Page 18 of The Liar I Married

FIFTEEN

NOW

I’ve read and reread the same paragraph in the romance novel for the last hour or so.

I keep nodding off and come awake suddenly.

The day has exhausted me but my mind is working well.

Lying back in the pillows, I close my eyes but they snap open at the sound of giggling.

I roll over and stare at the rose garden.

The endless beds move slightly in the breeze and send delightful aromas through the open window.

I blink as two identical girls run along the pathway and, behind them, I see the smiling face of my mother.

Her arms are filled with roses. I push up, gaping at the window. I must make her hear me. “Mom, girls.”

I struggle from the bed and grab my walker and then move so slowly across the floor. My mother and the girls have moved out of sight. I scream her name from the top of my voice. “Mom.”

Nothing.

I’m desperate now and fling myself at the open window. “Emily, Olivia.” Tears stream down my cheeks. I recall some words that alert people more than others. “Help! Fire!”

“What on earth is happening in here?” Dolly comes running into the room. “What’s on fire?”

I turn to look at her. “My mother and twins are in the garden. I need to see them.”

“That’s impossible, I only spoke to your mother recently and told her the restrictions of your visitors at this time.” Dolly grips me by the arm and leads me back to the bed.

I dig in my heels. “I saw them outside in the rose garden. Please go outside and check. Perhaps she came by with my girls to see me after all?”

“I will if you get back into bed.” Dolly opens a drawer and takes out a prepared needle.

I don’t have time to object as she jabs me in the thigh. Seconds later the room moves in and out of focus. I try to fight the drug but it’s useless.

Darkness envelops me, thick and suffocating. It’s as if a thick curtain is drawn across my mind and I can’t reach out and push it back. The drug clings like a heavy fog to my thoughts blurring reality into dreams.

I open my eyes. How long have I been asleep?

Darkness presses against the windows and the house is silent.

I blink rapidly, struggling to piece together what had happened.

Did I really hear my children’s laughter and catch a glimpse of their faces or had I been dreaming?

I can still see them so clearly in my mind’s eye and the way their long blonde hair bounced across their shoulders.

The giggles were as familiar as breathing. Were they really here?

A sound pulls me from the murky haze. The persistent ringing of a phone is coming from the direction of the office.

The phone in that room doesn’t work. I try to rise but my limbs are sluggish.

It’s as if each one is carrying a great weight.

I fight with all my strength to sit up and throw my legs over the edge of the bed.

By the time I grasp my walker, my breath is ragged and my body slick with sweat.

I move on trembling legs, the ringing a beacon in the distance.

Panic grips me, and I push my shaking legs harder.

I must answer the phone. It’s my one chance to reach the outside world.

Each step is an agonizing effort but finally I stumble through the shadowed room and head for the desk.

The receiver is slippery against my soaking palms. “Hello?”

The phone is dead.

Shadows close in around me, and my heart pounds as I clutch the receiver.

I replace it in the cradle and stare at it, willing it to ring again but the silence is deafening.

Questions race through my mind. Was it real?

Was anything that happened today real? Am I living in my own alternate reality?

What am I going to do? The anonymous warning echoes through my mind. Don’t trust anyone.

I grip the edge of the desk and take a few deep breaths before moving slowly along the passageway and back to my prison.

As I struggle to climb back into the bed, the first rays of sunlight break through the gloom, spreading gold across the roses, their petals sparkling with dew.

The suffocating silence is broken with the early morning birdsong.

It gives me hope as I struggle to stay awake and stay sane. The only one I can trust is myself.