Chapter 1 - The Hidden Lens
My fingers clamped down on the small plastic panic button hidden securely beneath my thin hospital pillow.
I pressed the device three times in rapid succession to trigger the silent security alarm located at the nurses station.
The heavy blood pressure monitor slipped from my mother's manicured hands and crashed violently onto the sterile linoleum floor.
Blood poured rapidly down the side of my forehead, completely blinding my left eye with a warm and terrifying crimson haze.
Evelyn immediately fell to her knees and began producing fake, theatrical tears for anyone who might be listening in the hallway.
My father Richard grabbed a handful of paper towels and rushed to my bedside, pretending to be a concerned parent.
Heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor before two large security guards and a charge nurse burst through the heavy wooden door.
The charge nurse gasped in absolute horror when she saw the blood soaking into my white hospital gown.
My mother looked up at the security guards with wide, innocent eyes and a trembling bottom lip.
She sobbed loudly and claimed that I had suffered a terrible seizure and pulled the heavy machine down onto my own head.
Connor stood in the corner of the room, nodding in agreement and telling the guards that I was completely out of my mind.
The security guards immediately believed their flawless performance and stepped forward to help my mother off the dirty floor.
I coughed weakly, tasting the metallic flavor of blood on my dry, cracked lips.
I raised my shaking hand and pointed a single finger toward the small, stuffed teddy bear sitting on the window sill.
I told the security guards that they did not need to believe my story, because they could just watch the video tape.
My mother froze completely, her fake tears drying up in a single, terrifying instant.
I smiled a bloody, broken smile and explained that I had hidden a motion-activated camera inside the bear's glass eye three days ago.
I knew my family would try to forge my signature on the bank documents while I was asleep, so I had prepared a trap for them.
Richard turned completely pale, his eyes darting wildly toward the innocent-looking toy sitting in the sunlight.
Connor let out a panicked curse and lunged frantically across the room to grab the hidden camera.
The largest security guard immediately drew his taser and ordered my brother to step away from the window sill.
My mother realized that her brutal assault had been recorded in high-definition video and uploaded directly to a secure cloud server.
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The charge nurse grabbed the teddy bear, extracted the small memory card, and handed it directly to the head of hospital security.
I closed my eyes as the medical staff rushed forward to stop my bleeding, knowing that my family was finally going to prison.
