I twist the balls of my feet beneath the burning hot top layer of powdery white sand to feel the coolness underneath between my toes. The crushed ice within my cocktail has now melted, so I gulp it down before the powerful sun warms it too much to drink. The rum infused, fruity cocktail glides effortlessly down my dry throat.
Leaning back on my lounger, I raise my face to meet with the sun. Even with my eyes firmly closed, I feel it's heat penetrate my skin to warm my bones. I lie perfectly still, relishing in the tranquility.
"Lizzie." I hear my name being called, so I sit up with a grin on my face. "Come on in, the water is beautiful!" Daniel exclaims from the crystal clear shallows. He bobs up and down with the soft waves. His muscular arms waving animatedly for me to join him. His expression is one of complete contentment as he squints with one eye to shield his view from the beaming sun. His dark wavy locks are pushed back off his handsome face.
I stand up and happily make my way down to the water. The beach is empty except for us which makes the smile I wear grow even wider.
The coolness of the ocean takes my breath away for a second before I get used to the temperature. Daniel reaches for my hand and pulls me swiftly to him. Giggling, I wrap my legs around his waist underneath the gentle waves, and glide my hands over his broad shoulders. They are hot to the touch from being out of the water.
"Hi, Mrs Weston." Daniel murmurs against my lips before he kisses me deeply. I allow his tongue to invade my mouth, meeting his passion willingly.
"Lizzie?" I hear from the beach, making me break our kiss to turn round. I don't see anyone there, but I know something isn't right.
"Stay here with me." Daniel suddenly pleads desperately, but I know in my gut that I cannot stay here. "Don't leave, we're safe here..."
"Lizzie?" I feel my shoulders being gently shook. I then open my eyes, and I'm in my hospital room. I slam my head back against the pillow in disappointment that it was just a dream.
I focus on Dr. Abbott, and force myself to raise a half smile in greeting to him.
"I'm sorry to wake you. I know physiotherapy must have wore you out, but I just wanted to check how you were doing before I left for the day." He flicks through my notes as he speaks to me from the end of my bed.
"Day seven complete!" I laugh humourlessly. "She said I did fine, everything is improving better than she is expecting. But, I'm just so tired." I answer honestly while rubbing at my weary eyes.
"As we have told you, you need to cut yourself some slack. You were sedated for twenty days, Lizzie! You have to give your body time to recover." He scolds me, resulting in me rolling my eyes at repeatedly being told the same opinion.
"That's the thing Dr. Abbott, no one will tell me what I'm recovering from! If I hear once you're stronger one more time... well... I won't be responsible for my actions!" I grit my teeth in frustration.
"It was agreed that you would only be told once you were feeling up to processing it all. Your family and your partner didn't want to upset you when your condition was so... so..." He pauses, not sure how to finish his sentence.
"You can say it!"
"...delicate." He concludes with a wince.
"Mentally and physically I feel much stronger now. I'm reducing the pain medication every day and the physiotherapist said I'll be ready to go home soon! I just need to know now, Dr. Abbott... it's eating me alive!" I realise how whiny I sound, but I don't care. I'm ready to find out what happened.
He sits down on the edge of my bed before he wedges my folder back into its rightful place. "It's not my place to talk to you about exactly what happened against your family's wishes... but I can answer any medical questions you have?" He raises his eyebrows with a mischievous glint in his eye.
"What's wrong with me?" I ask quickly, desperate to know before he changes his mind.
"When you were first admitted, you were displaying a series of very generic symptoms... from a diagnosis point of view. Vomiting, stomach pains, headache, weight loss and fatigue. All of the standard tests we run on such symptoms came back clear." He pauses, ensuring I'm following what he is saying. "Soon it was apparent that something more sinister was at work. Your condition continued to deteriorate despite our intervention. Once your kidneys began a to shut down, we knew we had to act fast... or... well..."
"I would die." I interject flatly.
"Exactly. We sedated you to try to limit as much strain on your organs as possible while we reviewed our options. We then ran more specialist tests and found that you must have ingested ethylene glycol." He emphasises each word to make sure I understand what he's saying, but I don't!
I look up at him, bewildered and confused. "What does that mean?" I shake my head, not understanding the medical term.
"You were poisoned with antifreeze." He says sympathetically. "We began treatment with fomepizole immediately, which is viewed as an antidote. We also started dialysis too in an attempt to repair your kidneys. After twenty sedated days, it was time to let you wake up... if you could! Your recovery is truly remarkable, you're very lucky indeed." He smiles warmly towards me.
I nod absentmindedly at his final words, not really listening to him. Poisoned? I lie back on the bed again to attempt to process what I have just been told. When I close my eyes I'm almost back on that beach with Daniel without a care in the world! If I just fall back to sleep I can be in the sun with Daniel and I would never have to deal with the reality that I've been... I've been... I can't even think it!
"Thank you for telling me the truth." I whisper, forcing myself to focus.
