The “Strawberry Juice” That Saved My Son Chapter 02

The “Strawberry Juice” That Saved My Son Chapter 02

The medical tent was dim.

The smell of disinfectant mixed with wet dirt and blood.

A nurse was wiping Noah’s face with a warm towel. Her movements were gentle.

When the towel touched his lips, she stopped.

“Doctor, come look at this.” Her voice tightened. “Why is there so much red around his mouth? Could he be bleeding internally?”

I floated beside Noah, my heart aching as I looked at his cracked lips and that terrible dark red ring.

Ethan was off to the side, dealing with a cut on his own arm. When he heard her, he frowned and walked over.

He grabbed a wet wipe and started scrubbing the corner of Noah’s mouth.

“Junk food,” he said in a low voice, as if that explained everything.

The dried blood smeared across Noah’s dusty little face.

Noah winced from the pain and twisted away. His small hands pushed at Ethan’s wrist as he cried out.

“Don’t wipe it off! That’s the strawberry juice Mommy gave me!”

I looked at the hurt in Noah’s red eyes.

I remembered how, in that suffocating darkness and unbearable pain, I had still smiled and told him, “Be good, baby. This is Mommy’s magic strawberry juice. Only Noah gets to drink it in the whole world.”

My foolish little boy had believed me.

Ethan’s hand paused for half a second.

Then his anger burned even hotter.

“How old are you now, and she still feeds you this garbage every day? There’s an earthquake, and she doesn’t even come for you. She never knows what matters.”

The phone in Ethan’s pocket suddenly buzzed.

He glanced at the caller ID, then walked to the tent entrance to answer. His voice lowered.

I drifted after him.

A woman’s voice came through the phone, familiar and intimate.

“Ethan, still no word from Joy? I asked County General. They said Dr. Reed never checked in.”

It was his deputy captain, Claire Scott.

“Don’t worry about her.”

There was no warmth in Ethan’s voice.

“She won’t die. She’s probably hiding in some safe bunker somewhere, too scared to come out. And she’s supposed to be a doctor.”

I let out a bitter laugh.

So that was what I was in his heart.

A coward who feared death, abandoned her son, and neglected her duty.

“Daddy…”

Noah called weakly.

Then his small body suddenly arched, and he vomited.

Dark red liquid splashed across the floor.

The thick smell of blood filled the small tent at once.

Ethan rushed back in a few steps, scooped Noah’s limp body into his arms, and shouted, “Doctor!”

I hovered above Noah, terrified.

But I could only watch in despair.

I could do nothing.

The doctor hurried over. After a quick examination, his face turned grave.

“Severe dehydration and acute stress response.”

He looked at the vomit on the floor, then at Ethan.

“There’s no food in his stomach. It’s all… blood.”

Ethan froze.

He looked down at Noah’s pale face and instinctively tried to pry his mouth open.

“Did he bite his tongue?”

The doctor shook his head but did not answer.

He was an experienced older doctor. Maybe he had already guessed something.

He looked at Ethan with complicated eyes and was about to speak.

Just then, a rescue worker ran into the tent, covered in sweat.

“Captain! The daycare site has been fully cleared.”

He panted as he reported, “We didn’t find… any bodies.”

Ethan’s arms stiffened around Noah.

For one instant, relief flashed through his eyes.

But that relief was quickly swallowed by deeper disgust.

He pulled at the corner of his mouth and let out a cold scoff.

“I knew she was hard to kill.”

I floated near the roof of the tent and watched that look of relief and contempt on his face.

Of course they could not find me.

When the daycare building collapsed, the ground beneath my feet had cracked open too.

I had been buried even deeper underground.