Chapter 5 - Payback

Be careful what you wish for. I asked for the basement and I got it. I laid my bed and I must lay in it.

But for how long?

It's been over three months since that incident, you remember right? I even lost track of time. I'm being held captive in my own home, in a literal cell.

I didn't know the basement had a cell. Why do we have a cell? Is this common in New Orleans? Also, it had a lab. A lab. That I know can't be common in most homes.

I've been living on top of this all this while and this cell, this cell seems like some sort of enclosure for a violent test subject. A cage for a lab rat and I am the replacement for the previous tenant.

Everyday mom brings in a different man, a scientist I'm guessing, to make a formula for me because I have run out.

Well not technically but, I'm left with one dose but she won't let me have it. It is used as a comparison to the formula these so-called scientists make.

I may know how to make my formula but Mrs. Walker never told me the last ingredient. That was going to be our last lesson but I was abruptly moved.

My mom is desperate, I can tell. She feels guilty about having to tranquilize me every day.

Yes, every day. That's how I've been coping without the formula for months. I'm only awake for a couple of hours during the day before my illness starts to become active.

I have thought of a way out and my mom's desperation and naiveness would play to my advantage.

"Mom?", I say quietly from the cell when I hear the basement door open. "Mom, is that you?".

"Yes dear, it is me. How are you feeling today", she asks.

How ironic. How am I feeling? You locked me in a bloody cage.

"I am feeling great. The past few months have passed by with nothing but pure bliss. How kind of you to ask.", I say with a smile on my face.

Not genuine of course.

She senses my sarcasm but ignores it.

"Great. Then you wouldn't mind spending a couple more weeks down here with pure bliss."

"What?!", I yell even though I saw it coming.

"It's for your safety Ruby. Until we get more of your medication you're staying down here. Also, it turns out taking your pills is pointless without the formula.", she says bluntly with no emotion.

This was my chance to make a move or else...

"Mom, I think I can help with that.", I say quietly but loud enough for her to stop setting up the tranquilizer for our sacred routine.

"What are you talking about"

A devious smile creeps upon my face. "I know the recipe. I was always with Mrs. Walker...", her shoulders tense when I mention Mrs. Walkers' name, "... and I may have seen her make it a couple of times."

"Why didn't you tell me, Ruby? Do you know how worried I have been, running around town seeking the most reputable scientists and chemists to help you out?" She turns to look me in the eye. "Why would you keep this to yourself ?"

I almost feel bad for her.

"First of all, you never tell me anything. You never told me we were running out. Also, you tranquilized me, your only daughter. Consider this payback, now we're square. Besides, you seem pretty depressed."

"You ungrateful child. I'm not sorry for what I did, you were acting irrationally. You were about to walk into the night and go where? Huh, tell me where?"

I suppress the edge to yell at her right now. I have a mission at stake here and she has a point but there's no chance in hell I'm going to admit it.

"I don't know okay! Now, are you going to let me out to start to work on the formula before...you know... it happens."

She grabs the keys from the desk and walks towards the gate. Before she opens the cell she looks at me and says, "Only if you promise to stay down here until you've made enough of the formula".

"I will", I lied.

She stares at me for a long while before hesitantly opening the gate to the cell. The doors creak open and I step out.

Oh, how I must stink. All I can think about is taking a shower but that can wait. I need to secure my freedom. How though?

We walk over to the desk with beakers and flasks of all kinds. Some empty, some containing chemicals.

"What are you going to need?", my mom asks with a little bit of hope in her eyes.

If only she knew that I sort of twisted the truth a little bit.

I start to look through the chemicals we have on the desk when my eye sets on the tranquilizer. She forgot about it.

I think I may have found a way to secure my freedom but my moral conscience forces me to ignore the thought. The fact that I can get revenge.

That's when the voice in my head, clear as a sunny day in May, returns. It doesn't say much. Only...

Do it.

It is short but very concise.

I don't know what it is but all I can see is red. My judgment is clouded by anger and something deep within me wants to do it.

I want to do it.

A hand on my shoulders pulls me out of my reverie and all I can say is, "Get me a pen and paper mum!". I don't know why I said that.

My mom looks hesitant for a second, shrugs, and says "Stay down here.".

As she turns to head upstairs to the door, my fingers wrap around the tranquilizer and I push it into the back of her neck.

Not before I can whisper these words into her ear...

"Oh someone's staying down here but it won't be me. Mother."

She falls to the ground with a thud and at that moment I feel... I don't know what I feel but a rational homo sapien might identify this feeling as Satisfaction.

Poor Mummy. So gullible.