007 Trapped By The Devil

(Maya)

Days fold into each other. I can’t tell one from the next.

I can’t control my mood swings. Sometimes I’m sobbing, other times I’m trying to smash the wall open with my bare hands.

My brain is all over the place. No one will listen to me. No one believes me.

I’m psychotic, they say. I had a mental breakdown. I tried to kill myself and my child.

No one visits except Jade. The devil.

She asks the nurses for privacy, says it keeps me calmer.

“Cole wanted us to move in,” she says, breezy, like she’s telling me about a new paint color. “For Owen. For the kids. It makes everything easier, you know? It felt right.”

In my head the last night with Cole repeats… the way he made me say I’d never leave, the way he’d made me prove it.

“I want to see Cole.” If I can just see him, maybe he’ll listen. Maybe he’ll believe me about Jade.

Jade’s laugh is small and bright. “See him? He doesn’t want anything to do with you.”

She shows me a photo on her cell phone.

It’s Lucy and Owen. Owen looks so sick.

Lucy’s hair in a mess of curls, smiling at a camera.

My hands curl into fists under the blanket. Everything inside me wants to lunge across the bed and choke the life out of Jade.

But I just lay there, tears rolling down my face.

I’m powerless. The visits just keep coming. I’m not sure if it’s each day or several a day.

I just can’t understand how time moves around me.

But every time she drops another bomb on me.

“We’ve been talking to the committee,” she says, casual. “They’re looking at options to help Owen sooner. There’s a process for these things. Cole is asking them to consider releasing Lucy as a donor earlier than usual.”

“No… my.. my baby,” I manage to speak.

“She was your baby. She belongs to Cole now, and Cole belongs to me. She will help Owen live. Then she can go.”

Every time she’s there she kills me inside a little more. My life is hopeless now.

“Committee met today. They will fast-track Lucy as a donor. Owen doesn’t have time to wait.” She says it like she’s reading the weather report.

My insides tear. How could Cole do this to his own child? Even if some part of him does love me, every part of me hates Cole Vance now. He has to pay for using an innocent life like this.

Another visit.

“Your dad finally did the world a favor. Overdosed. Gone. Less trash around.”

I lunge for her throat. She hits the buzzer and nurses rush in. Jade smiles sweetly. “It’s okay. She doesn’t mean it. She isn’t well. I’ll keep trying.”

It seems like every time I open my eyes, I get smashed with something else.

“Your little soldier-boy? Rhett Lawson?” Jade shrugs. “Sniper got him. Took his team too. Guess he wasn’t as good as he thought.”

Her words split me open. Rhett? Oh God. I should have gone with him. Maybe he would still be alive now.

Then.

“Great news! They signed off on three rounds of bone marrow extraction. As Lucy is only 18 months old, they need three to get enough. Cole gave permission.”

18 months old? Something clicks in my brain on the number. I’ve been here at least 2 months.

She pulls out her phone, presses play.

A video of Lucy in a frilly dress, clutching a stuffed rabbit. She looks into the camera, giggles, and says: “Mama.”

Jade whispers as the clip ends, her lips near my ear. “She meant me.”

I scream until my throat rips. I grab her by the throat. I try so hard to stop her. But they pin me down, pump more drugs into my veins.

Jade strokes my hair while the staff cluck in sympathy. “It’s okay,” she tells them. “I’ll never give up on her.”

But in my head, under the fog, the vow burns hot and steady.

One day. I’ll destroy her. I’ll destroy both of them.

***

The next time I wake, I feel clearer. More lucid somehow. Jade hasn’t been back.

Each time I wake, I eat. I feel clearer.

I’m making sense. I’m answering rationally. My thoughts are straight and my moods have stopped swinging. The real question is why?

“Is Jade okay? She hasn’t been in lately, has she?”

The nurses look at each other. One speaks, “she’s fine. They have some personal stuff going on.”

The other nurse elbows her slightly.

“It’s Lucy isn’t it?”

They don’t say anything.

“You get Jade on the phone now, or so help me… I won’t stop until I’m dead or someone else is…”

That makes them move.

In ten minutes they bring me a phone.

“I need privacy.”

They reluctantly leave me with the phone.

Jade was laughing in my ear. “Oh, you worked it out. Clever you. But it’s too late anyway.”

“What have you done? Where is my daughter?”

“Be grateful I let you wake up in time to say goodbye,” she says, smug and soft. “Now don’t make a scene. It’s pathetic. Lucy has already donated twice. It’s a pity about the bad blood transfusion, though.”

“You wanted this,” I tell her, staring at the wall. “You wanted me out of the way. You wanted him back.”

“I wanted what was best for everyone,” she says. “And once you’re both gone, no more drama. Clean slate.”

“I’ll have you jailed for this.”

“No one will believe you. You’re a crazy addict,” Jade’s voice continues over the phone, sounding satisfied. “Everyone knows that now.”

“If Lucy dies… you can’t use her anymore.”

She laughs. “You’re wrong. We only need one more donation for my son. And they can take that from her as an organ donor. With her father’s approval, of course.”

“You’re mad. You are sick. Why not just let her live?”

“We don’t need your kid to look after.”

Her vicious words keep going. “You may as well go and finish yourself off like your druggy father did because Cole hates you. He’s always hated you.”

“No, you’re wrong. You have him fooled. He loves me and Lucy and that is what you can’t handle.” I wanted to go through the phone and throttle her.

“Everyone hates you. You have nothing left to live for. Thanks to me. You’re welcome.”

“Put Cole on the phone.”

“Sorry, Sweety, but he is with everyone eating cake for Owen’s ninth birthday party at the mansion today.”

She laughs.

“Oh… but good news for you. Cole has okayed you to go see Lucy today. You’re welcome.”

Then she disconnects the call.