Page 51 of Mara
“What is that?” I tried to get up, but was stopped by the cords coming from my body.
“Where is my sister? What are you doing here?”
Jinx held a bottle in his hands, pouring two pills out onto his palm and extending them to me.
I looked at him with uncertainty. “What is this?”
“For your pain,” he offered, and shoved water in my face.
I hesitated before putting the pills in my mouth and swallowing them down with the water. My tongue felt weird, like it all of a sudden weighed a ton. My feet and arms did too.
Had I been lying down too long?
“Jinx, what are you doing here?” I asked again, more strictly. My tongue was swollen, and my words came out strange.
“Righting a wrong, Gigi. No need to worry. Just lie down, it’ll be easier that way.”
True fear entered my veins. My body was…shutting down, my throat constricting, and my arms and legs unwilling to move any longer. I gasped and struggled to breathe. All I could do was watch Jinx walk over to me with a scalpel, and tears blurred my vision.
Who was this man?
What was he doing to me?
Where is my sister?
“You are going to video chat with your sister, tell her you took some pills, and you’re going to bed. Understand?”
I could barely breathe, and I shook my head viciously. He brought the scalpel down onto my stomach, and a fine red line welled on my skin below my belly button.
No!
“Okay! Okay! Please don’t hurt the baby.”
Jinx smiled, and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was so dark and sinister. There was no love. No warmth. Nothing but an evil promise.
He grabbed my phone from the counter and dialed my sister, grabbing my hand to hold the device. I was crying so hard and praying for my son. Praying for a miracle.
“If you alert her, I will rip the baby out of your stomach and turn it into pieces, Gianna. Don’t test me.”
I paled knowing he meant it. Swallowing hard, Mara finally answered the line.
“Gigi, what’s wrong? I promise I will be there after I’m administering meds on this unit.”
I let the tears fall freely, my body getting more and more numb with each breath I took.
“I took some pills…” I said slowly.
Mara furrowed her brow and said, “Okay? It’s okay to take pain pills, Gigi. It won’t hurt your baby.”
I swallowed, Jinx behind the phone and encouraging my words with a nod of his head.
“I love you, sis. I know I haven’t been the easiest person to be around, but you have always been there. I appreciate that you have always been exactly who you are.”
Jinx narrowed his eyes at me, but I continued. I knew I was going to die, but I couldn’t let this monster kill my sister. I had to get to her without tipping off the man in front of me.
“I love that you are always you. Never wearing a mask and pretending to be someone you’re not.”
Jinx pulled his mask down, and a terrifying image of a skull appeared on his jaw, covering his mouth in complete black with bones.
