Taylor, too, feels overcome with emotion. Will they make it in time? Is Vivian even still there? Shemustbe, Taylor reasons in the next second. Otherwise they would have encountered her being brought through the connecting basement space to the opium den, where Michael was clearly doing some pre-sacrifice ritual.
Suddenly, the door to the renovated room bursts open and in pours hot, smoky air. It feels like someone has just opened a burning oven. Michael emerges, limping toward them.He has the gun.
Taylor hastens her pace.
“Taylor!” he bellows. “Taylor, wait! I’m not going to hurt you! Don’t trust Rose—she’s unhinged!”
Taylor hesitates for a moment, a seed of doubt planting in her mind. What if Michael’s right? Rose did shoot him, after all, thinking he was Oliver—her son. But Oliver clearly deserves to die; he seems to be the one behind Vivian’s abduction. So where does that leave Michael? Isn’t he in on it, too? Besides, Rose called him a murderer…. Butwhowas she calling that, Oliver or Michael?
Andwhowas murdered?
Taylor shudders.Vivian, she thinks.Vivian. She has to get to Vivian. That’s all that matters. An overhead smoke alarm starts blaring, startling her and Rose—and spurring Taylor into action. She gestures wildly to the boiler room. “C’mon, Rose!” Taylor shouts, as she again grabs hold of her arm. “We have to save Vivian!”
A look of disgust rolls over Rose’s face. “Why would we do that? She’s an interfering little bitch!”
Oh my God.Taylor feels sick. Is Rose involved, then? Oliver—and Rose? And maybe Michael?
Taylor becomes acutely aware of the surrounding basement space. Four walls restricting them, like the barriers enclosing the scroll.
“Taylor!” Michael is advancing, the gun waves in his hand. “Rose, get the fuck away!”
There’s an entrance and an exit. There’s an entrance and exit. Entrance and exit.Butisthere? The thick haze makes it increasingly difficult to see. Michael nears, and Rose starts to scramble away.
“I wished shediedwhen I pushed her down the stairs! To hell with her little friend. I want Viviandead!” Rose shrieks.
Oh my God.Oh my God.
Sparks crackle all around as the fire spills into the hall. Time moves like a strobe light. Taylor’s eyes stinging, she can vaguely make out Rose climbing the first few stairs to the Knox on her hands and knees.
Taylor starts inching her way forward in what shethinksis the right direction, the way to the boiler room. To Vivian. She feels a little woozy, shapeless, like a piece of putty. Where is this entrance-exit? Or exit-entrance?
Which one is it, anyway? Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Perhaps it’s okay that the place is burning down, she thinks,because I am a piece of putty.
“Taylor!” Michael screams.
He should become putty, too, she thinks.Then he wouldn’t worry.
Or is it Oliver, not Michael? She can’t remember.
She moves, haltingly, and then stops. Which way to her mother again? No—that’s not right. It’sVivianshe’s trying to save. But everything is becoming gummy, logic softening. The crackling is all around now, the air so milky and hot she can barely keep her eyes open. She feels like she’s walked directly into the pit of the fire. Her skin burns like it’s crisping; her eyes—even her eyeballs—feel singed.
Claustrophobia has finally arrived; she’s late to the party but she’s come in full force, wearing a suffocating ball gown that she dramatically fluffs. With each preen, she further crowds out Taylor’s thoughts until there’s just one left:I’m going to die.
But, to Taylor’s surprise, she finds that’s okay. Yes, she’s growing tired, but it’s a nice kind of tired, a peaceful one. All along, all these years, Taylor’s been worried, and she didn’t need to be. She wonders:Is this how my mother felt?
https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/8fvd9tl/what_is_the_biggest _secret_you_know/
r/boston• 9 d ago
Spill_the_teaplz13
What is the biggest secret you know?
What is the wildest, biggest secret you know? Or ever heard? Is it eating you up inside? Here’s your chance to spill it. Who wants to go first??
⇑ 83 ⇓ share •••
