Chapter Six
The air in the guest room was heavy, too heavy to breathe. I had been standing for too long among the scattered photographs, their glossy surfaces catching what little light the room allowed. My knees ached, my chest tightened, and the fire I had clung to moments before wavered beneath the weight of my own body.
I tried to sit, but the floor tilted under me. The walls swayed as though the house itself moved in waves. My skin burned hot, then cold, and a sharp pain shot through my ribs when I inhaled.
The photographs slipped from my hands. My vision blurred.
Then darkness took me.
---
I awoke to white light. Too bright, too clean, the sterile glow of a place I had not wanted to see again. Machines hummed softly around me, their beeping measured, indifferent to the terror in my chest.
The hospital.
My throat was dry, my lips cracked. I tried to move, but even the weight of my own hand felt unbearable against the sheets.
Whispers reached me before I opened my eyes fully. Soft, careful, not meant for me.
"Is it the pills that is making her to collapse like this?" a voice murmured, sharp and feminine.
Elizabeth.
My chest seized. I kept my eyes half-closed, letting stillness cloak me.
The doctor answered in a low tone, weary but steady. "The results show strain, but nothing fatal. She's weak, severely so. It may be from the medication prescribed earlier."
"Then keep it that way," Elizabeth whispered, her voice a blade wrapped in silk. "You understand? She doesn't die, not yet. She just... fades. That's what he wants."
A pause. My pulse hammered in my ears.
"You are asking me to withhold the truth," the doctor replied, voice taut. "That is dangerous, Mrs..."
"Elizabeth," she cut in smoothly, as if correcting a child. "Do as I say, and you will be compensated. Generously. My Daniel will see to it."
My lungs burned. Each breath was shallow, ragged, as though the air itself rebelled against me. I fought the urge to gasp, to betray that I was listening.
The silence stretched, then the doctor exhaled heavily. "I will... adjust the reports. But if she worsens, I cannot be held responsible."
"She will worsen," Elizabeth said, almost with delight. "That is the point."
The words sliced through me. I wanted to scream, to tear the IV from my arm, to tell them I knew. But my body betrayed me. Weakness held me down, the toxin threading deeper through my veins.
Elizabeth's heels clicked softly as she approached the bed. For a moment, her shadow fell across me. I felt her gaze linger, the weight of it pressing against my skin.
"She looks peaceful like this," she murmured, almost tender. "A doll left too long in the sun. Soon, Daniel will forget she was ever here."
My fingers twitched beneath the blanket. I forced stillness.
At last, her footsteps receded. The door clicked shut behind them.
I opened my eyes fully then, staring at the ceiling, the light blurring with tears I refused to shed. Fear coiled tight in my chest, sharper than any pain the poison had given me.
They wanted me erased. Not dead, not quickly. No, this was slower, crueler. A drawn-out undoing, each fainting spell, each pale reflection, another step closer to vanishing while the world watched.
And Daniel... he knew. He allowed it.
---
The hours crawled. Nurses entered, checked the machines, adjusted tubes. Their faces were kind but guarded, eyes darting as though afraid of what they might say aloud.
Once, I caught two of them whispering just beyond the curtain.
"They say she fainted again. At home."
"It's the mistress, isn't it? Everyone knows Mr. Cobbs has moved her in."
"Then why keep the wife alive at all?"
"Hush. Don't question it. This is their world, not ours."
Their footsteps faded, leaving me in silence.
The slow poison in my veins pulsed, a reminder with every beat of my heart. Pale hands. Hollow cheeks. Breath shallow and strained. I could feel myself slipping, inch by inch, and yet... still here.
Not gone.
---
By evening, Daniel arrived.
He filled the doorway with his presence, his suit immaculate, his tie perfectly knotted. He looked at me not with concern but with impatience, as though my existence in this bed inconvenienced him.
"You collapsed again," he said flatly.
My lips parted. My voice rasped, thin and brittle. "I need... the doctor. The truth."
His jaw tightened. He moved closer, his shadow falling over me. "The truth? The truth is you are weak. You've always been weak. You faint at a dinner, you faint in your room, and now you make a spectacle here. Do you want the papers to write more about you? Do you want to humiliate me further?"
My breath hitched. "Daniel, I..."
"Enough." His voice was sharp, final. He straightened his cuffs, as though even speaking to me stained him. "Take your medication. Do as the doctor says. And stop this drama."
His eyes flickered once, cold and gleaming, before he turned and left.
The door closed.
And I broke.
Not with tears, for those had long since abandoned me. But inside, something splintered deeper, something raw and aching.
I stared at the IV line, the clear liquid dripping steadily into my veins, and wondered how long before it stripped me of all color, of all strength.
Elizabeth's words haunted me. Soon Daniel will forget she was ever here.
I pressed my hand weakly to my chest, as if I could hold my heart together against the tightening fear.
But beneath the fear, another thought stirred, quiet but unyielding.
If they wanted me erased, I would have to fight to remain.
---
The night passed in fragments. Dreams tangled with reality, visions of Elizabeth's silk dress brushing my skin, Daniel's voice calling me filth, the doctor's weary eyes. I woke often, gasping, my chest constricted as though hands pressed firmly down.
At dawn, I forced myself upright. My body trembled, my vision swam, but I would not lie still and wait to fade.
I pulled the hospital blanket tighter around me and whispered into the silence, words no one else could hear.
"They will not win."
The monitor beside me beeped steadily, indifferent, but my chest loosened just enough to breathe again.
---
Hours later, the door opened softly. A nurse entered, startled to see me sitting upright. She adjusted the drip, her movements quick, almost nervous.
"Do you know what's wrong with me?" I asked quietly.
Her hands froze. She glanced toward the door, then back at me. Her lips parted, then closed again.
"You should rest," she whispered, almost apologetic. "Rest is what you need."
Her eyes said more. Fear. Knowledge. Silence.
Then she was gone.
---
When Elizabeth returned later, her perfume filled the room before her voice did. Sweet, suffocating. She stood at the foot of the bed, her cream dress immaculate, her smile soft enough to hide the venom underneath.
"You're still here," she said, tilting her head. "Resilient little thing."
I held her gaze, though my body trembled.
"Daniel sends his regards," she added, her tone mocking. "He said not to trouble yourself. The house runs perfectly fine without you."
Her eyes swept me up and down, lingering on the IV, the pale skin, the hollow cheeks. Satisfaction gleamed in her smile.
"You should rest, truly," she murmured. "The more you fight, the faster you'll fall."
She turned gracefully, her heels tapping softly against the sterile floor.
But before she reached the door, I spoke. My voice cracked, faint, but steady enough to halt her steps.
"I will not fall."
Elizabeth paused, her back still to me. Then she laughed, low, amused, dismissive.
"Then fade," she whispered, and left.
---
Alone again, I pressed my palm flat against my chest, feeling the faint, stubborn beat of my heart. Fear still lived there, sharp and consuming. But so did defiance.
They wanted me erased.