He pats my hand. "If you want the rest of the details, you should speak to your family and tell them you're ready." Dr. Abbott then stands to leave. "You should know that your partner never left while you were sedated, he stayed right by your side." He laughs and shakes his head in disbelief. "He even showered here, just wouldn't leave you!"
Once Dr. Abbott has reassured me that I should be able to go home in the next few days, I'm back to being alone. Names of people I have been in contact with fly through my mind like a conveyer-belt. Ed, Charlie, Harrison, Kimberley, Fay, Ben, Rhys, Robin, Georgia, Ashley, Lucy.... stop! "No more!" I whisper in frustration. I refuse to send myself crazy with who could want to kill me.
I need to speak to Daniel.
*****
Daniel returns to me after attending an interview for his new film while I was in physiotherapy. It suddenly dawns on me as he enters the room that I missed the premiere. I keep it to myself because I know from what Dr. Abbott told me that Daniel didn't attend it either. For some reason, I begin to feel painfully guilty that Daniel has missed out on his work because of me. I can't think about that now, I need to focus on finding out what happened to me.
"Hey, how you feeling?" He asks as he softly kisses my lips before sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Really good! I finished the first week of physiotherapy, she's very happy with my progress." I smile at him, biding my time. "In fact, she'll be willing to discharge me in a few days if Dr Abbott is in agreement."
Daniel's eyes open wide. "That's amazing news." He practically bounces up and down on the bed. "Your mom is helping me find a house for us to rent... just temporarily while you recover. Then we will look to set down roots somewhere permanent once you feel up to viewing houses. I'll make sure we find somewhere for when you're discharged. I'm so fucking happy!" He beams at me wholeheartedly.
"I had a chat with Dr. Abbott earlier." Here we go, I think to myself knowing I won't let it go this time until I know everything.
"Hmmm... everything OK?" He asks before taking a sip of his drink.
"He answered all of my medical questions, so now I want you to tell me how I came to be poisoned with antifreeze?" I ask using an innocent tone as I can muster.
Daniel chokes on his drink in response before wiping the residue off his chin with the back of his hand. "We agreed..."
I cut him off. "You agreed! But, I get it." I shrug. "When I woke up I definitely wouldn't have been able to process that I had been poisoned, but now I am ready... and I need to know." I try to sound reasoned and calm when I speak, but in reality I feel like I will go insane if I don't find out exactly what happened.
He must see the resolved look on my face because he then slowly nods in response. "Ben found you on the floor, and his quick thinking saved your life. He called me from the ambulance, and I had to charter a private plane to get straight here. When I arrived, they thought you were going to... to..." He lets out a gasp of emotion, and bites his lip painfully.
I reach out and squeeze his hand, not needing to hear him tell me that he thought I was dying. The pain in his eyes is enough. I smile sadly up at him so he understands I don't need to hear the words.
"Once they knew you'd been poisoned, Ben blamed himself. Said he should have known something was going on, he could feel something was wrong in his bones. While I stayed with you, Ben didn't sleep until he figured it out." Daniel lets out a shaky breath. "Somehow he worked out it was Fay." He pauses to see my reaction, but I try not to show the complete surprise that she would want to kill me. I keep face as neutral as I can, and nod for him to continue... I need to hear everything. "Ben broke into Fay's flat because Detective Phillips said he couldn't get a warrant on just Ben's suspicions alone. Well, the whole flat was full of us... of you. Pictures, voice recordings, video footage, your clothes, my clothes... oh God, Lizzie, we were everywhere. She'd been spying on you for months." His voice trembles as he speaks.
The enormity of what Daniel is telling me suddenly bears down on my chest like a huge weight positioned across my lungs... Fay! How did I not see it? How did I not know?
"Fay did this to me?" I ask still not quite believing she would be capable of poisoning me.
Daniel nods slowly. "They couldn't figure out how she had poisoned you, until Ben found a freshly baked chocolate cake in the fridge. He sent it for testing and it was laced with antifreeze. Without Ben we would never have known it was her, or how she had done it."
My hand covers my mouth in shock. "She baked cakes twice a week for me while you were away... she was working at our offices... I trusted her... I confided in her!" Rage surges up inside my stomach like a phoenix rising from the ashes. "Why? Why would she do this to me?"
"Because of me!" Daniel hangs in head in shame, but I reach out to cusp his chin and ensure that he looks up at me. "Detective Phillips thinks she's a fan that wanted to scare you off, and when that didn't work, she wanted to get you out of the way! It's all my fault." His eyes fill up with tears as he whispers the last few words.
"No it's not your fault! This is on Fay, not on you... or me! Has she been charged? Can I see her?" I ask, knowing I want nothing more than to sit down opposite her and show her that her disgusting plan hasn't worked.
"That's the thing, Lizzie... no one can find her."
- hey guys!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter - lots of you saw it coming!!! I couldn't make you wait too long to find out.
Poisoned!!!!!
What do you think is going to happen next?
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