Page 2 of So Insane

Too hard. The torch flew from his hand, skittered across the ground and went out. Tyler’s smile vanished, as did every good feeling he had.

If Tyler had survived long enough to make it to the surface, he would have thought that this was the moment he grew up. It occurred to him quite clearly that a man who was five weeks away from his thirtieth birthday had no business sneaking around in an abandoned mine shaft like a damned high schooler trying to find an outlet for raging hormones and latent fear of adulthood.

“All right, Len,” he said, no more humor in his voice, “time to stop being stupid.”

He dropped to his hands and knees and shuffled slowly along the floor in the direction of the dropped flashlight. The moaning coming from all around him no longer seemed exciting or even spooky. It was downright terrifying.

“Come on,” he said softly. “Where are you, you bastard?”

How was there no light at all from the surface? He had been walking for two minutes. There was no way he had made it so far into the mine that it should be so dark.

He tasted copper and realized he had bitten down hard enough on his cheek to draw blood. He opened his mouth and the click his teeth made when he closed it again echoed through the chamber like a gong.

“Come on,” he whispered again. “Come on, I know you’re around here.”

Finally, his fingers fell on a smooth, cool cylinder of metal. He made a sound halfway between a cry and a groan and leaped to his feet, fingers fumbling with the buttons. No light came when he clicked the on switch, so he swore under his breath and unscrewed the back of the housing.

There was the problem. The batteries had been knocked loose. He pushed first one down, then the other and carefully screwed the back on.

He took a deep breath and clicked the button once more. When a beam of light revealed a perfectly ordinary cavern and not a swarm of bats or a pile of bleach-white, splintered bones, he moaned again in relief.

He laughed at the sound that escaped his mouth, and said giddily, “Hey, Len, that’s the sound your mom made when I was with her last night.”

“Really? Sounds like a scared little wimp whining because he’s afraid of the dark.”

“Screw you, Len!”

His glee had returned, but beneath it was the very mature realization that he needed to get out of here and fast.

As often happened with such realizations, this one came too late to save him. He turned around and took two steps back the way he came.

Then strong arms wrapped around his chest, and before he realized what was happening, he was yanked backwards so forcefully his feet left the ground. The flashlight clattered to the ground. The beam flickered, then went out.

A soft breeze blew through the mine, carrying with it a soft moan that rose to a piercing shriek.

Then the cave went silent.

CHAPTER ONE

“Don’t tell me you don’t like dogs,” Faith said. “I don’t know if I can trust a man who doesn’t like dogs.”

“I like them well enough,” West said, “Just as I like elephants and zebras and tigers and crocodiles. Like elephants and tigers, I have no desire to own one.”

“Owning a dog is a bit different than owning an elephant,” Faith pointed out with a wry smile.

“Is it? Both creatures are intelligent. Both are self-aware and experience similar emotions as humans. They can even become mentally ill. Plenty of captive dogs and elephants show symptoms of anxiety, PTSD, depression, even personality disorders. There are studies that suggest that elephants really do have extraordinary memory that might even be superior to humans in some instances. And dogs are known to recognize members of their litter that they haven’t seen in years.”

“So you think it’s immoral to own a dog?”

"No," he clarified. "I just don't have an interest in owning one myself. I suppose as a psychologist, I have a hard time interacting with an intelligent being without being keenly aware of that being’s mental and emotional traumas.”

“And are you keenly aware of my mental and emotional traumas?”

He smiled. “Would you like the polite answer or the honest answer?”

Faith laughed, but she couldn’t help but feel a little disturbed as well. She was a generally private person where her emotions were concerned. She accepted that part of Dr. West’s job was to see those deep-seated emotional traumas and help Faith work through them, but she couldn’t help but feel a little like a bug under a microscope. “Well, just for the record, you don’t own me.”

His smile widened, baring twin rows of perfectly white teeth. “Noted.”

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