Chapter 1 - THE BOTTLE BESIDE THE BROKEN DISHES
“Stop pretending and clean this mess.”
My mother’s voice cut through the kitchen as another plate slipped from my fingers.
It struck the wooden cabinet and shattered across the tile.
I gripped the edge of the sink, but the room continued tilting. Warm light blurred above me. My chest felt as though someone had tightened a belt around my lungs.
“Mom,” I whispered. “I cannot breathe.”
Valerie Reed stood three feet away in a burgundy dress and navy cardigan. Her blonde hair remained perfectly arranged from the family dinner she had insisted we attend that evening.
She looked irritated, not frightened.
“You breathe perfectly well whenever there is no work to do.”
My knees began shaking.
Caleb pushed away from the kitchen table.
At twelve, my younger brother was small for his age, but he noticed things adults expected children to miss.
“Her lips are turning gray.”
“They are not,” Mom snapped.
Daniel entered from the living room.
My stepfather took one look at me and crossed the room.
“Emma?”
I tried to answer.
Only a thin rasp escaped.
The glass in my hand struck the floor.
Daniel caught me before my head reached the tile.
“Call 911.”
Mom moved between Caleb and the phone.
“She does this when she wants attention.”
Daniel looked at her.
“I said call.”
Caleb grabbed the cordless phone from the wall and ran into the hallway.
I heard him give our Cedar Rapids address while Daniel lowered me beside the kitchen island.
My pulse felt strange.
Too fast for one moment.
Then frighteningly slow.
“Stay with me,” Daniel said.
I focused on his face.
Mom crouched near us without touching me.
“Emma, stop frightening everyone.”
I wanted to tell her I was frightened too.
My body would not obey.
Sirens reached the street several minutes later.
A female paramedic entered first, carrying a red medical bag. Her dark hair was tucked beneath a navy cap.
“I am Naomi Briggs. Emma, can you hear me?”
I blinked.
She pressed two fingers against my neck.
Her calm expression changed instantly.
“Stretcher now. Her pulse is collapsing.”
A second paramedic rushed back through the doorway.
Naomi clipped a monitor to my finger.
“Oxygen is seventy eight and falling.”
Daniel went pale.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we move now.”
Mom reached toward my hand.
Naomi blocked her.
“Ma’am, step back.”
“I am her mother.”
“Then give us room to keep her alive.”
The words finally silenced her.
As the paramedics placed me on the stretcher, Daniel noticed an open medicine bottle beside the dirty plates.
It had no cap.
Several pale tablets remained inside.
“Valerie, what is that?”
Mom looked toward the bottle.
“Daniel’s heart medication.”
“I keep mine upstairs.”
“You must have left it here.”
“I did not.”
Caleb stood in the doorway with tears running down his face.
Naomi reached for the bottle with gloved hands.
“Did Emma take any of these?”
“No,” Mom answered immediately.
Caleb looked directly at the paramedic.
“Mom put something in Emma’s drink.”
The kitchen became silent.
Mom turned toward him.
“What did you say?”
“I saw you crush pills.”
“You are confused.”
“You used the bottom of the wineglass.”
Mom stepped toward him.
Daniel moved between them.
“Do not go near him.”
Her face changed.
“Daniel, he is twelve.”
“He is frightened of you.”
Naomi examined the remaining tablets. She did not smell them directly. She sealed the bottle inside a clear evidence bag and read the markings beneath the kitchen light.
“These appear to be heart medication.”
Daniel stared at his wife.
“How many did you crush?”
“I did not crush anything.”
Naomi looked toward the half empty glass beside the sink.
A cloudy film remained across the bottom.
“Preserve that glass.”
The second paramedic placed it inside another bag.
Mom’s composure began breaking.
“This is ridiculous. Emma takes things from our bathroom all the time.”
I forced my eyes open.
“I do not.”
“You do not remember half of what you do.”
Naomi looked at me.
“Emma, did you drink from that glass?”
I nodded.
Mom had placed it beside my plate before dinner.
She said it was lemonade.
It tasted bitter.
Police lights flashed across the kitchen window.
Mom backed against the counter.
“Daniel, do not believe him.”
Caleb hid behind my stepfather.
Naomi adjusted the oxygen mask over my face.
“These pills could stop her heart.”
Mom looked toward the open bottle.
Not at me.
At the bottle.
As though she feared what it could say.
The stretcher rolled toward the front door.
Before we reached the hallway, Caleb caught Daniel’s sleeve.
“There is something else.”
Daniel bent toward him.
“What?”
Caleb’s voice became barely audible.
May you like
“Mom told Uncle Ray that Emma would not wake up this time.”
Continue to the next part: Doctors find two different drugs in Emma’s blood, and one prescription was filled under her name six months before she turned eighteen.
