Chapter 5 - The Medicine in the Blue Bottle
Chloe awakened in darkness.
At first, she believed she was beneath her bed.
She had hidden there many times when Victoria became angry. Beneath the bed, she could see shoes moving across the floor and wait until the shouting ended.
But this darkness felt different.
Soft cloth pressed against her cheeks. Her arms lay tightly at her sides. A low mechanical hum came from beneath her body.
She tried to move.
The space was too narrow.
Panic rose in her chest.
“Grandma?”
Her voice returned to her from very close walls.
Chloe pushed upward.
The lid moved less than an inch before stopping against a latch.
She began to cry.
A moment later, light appeared.
Victoria looked down at her.
“You’re awake again.”
Chloe flinched.
“Where’s Daddy?”
“Busy.”
“I want Grandma.”
Victoria reached into the casket.
Chloe pressed herself deeper into the satin lining.
“No medicine.”
“You need it.”
“It makes me disappear.”
Victoria paused.
That was how Chloe described the effect.
The medicine did not make her sleep. Sleep had dreams. Sleep had morning.
The medicine made her disappear.
She would feel cold moving up her arm, hear voices becoming distant, and then lose pieces of time. Sometimes she awakened in her own bed. Sometimes in Dr. Keller’s clinic. Once, she awakened in the basement of Victoria’s country house with straps around her wrists.
“You have a weak heart,” Victoria said.
“My heart didn’t hurt before you came.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“You should be grateful. Your father and I have done everything for you.”
“You killed Mommy.”
The words escaped before Chloe could stop them.
Victoria’s face changed.
She lowered the syringe.
“What did you say?”
Chloe closed her mouth.
Victoria grabbed her chin.
“Who told you that?”
Chloe refused to answer.
Victoria squeezed harder.
“Was it your grandmother?”
Tears ran into Chloe’s hair.
“No.”
“Your father?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Chloe stared at the hidden compartment beneath the casket lining.
She remembered the night her mother died.
Sophie had entered Chloe’s room after midnight wearing a raincoat over her nightdress. She carried a blue bottle and a small black notebook.
“Listen to me,” Sophie had whispered. “I need you to remember a game.”
“What game?”
“The bluebird game.”
Sophie showed Chloe how to remove the wooden vent cover beneath the window seat. She placed the bottle and notebook inside.
“Never tell Daddy. Never tell Victoria. Only tell Grandma if I do not come home.”
“Where are you going?”
“To speak to someone who can help us.”
“Are you scared?”
Sophie had smiled, but her eyes were wet.
“A little.”
She kissed Chloe’s forehead.
The next morning, Julian said Sophie had died on the lake.
Chloe had tried to tell Eleanor about the bluebird game during a supervised visit, but Victoria remained in the room. Every time Chloe approached the window seat, Victoria redirected her.
Months later, the family moved houses.
Chloe believed the bottle and notebook were lost.
Then, three weeks before the funeral, she heard Julian and Victoria arguing.
“The notebook was never in the boat,” Julian said.
“Then Sophie gave it to someone,” Victoria replied.
“What if she gave it to Chloe?”
That night Victoria entered Chloe’s bedroom with the bitter drops.
Since then, the questions had not stopped.
Where did Mommy hide the bluebird?
What did Mommy tell you?
Did Grandma know?
Chloe had always answered the same way.
“I forgot.”
Victoria leaned into the casket.
“You heard something the night Sophie died, didn’t you?”
Chloe kept silent.
Victoria raised the syringe.
“You can tell me now, or Dr. Keller can help you remember.”
The preparation room door opened.
Julian entered.
“Stop.”
Victoria looked over her shoulder.
“We need to know what Sophie told her.”
“She’s seven.”
“She has kept the secret for two years.”
Julian approached the casket.
Chloe looked at him.
“Daddy?”
He avoided her eyes.
“Please take me home.”
Julian’s mouth trembled.
Victoria held out the syringe.
“Do it.”
He stared at her.
“You said the dosage would not hurt her.”
“It won’t.”
“She almost died.”
“That was the purpose.”
“No. The purpose was to make her appear dead.”
“And it worked.”
Chloe reached toward her father.
“Daddy, I’ll be good.”
Julian looked down at her small hand.
A memory seemed to move across his face.
He had once carried her on his shoulders through Eleanor’s gardens. He had taught her to ride a bicycle. He had stayed beside her bed all night when she had pneumonia.
For one second, Chloe saw the father she remembered.
Then Victoria spoke.
“Think about what happens when Eleanor learns about the accounts.”
Julian’s expression closed.
He took the syringe.
Chloe pulled away.
“No!”
“It’s only medicine.”
“You’re lying!”
The words struck him.
His hand shook.
Victoria seized his wrist and guided the needle toward Chloe’s arm.
“Do it.”
Julian pressed the needle into his daughter’s skin.
Chloe screamed.
The door opened again.
Dr. Keller entered carrying a silver medical case.
“We have a problem,” he said.
Victoria turned.
“What?”
“Owen Mercer disappeared.”
Julian dropped the syringe.
Victoria’s face became still.
“Find him.”
“We searched his house. His daughter is gone too.”
“Then he warned Eleanor.”
“He may have.”
Victoria looked down at Chloe.
The child’s eyes were already closing.
“Move the timetable,” Victoria said. “We finish everything at the funeral.”
Julian stared at her.
“You said we needed the burial confirmation.”
“We do.”
“And then?”
“And then Chloe enters the tunnel.”
“What about my mother?”
May you like
Victoria smiled.
“She enters the ground.”
