Chapter 2 - The Mask of Sanity
The fluorescent lights of the ER waiting room buzzed like angry hornets. Leo was stable, heavily sedated, and breathing through a tube. The doctors said his airway had been constricted by an extreme allergic reaction—or deliberate pressure.
I was pacing the floor, clutching a cold cup of coffee, when the ER doors slid open. David walked in.
He looked disheveled, playing the part of the frantic, terrified father perfectly. He had tears in his eyes as he approached the nursing station. "My son, Leo Vance. Where is he? Is he alive?"
Two police officers, who had been called by the hospital staff due to the suspicious nature of Leo’s injuries, approached him. I watched from the shadows as David masterfully spun a web of lies. He claimed Leo had a history of asthma and allergies, that I was a stressed, overworked mother prone to hysteria, and that he had frozen in panic when it happened.
The officers nodded, their demeanor shifting from suspicious to sympathetic. He was charming them. He was winning.
May you like
My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was an unknown number. Meet me in the stairwell by the East Wing. - Stan.
I cast one last look at David, who caught my eye from across the room. He didn’t smile, but he slowly tapped his index finger against his watch. Tick tock. I slipped away into the corridors.
