One Blood

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

Monday

Lake City, LA

Coral lay next to her snoring husband, staring into the darkness. The weekend had passed in an unbearable crawl. Despite Randy’s assurances to the contrary, Coral firmly believed that Karen was dead. There was nothing left inside her now.

She wasn’t strong enough to bear even the remote possibility of losing another child. Not like this. And since she couldn’t save Karen, maybe she could do something even better, something that would reunite her with her children once and for all.

She got up and walked across the suite to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

What if you’re wrong? What if Karen is still alive?

Coral tried to ignore the voice, but it continued to badger her.

What if you’re her only hope? A girl needs her mother, doesn’t she? 

Coral grabbed the bottle of Xanax. She filled her glass with water. Sweat broke out on her brow. Her hands shook uncontrollably. The walls were closing in on her.

She saw her own terrified reflection in the mirror. She had around twenty pills left; she prayed it would be enough to do the trick. Coral closed her eyes and popped the first little white pill into her quivering mouth…and then the next…and the next.

But she hadn’t even opened the bottle of pills yet.

Her hand was empty and the glass was still full.

Coral fumbled to open the bottle, but the top was stuck. She twisted the cap with all her might and it finally spun off. She turned the bottle over to shake pills into her palm but nothing came out.

Randy must have taken the last one.

Or maybe it’s just not your time.

Coral threw the empty container on the floor in a fiery rage and sat down on the toilet seat.

Stop being so weak! 

The voice in her head sounded just like her long dead grandmother, the famous disciplinarian and matriarch of her family.

The only way Karen survives is if you’re strong for her—for the both of you! There’s no more time to feel sorry for yourself. Maybe Kristopher would still be around if you’d spent less time whining.

“Stop it, just stop it!” Coral screamed. She looked at herself in the mirror, half expecting to see the ancient face of her grandmother, but the tired face staring back was hers alone.

“What’s going on in there? Stop making so much noise!” Randy yelled from the bedroom.

Coral collected herself and tried to straighten out some of the mess she’d made. As she drank down the glass of water, she noticed the empty bottle of Xanax she’d thrown on the floor. The bottle was overturned and there were pills scattered everywhere.

Coral slid to her knees and put the pills back into the bottle—twenty-two in all. Placing the bottle in the medicine cabinet, she returned to bed.

It was a long time before sleep found her.