Chapter 109: And... She's Running

As Peter was about to put the spoon of pudding in his mouth, another nurse walked in with a tray of food.

"It's lunchtime, Mr Cooper!"

"A nurse already brought me lunch," Peter said and showed her his tray of food.

"That shouldn't be. I'm the one who's supposed to bring you your meals."

"Maybe there was a mistake?" Chris said.

"There couldn't have been. We have a system and every nurse is assigned to some particular rooms,"

"Well, when she came in, she called me by my last name. She knew who I was."

Peter and Chris looked at each other with suspicion. They didn't understand exactly what was going on.

"This nurse, what was her name?" The nurse asked.

"She said her name was Felicia. Right, Peter?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, that's right. Felicia!"

"There isn't any nurse by that name working in this hospital!"

"Are you sure about that?" Peter asked her.

"I'm positive, Sir! There are exactly forty-seven nurses in this hospital and none of them is called Felicia."

"Alright, then. Why don't you go check it out and make sure? I'll take that," Chris said and took the new tray of food.

The nurse walked out and Peter put down the other tray on the bed, having not eaten from it yet.

"A nurse who turns out not to work here brings food specifically for you, and she hasn't come back with a different plate of fruit since that time. That could only mean one thing!"

"This meal is poisoned," Peter said in realization.

"It seems Addicus sent someone to finish the job and take you out," Chris said.

"Which means I'm not safe in this hospital anymore. I have to get out of here before they try again."

"You're right, Peter. I'll go to your house and bring you some clothes, and first thing tomorrow, you're out of here."

"Okay. But, what do we do about this?" Peter asked and stared at the poisoned food.

Chris took the tray and emptied the meal into the garbage can in the room.

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.

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Sharon moved around the hallways slowly and quietly. She could tell from the architecture that she was underground, maybe in a secret part of the house that she never knew about. She needed to find stairs, which would take her upwards and out into freedom.

She stopped suddenly after hearing two guards talking to themselves. She hid behind a wall and watched them walk past her.

After they were out of sight, she kept moving until she got to some stairs. She quickly climbed them, and as soon as she got to the top, she ran into another guard.

He was caught off guard by her sudden presence and before he could react, she hit him on the head twice with her gun and knocked him out. She moved further and came across a locked gate.

She went over to the unconscious guard to check for the keys to the gate and she found them. She opened the gate and kept moving until she got to the main house.

Now, she recognized the surroundings. She remembered the house and how she used to run around it when she was ten years old. ***But, now wasn't the time to relive memories that were just an illusion, a lie... A dream! A portrait painted even better than anything she had ever made. The biggest joke ever told.***

She kept heading for the nearest exit until she got to the front door. She looked around, not wanting to mess up this one chance for freedom and then, she made her move.

She ran to the door and opened it, only to find Will and Addicus standing just outside. They looked up and were both shocked to see her.

The first thing that came to her mind was to kill Addicus. So, she lifted the gun and pointed it at him, but just as she was about to pull the trigger, the guard from her room tackled her to the ground. She dropped the gun as she fell and she crawled after it, but before she could reach it, the guard held her down and pinned her to the floor.

"How did she get up here?" Addicus asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, Boss, but I underestimated her and she snuck past me,"

Sharon wanted to scream for help but she knew better. No one that could help her would hear her, so she stayed quiet.

"Take her back down and tie her up, so she doesn't try this again," Addicus ordered.

The guard picked her up, but she bit his hand and tried to run away. Will caught her and she struggled with him until he got tired of it and punched her in the face, knocking her out cold.

"Sorry about that, boss," Will said.

"Just get her out of here,"

The other guard carried her on his shoulder and was taking her back to her room when Martha walked by and saw her unconscious.

The frightened woman dropped the contents in her hands, and they shattered on impact with the floor, alerting Addicus.

He saw that Martha had seen Sharon, so he slowly walked over to her. As he approached her, Martha was overcome by a sense of immense fear. She was certain that the Master had love for her, but was his love enough to spare her yet again, now that she had uncovered yet another of his schemes, to the same woman, the same reason he almost killed her before?

As he looked over her, she expected the worst. She was already saying a prayer for her soul, certain he would put her down, right then and there.

"Get back to work, Martha!"

He didn't even raise his voice. After this, he left the scene and everyone else disappeared. Martha found herself alone in the open space, baffled by the nature of her reality.

She picked up the broken glasses; ***her hands trembling and she walked away, afraid of what Addicus was planning to do to her Sharon.***