You must think you are smart.

GEORGE

I freshened and dressed up quickly as Eleanor slept, fatigued from all the activities she had done the day before.

I stared at her with a smile and hoped this moment was frozen in time. The peaceful expression on her face as she slept was nothing short of beautiful. I could imagine her smiling and I couldn't help it as my heart melted at the thought of it.

I immediately took out my phone and took a picture of that expression before she woke. I regretted that decision almost immediately.

I had forgotten that I have the flash on and with the flash of the bright light on her face and the shutter sound as well, she stirred.

I had forgotten how light she sleeps.

Her beautiful eyelids fluttered open and she stared into my dumbfounded as I froze in place. She blinked a few times before her eyes focused on me.

"What are you doing?" she asked in a sleepy yet melodious voice.

"Getting prepared for the hospital," I replied as I stood back up. "I need to go do a check-up. It's been a while since I did one."

"Oh, wait," she said as she tried scrambling off the bed. "I'll go with you."

"Oh no, you won't," I said as I leaned over and grabbed her arm to hold her in place. "You don't have to go with me, especially when you're so tired. I'm sorry for waking you up but you need to rest. Stay home and rest. I'll be back in a jiffy."

She stared at me for a few minutes before I felt her relaxed in my hand.

"Please, be careful," she said. "The killer is out there somewhere and seems intent on attacking tour family. I'm afraid you might be next."

"They wouldn't dare," I smiled. "They need me to take the blame, and they'd expose themselves if they should ever hurt me."

She stared at me for a few more minutes and then closed her eyes.

"Fine. You can go."

I smiled and gave her a peck on the forehead as I hurried out of the house and made my way to the garage where I took my Chevrolet and drove off to the hospital.

The drive to the hospital was silent and lonely. My mood hit an all time low as thoughts of the amount of problems I am slowly being thrown into surfaced.

I was already being accused of the murder of my father and now Rosella's murder. If I am found guilty for these murders, there was no coming back from it. I might not get the death penalty but I was definitely getting life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Especially with how gruesome each death was.

Whoever was doing this to me had to be someone I knew. Someone who was close enough to me and my family to get access to things that would very easily incriminate me. A person that knew so much about my family's dynamics to know that I would be the prime suspect in murder of my father. The same goes for Rosella.

I used to think it was Jesse but he doesn't seem to be the one as he wa a victim of the last attack. Unless he is stupid enough to get someone to hurt him that bad just to incriminate me, he doesn't seem to be the one.

I soon reached the hospital as these thoughts plagued my mind and Eleanor's call soon pulled me from my whirlpool of my own thoughts.

"Hey," she said over the phone once I picked up. "Are you there yet?".

"Just got here," I replied. "And why are you awake?"

"My estimation worked!" she replied excitedly. "And I'm not sleeping because I spent the whole time calculating the time it would take you to get to the hospital, putting traffic lights, traffic itself a other minor delays into consideration."

"I see," I laughed. "You should have been a mathematician instead of a nurse, or maybe a physicist."

She laughed as well.

"Maybe I have a career in physics," she replied. "I might be even win a Nobel Prize while I'm at it."

"You mean when you're 85?" I raised an eyebrow even if she couldn't see me. "You know those guys who win are freaking old, right?"

"One won it at 41, I think," she replied. "He wasn't that old, and I think a twelve year old girl won it as well for her efforts during war."

"Well, you're past 12, there are no wars and you are at least 18 years away from a Nobel Prize," I shrugged. "I think you can do it though."

"What a flatterer," she laughed. "Wait, you were being sarcastic, weren't you?"

"Who knows?" I grinned.

"You sly crook!" she hissed jovially. "I'll get you for that."

"I'd love that," I laughed again.

"We will see when you get back," she sighed. "Now, you should go for your check-up."

My smile dimmed at those words as I looked at the hospital in front of me, the same place my mother was hospitalised in.

"All right," I nodded. "I'll talk to you when I'm done."

She ended the call and left me in the silence of my thoughts.

I made my way out of the car and strolled over to the hospital which stood imposingly in front of me like an arrogant behemoth daring me to face my fears.

I walked in regardless and soon found myself in front of the receptionist's desk.

"I wanna see Mrs Moguel," I said to the receptionist who was reading through some papers and almost regretted my decision as she looked up at me.

Fear and trepidation marred her features as she struggled to compose herself.

"Um....third floor, room 350," she said and averted her eyes from me.

"Thanks," I smiled and made my way to the elevator. Luckily I was the only one in the elevator and I soon made it to the third floor.

Finding her room was easy and now I was standing in front of her door unsure what to do.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door to the spacious room with a lone bed and I made my way to it.

My mother was laying on it asleep with a bandage around her head, but was otherwise devoid of any other marks.

"Would you stop pretending now or after I've left?" I asked calmly as I stood over her.

Her eyes opened slowly and she stared into mine and smiled.

"What are you doing, mom?" I asked. "Why are you doing all this?"

Her smile remained as she stared at me in silence.

"What did you do to Jesse and Rosella, mom?" I asked. "Tell me."

Her mouth opened but they weren't the words I wanted to hear.

"Who are you?" she asked, still smiling.

I already regretted coming. She doesn't remember me.

A nurse walked in and stared at us both with a puzzled expression. She tried explaining to my mother that I was her son but my mother still stared at me with that eerie smile on her face.

"Can I talk to her alone?" I asked, and the nurse obliged, making her way out of the room.

Just as she was about to leave, my mom spoke ina low voice, almost like a whisper.

"Andrew," she said. Andrew was my father's name. "You haven't changed, Andrew. It almost looks like you never aged."

Both I and the nurse were surprised and then the nurse smiled at me.

"This is a good sign," she said. "She must be remembering things slowly now."

I stared at the nurse leave and then shook my head as I had a different idea of the situation.

I turned to stare at my mother who laid with a drip attached to her hand and a smile on her face.

"You must think you're smart, don't you?" I asked but got no reply.

"I know you are faking this amnesia and I am gonna expose you for it soon," I warned.

Now, I got a reply.

"Really?" she asked, but I was too annoyed to reply.

I stormed out of the room without looking behind me even once.