Chapter 6 - The Second Dose
The second dose arrived at 4:40 a.m.
A nurse brought it in a sealed tray.
Beatrice recognized the label immediately.
Same medication.
Different concentration.
She stepped toward it.
“Don't.”
The nurse froze.
Sebastian appeared behind her.
“Why not?”
Beatrice looked at him.
“Doctor Caldwell changed the order.”
Caldwell looked at the tray.
He had not.
But he understood immediately.
“Yes.”
Sebastian's eyes narrowed.
“Show me.”
Caldwell opened the chart.
“The dosage is unsafe.”
Sebastian looked at the nurse.
“Give it anyway.”
“No.”
Lorenzo's voice was weak.
Everyone turned.
His eyes were open.
Sebastian walked to the bed.
“You need rest.”
Lorenzo stared at him.
“Leave.”
Sebastian's face tightened.
“You don't know what you're saying.”
“I know enough.”
It was the first complete sentence Lorenzo had spoken in eleven days.
Beatrice felt something shift.
The staff looked at one another.
Sebastian's control over the room had cracked.
He leaned toward Lorenzo.
“You've been unconscious.”
“Not the whole time.”
Silence.
Sebastian's face lost its color.
Lorenzo looked toward Beatrice.
“Bring me the bag.”
Beatrice retrieved it.
She placed it on the table.
Lorenzo stared at the puncture.
Then at Sebastian.
“Who ordered this?”
Sebastian didn't answer.
Lorenzo's voice remained weak.
But unmistakably calm.
“You.”
Sebastian stepped backward.
“No.”
Caldwell spoke quietly.
“The medication records say otherwise.”
Lorenzo looked at the doctor.
“Then we start with the records.”
For the first time, Sebastian realized the man in the bed was no longer helpless.
May you like
And he had no idea how much Lorenzo remembered.
---
