Chapter 4
1113 Words
When I pulled myself awake in the hospital bed, the first thought that sliced through my foggy mind was that I was still alive. I shouldn't be.
But this broken, battered body of mine wouldn't hold out much longer anyway.
Just hurry up and let me die, I lay there thinking.
Then voices drifted through the door from the hallway outside.
"My apologies, Mr. Miller. We couldn't save the baby."
"But… this is actually for the best, given her current condition…"
Panic clawed at my chest before they could say another word. I scrambled to reach out and knocked the glass off my bedside table. It shattered on the floor.
The conversation was cut short, and Philip stepped into the room.
He didn't spare me a single word of concern. Nothing but ice-cold indifference blazed in his eyes as he stared me down.
"Sophia, you've let me down so badly. This is exactly what Zoe saw in her prophetic dream, just as I knew it would be."
He pinned me with that harsh, unblinking gaze, desperate to catch even a flicker of guilt on my face.
"We've always been careful, haven't we? How did you end up pregnant? Who does this kid even belong to?"
I stared back at his face, and a strange, cold numbness washed over me. He looked like a total stranger.
"You never trusted me, not once. You only ever trust your family. You only ever trust Amelia."
All the bitterness and hurt I'd bottled up for years exploded out of me like a volcanic eruption.
I couldn't hold it back anymore. I screamed the questions at him until my throat went raw.
"You're just as much of a fool as I am! They've lied to you this whole time!"
"There is no damn prophetic dream! They just want me out of the way. They want me, the clueless person who won't step aside, to give up my position early!"
"You know full well Zoe hates me. You know full well Amelia has been pining after you!"
"Why do you believe them? Why did you lie to me?"
I lunged at him and clamped my fingers tight around his sleeve, shaking it hard.
The IV needle in the back of my hand bent crooked, blood trickling back up the tube, but I didn't even feel it. I screamed at him, my eyes burning red with tears.
"Seven whole years! I haven't had a single good night's sleep in seven years! I haven't gotten to eat one full, peaceful meal!"
"And in the end, this whole thing was just a stupid little test you all put me through! It was all just a performance!"
"What did I ever do to you? Do I have to rip my own heart out and hold it up for you to see before you'll believe me?"
He didn't even react. His face was blank as he wrenched my hand off his sleeve, like I was nothing but dirt under his nails.
"Isn't this just because you never tried hard enough? I married you, and you still couldn't even win my family's approval."
"If you'd treated them better, none of this would have ever happened."
"Don't you forget that I played along with this charade for seven whole years. I've already been more than good to you."
In that one split second, every last bit of strength drained right out of my body.
I slid down the side of the bed and crumpled to the floor, despair crashed over me like a tidal wave, swallowing me whole, until it felt like I was drowning, just like water closing over my head.
Philip looked down at me from his towering height, one cold glance, then turned and strode out of the ward without a single backward step.
The doctor came in next, and he looked at me with that awful mix of pity and helplessness.
"Mrs. Lewis, given your current condition… go do whatever you've been wanting to do, eat whatever you've been craving. Just do whatever makes you comfortable right now."
I nodded numbly, pulled the IV out of my arm, and stumbled out of the hospital on wobbly legs.
The scent of sandwich drifted from the hospital gates. I turned my stiff neck slowly and looked over.
An older lady selling sandwiches was pushing her cart down the sidewalk, calling out her wares at the top of her lungs.
"Sandwich! Ten for a portion! Got meat, got veggies, got drinks! Big portions, fills you right up!"
I dragged my feet over and ordered one. When I reached out to take one, she grabbed my hand first.
She pressed a cheap Band-Aid over the bleeding puncture site on the back of my hand.
It was the cheapest kind you could buy, only fifty cents apiece.
The lady's nose was bright pink, and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"Girl, eat as much as you can while you still can, okay? Come back tomorrow to buy from me. I'll be right here waiting for you."
I shook my head and forced a stiff, wobbly smile.
"I won't be coming. I can't come."
Behind my back, I heard her break into quiet, muffled sobs as I walked away. I clutched the sandwich and headed straight for the cemetery plot I'd bought for myself long ago.
I'd bought it with the 100,000 I earned doing illegal experimental trials. It was a quiet spot, peaceful, no one would bother me here.
I unwrapped the sandwich, and it was filled with meat.
I'd finally gotten the cheap sandwich I'd daydreamed about for so long, but my numb tongue couldn't taste a single thing.
Try as I might, I couldn't even finish it. All the strength had already drained right out of my body.
I curled up inside the empty coffin I'd arranged for, and only one final thought echoed through my fading mind.
'Philip... I never want to run into you in my next life.'
One week later, Philip walked into the hospital and found Sophia's hospital room completely empty.
Irritated, he dialed Sophia's number.
The call connected almost instantly, and he snapped right away.
"What stupid bratty act are you trying to pull? Playing missing now, really?"
"If you want to come back to Miller family, get your ass back to the hospital right now. I don't have time to run all over the place chasing after you."
Instead of Sophia's voice, a crisp, formal voice from a employee came through the line.
"Hello, is this a family member of Sophia? We need someone to come down to the county clerk's office to complete the paperwork on her records."
- Writer
