Carnal

Chapter Thirty-Four - Stand Corrected

Ella's P.O.V.

I'd lived in Jacksonville, Florida my whole life.

I was born in a hospital there. I grew up there. I went to college there. That being said, I'd experienced my fair share of tropical storms. Most of these would knock the power out for hours, days and sometimes weeks.

During those moments, when the rain pattered against the leaves of trees and the thunder rolled with the dark clouds off in the distance, I would sit beside my open bedroom window and listen to the sounds of the storm.

After the storm was over, if the power hadn't returned, I mourned the sound of rain. Without it, there was complete and utter silence.

There was no sound of my ceiling fan spinning or the air conditioning unit kicking on. The hum of electricity was missing, bringing an eerie silence upon the house.

It amused me that I never recognized the sound of electricity until it wasn't there.

My memories of power outages are the closest thing I can relate to what I felt when I woke up in that hospital bed.

Empty.

Silent.

Like something was missing.

It was unsettling and made me want to scream.

In the midst of my panic, I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.

"Lay back. Everything's going to be fine."

Despite the fact that Cain tried his hardest to lower his voice, I still flinched when he spoke.

I felt like he was screaming in my ears.

I grabbed the hand that was on my shoulder and gripped it tight between my own hands.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

I tried my hardest to catch my breath but I still found myself struggling to suck in air between each word I spoke.

The mattress sank to one side as he sat down beside me. Gently, Cain's body pressed against mine and I laid my head on his shoulder.

I could tell he was debating on whether or not to answer my question by the way he hesitated before speaking.

"Your brother tried to kill you. He poisoned you."

I felt paranoia sink in and I began to feel as though I was about to endure a massive panic attack.

"What kind of poison? It was that damn scone, wasn't it? Am I going to be okay? Am I dying? How long do I have?"

When Cain neglected to answer the plethora of questions I fired at him, I let out a shaky breath.

"Is it that bad? Your silence isn't really comforting."

"I don't know how to answer," he said truthfully. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for the past few hours but I can't find the right words."

"That's not helping," I said. "Just spit it out."

"I had to turn you, Ella."

I froze.

The onset of the panic attack halted. My hands stopped shaking. My lungs refused to exhale or inhale.

Every ounce of energy in my body worked diligently to process what it was Cain had just said.

"You turned me..."

A few moments of silence passed before Cain confirmed I'd heard him correctly.