JADE:
I couldn’t be mistaken. The third object inside Liam’s trinket bottle was a black mother of pearl…
I trembled as I realized what all these mementos could possibly mean…
My hands were shaking as I tried to return the keychain back to its original place in Liam’s bag.
I didn’t have time however. He looked back towards me, and I was left with no other option but to stuff the bottle underneath my pillow.
“Here you go, Jade. Be careful, it may be hot.”
I stared at the black liquid inside the cup.
“Go ahead, Jade… Or do you want me to blow the steam away for you?”
“N-No need,” I said. “By the way… D-Did anyone contact my mom and dad?”
“Oh yes. They just stepped out for a bit. I volunteered to take care of you while they buy some groceries,” he said brushing a few strands of hair away from my face.
Gosh, I hope Liam did not see me flinch… I couldn’t even bring my hands to steady themselves as I held the cup of coffee he had made…
“Are you alright, Jade?... You seemed paler than before.”
“I-I’m just tired,” I mumbled.
“You’re not going to drink your coffee?”
“Umm… On second thought, I’d rather have some hot chocolate… Y-You’d like that better too, right?”
“Hmm, yes… I’ll get us some then...”
“A-And would you mind lending me your phone?... I’d like to browse on social media while you’re away,” I said, trying my best to stay calm under Liam’s gaze.
“Sure, hon,” he said, handing me the phone in his pocket.
“I’ll be right back,” he said as he fetched his wallet from the table near his knapsack. “Don’t go anywhere…”
“Y-Yes…”
As soon as Liam exited the door, I went through his phone and dialed the emergency hotline.
Rats, my hands were shaking so hard, it took me several tries to key in the numbers.
It was ringing, but no one was answering on the other end of the line. On the tenth ring, the call was dropped automatically.
I dialed it again.
“Come on… Come on, pick up… Please pick up,” I mumbled as I struggled to get out of bed.
If I’m lucky, I’ll have fifteen minutes before I could get out of here.
One of my feet was still dangling at the edge of the bed when I hear something tumble down from the side.
I looked at it. It was the trinket bottle I stole from Liam’s bag. It rolled into the floor going towards the hospital room’s door.
Just then, a foot stopped it from rolling further.
Finally, I heard someone from the other line.
“Hello…”
Sadly, I couldn’t answer it back as it came crashing into the floor, perhaps broken beyond repair now.
It was only a second ago when Liam stepped back into the room, stopping his memento bottle key chain from rolling on the floor, so how then did he get on top of me here on the bed?
His hands went into my neck, clutching it fiercely.
I had no doubt I will die… After all, I think I had just discovered his secret.
The last thing that I remembered before passing out were Captain Rigdon’s words.
“The prior victims were missing something from their bodies...”
I’m sure now that what the first two victims were missing a tooth and a fingernail… And that mother of pearl – that’s from the shoe, right? Those red shoes I received from someone who lurked in the shadows…
Those were my last memories before my eyesight dimmed, and everything went pitch black…
**********************
I heard the faint dripping sound of water somewhere.
I close my eyes even tighter… I still wanted to sleep…
Ah, but the dripping sound was getting louder and louder…
Suddenly, I remembered what happened.
Despite the strong urge to fall back into sleep, I fought and tried to open my eyes. They were heavy. It took me several attempts to rouse myself into wakefulness before I succeeded.
“The test subject is awake now,” I heard someone say.
My fluttering eyes darted to the right where the voice just came from. I was met by the stares of a man in a scrub suit and a surgical mask.
I bolted from bed. I wanted to get away, but my hands were restrained against the side rails of a hospital bed.
I looked all around me. There were several drips and dextrose bags that were hooked on my body. There were also blood bags that were being drained on both of my wrists, and even from my legs.
I gulped down the rising panic in my chest. This was an actual scene similar to the dream I had with Marian. Only this time, I was the test subject!
I opened my mouth to scream, but there was no sound coming from it.
Had I gone mute? Did they cut off my tongue?
“Miss Sy, please don’t strain yourself… Just go comfortably back to sleep,” the man in the scrub suit said.
He tried to put a hand on my head, but I dogged it.
“Shhh… Don’t aggravate yourself. The chairman won’t like it if you get hurt.”
After a few more struggles between the two of us, he succeeded in putting his hand over me, but this time, he put it against my eyes.
“Sweet dreams, Miss Sy…”
I don’t know what came over me, but a deep, dark, and heavy sleep overcame my nervousness and took over my body.
What the hell was happening?...
**********************
My eyes fluttered open once more.
Just as that man in scrub suit had commanded me to do, I had fallen asleep again, right?
This time though, the groggy feeling was not there anymore. I could open my eyes with ease now, and my mind did not feel as cloudy.
However, the set up I woke up into was still the same. I was still restrained in a hospital bed with several medical tubes coming in and out of my body.
“Miss Sy, are you hungry now?”
I craned my neck to the right and saw someone in a scrub suit pushing a cart of what looked like lunch or dinner, depending on what time it was… She must have been female based on her voice.
“Y-Yesss,” I responded, my speech slurred.
Rats, what did they really do to my tongue?...
“Don’t be frightened. You’ll recover soon. You just need to eat, that’s all,” she said a bit cheerfully.
I eyed the cutlery she was going to give me. There was a spoon, a fork, and a knife.
Good… Maybe I could finally get the hell out of here if everything goes as planned…