Meet The Fletchers

I’ve been strapped in this hospital bed for four days before they finally come. Old friends from collage. I’m on a wheelchair bound walk with a supervising nurse and tranquilized. Only the tranquilizer barely numbs me.

They must not realize the immunity I’ve built is stronger than their standard dosages.

Carson and Hailey Fletcher. They are twins. I’d befriended Hailey in school and had become closer to Carson because of that. He’d been in school to become a doctor. Based on the white jacket he currently wears, I can easily assume he succeeded.

It looks like Hailey is visiting him on his lunch break as they walk slowly through the hospital gardens. They pause when they see me.

“Chloe?” Hailey gasps and rushes towards me.

“Hello, Dr. Fletcher.” The nurse behind me greets. Carson nods at her but focuses on me.

“What happened? What are you doing here?” Hailey demands.

The nurse behind me, likely assuming the drugs are too much to allow me to answer, says, “she went into anaphylaxis after eating some peanut butter.”

“When did this happen?” Carson asks.

The nurse hesitates, glancing at Hailey, but decides to answer him, “about five days ago.”

“Was it this serious?”

“Her husband is concerned for her health and asked us to watch her for a few extra days just in case.” The nurse answers.

“I can take it from here.” Carson tells her. Luckily, the nurse nods and walks away.

“How did this happen? You’re always so careful.” Hailey says.

I answer, “my husband didn’t know there was peanut butter in the protein bowl.”

It’s much less embarrassing than the whole truth, and I refuse to take the blame for someone else.

“I can’t believe he’d make such a horrible mistake.” Hailey gasps. “Where is he? Are you alright?”

I know I have to tread carefully with my next words. Carson and Hailey are my first contacts from the outside world in years. If I scare them away, or if Tom finds out and forces them away, I will be completely hopeless again.

I shake my head and say, “Hailey… can we get lunch sometime. It’s been so long since we saw each other. You too, Car.”

He seems a bit startled but smiles slightly. We hadn’t been as close as Hailey and me, but I still thought we were friendly enough that the request wouldn’t seem odd.

“Of course… Chloe, where have you been? One day you just stopped calling and texting. You disappeared off the face of the earth.” Hailey says.

I shake my head because I can’t form the words to be honest. Even if I could, I don’t think I want to yet.

What if they believe I’m crazy too. What if they tell Tom? What if….

Carson interrupts my thoughts. He says, “you look like you’ve lost a lot of weight since we last saw you. Can we get you something to eat?”

I smile at him stiffly and nod. Carson walks around my chair and starts to push it forward.

~

“There will be two bodyguards by the front door.” Tom tells me as we drive back to the apartment from the hospital. “They will make sure nothing happens to you again.”

His eyes are on his phone as he says this.

I nod along and look out the window.

“You’re not to leave the house unsupervised.” He adds.

“I want to go shopping.” I lie.

To the driver, Tom says, “go to the shopping district.”

“I want to go tomorrow. I heard nurses say there would be sales.”

“We don’t need sales.”

“I want to go tomorrow.”

“I will go with you after work.”

“The best stores will be closed by then.” I say.

“I will leave work early.” He says.

“Then you’ll be one your phone the whole time.” I motion to him now and he finally looks up at me. I can’t read his expression at first, but a smirk crosses his face and he leans closer to me.

“Do you miss me?” he presses his lips to mine and more instinctively than anything else, I push him away.

The playful gleam in his eyes quickly darkens and he grabs my wrist pulling me closer to him.

I flinch back so he grabs the back of my head with his other hand, still holding his phone.

He holds me in place as he leans forward and pushes his lips on mine. He holds me in place as he deepens the kiss, only pulling back when my mouth his wet and we’re both out of breath. He shoots me one last dark glare before returning to his phone.

“If anything happens to this baby, your father will never return.” He says.

I freeze. My father. Had I even asked about him since leaving the psych hospital? I can’t remember anymore.

I look at him, nearly shaking.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

He looks at me with indifference.

“He got sick after finding out where you were. I sent him for treatment overseas.”

“Was he sick like I was sick?” I demand.

His jaw tightens and his eyes darken. “No, he drank too much and got kidney failure.”

“What?!”

He meets my eyes more directly, “I can get him a new kidney and all the treatment he needs if you can behave. If you can’t, I will let him die.”

“Tom, please—you can’t do that!” I grab his arm but he shakes me off.

“I never forced him to poison himself.”

I stare at him in horror. He knows how much my step-father means to me. He was the one to take care of me after my mom died. My birth father abandoned us for a new family. He’s all I have left.

My hands shake until they weaken entirely. I drop my head, tears scratching at my eyes. I lightly bite my bottom lip as if suckling at it might help comfort me.

“Why…. When did this happen?” My voice is small.

“Last year.”

My fists and eyes tighten but I keep looking down. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think it would help your healing.”

“Can… Can I see him?”

He lifts my chin with a finger. He doesn’t speak until my eyes lift to meet his, “once the baby is born,” He puts a hand on my stomach, “I will bring him back—if that’s what you want. I will get him a new kidney. Now, will you behave?”

I look away from his borrowing eyes, lower my head in surrender, and nod.