Page 37 of All The Pretty Little Lies

"The Shadow Man?" he growls, his voice low and dangerous. "Did he...did he hurt you, Vesper?"

I flinch at the intensity in his tone, shrinking back against the headboard. My heart races, and I can feel the panic rising in my chest. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the memories that threaten to overwhelm me.

"Hey, hey," Oscar's voice softens immediately. When I open my eyes, I see him leaning forward, his hands outstretched but not touching me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You're safe here, I promise. The Shadow Man can't hurt you anymore."

I want to believe him. God, how I want to believe him. But my fear is too deep, the memories too fresh. I shake my head, wrapping my arms around myself.

"You don't understand," I whisper. "No one can protect me. They'll always find me."

Oscar leans back, giving me space. His eyes never leave mine as he speaks, his voice steady and calm. "Vesper, listen to me. We found you. We got you out. The Shadow Man, the Petrovs, none of them can reach you here. We've made sure of it. Even the doctor said…” he trails off.

The word 'doctor' sends a jolt of panic through me. Suddenly, I'm back in that sterile white room, strapped to a table as faceless figures in white coats loom over me. "No," I gasp, my hands flying to my stomach. "No, no, no. They took them from me again. They took my babies!"

Oscar's brow furrows in confusion. "Babies? Vesper, what are you talking about?"

"My babies," I sob, curling in on myself. "They keep taking them. Every time I close my eyes, they're there with their needles and their knives, and they take my babies away.”

The room spins around me, reality blurring with the nightmares that have haunted me for so long. I can smell the antiseptic and feel the cold metal of the stirrups against my skin. My hands clutch at my stomach, desperately searching for the life I know should be there but isn't. The loss is a gaping wound, raw and bleeding, and I can't stop the keening wail that escapes my lips.

Oscar's face swims before me, his blue eyes wide with concern and confusion. He's saying something, but I can't hear him over the roaring in my ears. All I can focus on is the phantom pain in my abdomen, the emptiness where my children should be.

"Please," I beg, my words tumbling out in a frantic rush. "Please don't let them take them again. I can't...I can't lose them again. They are mine, they're all I have left!"

I'm spiraling, lost in a maze of terror and grief. Oscar reaches out, trying to comfort me, but his touch sends me reeling. I lash out, my nails raking across his arm as I scramble away. My back hits the headboard with a thud, but I barely feel it. All I can see are the faceless doctors, their hands reaching for me, ready to tear away the last shreds of my humanity.

"No!" I scream, my voice raw and broken. "Stay away from me! Don't touch me!”

Panic rises like bile in my throat as I back away from Oscar, his soothing words a low growl in my ears, but I don’t understand them. The walls of the room seem to be closing in on me, pulsing with my frantic heartbeat as my mind reels with unspeakable terrors.

But then, the door opens, and a figure emerges. My heart races at the sight of someone new, both familiar and terrifying inmy state of desperation. In his hand, something glints in the dim light – a syringe. The mere sight of it sends me into a frenzy.

"Get away from me!" I scream, throwing myself off the bed with wild abandon. My legs are weak and unsteady, causing me to crash to the floor in a heap of blankets and limbs. "No more drugs! Please!"

I claw at the ground, trying to crawl away but my body betrays me. The new man moves with lightning speed, before I can react, and I feel the sharp sting of the needle piercing my skin.

"No," I whimper, my struggles growing weaker as the drug takes hold. "Please...not my babies..."

I fight against the haze that threatens to overtake me, struggling to hold onto consciousness but it's like trying to grasp smoke. My limbs grow heavy, and my thoughts become sluggish. In the blurry space between wakefulness and unconsciousness, I hear bits and pieces of their heated conversation.

"...didn't have to do that!"

"She was out of control..."

"We were making progress..."

"She was hurting herself..."

As my vision blurs and my eyelids droop heavily, I catch a glimpse of a tattoo, a phoenix rising from ashes. It's both beautiful and haunting, a symbol of rebirth that comes at a steep price. The image sears itself into my mind as I slip away into drug-induced oblivion, a final anchor to reality before I am consumed by darkness.

ZAIRE

I barely havetime to register what is happening before Oscar's iron grip clamps around my bicep, yanking me out of Vesper's room with such force I nearly stumble. The door slams shut behind us, the sound echoing through the empty hallway like a gunshot.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Oscar hisses, his blue eyes blazing with a fury I've rarely seen directed at me. His fingers dig into my arm, sure to leave bruises, but I don’t flinch. I've endured far worse.

I jerk my arm free, squaring my shoulders as I face my twin. "I did what was necessary."

"Necessary?" He barks out a harsh laugh. "You drugged her. Again. You're no better than the bastards who took her in the first place!"

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