Page 1 of Poison Aches

CHAPTER 1

Ivy

Ivy, 7; Emmett, 10

I never meant for this to happen.

Grammy always says it’s cowardly not to take responsibility of our words and actions.

She says taking responsibility means understanding the weight that accompanies each word we utter and each action we make, then we’ll never say or do anything reckless and stupid.

But I honestly never, ever thought that my recklessness and stupidity would causethis.

“Does she remember anything?”

Standing by the big pillars away from the front door and trying to speak in low, hushed tones are four police officers and a team of doctors, all of them looking at me with pity.

The same officers that were waiting for me to wake up to question me two days ago.

“At this point, there’s no way of knowing,” one of the doctors that attended to me says.

“Did she mention anything at all about a woman?”

“You keep mentioning this mysterious woman? Who is she?”

“We can’t divulge that,” the cop says.

“Then how exactly do you want her to help you?”

“She might know something?—”

“Officers, we don’t know that for sure. The brain is still the great unknown. She may or may not recover her memories of that night. There’s no way of knowing.”

They fall silent, uncertain and worried expressions on the faces of the doctors while the officers look at each other.

“Doctor, the child is still young and healthy, is she not?” the first officer presses.

“She is.”

“Then the chances of her regaining her memories are high, are they not?”

“Yes, but…” the doctor trails off. “She also just experienced a trauma. Given the level of loss and what happened, it’s reasonable that her own mind is protecting her.”

“So, she has amnesia?”

“A form of it, yes.”

I have amnesia?

I’ve spent a lot of days at the hospital, following nurses and doctors around that I’m familiar with some medical terms.

“Besides, she’s not really like other children.”

Huh? I perk up and try to inch closer.

“What do you mean?” the officer steps even closer to the doctors.

“I once heard Dr. Irving mention something in passing before but he never went into detail about her case.”

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