Tainted : Book 1

CHAPTER 12 : Secrets And Lies

I didn't leave the house very often. My father disapproved of it. The only times I stepped foot out of the house was when I had to go to the doctor. I hated it, I hated hospitals in general. With stark white walls, the stench of antiseptics and the overbearing dreary atmosphere, how could anyone not hate hospitals. I hated having to endure a billion tests that all yielded the same result, inconclusive. 

     I had been sick most of my life, longer than I could even remember. No one could ever figure out what was wrong with me. But one thing was for sure, I was dying. They didn't tell me this, of course. How does one tell a five year old child that they're dying. But I knew it though, I could see it in the eyes of the nurses who tended to me, they held such pity. 

    I was only five, I didn't want to die. I had barely lived. It terrified me so much, I spent countless nights crying myself to sleep. No child should ever have to deal with something like that. 

     There was only ever one other time I left the house that didn't require my visiting the hospital. It was late into the night when my mother came to me. She gently shook me awake. I lazily opened my eyes. 

    "Mommy?" 

    "Hi, my little prince," she brushed the hair off and placed a soft kiss on my forehead, before she hoisted me into her arms. My legs wrapped around her waist and I laid my head on her shoulder. 

     "Where are we going?" I mumbled before I yawned. I was still incredibly sleepy, my room was dark, meaning that the sun had not yet risen. Feeling warm and safe in my mother's hold, I found it difficult to keep my eyes open. 

       "To see a friend." She whispered right before I dozed off.  

     When I opened my eyes I wasn't in my room anymore. I was in the car, curled up in the backseat a blanket draped over my small figure. 

     "Marcus, honey. We're here," my mom said, as she looked back from the driver's seat. I lazily blinked away the sleep with a yawn, as I sat up. My mom opened the door stepping out of the car. She came to my door and opened it for me before taking my small hand in hers. I hopped out of the car.

     In front of us was a farmhouse, way past it's prime. It was falling apart, the floor boards creaked as we walked up the front steps. The front door was coated in blue paint that was mostly faded. 

    The door trembled under my mother's soft knock and I feared the door would fall off it's hinges. We heard shuffling, right before the door swung open. 

      "Melissa?" A slim woman in a silk nightgown stood in the threshold of the door. Her voice was raspy as if she'd only just woke up. 

     "I need your help. I'll do whatever it takes," my mom said desperation lacing her voice. 

       "My favorite words," she stepped aside, "come in."  

       My mom squeezed my hand before we walked into the farmhouse. The inside of the crumbling farmhouse was anything but, it was as if I walked through a portal.

     I was almost tempted to go back outside to make sure I had walked into the right house. The exterior was so contradictory to the interior. Where the outside looked like a beaten down farmhouse, the inside looked like a luxurious modern apartment.  

     My mother's "friend" led us into the living area where my mom sat me onto the white leather sofa. 

     She knelt in front of me clasping my hands, "stay here, I'll be back soon." She stood up, stooping down to kiss my forehead.