Chapter 5 - The Ticking Clock
The next few hours were a complete, agonizing blur of flashing ambulance lights and sterile hospital corridors.
I sat in the intensive care waiting room, my clothes still heavily stained with my sons' blood.
A team of specialists had rushed Leo and Max into emergency surgery to stabilize their rapidly failing organs.
Mark and my mother were arguing in harsh, hushed whispers at the end of the hallway.
I finally found the strength to stand up and confront the monsters I used to call my family.
"Tell me the truth right now, or I am walking over to that security guard and having you both arrested," I demanded.
My mother let out a broken sigh and collapsed into a plastic waiting room chair.
"Eighteen years ago, the doctors discovered a highly rare, fatal genetic mutation in the twins," she began softly.
"They told us the boys would live a perfectly normal life until their eighteenth birthday, and then their organs would spontaneously shut down."
Mark stepped forward, avoiding my furious gaze.
"Rowan was the only triplet who didn't carry the mutated gene, Sarah," he explained.
"His bone marrow and stem cells were the only known cure for his brothers."
I felt violently ill as the horrific reality finally clicked into place.
"You faked his death," I whispered, barely able to breathe.
"We placed him in a secure, private medical facility to keep him perfectly healthy until the twins needed him," my mother confessed.
"He wasn't a prisoner, Sarah, he was a living organ donor waiting to fulfill his purpose."
I raised my hand and slapped my husband across the face with every ounce of strength I had left.
"He is your son, not a medical supply cabinet!" I screamed.
The lead doctor suddenly pushed through the swinging doors, his face grim and pale.
"We stabilized them for now, but they will not survive the night without the marrow transplant," the doctor announced.
"We have the donor secured at our facility, I will authorize the transfer now," Mark said quickly.
The doctor shook his head slowly.
May you like
"Your private facility just called us, Mr. Mercer," the doctor said nervously.
"The donor violently broke out of his holding cell two hours ago, and he is completely gone."
