Three Instances of a Lie Chapter 08

Three Instances of a Lie Chapter 08

Federico shot up from his chair and rushed to the nursery.

Erik was on the bed, his small face beet red, muttering deliriously.

“Mommy… Mommy, don’t go…”

Federico snatched his son into his arms and ran.

On the way to the hospital, Erik huddled against his chest, murmuring in his sleep.

“Aunt Savannah… said Mommy’s a bad woman… told me… to pull the tube…”

Federico’s arm went rigid.

“She said if I pulled the tube… the old woman would die… and then Mommy would leave…”

“Grandma isn’t an old woman… Grandma made me a Christmas sweater…”

“Mommy… Mommy, I was wrong… Please don’t leave me…”

Erik’s voice trailed off, tears leaking from his tightly shut eyes. He was delirious, yet he was still crying.

Federico looked down at his son, his heart/clenching as if in a vise.

Pull the tube?

He remembered.

His mother-in-law had a medical emergency once. Her respirator had been unplugged. She nearly died.

Berry had been inconsolable.

That was the incident that had made him finally relent and let her have Erik back, temporarily.

But not long after… the third “infidelity” had happened.

And suddenly, she didn’t want their child anymore.

Even yesterday, when their son spat in her face, she had barely reacted.

He hadn’t even noticed his son turning into this… monster.

The car screeched to a halt at the hospital entrance, and doctors rushed Erik into the emergency room.

Federico leaned against the stark white corridor wall, his fingers still trembling.

He pulled out his phone, staring at the unanswered messages on the screen.

He realized with a sinking certainty that if their son’s fever couldn’t bring her back, nothing would.

The corridor was deathly quiet. He closed his eyes.

His mind was a slideshow of Berry’s crying face.

The first affair… the second… his mother-in-law’s accident…