The world tilted. Princess Fluffykins. Blaire Kline. My mother' s plot. It didn' t make sense. It couldn' t. I read the inscription again, hoping my eyes were playing tricks on me, that three years of forced medication had finally blurred my vision. But the words remained, stark and undeniable.
"What is this?" My voice was a raw, guttural sound I barely recognized. I turned to the groundskeeper, my hands shaking. "Where is she? Where is Jennifer Morgan's grave?"
The old man flinched, taking a step back. "Ma'am, please. That's… that's the plot we were told to prepare for… for this." He gestured vaguely at the dog's memorial. "Mr. Mason was very clear. Said it was a last-minute change. A special request."
Arthur. Of course, Arthur. The name tasted like ash in my mouth. "A special request?" I heard my own laugh, brittle and sharp. "My mother, removed for a dog? Who gave that order?"
The groundskeeper' s eyes darted nervously. "Mr. Mason. He said… he said the family decided to scatter her ashes. Into the ocean. Said she loved the sea." He mumbled, desperate to escape my gaze. "Please, ma'am, don't make trouble. I just do what I'm told." He turned and scurried away, leaving me alone in the desolate silence.
My hands flew to my ears, trying to block out the roaring in my head. Scattered. Like refuse. My mother.
I clawed at my phone, my fingers fumbling. I scrolled through the blocked numbers, a list I'd meticulously curated in the facility, desperate to erase every trace of my past tormentors. Now, I unblocked one. Arthur's. My thumb hovered, trembling, over the call button.
"Looking for someone?"
The voice, smooth and insidious, slid into the stillness behind me. It was a serpent's hiss, a familiar poison. I froze. Arthur. I hadn't heard him approach. He moved like a ghost, always there when you least expected him, always watching.
I slowly turned, my face a mask of stone. He stood there, impeccable as ever, a bouquet of lilies in his hand. His eyes, usually so calculating, held a practiced sadness. "Alexandra. I heard you were discharged. Why didn't you let me know? I would have sent a car."
My gaze remained fixed on his. "Where is she, Arthur?" My voice was flat, devoid of emotion, a deliberate shield against the storm raging inside me.
His brow furrowed slightly, a flicker of genuine confusion in his eyes. He must have expected tears, hysterics. He expected the old Alexandra. "Who, darling? Blaire is at home, perfectly fine."
"My mother. Jennifer Morgan." Each word was a shard of glass in my throat. "Where are her ashes? What did you do with her?"
He sighed, a long, suffering sound. "Alexandra, we discussed this. Three years ago. You weren't in a state to remember. We scattered her ashes. It was what she would have wanted. A quiet farewell, by the sea." He offered a weak, placating smile. "Blaire' s little Princess Fluffykins, bless her heart, passed away recently. Blaire was devastated. She needed a place to grieve. This plot was available. It seemed… fitting."
Fitting. His words echoed in my mind, mocking me. "Fitting? For a dog?" A hot, bitter laugh escaped me. "You think it's 'fitting' to replace the woman who gave you her kidney, who sacrificed everything for you, with a pampered pet? The woman whose life you allowed to end?"
His eyes hardened. "Alexandra, that's enough. Your mother loved animals. She always said she wanted to be one with nature."
"Don't you dare speak her name," I hissed, my control finally cracking. "Don't you dare pretend to know what she wanted. You don't deserve to even breathe the same air she once did."
My hand flew out, a blur of motion. The crack of my palm against his cheek echoed through the silent cemetery. He didn't flinch, didn't move to block it. He just stood there, the red mark blooming on his pale skin, his eyes wide with surprise.
"Blaire told me you'd do something like this," he said, his voice low, a tremor of an unfamiliar emotion beneath it. "She said you were unstable. But I thought… I hoped you' d be better."
"Blaire," I scoffed, the name a curse. "She controls you, doesn't she? Even from beyond the grave, my mother is still a threat to her precious image." I pointed at the dog's headstone. "You visit this regularly, don't you? To appease your little social media queen?"
He didn't deny it. Instead, he reached out, as if to touch me. "Alexandra, please. Let's just go home. Get you some rest. This isn't healthy."
"Home?" I took a step back, my gaze falling on the polished marble. My mother's scarf slipped from my numb fingers, landing softly on the cold stone. A sudden, violent impulse seized me. I kicked at the base of the headstone. The marble cracked, a spiderweb of fissures spreading across the surface. Then I knelt, my bare hands scrabbling at the earth.
He grabbed my arm. "What are you doing? Stop it! You're making a scene!"
"Are you going to commit me again, Arthur?" I snarled, wrenching my arm free. The sleeve of my coat pulled up, exposing the faint, purple lines on my wrist where the restraints had chafed. "Is that it? Call the nurses? Tell them I'm having another episode?"
He saw the scars. His eyes, for the first time, held a flicker of something akin to shock. "What… what are these?" he whispered, his voice losing its usual composure. "They didn't… they wouldn't have…"
I laughed, a dry, humorless sound. "Oh, they did. And worse. All under your careful supervision, my darling husband. Or perhaps you forgot to check the daily reports?" I shoved my hands back into the dirt, tearing at the grass, ignoring the pain as my fingernails broke. "Go ahead. Send me back. I'm already there. At least there, they can't desecrate my mother's memory for a dog."
He watched me for a long moment, his face unreadable, his eyes still fixed on my wrist. Then, slowly, he released my arm. "Do what you want, Alexandra," he said, his voice flat. "Just… don't expect me to clean up your mess." He turned, his back ramrod straight, and walked away.
The earth was cold and unforgiving. My muscles screamed in protest, my hands growing raw, but I kept digging. Faster. Harder. I had no shovel, just my fingers, but I wouldn't stop. He was gone. He thought I was beyond saving, beyond reason. He was right. There was no more begging left in me, no more soft words. Only dirt, and the gaping hole where my mother should have been.
Finally, my fingers struck something solid. A small, ornate urn. Not my mother's. This was Princess Fluffykins. My hands trembled as I pulled it from the ground. I ripped open the lid, scattering the fine, white dust into the brisk autumn wind. It swirled, a ghostly cloud, catching the last rays of the sun. It felt… cleansing. A primal scream tore from my throat, silent but deafening.
Then, I smashed the urn against the dog' s broken headstone, shattering it into a hundred pieces. I pulled out my phone, took a quick, blurry photo of the desecrated grave, and sent it to Blaire Kline's number. Then, with a fierce satisfaction, I blocked her again.
