The ceiling of the hospital room That had been occupied by her had 37 times on it. She counted it again and again and 37 was the number.
She could hardly control the small river of tears that escaped from her eyes. Even though Victoria was lying down, her tears found a way to come from the corner of her eyes and disappear into her hairline.
She sighed before closing her eyes again and letting another set of tears fall. Why were they falling? She had no idea.
My parents were dead, she according to the nurses and doctors had been shot. The entire apartment building had caught on fire and only one couple, who had been out for a dinner date, had been saved but their baby and the babysitter inside had also passed away in the fire.
No one knew who did it.
That is what the firefighters and the police said. Because Victoria was someone who was shot and brutally beaten and in her battered state, everyone assumed that she had no idea who had done it.
Since the landlord had no interest in ever getting his security cameras repaired, no one once again knew who did it.
The one thing Victoria really hoped for in all of this was the landlord not getting any kind of money after the building burnt down. He had made their lives hell by subsiding and passing on any repairs that were needed. He did not deserve to get any kind of money.
But here was something that Victoria wondered. Alone in a hospital room once again, in the same hospital gown or maybe they changed it, she had no idea, she was once again wondering where her parents were. Where the bodies were? Or if they had been burnt down to such extent that they were beyond recognition.
She sighed. What was left to live for now?
She looked over to the heart monitor. From her mother being in the medical field, Victoria knew enough to understand that her heart rate was normal and somehow she felt the need to see a flat line on that monitor.
"Hey!"
The door opened and her eyes went into the direction of it. A happy looking nurse entered with a tray of food that she kept on the small folding table before placing it on Victoria's lap after levelling up half of the bed so that Victoria could be half sitting on it.
Once she was done, she gave Victoria a smile and a wink, "eat up. I have someone waiting for you. Would you like to meet him now or after you are done?"
Victoria frowned. Someone waiting for her and him? Who was left in her family that would actually come and meet her?
"Uh.." she rasped out and the nurse immediately passed her a glass of water with a straw. Taking a small sip and feeling refreshed, Victoria continued, "who is he?"
"He said, a family member." The nurse shrugged, "also said that you would probably recognise him the moment you look at him. So, I am banking on that information."
A family member? Maybe he was an uncle or a friend of her father that she did not remember. Trauma could do that to a person, couldn't it?
"Please, send him in." Victoria nodded hurriedly, anxiously hoping that it was someone that would take her in so that the social services won't take her away. Just someone who would provide her with the comfort that she needed to get through it.
"Alrighty!" The nurse smiled and went out of the door.
Victoria had a muffled conversation before the door opened again and she straightened her spine, eager to know who it was.
To her surprise, a well-dressed man entered and she immediately took him for someone who was from the social services. But it was the blue eyes, something she could connect him to someone from.
Leah? Leah's family member?
"I think you know who I am," he began and took a seat at the foot of her bed by dragging the stool next to her towards it. "You recognise me there, Miss Smith. I am the father of Leah Adams."
Even though she had just had a few sips of water, Victoria felt her throat dry up again. "I'm very sorry for what happened. We had the chance to escape but.."
She fell silent when he raised and showed her his palm.
"Forgive me if I do not want to hear it for now. However I cannot help but notice the uncanny resemblance you have with my daughter."
Victoria blinked. She nodded and remembered, "The man who came to take Leah from the school took me with them because they thought I was a twin."
"Ah," he nodded, "you don't say."
He didn't like that but it was difficult to tell when he had the same expression throughout the conversation.
"You will be her," the man said, more like stated, "you will be exactly like my daughter and I will make sure of it."
Victoria could feel her throat dry up at his words. She licked her chapped lips before thinking of what to say. "It's.. not legal.." or that she did not want to be his daughter who was dead.
Or simply, because whatever he was talking about was absolutely bullocks!
She wanted to go home after all of this, to her parents but that was something that could never happen..
The man tsked and waved his hand in the air as if waving off her concern. "I don't give a fuck about legal or illegal. If I want it to happen, it will happen."
Victoria felt intimidated by the man especially when he had a huge frame, bigger than her father and who she knew was powerful enough to control the government. She was alone in the room with him and after what had happened with her, she knew better than to speak out of turn in front of one. He could very easily kill her.
"The next time I come here, it will be with my wife." Slowly, Mr Addams started to walk where she was half lying and half sitting on the hospital bed. "Let me tell you one thing, Victoria. If you take so much as a small step out of line in front of my wife and family, I will make sure to take everything you hold dear, Understood?"
The glare directed at her made her nod her head immediately.