"Her fingers moved! Notify the doctor and her family!"
A voice, filled with both anxiety and surprise, rang in my ears.
It was so noisy.
I opened my sore eyes, but all I saw was the white ceiling.
I turned my stiff head to look at the nurse who had just spoken. She was the only one in the ward.
I opened my mouth to speak, but my dry throat tore with even the slightest movement.
"Don't move yet. Let me pour you some water to moisten your throat."
The nurse poured me a cup of warm water, and after drinking it, my throat felt much better.
"Am I in the hospital? What happened to me?"
I frowned tightly. I forgot what had happened.
Wasn't I chatting with my mother-in-law at home?
"Viora! You finally woke up!"
My husband, Steven, rushed in and stood by my bed, followed by my father-in-law.
"Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
My husband's deep voice was tinged with a hint of concern.
"I feel extremely painful all over my body, and my head hurts even more, like a migraine."
I felt extremely aggrieved.
Just a second ago, I was chatting with my mother-in-law, but when I opened my eyes, my whole body felt like it fell apart.
"Do you remember that you had a car accident?"
Steven tentatively asked, and I was stunned.
"Car accident? What about my baby..."
I touched my belly back and forth, trying to find the trace of the baby.
Flat, it was gone...
Seeing my appearance, my husband directly asked the doctor to examine me.
.....
"Amnesia?"
"Don't panic. It's only temporary. Judging from your wife's condition, she probably just forgot what happened recently. Besides the temporary amnesia, her other functions have recovered quite well. She can be discharged from the hospital and go home to rest in a few days."
My husband pushed me back to the ward and asked me to rest well. I would be discharged in a few days.
Seeing that my father-in-law didn't look too good, I let him go back first.
These days in the hospital, my husband had been taking care of me carefully. Finally, I was discharged from the hospital.
I thought my mother-in-law wasn't in the hospital, because there was something going on at home, but I didn't see her at home either.
"Steven, where has your mother been? I haven't seen her for so many days."
For a long time, I didn't hear my husband's answer, so I turned around and looked at him silently.
But my husband clenched his fists, and the veins on his arm bulged.
I had never seen him like this before.
His eyes were dim, and he spoke with some difficulty,
"She is dead."
2.
My baby was gone, and my mother-in-law was dead.
After a while, I still couldn't accept this fact.
I asked him what exactly happened.
He said the police initially judged it as an accident, because there was only my mother-in-law at home at that time.
On the day of my car accident, my mother-in-law died of poisoning in the warehouse at home. Surprisingly, the cause was dry ice that I had stored at home to use on stage.
"The police said more than that. The autopsy report also mentioned cyanide poisoning. The investigation found that there was an excessive amount of cyanide in the chia seeds that you and my mother used.
But don't worry. The hospital has already checked. The amount you ingested is relatively small, so there is no major problem."
My husband's words made me feel like I had fallen into an ice cellar.
"Is this... an accident?"
"No, that's not right! Why didn't your mother escape? Dry ice will produce a lot of smoke!"
I voiced my doubts in my heart.
"You had already reminded me before that the door lock was broken, but I was too busy with work and didn't get it fixed."
Steven lowered his head in remorse beside me.
I hugged my husband and patted him on the back to comfort him.
My father-in-law was devastated by the death of my mother-in-law, no wonder his face didn't look good at the hospital.
I hadn't been home for long when the police came to the door and took me to the police station for questioning.
Chapter 2 InterrogationI was taken to a room that was completely sealed, with a table and three chairs.
Two police officers sat across from me, one responsible for recording and the other for questioning.
There was a lamp on the table that made my eyes hurt.
The police officer in charge of questioning noticed and moved the lamp aside, showing me a friendly smile.
"Mrs. Lance, you don't need to be nervous. Just tell us the truth."
I nodded to indicate that I understood.
"Why is there so much dry ice in the warehouse at your home? Don't you know that a large amount of dry ice can cause suffocation and death?"
"I am a dancer and I need it for performances and events. I also use dry ice for practicing at home. My son sometimes uses some for fun. I think it's convenient and cost-effective to store some at home, so I don't have to go out so often."
Police: "Did you buy those cans of chia seeds?"
I nodded and said, "Yes, that's right."
"Do you know that there is cyanide inside them? And only the can you use, has it, the others don't."
I widened my eyes in surprise and said, "I really didn't know that. I bought them when I was performing somewhere. My colleague said they could be used to stabilize blood sugar and protect cardiovascular health, so I wanted to buy some for my mother-in-law."
"Do you have any conflicts with Rebecca in your daily life?"
Rebecca was my mother-in-law's name.
I denied, "No, ever since I married into the family, my parents-in-law have treated me like their own daughter. My mother-in-law hopes that I can stay at home and take care of the family. But due to my special physical condition, I have difficulty getting pregnant and can only adopt a child. I have become pregnant twice, but unfortunately, I couldn't carry the pregnancies to term. I don't think this can be considered a conflict, as we have never argued about these things."
As I said that, my hand touched my flat stomach.
Hearing my words, the police officer said something to the other, who had been noting down the information.
Then she immediately turned her head and asked, "Okay, one last question. What were you doing on the day your mother-in-law had the accident?"
