Chapter 5 - The Scream That Broke the Silence
Her eyes were wide,
staring blankly at the ceiling,
the pupils blown completely black.
She wasn't looking at us,
she was trapped in some horrific space between consciousness and a chemical nightmare.
Her chest heaved,
fighting against the oxygen mask strapped over her face.
"Emily,"
I cried,
spinning around and grabbing her hand.
"Mommy is here,
you're safe,
you're at the hospital."
She didn't seem to hear me.
Her gaze darted wildly around the room,
landing on the bright lights,
the nurses,
and finally,
stopping abruptly.
She saw him.
She saw Michael standing at the foot of her bed.
The reaction was instantaneous and terrifying.
Emily scrambled backward on the bed,
kicking away the thin hospital blankets,
her IV line ripping out of her hand in a spray of bright red blood.
"No!"
she shrieked,
a sound so primitive and full of agony that it tore through my soul.
"No,
no,
no!"
"Hold her down!"
Dr. Evans yelled,
rushing forward to grab her shoulders,
trying to stop her from hurting herself.
"Emily,
look at me,
you're safe!"
But she was thrashing violently,
her frail body possessing a sudden,
adrenalin-fueled strength.
She pushed the doctor away,
curling her knees into her chest,
rocking back and forth in a puddle of her own blood from the torn IV.
Michael didn't move.
He stood perfectly still at the end of the bed,
watching her panic with an expression of cold,
clinical interest.
He wasn't shocked.
He wasn't sad.
He was studying her,
like a scientist watching a rat in a maze.
"Make him stop!"
Emily screamed,
pointing a shaking,
bloody finger directly at Michael.
Tears streamed down her hollow cheeks,
mixing with sweat.
"Make him stop making the tea!"
The entire room froze.
The nurses stopped moving.
Dr. Evans turned slowly,
staring at Michael.
"The tea?"
I whispered,
the memory of Michael in the kitchen slamming into me again.
"The peppermint tea,"
Emily sobbed,
her voice cracking,
raw from the acid she had been throwing up.
"It burns.
It burns so much inside."
She looked at me,
her eyes locking onto mine with a desperate,
pleading clarity that broke my heart into a million pieces.
"Mom,"
she cried,
clutching her stomach,
her knuckles white.
"He knows!"
She pointed at Michael again,
her voice rising into a hysterical,
blood-curdling scream that echoed down the hospital corridors.
"He knows why it hurts!
He knows what he put in it!"
Michael finally reacted.
He didn't run,
and he didn't confess.
He simply let out a heavy sigh,
shaking his head with a look of profound pity.
"The fever is making her hallucinate,"
he said to the doctor,
his voice smooth as glass.
"She's clearly delirious.
We need to get her transferred to a psychiatric facility."
"Get him out of here!"
I screamed at the top of my lungs,
shoving Michael in the chest with both hands.
The impact surprised him,
forcing him to take a step back.
"Get this monster away from my daughter!"
Two security guards burst through the doors,
looking quickly between me,
the screaming teenager on the bed,
and the calm man in the suit.
"Sir,"
one of the guards said,
placing a hand on Michael's arm.
"I need you to step outside."
Michael brushed the guard's hand away with a look of pure disgust.
"Do not touch me,"
he warned.
Then he looked at me.
It wasn't a look of defeat.
It was a promise.
"You have no proof of anything,
Sarah,"
he said,
his voice devoid of all emotion.
"And when this is over,
you will have nothing left."
He turned and walked out the doors,
his footsteps echoing down the hall.
I collapsed beside Emily's bed,
pulling her bleeding,
May you like
shaking body into my arms as the doctors rushed in to restart her IV.
The secret was out.
