Source by K. M. Hill

Author:K. M. Hill [Hill, K. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Seven

Familiar arms wrapped around Rae and a wave of emotion welled up inside her as the first tears escaped and she started to sob uncontrollably.

Her dad stood uncomfortably alongside her mother, who’d placed a hand on her head, stroking her hair.

‘Shhh honey, it’s OK. Everything is going to be fine now.’

Rae felt like a little girl with a cut knee again, longing for the loving reassurance only a parent can provide.

As her mother gave her room to breathe and helped her dry her eyes, Carl came into view, standing back near the window with his arms folded looking awkward.

‘Hey bro,’ Rae greeted smiling, hardly believing how much older he looked in such a short space of time.

‘Hey.’ He put his hands in his pockets and shifted his pose, all the while refusing to meet her gaze.

‘How are you feeling sweetheart?’ her dad asked.

‘Mush better now. Glad to be in a regular hospital.’

‘We had two guys call at the house when you were taken in, said you were a contagion risk, and then the whole attack thing… we didn't know what was going on. What happened?’

Rae explained how she’d reacted badly to some treatment, without going into details of how it was administered without her consent - or that she believed OBK were trying to kill her.

She still didn't know how to feel now, though if the doctors had wanted her dead she wouldn't be here talking to her family right then.

‘Seem I’ll have the pacemaker for life, but because my blood work is fuzzy after the reaction, they can’t yet give me a new DOD.’

‘So you got what you always wanted then,’ Carl muttered. ‘I mean, isn’t that what you always said, nobody is supposed to know?’

Rae didn't respond as she realized he was right - the only difference being that she didn't trust OBK on this either. She often had nightmares of the two doctors actively controlling the electronic device inside her to regulate her weakened heart. She dreamed of running away only to fall to the ground as they toyed with the controls.

‘I think this is a bit different, Carl,’ Rae’s dad said. ‘Don’t forget your sister has been through a lot.’

‘And we haven’t?’

‘Carl!’

‘It’s OK, Mom.’ Rae realized she truly had no idea what her family had been going through. ‘I’m sorry Carl, so sorry about all this mess and the effect it’s had on you guys.’

‘You don’t need to apologize.’ Her mom perched at the edge of the bed. ‘Things have been difficult for us all. Carl has been getting some … nasty remarks at school after the attack.’

‘What kind of remarks?’

‘Just silly teenage stuff, you know, about you and that Tetrad thing again. We’ve explained that you work for OBK now, that all that other stuff is in the past.’ Though she spoke as if she were asking a question rather than stating how things were.

‘I was in a coma when the attack happened,’ Rae said, stung. ‘The attack had nothing to do with me.’

‘That’s what I said,’ her dad chipped in.

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