The Family Sacrifice Chapter 5

Sabrina's POV

My mother's voice echoed through the empty building.

I watched from the corner as they walked through the entrance. My father first, then my mother, then Gilbert with Yvonne right behind him.

They stopped in the hallway and looked around.

"Where is everyone?" My father called out.

No answer.

Gilbert walked further inside. "Hello? Dr. Wallace?"

Still nothing.

My mother's face changed. "Something's wrong."

Yvonne grabbed Gilbert's arm. "Maybe we should just go. Maybe Sabrina already went home."

Gilbert pulled out his phone and dialed my number.

I watched him hold it to his ear, waiting.

Obviously it didn't ring.

"She's not picking up," Gilbert said.

My father walked down the hallway, opening doors. "Sabrina!"

They all started moving through the building now, calling my name, checking rooms.

I followed them silently. I wanted to laugh at how panicked they looked. Now you care where I am.

Gilbert tried calling again. Then again.

"We need to call the police," he said suddenly.

Yvonne's head snapped toward him. "No! We can't—"

But Gilbert was already dialing.

"Yes, I need to report a missing person," he said into the phone. "My fiancée was supposed to be at this research facility and now no one's here..."

Yvonne's face went white.

Interesting. I studied her expression. That wasn't concern. That was fear.

The police arrived fast.

They sealed off the building and started searching.

My parents stood in the hallway looking lost. My mother kept wringing her hands.

"She has to be here," she kept saying. "She has to be."

Gilbert paced back and forth. "Where could she have gone? Why isn't anyone here?"

One of the officers came up from the basement stairs.

"There's a body in the morgue," he said.

The hallway went silent.

Gilbert stepped forward. "That's impossible. It can't be Sabrina."

But he was already moving toward the stairs. My parents and Yvonne followed.

I went down with them.

The officer led them to my body and pulled back the white sheet covering me.

My mother screamed.

The smell hit them first. That sweet rotting smell that made Gilbert gag and turn away.

My father stumbled backward and vomited on the floor.

The thing in that gurney didn't look human anymore. Rats and flies and weeks of decay had done their work. Bones showing through in places. Flesh gone black and green. Maggots crawling.

My mother's screaming turned into this horrible wailing sound. She collapsed to her knees, her whole body shaking.

"No!!!" she kept saying.

Gilbert covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. His eyes were watering from the smell. He forced himself to look closer, squinting through tears.

That's when he saw it.

"The scar," he choked out. "On her left ankle."

He was right. I'd fallen off my bike when I was twelve and needed stitches. That scar was still visible even now, one of the few ways to identify what used to be me.

My father grabbed the wall.

"Sabrina," he gasped. "Oh God, Sabrina."

Then he fell hard on his knees and started vomiting too.

My mother crawled toward my body, reaching out with shaking hands like she wanted to touch me. An officer quickly pulled her back.

"Ma'am, you can't—"

"That's my daughter!" my mother screamed at him. "That's my baby!"

She fought against him, sobbing so hard.

I felt nothing watching them. Maybe I should have felt satisfied or sad. But I was just tired.

Yvonne stood frozen in the doorway. Her face was pale but her eyes kept darting toward the stairs like she wanted to run.

While the officers dealt with my parents and Gilbert, Yvonne slipped away.

I followed her to a small room off the main hallway.

She pulled out her phone with shaking hands and dialed.

It rang.

No answer.

She tried again. Still nothing.

"Pick up," she hissed into the phone. "Pick up, pick up, pick up."

But whoever she was calling wasn't going to answer. Dr. Wallace or Glenn Webb or whatever his real name was had already left the country.

Yvonne went back to where the others were.

My mother was crying now, these awful sobbing sounds. My father had his arm around her but his face was blank with shock.

Gilbert sat on the floor with his head in his hands.

Yvonne walked over to my mother and put her hand on her shoulder. "Aunt Harper, I'm so sorry..."

Such a good actress. I watched her comfort my mother, watched her wipe fake tears from her own eyes.

The lead officer came over to my father.

"Mr. Collins, can you tell us why your daughter was brought to this facility?"

My father looked up slowly. "For... for a drug trial. To help Yvonne."

"And who arranged this?"

"Yvonne did," my mother said through her tears. "She found the doctor."

The officer turned to Yvonne. "Ms. Wells, were you aware that this research facility has no medical license?"

Yvonne blinked. "What?"

"The building is rented under a false identity. We've traced it to a man who had his medical license revoked five years ago for malpractice."

Everyone stared at Yvonne.

"I didn't know," she said quickly. "He told me he was a specialist. He showed me credentials..."

Gilbert stood up. His face had gone red. "You didn't check? You didn't verify anything before you sent her here?"

"I thought he was legitimate!" Yvonne's voice rose.

I watched her perform this shocked innocence act. You knew exactly what you were doing.

"Ms. Wells," the officer said, "you mentioned you've been receiving treatment from this same doctor. Can you show us the medication?"

Yvonne took a step back. "I don't have it with me."

"I do," my father said quietly.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a pill bottle.

My father handed it to the officer.

The officer opened the bottle and examined the pills. Then he called over another officer.

They talked quietly for a moment. Then the second officer pulled out a testing kit.

Everyone watched in silence as they tested the pills.

The officer looked up at my parents. Then at Yvonne.

"These are just vitamins," he said. "Basic multivitamins. Nothing more."