Chapter 7

Juliette

"Wow. She must be losing it, huh?"

I slipped to the floor, still laughing while they both stared and watched me.

"I guess it'll just make things easier. Don't you think?"

I had just about another minute of numbness and hysterical laughter before I felt a sting on my neck.

The darkness after that was more than welcome.

At least it'll shield me from the reality that was now my world.

****

I woke up to another ceiling hours later, maybe a day later; I wouldn't know, but what I knew for sure was that my whole body was sore.

Fuck!

Where was I?

I tried to take in my surroundings and paused when I suddenly felt a restraint on my hands and legs.

What?

I tried to figure out what it was, pulling hard with both my hands and legs in an attempt to break free, but the struggle only made the leather bite into my skin more.

What the fuck is going on?

I paused in my attempt to break free when the only door in the room opened suddenly to reveal a man in a shirt and a doctor's coat.

Behind him was a nurse, and they both approached me, looking as menacing as ever.

I tried to find a way out in the empty room.

There was literally no way out, not even a window.

Just me, the bed, and the two people in the completely white room with me now.

"What is going on?"

None of them replied to my question as the man started going through the papers in his hand.

"What the fuck is going on?"

He took out a light pen, which he pointed into my eyes, before collecting some type of syringe from the nurse.

"What?! What are you guys doing?!"

"No!"

I tried to break free from my restraints again as the man raised up the syringe and flicked it a few times.

I couldn't believe this.

What was even in that?

Where was I?

"No!"

The syringe went into my arms easily and came out just as easily.

What?

Nothing happened for a minute; that is, until I suddenly started to feel drowsy, my arms heavy and my mind disoriented.

I watched with hazy eyes as the man and woman made their way out of the room, their forms merging into each other.

What did they give to me?

Why was I...

I could barely move my arms or even talk.

I felt a wave of panic attacks immediately go through me at that realization, but I could barely do anything, just whisper slurred words that I could barely hear myself.

Soon, I was accepting the darkness that wrapped itself around me again.

****

It happened a few more times, actually a lot more times—the doctor and nurse coming in hours after hours to give me another dose of God knows what, and it always left me worse than how I had been before.

I wondered why they were doing this.

James and Vanessa.

I had a suspicion that they were the reason I was here, considering the things that had unfolded before my first blackout.

I stopped struggling with the restraints as the needle went into my skin again.

Fuck!

The blackout came soon after the panic attack and heavy arms and limbs.

"Juliette."

I blinked my eyes open to see James before me.

We were at the Auburn, the first restaurant we had gone to after meeting at the charity event.

He looked as handsome as ever in that shirt and pants he had on.

I smiled, "I wasn't expecting you to get here early."

"No. It's fine."

He stood up to draw my seat out before settling in opposite me.

"What would you like to have?"

I went through the menu, quite focused in an attempt not to show my nervousness, and I glanced up when I felt his gaze on me.

"What?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Huh?"

I felt the panic rise within me again as his face suddenly started changing into this abnormal smile that sent chills down my whole body.

I glanced around me in alarm when the scenery suddenly changed to this suffocating and very confined room where both he and Vanessa's face hung from the wall, laughing at me.

"We got her, didn't we? Ah ah ah!!!"

I shook my head, trying to get their contorted faces and laugh out of my face, but they only seemed to get closer.

"No! No!"

I felt a sting go through my arm from my restraints once I came to again, sweating and disoriented.

"Hey."

I whipped my head to the side, my vision swimming as I tried to focus on the person with me in the room.

It wasn't the doctor nor the nurse.

It was Vanessa.

"How are you holding up?" She asked with a mock scowl as she stepped more into the room, and I tried to form words.

Ugh!

The fucking drugs.

All I could manage was, "W-what..." Which just made me look more pathetic.

I didn't need to see the look on her face to know that.

Her scowl deepened as she finally got close to me. "And to think you always had everything. The guys, the brains, the inheritance—you always got everything you wanted first and more while I had to live in your shadow."

"Who knew you would end up like this?"

Uhm... You...

You made me like this.

The words refused to leave my mouth, though, as I tried to stop her face from floating away.

Fuck.

I still had a lot of questions to ask.

Where was I?

What was the reason for all this?

And where were my children?

Her laughter filled the air, sharp and mocking, before I could even form the words.

"I mean, maybe I did know. Gosh. I always thought you were smart, but you just fell right into our hands. I wonder if that's how all women lose their thoughts when they fall in love."

She trailed a cold finger down my face."

"Guess you really loved him, uh? The smiles, the vow—it was pretty obvious. Pity he's in love with me, though."

She threw back her head in laughter again, going on for God knows how long before putting on the sunglasses I hadn't even noticed in her hands.

She smiled, "Well, I just wanted to see you one last time before you make your way to the afterlife. I'll try to use your inheritance well. See you."

And with that, she made her way out, letting in the doctor and nurse who came in to give me another dose of whatever it was they were giving me.

I didn't even bother to fight this time.

I was done and tired.

Defeated.

I felt a single tear roll down my cheek as the liquid made its way into my body.

I couldn't give up though, not when I still had two major reasons to move on.

My kids.

I felt the familiar darkness wrap itself around me again.

Fuck.