Chapter 4 - Under Her Hair
Claire drove to Westridge Elementary in twelve minutes.
She remembered almost none of the journey.
Nathan’s warning repeated in her mind.
Biological implants.
Children.
Lost medical license.
When Claire reached the front office, the secretary seemed surprised to see her.
“Mrs. Bennett, you need to sign in.”
“Where is my daughter?”
“In the wellness room.”
Claire wrote her name so hard that the pen tore the paper.
She hurried down the corridor.
The office door was open.
Emma sat on the examination table, crying silently.
Patricia stood beside her.
Melissa waited near the wall.
Vera Holt was nowhere in sight.
Claire rushed forward.
“Baby.”
Emma threw herself into her mother’s arms.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I didn’t tell you.”
Claire held her tightly.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
Patricia cleared her throat.
“We examined her again. Her throat appears normal.”
Claire looked at the nurse.
“Did you check the mark on her neck?”
“What mark?”
“The one beneath her collar.”
Emma gripped Claire’s blouse.
“No.”
Claire brushed the child’s hair away.
Emma panicked.
“Please don’t touch my neck.”
Claire stopped immediately.
“Why?”
“It will wake up.”
Patricia and Melissa exchanged a look.
Claire kept her voice calm.
“What will wake up?”
Emma did not answer.
Claire noticed several strands of hair stuck beneath her daughter’s chin.
She leaned closer.
Something dark was visible beneath them.
“Did anyone check under her chin?”
Patricia moved to the other side of the table.
“I looked inside her throat.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Claire gently gathered Emma’s hair.
The child trembled.
“I’m right here,” Claire whispered. “I won’t hurt you.”
She lifted the hair away.
A thin black line ran beneath Emma’s skin from the center of her chin toward the left side of her neck.
It was approximately three inches long.
Patricia stared.
“What is that?”
Melissa covered her mouth.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The line moved.
The paper cup fell from Patricia’s hand.
“Call 911.”
Claire pulled Emma closer.
The child began sobbing.
“It knows when people look at it.”
Patricia approached the office door.
A figure stood in the hallway.
Vera.
The two women locked eyes.
Vera turned and walked away.
Emma whispered, “She said I had to keep feeding it.”
Claire rose.
“Feeding it what?”
“The black sugar.”
The office door slammed.
Patricia grabbed the handle.
It would not turn.
“Someone locked it.”
Melissa pulled out her phone.
“No signal.”
Claire checked hers.
The display showed no service.
“That isn’t possible. I had reception outside.”
Patricia lifted the office telephone.
The line was dead.
A soft humming sound began above them.
Claire looked at the ceiling.
The ventilation fan had stopped.
Emma gagged.
Claire turned back.
The dark line beneath her chin was moving upward.
Emma clutched her throat.
“I can’t swallow.”
Patricia opened an emergency cabinet.
“There’s an oxygen cylinder.”
“What good will that do if her airway closes?” Melissa asked.
“Help me position her.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. We don’t know what that thing is.”
Emma coughed.
A black droplet appeared on her lower lip.
Claire wiped it with gauze.
The liquid spread across the fabric in branching lines.
Patricia stared.
“What is that?”
The lights flickered.
Then the supply closet opened.
Principal Malcolm Ashford stepped out.
Melissa gasped.
He held a small electronic device in one hand.
Claire recognized it as a portable signal jammer from a security seminar at the hospital.
Ashford locked the closet behind him.
“I need everyone to remain calm.”
Claire moved in front of Emma.
“You locked us inside.”
“I’m preventing panic.”
“You’re blocking our phones.”
“It’s temporary.”
Patricia stared at him.
“A child is in medical distress.”
Ashford looked at Emma’s neck.
For a moment, genuine fear crossed his face.
Then he looked toward the door.
“It shouldn’t be active yet.”
Claire felt something cold settle inside her.
“What shouldn’t be active?”
Ashford ignored her.
He pressed a button on the device.
The signal jammer’s light turned off.
Patricia’s phone immediately began ringing with missed-call alerts.
“Call the ambulance,” Claire said.
Ashford grabbed Patricia’s wrist.
“No outside responders.”
Patricia pulled away.
“Have you lost your mind?”
“If emergency personnel see this, the entire program collapses.”
Claire stared at him.
“What program?”
Emma cried out.
The black line had reached the edge of her jaw.
Ashford stepped backward.
“We need Dr. Holt.”
Claire moved toward him.
“You need to tell me what you put inside my daughter.”
A heavy impact shook the door.
Someone on the other side shouted.
“School security. Open the door.”
Ashford’s hand moved toward his pocket.
Melissa saw it first.
“He has something.”
Ashford withdrew a syringe.
Claire pushed Emma behind Patricia.
“What is that?”
“A sedative.”
“For my daughter?”
“For anyone who interferes.”
The door shook again.
Ashford raised the syringe.
Before he could move, Melissa swung the metal examination stool into his arm.
The syringe flew across the room.
Patricia kicked the signal jammer beneath the cabinet.
Claire lunged forward and drove Ashford against the wall.
The locked door burst open.
May you like
A security officer entered, followed by two paramedics.
Vera Holt was gone.
