiting for you once you are done. There will be more than one thing worth eternalizing in your journal today.”
    I kept the phone aside and rushed to the bathroom. I splattered water on my face, staring at the mirror as the water trickled down my skin and drops of it landed on my shirt. It felt like time had stopped as the water stains grew larger in size. I stood there a bit longer before getting back to my laptop in the bedroom. The strange headache which was gripping me before I had fallen asleep was gone. I had managed to get very little sleep but it had just been enough to help me recover and process the situation more clearly. The fear seemed to have disappeared, leaving behind a sense of control. Whether that sense of control was fake or real, I was in no position to tell. But I was willing to take anything that allowed me the clarity of thought to act against Jack with the right amount of restraint.
    Sitting down in the chair, I took a deep breath thinking how I could turn the situation around to my advantage. Jack wanted me to write about the conversation I had had with him in the clinic a few hours earlier. He wanted to use my journal to peek into my mind and understand the thoughts and emotions I was going through. He wanted to use that understanding against me.
    As I placed my fingers on the keys of the laptop, I realized that I could use the journal against him. Underlying his insistence on making me write the journal was the assumption that I would not conceal the truth or blatantly lie in it. But what if I was to break that very rule. What if I was to manipulate the situations that I described in it to get into his head?
    While I had made a decision to use the journal to my advantage, I also chose to keep that weapon aside for later. There was very little scope to distort the description of events which Jack had participated in himself–like the conversation earlier that day. I had to wait for a better opportunity. I reminded myself that the only thing which could ensure Annie’s and Sarah’s safety was my ability to intelligently distract Jack. It was not about plain and simple cooperation anymore.
    I had no idea where this strategy was going to take me but for the first time I saw a glimmer of hope in knowing that I had a plan to counter-attack him. I started writing everything I remembered of the conversation with him in the clinic. I made sure to represent the visible truth–everything that Jack had seen and heard–as is. And I revealed as little as possible of the invisible truth–the confused state of my mind and the anger seething in my body.
    I sent the journal to him a few minutes before 11 pm and then I waited. Less than a minute later, he called me again.
    “Thank you for sharing your journal, doctor. Now, go through the script that I had slipped under your door today.”
    I shook my head, “What are you talking about? I looked for it when I came in. There was nothing inside.”
    “Of course, you did not spot it when you entered the house. That’s because I left it there while you were busy sleeping.” I could imagine him smile contentedly on the other side of the phone. “Now go…get it. Read it quickly while I go through what you have sent me.