Chapter 1 - THE YELLOW NOTEPAD
The last strand of black thread came free beneath the white examination light and landed on the metal tray with a soft tap.
Dr. Carter did not hide his reaction quickly enough. He looked from the torn skin around my mouth to the bruising along my jaw, then toward the closed privacy curtain. “Your wounds are infected,” he said carefully. “There may be permanent scarring. Do not try to speak yet.”
I tried anyway. Only a broken breath came out.
Nurse Parker placed a yellow notepad and pen in my hands. “Write whatever you need us to know.”
My fingers shook so badly that the first word leaned sideways.
DON’T LET DIANE IN.
Dr. Carter read the name twice. “Is Diane the person who did this?”
I nodded.
Outside the curtain, my husband was telling someone that I had suffered another panic attack. Mark had carried me into the emergency room unconscious, but he had not mentioned the needle, the black upholstery thread, or how his mother locked my phone inside her bedroom whenever I tried to contact my sister.
He had not mentioned that this was not the first time.
The curtain moved. Mark stepped inside wearing a gray jacket over a dark shirt. His shoulders were rounded, his eyes fixed on the metal tray instead of my face.
“Claire,” he whispered, “Mom says you did this to yourself.”
I turned the notepad around.
SHE SAID, “NO MORE NOISE FROM THIS USELESS MOUTH.”
His expression tightened.
May you like
He did not look surprised.
That hurt more than the doctor’s scissors.
