Patterns of Betrayal

(5) Error

~~

«Antidote?»

Mother's voice rips through the tension in the room. My body is unsettled, a result of witnessing the death in front of me. I stare at the last few swirling, green drops of liquid trickling off the shards of glass and onto the concrete floor. From the corner of my eye, I see Nikolas shake his head.

He swallows. «The man said that once the liquid enters your body, nothing can save your heart rate from increasing to a deadly pace. The drug reacts with the blood pumping from the erratic heart and will eventually cause the black markings you saw on...» Nikolas carefully nods to the box, now containing my deceased brother.

Mother nods and turns, her eyes feasting on the five other vials of liquid on the table. «Good.»

She brings another vial up to her own face and studies the content.

«For now, this will suffice.»

I don't hear what Nikolas responds. Nor do I register that he eventually leaves.

«This will suffice,» she quietly repeats to herself.

She carefully places the vial down on the table, next to the other doses. She opens what looks like a small fridge beneath her desk and put the green liquid inside. She punches a combination onto the code box on the fridge and successfully locks the vials in.

I wait a full minute after Mother has closed the door before letting out an audibly shaken breath. I crawl out from behind the rugs and push myself up on unsteady legs.

My eyes do not leave the door as my legs bring me closer to the fridge where the vials rest in.

My emotions are fumbling, for I do not know how to feel. I am bitter that one of my siblings was killed, murdered in the basement of my house. However, the sorrow doesn't quite reach my heart. I didn't know the boy, at all. I had no emotional connection to him. There have been deaths over my ten years under Mother's roof that have hurt me more deeply than this one. One being Sofia, thrown out of the van by Nikolas on our way to the City.

Mother would not kill one of her children without a reason. He must have done something so remarkably terrible that made Mother think could also have threatened us in the long run. Maybe he had turned on her.

I nod to myself as I continue eyeing the door.

Mother is the reason for my survival. She gives me work and I see it through. Not once have I gotten punished for doing my job properly. I will just have to continue my good work.

Don't mess up. I can't mess up.

I wonder what the other children will say tomorrow when they see a sibling missing.

I convince myself that Mother will not return and I turn to face the code box. Hesitantly, I recall the code Mother punched in. The box beeps once and unlocks.

I can't resist taking one of the vials out from the cold safe. The liquid swirled in the vial as I carefully moved it up to the dim lightbulb hanging from the roof.

Poison.

It boggles me that such a small dose can bring down a person within a couple of minutes.