Free Forgotten: a truly gripping psychological thriller by Heleyne Hammersley Page B

begged him to say yes.
    He studied her expression. ‘Are you frightened of small places?’ he asked, his voice warm with concern.
    ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘I just don’t want to get in there.’
    She saw him consider for a few seconds then he filed the information away in his head and took her arm just above the elbow.
    ‘This way.’
    Her relief was disproportionate to the event. As they continued along the corridor she felt sweat cooling on her face and neck and her breathing steadied to a normal rate. Ekachai was still holding her arm and she gently eased herself away so that she was walking unaided. He glanced at her curiously and she knew he’d file that one away too. Kai started to listen to the faint whispers of doubt tickling her newly regained sub-conscious, whispers that hinted at uncertainty and fear. Somehow they knew that she was dealing with more than amnesia and that her reactions had some deeper cause but her subconscious was not about to fill her in on the details. She knew that information would only be gained through hard work.
    Climbing the stairs turned out to be hard enough. On reaching the first landing she had to stop for breath, legs shaking, a heavy pulse pounding in her temples.
    ‘Take your time,’ Ekachai said kindly as she leaned against the wall. ‘You have been inactive for some time now.’
    ‘I feel like a bloody cripple,’ Kai spat back at him and forced herself up the next flight of stairs without using the handrail, hating her unresponsive body. She was relieved when, instead of continuing upwards, Ekachai led her through a door at the top of the stairs into a corridor that was totally different from the one below. Instead of grimy tiles she found herself walking on carpet, thin and scuffed but still carpet, and the walls were not pale, dull grey but a soothing lemon shade.
    ‘As you can see,’ Ekachai began sounding like a tour guide beginning a lecture, ‘We like to create a pleasant atmosphere for our more… troubled patients.’
    Kai heard ‘damaged’ in his hesitation and smiled at his attempt at tact.
    ‘You mean you want to keep the psychos calm?’
    ‘I mean that we want the people who come here to feel that they are comfortable,’ he chided and she detected irritation in his voice. Again she thought he’s out of his depth here and promised herself that she would try to co-operate – he was only trying to help her.
    Ekachai paused in front of a plain wooden door with no name plate to hint at the nature of the occupant of the room. A single knock brought the invitation ‘Come in’ and Ekachai propelled her forward with a gentle hand in the small of her back, allowing her no room to turn and run.
    Kai almost laughed in surprise when she saw the owner of the voice. Instead of the older, male doctor of her imagination a young woman was smiling a welcome. More surprising still, the woman wasn’t Thai, well, not completely. Her short hair was dark but not black and her skin was golden but it looked tanned rather than naturally dark.
    ‘You look surprised.’ Her American accent threw Kai further off balance. ‘Not quite what you were expecting? Sorry. I get this reaction a lot.’
    Disarmed by the woman’s smile Kai didn’t know how to respond until Ekachai rescued her.
    ‘Doctor Thomas is American. She wished to spend time in our country after qualifying in the United States.’
    ‘My mom’s Thai,’ the woman added, ‘and it’s Ellen.’ She held out her hand and Kai took it uncertainly, still feeling a little cheated. If Ekachai had told her that the doctor was a woman she would probably have been more willing and less frightened, but she couldn’t work out why that should be the case.
    ‘Shall we sit down?’ the doctor gestured to an armchair which looked about fifty times more comfortable than the one in Kai’s room and pulled her own chair closer as Kai sat down.
    ‘I don’t know what Doctor Ekachai has told you but I’m here to