The Sphere

Chapter 21

The bells of the nearby church woke her up. The hospital was awfully quiet for this time of day. Her head was hurting like a battle had been fought inside it, and though now the battlefield was peaceful, some fallen soldiers still lingered there as proof of the carnage. Then she remembered the envelope, Erin's party and the number one hundred and twenty three. The evil number that she had managed to neutralize. But from then onwards her memory was an indistinguishable blur. How she came to lay here on the floor of her office, Susan had not one clue. After all, yesterday was Friday. No work today. And then she looked at the watch: it was twelve o'clock.

Then she thought that Erin must be worried sick that she hadn't found her home this morning when she came back from the party, and that sent her rushing to the door. She passed through the Cave, now as empty as a pillaged tomb. But it didn't scare her anymore. Maybe it was because the people were gone or maybe it was because she'd done a lot of progress lately. After the struggle with the evil number, the day before, she realized that she was ready to fight the disease as long as she practiced what she'd learned, and managed to keep an optimistic attitude. So what if she'll lose her hair from chemotherapy? It will grow back.

Passing by the newsstand she took a peek at the day's headlines. Just an ordinary Saturday, like all the others. No catastrophes, no government falls, no anything. She had been doing this since childhood. Never would she read an entire paper, only the headlines on the front page. But then she froze.

Her mouth started mumbling something that sounded like a mantra, but it came out gibberish. She rushed closer, barely keeping her balance and picked up the local newspaper. It was the noon edition, and the bold headline read: "Abandoned by mother in emergency clinic, raped 18-year-old commits suicide."