Pretty Poison

Forty - Eight

◈ Beatrice ◈

I feel numb. The pain I once felt is now completely gone. No tears dropped from my eyes, my ducts all dried up. The light seems dimmer now than it was before, my eyes only slightly open. Two nurses tend to the tube in my arm, the rest occupied with their own drudgery.

I can move my neck slightly, my irises gliding over the entire room.

"Beatrice, relax. Do not move," one of the nurses urges, their tone in the middle of candid and sorrowful.

I ignore them, and continue to move my neck. I search around me at the stations set in place, each seat taken by a scientist with vials full of a crimson liquid.

"Beatrice, do not move," the nurse reiterates, this time strictly.

This time I listen, resting my head back on the cold, uncomfortable table. I stare up at the light, my eyes narrowed into slits as I continue to stare up at it. I feel the people watching me as they do something to the tube in my arm. Their eyes bore holes into my cheeks.

I suck in a breath, my body threatening to cough but nothing comes out. The nurses are quick to move, placing something over my face and telling me to breathe. Instantly, it goes away.

"What have we found?" Someone shouts as they open the heavy metal door, bouncing down the steps to the ground floor.

"We found different substances that can dilute the poison, Signore, hindering its deadly
characteristics," someone answers.

"Wonderful, keep working," he orders, his steps growing louder and louder until he is right beside me. His breath fans down across my face, a mixture of alcohol and olives a clear scent. "Oh the pain you caused Luca," he whispers lightly as he stares at me, emotionless. He ticks his tongue to the roof of his mouth as he shakes his head

What?

I move my neck, lifting my head closer to his rapidly with a newfound anger growing in me. I thrash my arms and legs, my limbs only moving a few centimeters within their restraints.

"Hold her down!" I hear someone say from behind, and at that a hand clamps down on my neck, thrusting my head down. A strap comes down across my skin, holding my neck in place and preventing me from moving.

My mouth opens, saliva and a small rivulet of blood flowing from my lips.

"What-what did y-" my voice cuts off, the words falling silently from my mouth. I struggle to breathe through the machine over my mouth and nose.

Vincenzo only smiles, watching with glee as I struggle to speak. My words were muffled, but he understood me perfectly.

"You hurt him badly, Beatrice, you took everything from him," he says, mocking sadness with a jocular tone.

I thrash under the restraints once again, the cold metal over my skin sending shockwaves to my nerves. I ignore the frigid zaps, my head and heart screaming at me to break free.

"You took his money, you took everything and ran, so, so sad. He was crushed," he frowns, his lower lip jutting out like a toddler when pouting. Then, he begins to laugh, his laugh growing to become more bloodcurdling. I hear others join in for a moment, then they stop.

I lay still, confused and disoriented as I listened to him speak. I feel a pain in my heart and stomach.

This is my fault.

"He hates you, Beatrice, you broke his heart," a single tear drops from my eye as he says this.

I shake my neck back and forth, "No," I croak.

"Yes, you destroyed him, and now he has nothing."

I shake my head again, "No, y-you did t-" I wheeze, my energy dropping as I feel the sudden need to vomit. My head spins as nausea sets in, looming over me like a rain cloud over a city.

Vincenzo pushes a strand of hair back behind my face, "It doesn't matter who did it, dear, all what matters is that now he never wants to see you again...he believed the lie, and now, he's no longer our concern."

I close my eyes, refusing to listen any longer. My mind drowns in oppressive thoughts, feeling as if I've been shot in the heart.

"You deserve this, Beatrice, it's too dangerous to have you roaming out there being the disgusting creature you are. You've killed three people already, you would've killed many more if you were still out there roaming free. You belong in a cage, Beatrice, this is for your own good."

He's right, you're dangerous...you're vile.

I shut my eyes even tighter, using every last bit of energy I have to push these thoughts away, but they win.

I believe him. He's right. I'm dangerous, an unexplainable phenomenon with a poison capable of killing in mere seconds.

"You're a beast designed to appear as a beauty. You deserve this, Beatrice."

I feel another needle pierce my stomach, right into my scar, and at that moment I start violently shaking. The whole world around me spins until finally, everything effaces into a layer of opaque darkness.