g scream shatter

est heaved violently as she sucke

e hard plastic of the ventilator tube. Instead, he

at the stained ceiling tiles of the hospital. She was looking u

. It slammed into the wooden nightstand righ

e turned her head. A five-year-old boy stood on the plus

children's suit. His face was an e

was rolling around, screaming at the top of her lungs

k bedsheets so tightly her knuckles turned white. She th

ving. He marched over, lifted his custom leather shoe

his voice dripping with disdain. "Go

l blow. It perfectly overlapped with the voice of the

ress ripped through her nervous system. Her entire bo

bled off the edge of the mattress, her bare feet hitting the

id clown!" Arthur lau

and threw the deadbolt lock. The solid wood

fell in jagged, uneven breaths. She slowly lifted her head an

in was full of collagen, devoid of the deep st

d the cold glass, tracing the reflection of her ow

old water blasted from the tap. She cupped her hands, gath

. It stripped away the lingering f

left things during her old morning routine. An early-model smartphone rested there, abandoned by her past self. She snatched i

twins were only five, the year the seeds of her

om door. Little Arthur was kicking the wood, screami

to death, the sight of Arthur's cold smile, flashed behin

terror were entirely gone. They were replaced by

ped the water from her face. Her moveme

ed her hand around the cold metal doorknob. The old phone remained in her other hand-

expensive glass perfume bottle high above

tall, looking down at the son who held the bottle. Her ey