Chapter 2 - THE GREEN BOTTLE
Caleb collapsed hard onto the grass.
Sarah sprinted.
She dropped beside him, pulled him into her arms, and called his name.
He did not answer.
He was breathing, but he looked frighteningly limp.
“What’s wrong with my son?!”
Amber remained near the picnic table.
Sarah whipped toward her.
“What did you give him?!”
Amber folded her arms as if Sarah were embarrassing everyone.
“Just sleeping medicine.”
The words made no sense.
Sarah stared.
Amber pointed toward Sarah’s handbag lying beside the blanket.
“The green bottle in your bag.”
Sarah ripped the bag open.
A small closed green bottle sat inside.
She grabbed it.
Her hands began shaking.
She knew the bottle.
It was a prescription that had been issued months earlier to an elderly relative after a procedure, temporarily stored at Sarah’s house and later believed discarded. It was not intended for children.
“You gave him this?!”
Amber’s confidence flickered.
Sarah turned the bottle in her hand.
The seal appeared closed.
That confused her.
“That's not sleeping medicine! Idiot!”
Amber froze.
Then she recovered.
Fast.
“You’re the one carrying it.”
Sarah looked at the bottle.
That sentence cut through her panic.
Within minutes, park security called emergency services. Caleb remained unconscious but breathing. Paramedics took him to the hospital.
Amber gave police a calm statement.
She claimed Caleb had complained of feeling tired. She claimed she had seen Sarah give him “something from the green bottle” earlier. When Sarah accused her, Amber said she panicked and misspoke.
Sarah nearly lunged across the hospital waiting room when she heard.
Eleanor stopped her.
“Not here.”
“She’s lying.”
“I know.”
Sarah turned.
“You know?”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“I saw Amber near your handbag.”
“Then tell the police.”
“I will.”
But when an officer returned twenty minutes later, Eleanor’s story changed.
She said she could not be sure what she saw.
Sarah stared at her.
“You just told me—”
Eleanor squeezed Sarah’s wrist.
Hard.
Her eyes were frightened.
“Not now.”
The doctor finally emerged.
Caleb was stable. He was waking slowly. They expected a full recovery.
Sarah nearly collapsed with relief.
Then the doctor asked to speak privately.
“Mrs. Carter, police requested that we document everything in your son’s system.”
Sarah nodded.
The doctor continued.
“The important part is this: the green bottle does not appear to explain what happened.”
Sarah stared at him.
“Then what does?”
“We don’t know yet.”
He lowered his voice.
“But whatever caused Caleb’s collapse was already affecting him before you opened that handbag.”
Sarah looked through the glass at Amber.
May you like
Amber was watching her.
And smiling.
