Chapter 4

Jack looked down at the few bright red characters.

For a moment his eyes went blank.

Almost without thinking, he picked up the pill box.

"Didn't I throw this out? Why is it still—"

But he never finished.

Marjorie's scream cut him off.

"Jack, it hurts so much!"

"We have to get to the hospital!"

Panic all over her face, Marjorie grabbed the big box of allergy medicine and hurled it out the window.

Jack froze, and then the hatred closed over his eyes again.

Ten minutes later the car stopped at the hospital.

Marjorie tugged frantically at Jack to pull him away.

The car door shut.

Then it locked, all the way.

I lay collapsed inside, feeling the heat climb higher and higher.

The allergic reaction spread worse by the second.

The stifling car couldn't match the heat of the greenhouse.

But the space was smaller.

The air was thinner.

Time slipped by, and my nose stopped taking in breath.

My pupils drifted and widened, little by little.

I was finally free.

My awareness no longer trapped in the body, I drifted out of the car.

The first thing I saw was Jack, keeping Marjorie company through her checkup.

The doting, the love were gone from his face.

There was only a trace of irritation.

"Mr. Swanson, that dissociative episode you had me tell her would definitely clear up in three years, it's already been a week."

"Miss James has asked me several times now. I can't bear to keep lying to her..."

The familiar words came out of Jack's phone.

I froze, disbelief filling my eyes.

Then I heard the thick hatred that Jack forced out of his throat.

"Sophie betrayed me first. I'm only punishing her a little!"

"Letting her feel the pain I once felt."

"Three more days and I'll let her know the truth..."

A woman doctor came hurrying over.

"Mr. Swanson, I haven't been able to reach Miss James at all. I need to know how the baby is."

"Baby?"

Jack frowned.

The woman doctor spoke quickly.

"Miss James didn't tell you?"

"Her body can't support another miscarriage."

"If she loses another one, she'll die!"

She got every word out and still had more she wanted to say.

Then, over by the Cayenne not far off, someone suddenly shouted.

"It's boiling hot in this car, she'll die in there!"

"Somebody get her out!"

The car window shattered.

My unrecognizable body was lifted out.

"She's not... she's not breathing!"

The panicked voice reached Jack's ears, every word of it.

The thick hatred gathered in his eyes scattered bit by bit, like storm clouds blown apart.

"What do you mean, Sophie's gone?"

"I'm not done punishing her. How can she die?!"

The instant he heard I was gone, Jack fell apart completely.

His mind went blank, lost.

"Sophie!"

"What gives you the right to die?!"