Pamela arrived at the hospital feeling numb and heartbroken. She sat facing the window in the truck as Ivan drove to the hospital, watching the slow traffic move steadily, and said nothing to him. She even ignored his poor attempts to start a conversation with her.

She sighed. He was only trying to be nice.

"You were saying?" She said to him, giving him a small smile.

He smiled at her as if pleased she was finally interested in a conversation. "I said you shouldn't worry, miss. The boss can be mean sometimes but he's not a bad person. He'll come around."

She doubted that. "Thank you, Ivan." She said as they neared the hospital. She would just say her goodbyes and go to her second prison.

Pamela had thought Devlin's breakup with her was the worst thing that could ever happen to her, but it was not. She hadn't been ready for his anger, hadn't been ready for his coldness – but she wasn't even remotely ready for what happened next.

In the waiting room, people were not much, only a few patients sat there, and even the nurses who were usually at the counter were absent. This made it so easy for her to spot a blonde man sitting with his shoulders slumped, picking his fingernails.

Marcel.

She couldn't believe she had loved those fingernails, had thought they were magical; she couldn't believe she had loved this terrorist.

"What are you doing here?" She asked approaching him cautiously.

Careful, she said to herself. He doesn't know you've found him out. Her eyes flickered around him to see if he was holding a pistol or a knife or something, but the innocent look he gave her poised no threat.

"Who is he?" Ivan asked as Marcel stood.

Pamela turned to look at Ivan. "Please can you go see if Peter has arrived yet?" If Ivan found out who Marcel was, he was going to cut his head off for sure.

Ivan gave Marcel a long suspicious glare before nodding. "If you need me, just yell."

Pamela nodded, grateful she had someone to protect her.

As soon as Ivan was gone, Pamela asked again, "How did you know I was here?"

He had the effrontery to look worried. "I heard what happened with your mom, so I came here to see if you were okay. Are you?"

Pamela scoffed. "How dare you? We found you out, Marcel. I know everything."

Pamela expected him to feign surprise or even bafflement. She was ready for that, but she sure as hell wasn't ready for him to give up his cover so easily. Instead of looking surprised, he looked...calm, reserved, and cool. Like he was confirming her suspicions.

Her heart broke. Shattered into tiny million unrecoverable pieces.

Tears filled her eyes. "I didn't want to believe it when I was told." She whispered. "I didn't!"

He just stood there, looking angry, clenching his jaws. Pamela still couldn't come to terms with the fact that Marcel was in cohorts with a murderer. She couldn't believe that Marcel had endangered the lives of her mother and several others. She shut her eyes tight, trying to hold back the sob that wanted to escape her.

"I regret it," Marcel said, his voice rough with emotion. "Every single day, I regret it."

Pamela scoffed. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? You almost destroyed my life!" She turned away to stare at the white hospital walls. "I should have seen the signs.... they – they were so obvious but I was –" She scoffed. "I was blind."

He shut his eyes as if in pain. "I am so sorry Pamela. I didn't mean to –"

"The question is, why me?" She interrupted, turning to face him. "Why did you have to come into my life when you did? Why did you have to get close to me just for this? It was all planned, wasn't it? Right from the moment we met, it was all planned, was it? Answer me!"

"Yes. It was."

Pamela couldn't believe what she was hearing. "It all makes sense now... my dad never liked you. He hated your guts and I couldn't – didn't want to understand why. Now I do." She buried her face in her palms and sobbed.

"Pamela I'm so sorry." His voice shook as he would cry. "I want to make amends. I want to make things right. I - I also want you to know that... I loved you. My love for you was –"

"Get out of my face before I call the cops," Pamela said through gritted teeth.

He gave her a heartbreaking, soul-searching look before turning on his heels and striding out.

Pamela stood there for a minute, trying to catch her breath. What was she doing letting him go? He should be behind bars! She shut her eyes, trying to be calm. What had she been thinking? What if he skipped town? But with what he'd said about wanting to make amends... If he meant it, he would stay.

She was just grateful Marcel hadn't been aggressive and hadn't hurt her. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened had the confrontation gone south. She started for the lift to her mom's ward hoping she was awake. She needed to tell her about Marcel, but then, her mom knows that already doesn't she?

She was halfway to the lift when she heard her name being called with such urgency that she had to stop in her tracks, and with such agony that her blood ran cold.

It was Ivan. He was racing down the stairs with so much fear and horror on his face.

What's wrong? Pamela couldn't even open her mouth to ask. She just waited for him to get to where she stood, her thoughts swirling through her head in every direction.

"Your mother!" He exclaimed as he got close enough.

Pamela broke into a run towards the stairs. "What happened to her?" she said not stopping to look if Ivan was following or not. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MOM?!!!" She cried. She shoved people out of her way as she raced up the stairs to the fourth floor.

Alarmed doctors and nurses tried to stop her but she outran them. Her adrenaline was on the full pump. It was like a missile that was fired that had gone off and couldn't cease. Before she got there, Ivan caught her.

"Let me go!" She struggled, breathing hard. "I need to see her! I need to know what's wrong!"

"Please wait! I'll tell you."

A sense of dread filled her. It made her calm. "Okay?"

He looked pained and tears filled his eyes. "She-she died."

"What?"

"A nurse just found that she was suffocated with a pillow. I'm so sorry, miss." He bowed his head and wept.

Pamela stood shocked still. She tried to process what she'd just heard but couldn't. Her mom could not be dead... her mom could not be –

As if propelled from a sling, Pamela bolted into the ward and saw that a doctor and some nurses were in there, covering her mom with a white cloth.

"Ma'am you can't be in here –"One of the nurses started to say.

"Get away from her," Pamela growled.

"Ma'am –"

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!"

The nurse looked nervously at the doctor, who nodded at her and she stepped back.

Now free, Pamela found it hard to move. Her legs suddenly felt like lead. She willed herself to, though. She placed one leg in front of the other, slowly dragging herself to move toward her mom.

That's it, girl... She said to herself. Slow and steady.

As she got to the bed, she raised her hand to peel back the covers but her hands shook. She dropped her hands and sobbed, then pressed them against her mouth to control the sobs. She tried again, willing her trembling hands to behave, and was able to remove the covers.

Her mom was staring up at the ceiling, her eyes open wide in shock, an expression of terror on her face.

Pamela's lips trembled. "M–mom?" Tears poured down her eyes. "Mom?" She shook the body. "Mom wake up." She used her hands to wipe her nose. Mucus and tears smeared her hands and but she couldn't care less. "You got me, mom... You – you got me." She laughed mirthlessly. "Show's over... You can stop now."

The doctor moved toward her. "Miss King –"

She raised a finger at him, indicating that he should shut up.

"Get up mom... You win... Say "gotcha" cause you so got me." She shook the body. "Dorothea get up!" she screamed. "Get up!!" She sobbed. "P–please..." She sank to her knees and buried her face in her mother's body. It was cold and lifeless.

Pamela raised her head and with all her might hollered: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

Night fell.

~

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