Chapter 4

Mom and Dad turned around, only now remembering I was there. They both looked a little embarrassed.

But once my words sank in, Mom snapped back, "What kind of nonsense is that? It's a simple drug trial. Don't say things like that!"

Dad gave me a cold look. "Are you trying to back out again? I'm telling you, the form is signed. Get in there and behave yourself. When the medication's ready, we'll come pick you up."

Callum took my hand, gently this time. "It'll go fast. It's only a month. When you come out, I'll buy you whatever you want."

I looked at Mom and Dad, then at Callum. Then I sighed and pulled my hand free. I turned and walked into the research center without looking back. I didn't feel any attachment to them anymore.

The so-called drug trials were anything but normal. The experiments were pure agony. Every day, it felt like a thousand needles were being driven into my body.

I clawed at my skin until it was covered in bloody scratches and scars. In all that time, my family and Callum never came to see me. Not once.

Maybe they were out at some expensive dinner. Maybe they were watching the sun go down over the river. I had no idea.

All I knew was that my heartbeat kept getting weaker. On the eighteenth day, it went flat.

When Dr. Voss walked into my room, he figured I was just asleep and jabbed my arm, irritated. "Get up. Time for the next phase."

The only thing that answered him was a long silence. He frowned. Then he saw the heart monitor beside him, and the color drained from his face. After a long moment, he picked up his phone with shaking hands and called my parents.

"M-Mrs. Marlowe, something's happened… Ms. Marlowe… She's dead!"

The other end went quiet for a second. Then Mom laughed, completely unbothered. "Dr. Voss, it's not April Fools' Day. Quit joking around."

Dr. Voss looked at the body on the table, the blue tint to the face, the stiff limbs, and he panicked and snapped at the same time. "I'm not joking! She's stopped breathing completely!"

On the other end, Callum grabbed the phone from Mom and spoke in a calm voice. "Doctor, Willa might be putting on an act to get out of the trials. Don't let her fool you."

"Are you people insane? She's really dead!"

Before Dr. Voss could finish, Callum cut him off, impatient. "We're busy right now. When Willa wakes up, tell her to quit playing games. We'll come see her in twelve days."

He hung up in the middle of the conversation. Dr. Voss stared at his phone in disbelief. He wasn't ready to give up, so he called again, and again, but never got through. He swore under his breath, then hauled my body into a makeshift morgue and dumped it there.

Nobody knew that this so-called medical research center was nothing but a stage Sloane had built to keep up her weak-girl act. It was all so she could hold on to Mom and Dad's love, and so she could have Callum as her plaything.

My soul drifted off to one side, and I watched my own body get tossed away like garbage. It didn't take long for the ants and rats to follow the smell. They crawled onto me, gnawing at my flesh and drinking my blood.

I was dead, but somehow I still felt it.

Unloved in life. Ignored in death. It seemed like my existence had never meant anything at all.

My soul was tethered to my body, and I couldn't move away from it, though I didn't know why.

The days dragged by, and the narrow morgue slowly filled with a terrible stench.

Finally, I heard familiar voices outside the door.

"Doctor, were the drug trials a success?"