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“No, let her alone, it’s not her fault!” A woman, the woman Laura recognized as Amy’s mother, said. She was frantic, pale, hurrying after her husband.
The governor filled the doorway like a wall of rage, his face red and twisted, his hands swinging in fists. “She drew on the papers—and she needs to learn!” he yelled, spit flying from his mouth. Amy cowered back from him. “She needs to be punished!”
He was brandishing something in his hand. Pieces of paper crumpled now in his fist. A child’s drawing of a distorted pony in purple pen on the front of one of them. That was all Laura made out before the governor cast them to the ground, stomping toward Amy with furious movements.
“No, please,” his wife begged, rushing forward and taking hold of his elbow, trying to pull him back. “Don’t—”
Her voice was cut off as the governor slammed his elbow sharply back into her chest, throwing her off and making her stumble into the door before dropping to the floor. She clutched at her chest, and Amy cried out, afraid for her mother.
“Now, it’s time for you to learn your lesson about messing with important things,” the governor said darkly, starting to undo his belt and pull it off his waist, pulling it between his hands until it formed a kind of club.
CHAPTER SIX
Laura shuddered with shock as she came back to herself, the pain in her head turned all the way back up. But that wasn’t the thing that was making her feel sick to her stomach. That wasn’t why she wanted to keep hold of Amy and walk right out of the hospital and never look back.
“Are you okay, miss angel lady?” Amy asked, trying to pull away from her. Laura realized she was holding on tight and let go, allowing her to rock back onto the bed.
“Yes,” Laura said, attempting to smile brightly. Inside, she could barely keep it up. She just wanted to cry. She couldn’t tell this girl what was waiting for her at home. She couldn’t tell the doctors. What was she supposed to do to stop this from happening? “Yes, Amy, I’m fine. I’ll come and visit you soon, okay?”
“Yeah!” Amy cheered, but even as she sat back against the pillows, Laura could see that she was halfway to falling asleep. “We’re going to have a tea party, and the best time, and you can meet my doll.”
“I will, honey,” Laura said, turning to go, because she couldn’t keep up the smile any longer.
She only had a few steps between the bed and the door. Only the time it took for her to open it before she had to put the mask back on again. She couldn’t explain to anyone what she had just seen. Couldn’t tell them how she knew that Amy would be abused. If she told them about the vision, she’d be laughed out of the room—even more so, given the governor’s power.
Laura walked the few steps toward the door, losing control over her face. Inside her chest, her heart was breaking. She could barely stand to walk away. But she had to.
As her hand rested on the door handle, Laura made a promise to herself. She would visit the governor at his home, as early as next week. As soon as she could. It was the only way she could live with walking out of that hospital and leaving Amy behind.
Laura opened the door and stepped outside, smiling up at Nate and the governor’s wife, studiously avoiding the eyes of the man she knew now to be a monster.
“Everything all right?” the governor asked, his tone sounding falsely bright.
“What?” Laura asked, then remembered her ruse. “Oh, yes. Everything’s fine.” It made her want to bite out her own tongue to say those words, but she had to play it safe. She’d been here so many times before—knowing something that she couldn’t possibly know. She couldn’t accuse him yet. There was no evidence. If there had been signs of long-lasting physical abuse on Amy’s body, the doctors would already have seen them.
This was new behavior. Something that would start soon. And until it did, there was no way she could stop it. Child Protective Services wouldn’t take Amy away before the abuse happened. Laura’s mind raced for a way to get the child out of that environment, but she could think of nothing.
“Are you sure?” the governor asked, making Laura look up sharply in spite of herself.
He was studying her closely, she realized. She must not have been controlling her voice, or her face, as well as she thought.
“Quite sure,” she said, then forced herself to take a deep breath and put on an even bigger fake smile. “Thank you, Governor. I hope you’re able to bring Amy home as soon as possible.”
“No, thank you,” he said, with a slight narrow angle to his eyes that told her he still wasn’t convinced she was telling the truth. With his arm on his wife’s lower back, he turned back to go inside, leaving Laura to clench her fists in the corridor and use all of her willpower to avoid running after him and tearing Amy out of his arms.
She would do it—but first, she had to figure out how.
***
Laura stared at the empty wine glass on her kitchen counter, trying to find the strength in herself to put it away.
If she didn’t put it away, it was going to sit there waiting to be filled. And if she kept looking at it, wishing it was filled, she would go out. She would walk or drive to a store somewhere outside of the radius of those she had asked not to serve her. She would pick up a bottle—maybe three bottles—and bring it home, and she would fill the glass.
And she w
ould drain it. And she would fill it again. And she wouldn’t stop until she was so drunk she missed a few days of work and a few days of memories, and she knew deep inside it still wouldn’t be enough to stop herself from remembering what she’d seen in that hospital.
Laura let out a long, low sigh, then forced herself to get up right when she’d exhaled every last gasp from her lungs. She drew in another hasty breath as she snatched the wine glass up and shoved it back into the cupboard it came from, so hard it almost smashed. She slammed the door closed and leaned on the kitchen counter for a long moment before turning to walk out into the hall.
