g scream shatter
est heaved violently as she sucke
e hard plastic of the ventilator tube. Instead, he
at the stained ceiling tiles of the hospital. She was looking u
. It slammed into the wooden nightstand righ
e turned her head. A five-year-old boy stood on the plus
children's suit. His face was an e
was rolling around, screaming at the top of her lungs
k bedsheets so tightly her knuckles turned white. She th
ving. He marched over, lifted his custom leather shoe
his voice dripping with disdain. "Go
l blow. It perfectly overlapped with the voice of the
ress ripped through her nervous system. Her entire bo
bled off the edge of the mattress, her bare feet hitting the
id clown!" Arthur lau
and threw the deadbolt lock. The solid wood
fell in jagged, uneven breaths. She slowly lifted her head an
in was full of collagen, devoid of the deep st
d the cold glass, tracing the reflection of her ow
old water blasted from the tap. She cupped her hands, gath
. It stripped away the lingering f
left things during her old morning routine. An early-model smartphone rested there, abandoned by her past self. She snatched i
twins were only five, the year the seeds of her
om door. Little Arthur was kicking the wood, screami
to death, the sight of Arthur's cold smile, flashed behin
terror were entirely gone. They were replaced by
ped the water from her face. Her moveme
ed her hand around the cold metal doorknob. The old phone remained in her other hand-
expensive glass perfume bottle high above
tall, looking down at the son who held the bottle. Her ey
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