Allister was surrounded by beeping machines, hoses were coming out of his arm and his mouth was covered by a mouthpiece that helped him breathe. Anna suddenly felt cold. And fear. She never thought she would see that imposing man, so frail. He turned his face towards her and took the mouthpiece out of his mouth.
"Come closer, Anna."
She obeyed, but the fear was evident in her gaze.
"I took care of you. Those were the months of my life when I was happier than in my entire life. I was born again when I met you."
Anna began to cry. He was saying goodbye.
"Don't say that. Are we going to be happy for a few more years? Please, All! Give me a few more years!" She said tearfully. "I still have a lot to talk to you about. Things I don't know how to say, because in my projects, I would do everything in the course of our lives together, and words would become unnecessary because you would know. I have nothing to compare this feeling that binds me, attracts me and makes me dependent on you. I feel a cry inside me, a cry that no one else can hear. A cry that I can't explain, I can only express with my tears. And they are so abundant... Please All, give me more time!" The crying finally burst out so that she could no longer speak and the nurse, who was paying attention to everything inside, made her sit down and offered her water.
Anna rejected the water, but sat down. She wished she had something to convince Allister to live for her, but nothing came to mind. What could she offer him that he didn't already have?
"We have a few days." He said weakly and the nurse adjusted the mouthpiece in his mouth.
Anna stood there. She realized that he had fallen asleep, but she refused to leave and believed she didn't have the strength to get up from that chair. She looked at the nurse.
"Could you get me some coffee, please?"
"Of course!" The nurse said and left.
Anna forced herself to get up and looked through the medicine table. She recognized the scientific name on some of the vials. She found a lot of morphine. She threw them all in her bag and sat down again. She knew that the amount she had taken was enough for her to overdose.
The nurse returned with coffee and cookies and handed them to Anna, who put the cookies aside and drank the coffee.
Adam, Suzy and Ryan entered the room an hour later.
They stood in silence watching Allister sleep.
That vigil lasted until eleven o'clock at night, when Allister opened his eyes and tried to sit up, which was promptly prevented by the nurse, but it was enough to get the family excited.
"I don't want to die in this hospital. Take me back to the apartment." He said it with such lucid coldness that the relatives looked at each other. It was the boss back in his glory days.
"All... The doctor must agree..." Suzy said, approaching.
He searched for Adam with his eyes, and when he found him, he stared at him as if he were furious with him.
"Go on. Sort it out."
Adam didn't move and his eyes met Anna's just as she was looking at him. Anna looked away.
Ryan left the room without anyone noticing, and returned with the doctor who was looking displeased.
"Leaving him here, against his will, could shorten the time he has left, I'll let him go in the morning. Tonight he'll be under observation." The doctor said, looking uneasily at Adam.
Adam followed the doctor into the corridor and when he stopped, he put his hands in his pockets.
"What's wrong with him now?"
"He suffered a cardiac arrest and... I'm sorry, but there's nothing more we can do for him using medicine. That poison he ingested has made him as fragile as a human."
"And is there anything, apart from our medicine, that can solve his problem?"
"I don't think so."
"And I can do something for him? Something to prolong his life..."
The doctor looked at him curiously.
"Of all people, I never imagined I'd see you fighting for someone's life..."
Adam stared at him with a glint of surprise in his eyes and thought. The doctor was right. He didn't like or approve of sentimentality. What was happening to him?
"This isn't natural. I should have stopped his killer. He kept poisoning All. I didn't think I was surrounded by incompetents."
"You let your father's killer go free?" The doctor looked astonished.
Adam stared at him coldly, but didn't answer. He knew that the person would continue to act stealthily, but he didn't think he needed to alert the nurses. He knew that whoever was poisoning All had an accomplice. Someone from inside his house. He thought that letting him go and pretending he didn't know anything would be enough for him to be led to find the mastermind, but...
"Make him comfortable and do whatever he wants. The nurse will bring morphine to keep him pain-free and..." The doctor said, interrupting Adam's conflicting thoughts, "...and I don't think I need to tell you that until whoever did this is found, we're all in danger. A poison capable of killing a werewolf? What a discovery!"
"I've already found the culprit."
"And did he say what he used?"
"I don't want her to tell me yet. First she'll suffer, and when I think it's enough, she'll tell me what she gave him and how she found out."
"You're torturing..." The doctor said, but in that circumstance he couldn't feel any pity for the victim. "I want to work on that medication she used. I need to find an antidote..."
"How long does he have?"
"If he survives the night... Maybe a month, but that's a very optimistic outlook. His lungs don't... They're dying at a compromising rate."
Adam nodded in the affirmative and went back to his room with his usual cold, angry look.