Chapter 5

The timer beeped insistently: 00:30.

Alexia bit her lip, tasting blood. She pulled at the ropes with a final, desperate surge of adrenaline. The rough fibers tore at her skin, but one knot came loose.

00:15.

She worked her hand free, her fingers numb and clumsy. She fumbled with the ropes on her other wrist, her legs.

00:05.

She was free. She scrambled from the chair, stumbling towards the exit.

00:01.

She threw herself through the doorway as a deafening roar erupted behind her. The force of the blast threw her forward, slamming her hard against the concrete.

Pain was a white-hot nova, and then, nothing.

Through the ringing in her ears, she heard them. Screaming her name.

Jacob and Anton. They had come back.

Jacob's face appeared above her, contorted in a mask of pure terror she had never seen before. "Alexia! Alexia, stay with me!" His voice was raw, shredded.

Anton was sobbing, a child's unfiltered grief. "Mommy! Mommy, wake up!"

Alexia tried to laugh, but no sound came out. The performance was over, and now came the panicked regret. Too little, too late.

She closed her eyes and let the darkness claim her.

She woke to the familiar beeping of machines. Hospital. Again. Her whole body was a geography of pain.

A nurse smiled down at her. "Welcome back. You're a very lucky woman. You had some serious internal injuries. You just got out of a kidney transplant."

A transplant?

"You're incredibly fortunate," the nurse said in a professional, calm tone. "When we ran your blood type, we discovered your husband was a perfect match. He signed the consent forms for donation the moment he was told. We were able to expedite the hospital's ethics committee review due to the emergency, and the surgery was successful." The nurse pointed to a blood bag hanging by the bed. "And your son, he insisted on donating blood. He said he had to save his mommy."

They would dismantle her, piece by piece, only to offer their own flesh and blood for her reconstruction. They would sooner surrender an organ from their own bodies than a single, unvarnished sentiment of affection.

"They're quite a family," the nurse sighed. "They've been taking turns watching over you, day and night."

Alexia closed her eyes. She didn't need this kind of love. Not anymore.

During her recovery, she never saw them. Not once. But she felt them.

Sometimes, in the dead of night, she would sense someone in her room. A presence in the dark. She would feel the cool touch of fingers on her cheek, the ghost of warm lips on hers. She would hear whispers, so soft she thought she was dreaming. "My Alexia... mine..."

One night, she felt the presence again. She didn't move, her breathing even. The cool fingers traced the line of her jaw.

She snapped her eyes open.

Jacob was there, inches from her face.

Panic flashed in his eyes, raw and unguarded, before he could compose his features.

"What are you doing here?" Alexia's voice was a cold rasp.

His face hardened. Without a word, he chopped the back of her neck with the side of his hand.

She crumpled back into the pillows, unconscious.

A few days later, they came for an "official" visit. Jacob stood at the foot of her bed, his expression coolly detached.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, as if they were strangers.

Alexia watched the slight, uncontrollable tremor in his fingertips. "You've been here before, haven't you? At night."

His pupils contracted. His Adam's apple bobbed. He quickly turned his face away. "Don't be ridiculous. I've been with Kassandra. She was very frightened by the explosion. I just stopped by on my way to see her."

He turned to leave, his back ramrod straight.

Anton stood frozen by the door, his eyes red and swollen.

"Jacob. Anton," Alexia called out.

They both turned in perfect, unnerving synchrony. They looked so much alike, two generations of the same sickness. Looking at them, Alexia felt a profound, soul-crushing weariness. The finish line she had been running toward her whole life had vanished.

She had wanted to scream the truth at them, to expose their lies, to demand an end to the charade. But she was too tired. The fight had gone out of her.

Let them have their theatre. Let them continue their endless pantomime.

She was making her exit from the stage. Permanently.