She Kills Them All

ONE

It was just another morning, Florence had come to check on her daughters, just as she had done many times over, only this time she held three bottles of holy water, she'd prayed into them and she wanted them to have a bottle each, she was spiritual like that.

She looked around the room; Claire was still asleep even though she stirred, Florence knew Claire had been having trouble sleeping, her heart ached, it was one of the reasons why she was here with holy water, a lot of her hoped it would fix things.

Her eyes drifted to Phoebe, she was knocked out, she smiled to herself.

Then she looked to Alex, she knew Alex was up and was hiding under the covers being the cheeky girl that she was. Florence laughed and pulled down the comforter to reveal a grinning Alex, such a troublesome child, sometimes it was impossible to believe she was all grown up now.

Alex let out a giggle, involuntarily waking Claire up from her light slumber, Phoebe just turned on her side.

"Here," Florence dropped a bottle each on her daughters. She hated that Theresa, her second born, was away, she too could've benefited from the water.

"What's this?" Alex asked sitting up and looking at the bottle with skepticism.

"What kind of question is that? Would I poison you?" Florence cocked her head, laughing a bit before sitting beside Claire.

I guess not, Alex thought setting the bottle down.

Florence and Claire settled into a conversation in hushed tones, impossible to hear or decipher what it could've been that they were talking about and when they were done Florence left.

Alex watched Claire open her bottle ready to drink and she followed suite.

As the somewhat cool liquid ran down Alex's throat she was having immediate adverse effects; her tummy was cramping up, her eyes struggled not to roll to the back of her head as bile rose up her throat but before she shut her eyes she darted them to Claire, Claire was already out. Something was wrong.

If this was it for Alex, then there was only one thing she could do.

"Phoebe," her voice hoarse as she pushed against her baby sister. "Don't drink the water, you must not."

Alex was gone.

Phoebe peeked out from under the duvet, both her sisters were gone but no one knew she was up yet, she weighed her options, knowing her mum she'd be back soon. She would let her mum handle this, Phoebe covered herself again.

Florence returned about half an hour later, why were Claire and Alex asleep again? And what was up with their pale skins and the empty bottles at their fingertips? She thought to herself as she pushed against Claire, she didn't move, then she tried Alex and got the same response.

"If this is a joke it's not funny," Florence pinched Alex, a prank like this was something she knew both her daughters could pull.

Florence pressed a finger to the bottom of Claire's nose, she felt nothing and sprang into panic mode, it wasn't over just yet, there had to be a reason why they were unresponsive, she contemplated calling for an ambulance but this was Nigeria, they'd never get here fast enough.

She dialed a number, it was one of the gatemen, "Yes, Wisdom, get up here immediately." She didn't wait for a reply, she hung up.

She turned to look at her children, she needed to get them downstairs to the car but she couldn't lift weighty things, she had weak knees but these were her babies, she'd lose her legs if it meant bringing them back to good health.

Florence took a deep sigh before throwing Alex over her shoulder, she almost let out a whimper but she knew she had to be strong.

"Grab Claire, she's in the second room, bring her to the car," she saw Wisdom as she opened the front door, again she didn't wait for a reply as she pushed passed him.

After she had dropped Alex, she ran up for Phoebe, she hadn't checked her before, she had just assumed she was in the same state as her sisters.

Phoebe stirred in Florence's arms, Florence noted she wasn't as pale, she just hoped she was immune to whatever it was her sisters had caught.

Florence was usually a compliant road user but today she was a beast and a snake on the road, there was only one thing on her mind, she needed her babies to be fine.

"Get me a doctor! I need a doctor!" She ran to the front desk screaming, ignoring the security man who was coming after her to tell her she didn't park well, they could seize the car for all she cared, she just needed her daughters.

"Calm down ma'am, what's wrong?" The nurse at the counter spoke.

In her normal state she would've wondered who invented the stupid phrase 'Calm down' that usually did anything but.

"My daughters, my daughters, they aren't moving," Florence's words were punctuated by deep breaths, she was trying to calm herself.

"Where are they?" The nurse moved out from behind the counter.

Florence was already brushing past the security guard and running to her car with the nurse in tow.

"I need three stretchers stat!" The nurse shouted at anyone who was listening. "Could you move the car any closer?" She turned the Florence.

Florence was already flying into the car, she was on hyper alert. She moved her vehicle closer just as the nurse had asked. She watched a team of people opened her car doors and lay Claire, Alex and Phoebe on stretchers.