I kept vigil at her bedside, gripping her wrinkled hand, tears falling silently onto the sheets.
Grandma, you have to pull through. You're all I have left.
I prayed in silence.
If she would just wake up, I'd give up everything else. Phil, the money he'd swindled, the love I'd wasted on him. None of it mattered.
By eight that evening, her condition had stabilized slightly.
I got up and headed to the hospital cafeteria to buy some soft food, something she could eat when she woke. But when I hurried back with the thermos container, I saw Clarissa slipping into the room while I was gone.
She stood at Grandma's bedside, leaning down, her lips pressed close to Grandma's ear, whispering something I couldn't hear.
The next second, Grandma's body seized violently. The monitors beside her bed screamed to life, red warning lights flashing in a frenzy.
I charged across the room and shoved Clarissa away.
"What are you doing?!"
Clarissa stumbled back, eyes wide with feigned panic.
"I was just telling Grandma some good news."
Her voice turned sweet. Sickly sweet.
"I told her I'm carrying Phil's baby."
"I have no idea why she reacted like this!"
I whipped around toward the bed.
Tears streamed from the corners of Grandma's eyes. Her throat rattled, a horrible gurgling sound, as if she were trying to speak but couldn't force out a single word.
On the monitor, her heart rate plummeted. Blood pressure crashed into the danger zone.
I screamed, slamming the call button over and over.
"Doctor! Nurse!"
"Somebody help! Please, somebody save my grandma!"
Grandma's pupils were going glassy, unfocused. Something in me snapped. I lunged at Clarissa, both hands locking around her throat.
"I'll kill you!"
Clarissa's eyes rolled back. Her hands clawed weakly at my arms.
"Let... let go..."
That was when Phil appeared in the doorway, a fruit basket in his hand.
"Serena, are you insane?!"
He roared, rushed in, and wrenched me off her. He caught Clarissa as she crumpled to the floor, pulling her into his arms.
"Are you okay? Is the baby hurt?"
Clarissa clutched her stomach, moaning.
"Phil, my stomach hurts so bad..."
"What if something happened to our baby..."
The color drained from his face. He scooped her up and bolted out of the room.
"Doctor!"
"Save my wife and baby!"
I turned back to the bed.
Grandma's chest had gone still.
The monitor flatlined. A single, unbroken tone filled the room.