She’d carried me in her womb, and I’d poisoned her.
“Please,” I cried out, kicking my legs helplessly against the concrete.
The same sceneover and over and over.
Just like with the music, the volume kept climbing, each time louder than the last.
Then, suddenly, silence again, and the screen went black.
Before I could even catch my breath, the nursery rhyme blasted through the speakers again. At the same time, the wall in front of me erupted with light. Neon colors flashed against the concrete in violent pulses.
Red. Blue. White. Orange. Yellow.
Red. Blue. White. Orange. Yellow.
The colors stabbed into my eyes so sharp that I slapped a hand over my face to shield them. Which meant my ears were no longer covered.
The nursery rhyme climbed its way back into my head.
My hands flew back to my ears.
But then the lights burned my eyelids, stars appearing in my vision.
Hands back to my eyes. Then back to my ears.
Back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth.
The room spun as the mental agony unraveled me.
A deafening scream blasted from my throat as I jumped to my feet and slammed both fists against the wall.
I was ready to break.
The nursery rhyme cut off as I looked at the table.
At the gun. The bullet.
The lullaby didn’t return. This time, a baby’s cry replaced it.
A shrill, relentless, piercing wailing.
I teetered forward and dropped onto all fours, crawling toward the table. My fingers wrapped around the glass of water, and I tipped it back, gulping it down.
Cold liquid spilled down my chin, dripping across my chest asI swallowed it. When the glass went empty, I snatched the bottle beside it.
The bourbon tasted repulsive, scorched its way down my throat, and landed in my belly.
I screamed when the monitor came back on.
This time, a cartoon version of the lullaby played on the screen. A mama bunny sang it to her babies as they hopped around her.
I clenched my hand around the bottle, wishing I could crush it, before screaming again and hurling the bottle at the screen.
The bottle shattered as liquid oozed down its surface.
My rage drained the last of my energy, and I collapsed to the ground. I pulled my knees against my chest and curled inward.
Every muscle in my body trembled while I begged them to stop.
