Taint (Formerly Claimed) Dark Midnight 1

Chapter 5

 “Please tell me you’re going to share some of that coffee with me.”

The voice made Miriam stir sleepily in her chair along with the one that came right after it.

“Why the hell should I?”

The solid tone made her freeze.  Especially when she considered the fact that Nurse Corey and the comatose Lizzie were the only ones allowed in this room…beside her father.

But those deep, husky tones sounded nothing like him.  And, now that she thought about it, the woman sounded nothing like the gruff Nurse Corey, either.

 “Oh, Eliot, darling,” the woman pleaded.  Her voice was soft and tinkling, like the chime of a bell.  “Please, don’t be grumpy with me.  Pretty please?  Now, be a good boy and give me a sip.”

Eliot.  Miriam wondered if he was Lizzie’s brother, but she couldn’t place the woman he was speaking to.

  Another sister, maybe?

There was a slight pause, before the sound of heavy footsteps thudded over the linoleum. “Here,” he grumbled, annoyed. 

“Lovely!”  The woman sighed in content along with the sound of a delicate slurp.  “You have no idea how much I have craved caffeine.  I have been tempted, you know,” she added around another sip, “to slip the good doctor the idea to pump this stuff directly into my veins along with that horrible medicine.  Though, I don’t think that would go over very well with the board of ethics…”

The man didn’t laugh.

“I didn’t come all the way here to have tea with you, Alazzdria,” he grumbled.  “What do you want?”

“Now, now,” the woman scolded playfully.  “That is no way to talk to an invalid, is it?”

The mocking tone made Miriam frown, confused, into the sleeve of her sweater.  Carefully, she kept the rest of her body still, feigning to be asleep. 

Surely…Lizzie wasn’t the one talking?  She couldn’t even hear the beeping of the machinery.

Was this all just some strange daydream?

“Tell me.”  The man’s voice was a frightening growl that made her stomach lurch.  It was hard to keep pretending as her heart pounded like a sledgehammer into the walls of her chest.

 The woman, however, didn’t seem very fazed.

“Goodness, gracious, Eliot,” she whined.  “I haven’t seen you in nearly a decade and the first thing you do is pepper me with nosy questions?”

Eliot’s voice was as sharp as a whip.  “Start talking.”

“You are so insufferable—”

The sound of heavy footsteps moving for the door cut the woman off.

“Wait!”  Miriam heard a squeak like that of someone sitting up in bed.

“Alright, alright, alright…”

The footsteps slowed. 

“Why are you playing the role of a vegetable?” Eliot demanded.  “Did you get bored with having to fend for yourself?”

Alazzdria hesitated, before adding on a sigh, “Oh nothing really…just someone wants to kill me.”

Miriam had to bite her lip to keep from gasping out loud.  The familiar taste of blood exploded on her tongue.