Page 50 of Vicious Titan

31

Elliot

Red. It’s everywhere. On my jeans, on my shirt, on my hands.

I flinch as Victoria grabs my hand, squeezing. There’s blood on her too. It’s everywhere. How is it everywhere again? Flashbacks from the night I’d found her at home flash through my mind. Can she pull through this time? Please let her pull through again. I don’t want her to die. I was supposed to be visiting her at my grandpa’s house, not here. Not sitting in the waiting room at the hospital, the same hospital. The same waiting room. I can’t do this again.

Jumping up, I race to the nearest bathroom, going straight to the sink. Turning the knob, water flows out as I scrub my hands, the water turning as red as her blood when it goes down the drain. Why did this happen to her? She didn’t want to die, she wanted to live. She made plans with me. She wanted to get better. She was getting better.

I don’t notice Victoria in the bathroom with me until her hands cover mine, pulling them out from under the scalding water as she grabs some paper towels, drying them off. “It’s all off. Asher is grabbing you something to change into.”

My knees buckle as I hit the floor. “I can’t lose her.”

“She’s going to be okay. She has to be okay. I’m so sorry.” Victoria sobs, kneeling on the floor next to me, leaning forward as she clings to my neck. “I’m so sorry.”

The door pushes open and Quinn peeks her head through the doorway, slowly walking inside the bathroom. “There’s a police officer here who wants to ask you some questions.”

Yes. Finding the person responsible and making them pay by any means necessary is the only thing that will make this better. Shoving off the floor, I walk back into the waiting room, Victoria and Quinn following behind. The officer asks my name, takes some basic information, and asks me to recount the moments of the accident. It didn’t look like an accident. I struggle to detail the moment, flashes of it smothering me as the scene plays out over and over. Again.

“And you were also a witness?” the police officer asks Victoria as she nods. “Give me your name and everything you remember.”

Victoria slowly turns her eyes to mine, my heart drops. The look on her face is so pained that it hurts to breathe.

She turns to look at the officer as she steps away from me. “It was Heidi.”

“Excuse me?” the officer asks in disbelief. I look to her with the same feeling only ten times stronger and with a lot more urgency. “Did you see the driver?”

“No, but the car. It’s her car. She drove it to the house a few weeks ago. And it was at the stoplight. It was stopped at a green light and the person behind it was honking. I didn’t know it was her. I didn’t know.” Victoria looks to me as she whispers, “I should’ve said something.”

“You couldn’t have known,” I tell her, unsure why the look on her face grows worse, graver, and then I realize. “What are you not saying?”

“Do you know Heidi’s last name?” the officer asks, jotting down notes on a small notepad.

“No.”

The words won’t leave my mouth, but I want to ask the question again. There’s something she’s holding back.

“Would Heidi have a reason to harm your mom?” the officer asks, but I don’t respond. Victoria does.

“Olivia thought it was Richard who wanted her dead. She didn’t know it was Heidi.” Victoria won’t look to me. Her eyes dart to the floor, the officer, scan the room, landing everywhere and anywhere but on me.

“What? What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Calm down, son,” the officer replies sternly but dismissively.

How? How does he suppose I calm down when my world is incinerating around me?

“I’m not your fucking son. I want to know what the fuck is going on.”

“We all want to get to the bottom of this. The only way that will happen is if you remain levelheaded so I can do my job.” He turns to Victoria, who still won’t look at me. “What did Mrs. Bass say exactly?”

“That she didn’t attempt suicide. She said Richard tried to kill her, but she couldn’t say anything more because she feared for her life and Elliot’s. She said she didn’t know who to trust because the police report was changed. She did not want to die.” Turning to me, finally, she says, “She did not want to leave you, Elliot. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. She said your life was at stake.”

“When?” I ask through gritted teeth.

“The day we went to see her. That’s why she didn’t want you to visit her. She said she couldn’t protect you while she was still in there. She asked me not to tell you. I shouldn’t have listened. I should’ve told you.” Victoria reaches for my hand but I jerk away from her, fear and pain in her eyes. But my mom is the one fighting for her life.

“She’s in here because of you. I could’ve protected her.”

“I—”

“Shut your fucking mouth. Nothing you say now will change this.”

The police officer asks Victoria for a description of the car, then asks more questions, but the words don’t make sense to my ears. The person in front of me, who withheld the truth from me, makes even less sense.

“You let me believe my mom wanted to die. Night after night, reliving the experience, thinking she chose death over me … Get out of my sight.”

“Please, just—”

“Now!” I shout as Asher rushes up, looking between the two of us. “Get this bitch out of my sight.”

Victoria flinches at my words, stepping back as Asher moves between us. Quinn tugs Victoria’s arm.

“Elliot,” my dad calls from across the room. Victoria played a part, but he orchestrated the entire fucking show.

Charging forward, I barrel into him. My fist rams against his face as we crash to the floor. Blinded by rage, I continue my assault until I’m hauled backward. I struggle against the hold on me, watching my dad slowly rise from the floor. The last thing I see is blood seeping from his nose as darkness overcomes me. My last thought is that blackness is better than red.