Page 49 of Unwell
At the nurses’ station, a colourful, embroidered bag slumped half-open at the foot of the chair. Wool spilled out like rainbow spaghetti, and the sight stopped me in my tracks. It was the most colour I’d seen since I’d been forced into the big, grey building. A creak down the hallhad me swallowing hard and taking another look at the bag. I dipped my hand in without thinking, closing around cold steel. A knitting needle. Long and sharp. I shoved it up my sleeve. Deeper in the bag was a pair of heavy shears. Old and fearsome-looking. I stole them too, shoving them deep into the worn pocket of my nightgown.
I waited for someone to stop me. To take my weapons and punish me for arming myself. But no one did. They either didn’t see or didn’t care. More likely to take bets on who I’d stab than try to stop it happening.
The doors groaned as I pushed them open, the autumn air so fresh in my lungs. The grounds loomed empty until you hit the tree line. Weeds thrived, but little else did. The grass soaked my slippers, and I revelled in the sensation. It reminded me I was alive. As long as I could still feel the rain and the wind, and watch the ravens swoop, they hadn’t beaten me yet. Beyond, the woods reached for me with long, dark fingers. Calling me.
‘Ginny.’
I turned at the voice, thinking it might be Larry. But the flash of a white coat told me it wasn’t.
I ran.
But running was difficult, with the weight of my stomach tipping me forward. I lumbered toward the woods, the sticky ground sucking at my feet. When the branches swallowed me, they snagged my gown and my short hair, forcing me to keep tearing them free. Pain seared, and my pulse quickened. The baby shiftedhard, jolting electricity through my vagina with every step.
And then I heard him. Too close.
‘Ginny…’
It slithered between the trees, low and menacing.
‘I know you’re out here, sweetheart. Don’t make me chase you.’
I ducked behind a trunk, my chest heaving as I pressed into the rough bark. My breath came in heavy bursts as I tried to calm myself, holding my stomach as I winced.
‘It’s just us,’ I whispered. ‘Just us, baby. Stay quiet.’
Branches cracked nearby. Footsteps. The doctor hunted me.
‘You’remygirl,’ he crooned. ‘You’ve always been my girl. I opened you up, remember, all those years ago? You’llalwaysbelong to me.’
I swallowed down a sob, and willed myself to run, but everything felt too heavy. My legs shook so hard I thought I’d collapse.
‘Come out, Ginny.’ His voice grew harsher. ‘Don’t be bad. You know what happens when you’re bad.’
I couldn’t breathe. He was close enough to smell. Sweat and cigarette smoke, all sour and wrong. Not Elijah’s peppery spice.Not safety.I slid the knitting needle into my hand.
It wasn’t him.
I bolted again, crashing deeper into the woods. My lungs burned with every step, the baby lurching inside me, urine escaping and running down my legs.
Hands gripped my upper arms, bringing me to an abrupt stop.
I shrieked and thrashed, but he yanked me back against him while tearing my nightgown upwards, his hard cock pressing against my ass. His breath scorched my ear. ‘Shh. It’s Elijah. It’s me.’
‘No! You’re not him.’
When he turned me to face him, his fingers sinking deep into my piss-soaked cunt, I saw him for who he was. Uncle Robert. Or Nancy’s husband. Maybe both? I hadn’t seen Uncle Robert since I was a child. Since before Elijah. Were they the same? My head reeled as he fingered me roughly against the tree.
‘This is mine. It will always be mine. It is now. It will be after I get my baby out of you and put another one in you. And another.’
His words unlocked something inside me. Unhooked something that told me exactly what to do. I shifted as he thrust his fingers faster, the sensation beginning to feel good. It disgusted me.
‘The baby isn’t yours,’ I whispered, ‘It’smine.’
Gripping the knitting needle, I drove it high before bringing it swiftly downward. Into soft flesh. The wet jelly pop sounded almost comical.
His scream tore the leaves. He stumbled back, clutching his face as blood and eye innards dripped down his face. The needle jutted out from where he clasped his face, the metal poking from between his fingers.
‘You fuckin’ whore. What the fuck?’ Rage tumbled from him.
