THE HEIRESS (Sample)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

She whimpered in her sleep, a weak moan escaping her dry lips.  No! Not again! Just not again!

Her head turned wearily from side to side on her damp pillow. The room looked familiar but sure wasn’t hers. Although, this was the constant nightmare she always had and it was happening again but just in a different room and this time it seemed very real to her.

The flame of the lone candle in the room flickered twice then was suddenly extinguished leaving a wisp of thin smoke trailing up in the air.

Slowly, her door opened and she heard somebody approached her bed. She slowly fluttered her eyes open to see who had dared come into her chambers in the middle of the night and without permission.

The tall silhouette of the intruder stunned her, it looked oddly familiar but she couldn’t really pick up who the person was. The way he walked indicated that he had no good intentions, she opened her mouth to speak or maybe cry out for help but her lips were dry and her throat felt sore.

The intruder glared down at her for a while. Although she couldn’t see his face, the air of his presence was unfriendly and cold. Suddenly, he yanked the pillow from beneath her head.

Sensing what he was about to do, she began to slowly shake her head in disagreement and speechless plea, unable to utter a word.

The intruder didn’t seem to be swayed by her silent pleas, neither was he going to change his mind from doing what he came there to do. He acted suddenly and what she saw next was total darkness as the pillow was shoved down on her face. He pressed hard, trying to smolder the life out of her, choking her, suffocating her.

She gasped desperately for the little air she could get but it was not the slightest bit enough. She struggled for life, trying to grab for anything with her straining hands, trying to hang on to something and breathe or push the pillow away.

She wriggled violently on the bed, spilling the well-arranged bed sheets on the floor, arms flaying, legs kicking in agony as the pillow pressed harder on her face not sparing her the slightest bit of breath anymore.

She struggled the more but she felt too weak to fight back for the fight was gradually dying in her leaving her too weak to defend herself. The air in her lungs ceased and she lunged with her hands forward but it only came in contact with the end of the intruder’s shirt. In her desperate struggle, she lost hold of that and her hand caught something round, cold, metal and she pulled as she struggled for life.

The metal seemed as if it was attached to a string of chain. Her last weak jerk snapped the round metal off its chain but the intruder didn’t bulge, neither did he notice. 

The air left her lungs, darkness, total darkness encased her, wrapping its eerie cold fingers around her. She was sinking fast and deep into oblivion where there was nothing but void endless space.

Her hands fell helplessly at her sides in total surrender. The round metal slowly crawled out of her lifeless fingers, bounced on the floor and rolled away to wherever it wanted to seek refuge.

She was leaving, leaving the world, fast leaving the light of the world and being pushed into scary darkness that enclosed her in a tight cubicle.

Emilia gasped out of bed, panting and sucking in air as rapidly as she could. With a hand placed on her heaving chest, she coughed and sucked in more air, inhaling deeply.

It had felt so real...so so real. Someone wanted to smolder her to death. She glanced around the room and her gaze stopped at the candle beside her bed, a wisp of smoke was just floating into the air.

Perspiration covered her forehead and her chest. Her eyes wandered to the closed door as if dreading that the handle would turn and her murderer would come in, but no one did. Throwing the covers off her legs, she slipped down the bed, knelt down beside the bed, fixing her elbows into the soft edge, she placed her palm together in front of her face and inhaled deeply as tears began to gather in her eyes.

She leaned her forehead against the side of her closed hands, closed her eyes and went into a quiet prayer.

            ***
The cough worsened. It violently shook her thin frame as it tumbled out of her mouth, almost making her double up in pain. The doctor placed a hand on her chest rubbing it gently to steady the cough and also gently pressed a handkerchief against her mouth.

Robert who had been helping the doctor fetch some things from the surroundings that would ease his mother’s cough came into the room, panicking then went out again after the doctor asked him to get some things.

When the doctor withdrew the handkerchief, thinking that the coughing and wheezing had subsided, she suddenly doubled over again, coughing and tiny droplets of blood sputtered on the white handkerchief.
Robert who was returning with a bowl of water, halted at the doorway.

“She’s bleeding?” he asked as he stared at his mother in despair. Blood began to trickle down his mother’s nostrils. Quickly, the doctor helped her lay back on the bed, dabbing her nose with his already stained handkerchief.

“What’s wrong with her?” Robert placed the bowl down, crouching beside his mother whose eyes seemed to be drooping from exhaustion. “You said she will be fine.” He looked up at the doctor.

“Of course I did!” Said the tired Doctor as he began to wipe his hands clean with a piece of cloth. “It is just not going like I expected. It is more than what I thought it was.”

“What do you mean?” Robert asked, confused.

“This bleeding symptom is not a good sign. It’s rather life-threatening. I didn’t expect I would see them but it is obvious the drugs you bought aren’t competent enough to finally cure her, it only tames the ailment.” He hesitated. “If you don’t find enough money for the right drugs soon, I am afraid your mother is going to die.”

Robert’s eyes widened as the realization hit him. “What!”

“Yes, young man.” Continued the doctor. “The Bacteria is already eating too deep into her system and if care is not taken, it might spread to other parts of her system. If not treated in time, she will lose her life and mind you, it is a slow painful death. However, patients who have suffered her predicament have no other choice than plead for euthanasia.”

“Hell no!” Robert leapt to his feet. “I forbid it! I forbid to carry out such on my mother!”

The doctor straightened up. “You can’t help it. The best thing to do is to let her have a mercy killing if she asks for one and wants to end her pain. That should save you from more expenses and save her the pain of rotting away while still alive.”

“Don’t talk like that sir.” Robert said, eyes glassy with tears. “There must be something we can do, anything!”

“Of course there is, but only the rich can afford the drug, it is imported from a neighboring country. I’m sure you have nothing as such to order for it or purchase it yourself. I would have asked you to sell every property you can to raise the money for it but judging by your pitiful state...” the Doctor looked around the poor empty room with a degrading frown. “You have nothing of worth to sell in order to raise the money. “ he picked up his brief case. “Spend the last days you can by her side, for her days on this earth are already numbered, my condolences, lad!”

He patted Robert’s shoulder as he passed by and was gone while a tear slipped down the boy’s face.