Chapter 2 - The Crawl Through The Dark
The first twenty-four hours were a blur of fever,
and the terrifying realization of my own helplessness.
The thirst was the first thing to truly hurt.
I could see the glass of water on the dresser,
mocking me with its clarity,
illuminated by the pale glow of a streetlamp outside.
I knew that if I didn't reach it,
my kidneys would begin to fail.
I rolled to the edge of the bed,
the movement feeling like a slow-motion fall.
My body hit the hardwood floor with a dull thud,
sending a jolt of white-hot pain through my hips.
I lay there for a long time,
cheek pressed against the cold wood,
listening to the wind howl.
"Get up,"
I whispered to myself,
the words sounding foreign in the empty room.
"Get up or die."
I began to crawl.
Every inch was a battle against gravity and my own fading pulse.
I dragged my legs like dead weight,
my fingernails scratching against the polished floor.
It took nearly an hour to cross those six feet.
When I reached the dresser,
I reached up,
my fingers trembling as they brushed the wood.
I caught the edge of the glass,
but my grip was too weak.
It tipped.
The water spilled,
soaking into the rug,
and the glass shattered on the floor next to my face.
I let out a broken sob,
shards of glass biting into my palm.
The darkness seemed to laugh at me.
Garrett had known.
He had known exactly how weak I was.
He had planned for me to fail at this very task.
I lay in the puddle of water,
lapping at the moisture on the floor like a wounded animal.
It was the lowest moment of my life,
but in that humiliation,
a spark of rage began to flicker.
It was a small,
hot coal of anger that the cold couldn't extinguish.
I remembered the safe in the closet.
Garrett thought he had the only key,
but he had forgotten one thing.
This was my penthouse.
I had bought it with my own inheritance,
years before we met.
I had installed that safe.
And I knew the manufacturer's override code.
But to reach it,
I had to get to the closet,
and then I had to find the strength to punch in the numbers.
My vision was beginning to tunnel,
dark spots dancing at the edges of my sight.
I pushed myself forward again,
trailing blood from my hand across the expensive floor.
I reached the closet door,
pulling myself up using the heavy brass handle.
The safe sat on the bottom shelf,
a black box of life and death.
My fingers fumbled over the keypad.
Five,
zero,
eight,
two...
The light flashed red.
Error.
My heart hammered against my ribs,
skipping beats.
I tried again,
my breath coming in ragged gasps.
Zero,
zero,
nine,
one...
Click.
The mechanism whirred,
and the heavy door swung open.
Inside,
beside my medication,
lay a stack of documents I hadn't seen before.
They were life insurance policies.
All of them in my name.
May you like
All of them recently updated.
With Garrett as the sole beneficiary.