I looked blankly at her and said, "To be honest, I also had a car accident on the day when my mother-in-law died by accident, so I don't remember exactly what happened. After the accident, I can't remember anything that has happened recently. I'm really sorry."
The two police officers exchanged a glance.
I was afraid they didn't believe me, so I quickly explained,
"If you don't believe me, you can go to the hospital to check. I just got discharged today."
The police officer stood up and shook hands with me, saying, "Okay, thank you for your cooperation. Today's conversation has been recorded and will be verified. If there is anything else we need, we will contact you again."
I pleaded, "Madam, if my mother-in-law's death was not an accident, please do your best to find the real culprit!"
"This is our duty. Please rest assured!"
Then she exclaimed, "It's really rare to see a family like yours without any conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law!"
I just smiled, said nothing more, and then went home.
4.
As soon as I entered the door, I smelled the aroma of food, and coincidentally my husband came out with a plate.
I quickly took it over.
He wiped off the sweat on his forehead with the sleeve.
"Oh, you're back. The meal is ready. Go wash your hands."
At this time, there was a knock on the door, so I asked my husband to wash his hands, and I went to open the door.
It was my father-in-law who brought Hector back.
As usual, Hector threw away his school bag and rushed into my arms. He looked up with concern.
"Mom, are you okay? Are you still hurt?"
I rubbed his head and spoke gently, "Thank you for your concern, Hector. I'm fine now. Go wash your hands and call grandpa to have a meal."
My son nodded his head a few times and ran to wash his hands.
Chapter 3 NightmaresAt the dining table, my husband asked me what the police said, and I roughly recounted it to him.
Apart from asking about the transcript, he didn't say anything else. We all ate the meal in silence.
My father-in-law still didn't look well and spoke less. He only occasionally asked about how Hector was doing at school.
While I was doing the dishes, I asked my husband to rest. There had been too many things happening at home recently, and he must be tired.
Meanwhile, I tried hard to recall what had happened recently, trying to remember something.
Lost in thought, I was suddenly startled by a male voice beside me.
"Mom, do you know how grandma died?"
5.
My son, who should have been doing his homework, appeared beside me.
I couldn't help but frown and scold softly, "It's none of your concern. You're too little to know about that. SSAT is almost coming. Go and do your homework."
Tears instantly welled up in my son's eyes, and he choked, "Mom, I just miss my grandma. After she passed away, there's no one to play the game with me anymore."
My mother-in-law taught my son to play a special game since he was little. Only she knew how to play many handmade games.
My husband and father-in-law were completely clueless about these things.
I realized that I had been too harsh with my words, so I gently wiped away my son's tears with my thumb and said, "I'm sorry, Hector. I was wrong. And I shouldn't have scolded you. Grandma has gone to a nice place. She will definitely bless you to grow up healthy and happy in heaven. If you miss her, you can talk to the brightest star. She will hear you."
My son stopped crying, but his eyes were still watery, which made people feel sorry for him.
"I understand, Mom. I'll go back and do my homework. I want to get into a good school to make grandma happy."
Looking at my son's back, I often wondered how sensible and understanding he was.
6.
These days, because of me and my mother-in-law, my husband hadn't been going to work and had accumulated a lot of work.
So, I was the only one sleeping in the room at night.
I dreamed of Rebecca.
She was wearing her favorite red cheongsam and smiling at me.
She waved at me, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
I approached her a little closer, and this time, her words came clearly into my ears.
"Viora, I hate you. You deserve the hell!"
As she spoke, a gust of cold wind blew around, and I got goosebumps.
Rebecca no longer looked as kind as she did when she was alive. The intense hatred made her face look hideous and terrifying.
Her hand had already touched my neck, and she was still smiling.
The force on my neck gradually increased and tightened.
I opened my eyes, sat up suddenly, gasping heavily, and my body was already soaked in sweat.
"Mom, you must be happy that grandma is dead."
I didn't know when, but my son, who should have been sleeping in his room, was next to my bed.
At this moment, my usually well-behaved and sensible son made me feel creepy.
"He-Hector, why are you not sleeping and coming to my room so late at night?"
I swallowed my saliva and tried to make myself less nervous.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I saw you having a nightmare and wanted to scare you."
I took a deep breath, pretending that what he just said was just a joke.
I chatted with my son for a while before coaxing him back to sleep.
7.
Instead of going back to sleep, I opened my laptop.
I had the habit of writing a diary since I was young, and I subconsciously wanted to record memorable things.
My laptop had no password, and I could log in directly.
I opened eDiary, and the page was still at the place I wrote last time.
[Rebecca, don't blame me.]
Looking at the last line, it seemed that something was about to pop into my mind.
I flipped through the pages to find the diary I wrote before.
[Today, I asked a friend to buy several buckets of chia seeds. I will crush the apple seeds and put them in. PS: remember not to drink more than three times.]
[Coincidentally, there is dry ice at home. So I pretended to call my mother-in-law and poured some hot water as an excuse to check. I have already told Steven about the broken door lock. He is so busy that he won't fix it.]
"Could it be... I killed Rebecca?"
But I had a car accident that day. It was impossible to commit the crime.
I comforted myself like this, but the detailed modus operandi in the diary couldn't be faked.
This app was hidden in a folder. No one could see it.
I could clearly feel my heart beating so fast.
Even though my parents-in-law were very good to me, why did I do this?
I didn't sleep all night.