Chapter 6
SIX
LUNA
Sadie still isn’t moving. But as I hold my hand over my stomach, I’m also trying to figure out if there are any movements from my baby.
But it’s far too early in my pregnancy to be feeling movements, not that it’s stopping me from trying.
I would say that if the stress and the slashing of the knife that Sadie delivered to my doorstep tonight has cost me the loss of my child then I will kill her.
Although it might be a bit late for that because I think she’s already dead.
That just leaves me wishing I could kill her twice.
For now, all I can do is wait for the ambulances and the police cars to arrive and hope for the best. Part of that hoping includes everybody believing my version of the story of what happened tonight.
It’s a false, fabricated story, as it often is with me, but it should be easy to make everybody believe it.
It helps that it will be a one-sided story.
It helps that the only other person who knows what happened is not able to tell the tale.
I look at Sadie lying on the hallway floor, then at her two children kneeling and sobbing beside her.
Arthur and Ruby are distraught, as is to be expected at the sight of their mother looking lifeless, so I can’t ask them to stop crying.
Nor can I ask them to leave, because like any caring soul, they want to be with their stricken loved one at their time of need.
Beyond them is Reid, who is alternating between pacing around anxiously, watching his children and making sure they don’t touch Sadie and worsen any injuries, whilst also being on the phone to Sadie’s parents.
He has also called the emergency services, and they are on their way.
But right now, he is informing Sadie’s mum and dad about what has happened to their daughter.
While this scene seems overstimulating, it’s completely calm compared to what it is going to be when everybody arrives.
From flashing blue lights to paramedics and police, to two panicking parents, this hallway is going to be a hive of activity in a few moments’ time.
I’d rather be anywhere else but here when it is, but I know I have to stay and face this situation.
I have to tell everybody what happened so there can be no doubt.
I have to paint Sadie as the villain and me as the victim: I was here with my loved ones when my boyfriend’s crazy ex broke in and stabbed me.
Jealousy. Frustration. Revenge. All key motivators for Sadie to do what she did and all factors I will be sure to convey to any detectives or police officers who want to establish all the facets of this complicated case.
It helps that I am pregnant, which makes me seem more vulnerable.
More domestic. More normal. It’s easier to make it seem like I had everything to live for, whilst Sadie had nothing to lose.
Amidst the children’s cries and Reid’s phone conversation, I hear the first sign of sirens.
They’re coming. This is it. I better get ready.
It’s showtime.
I look down at my arm, the one from where blood has been pouring ever since Sadie grabbed that knife and used it against me, and I see that the tissue Reid gave me is completely soaked red.
I need a new one, but I decide to wait until the emergency services are here because it will look more dramatic if they see me like this.
I’ll look more of a victim.
I’ll get more sympathy.
I’ll be more believable.
Through the window of the front door, I see blue lights as an ambulance parks up.
It’s followed by another one, and as Reid opens the door, I see a police car parking too.
In mere seconds, this sleepy suburban street has been transformed into a scene from a horror movie, and I have no doubt that all the residents will be waking up and rushing to their windows to see what is going on outside.
Generating gossip.
Spreading stories and suspicion.
Whispering and wondering whilst watching.
Nobody needs nosey neighbours.
Reid ends his phone call, and he tells me that Sadie’s parents are on their way here. But for now, we must deal with the first people to arrive and as I see the hi-visibility uniforms of the paramedics rushing towards our door, I take a deep breath and swallow hard.
Reid opens the door before they reach us so as not to waste a second, and as a male and female paramedic enter, they see what all the fuss is about. A body on the floor, and a woman with a stab wound standing nearby.
‘My ex broke in here and stabbed my partner,’ Reid breathlessly tells the paramedics.
‘Then she slipped and fell, banging her head. I’m not sure if she is still alive.
She is the mother of my older children. But my partner is pregnant, so you need to check her and get her to a hospital and you need to—’
‘Okay, we’ve got it from here,’ says the female paramedic whilst her colleague looks back for his fellow paramedics who are already disembarking from the second ambulance.
The paramedics don’t need to hear any more because they already know what they need to do. As crazy as this is for us, this is probably a fairly tame scenario compared to some of the situations they get called out to.
The extra paramedics arrive and are pointed in my direction, while the first responders rush to Sadie.
‘What is her name?’ the female paramedic asks.
‘Mummy,’ Ruby replies innocently before Reid fills in the blanks and gives her Sadie’s name.
‘Okay, Sadie. Can you hear me?’ the paramedic asks as she begins to make her checks. That’s all I see because the other two paramedics are now in front of me, seeking to examine my wound.
‘She stabbed me,’ I make sure to say before I allow them to look at it, for the avoidance of any doubt, because I know that the police will question the paramedics too when this is all over with.
‘Let’s get a bandage on that for now. It looks like it will need stitches,’ the pair of paramedics discuss between each other before they open their medikits and get out what they need.
‘I’m pregnant,’ I say then, directing that statement at the female paramedic because it feels like I’ll get more understanding from her than her male colleague. ‘I’m worried about my baby. Do you think this could cause me to lose it?’
‘We will get you to the hospital and check, just as a precaution,’ the paramedic says, not wanting to be too negative about my chances but not exactly filling me with hope either.
They expertly and efficiently wrap a bandage around the wound on my arm, covering the blood in a matter of seconds, although I see the crimson start to seep through my dressing quickly, despite their skill and due care. Although it’s what I see next that worries me more.
I see two police officers entering our home.
This is it. These are the people I really need to convince. These are the ones who will decide my fate.
It helps that I’m still being fussed over by the paramedics, because their first impression of me will be that I am a victim, and that’s fine by me.
As for Sadie, she is still being examined by the first two paramedics, but she hasn’t moved yet and there doesn’t seem much positivity in that section of the hallway.
I hear Reid telling the police what happened, and he gives them the exact version of the story that I gave him, which only helps further. I decide to speak up then to really emphasise that this was a home invasion that went wrong.
‘I need you to check on my baby! I need you to find out if she has hurt my child!’ I cry to the paramedics in front of me but also for the police who stand beyond them. ‘Please! Just tell me my baby is going to be okay!’
Reid rushes towards me while his children stand and stare, and I’m satisfied that I just did a very good job of playing the victim card even more.
But I really am terrified that my baby might have been hurt tonight, and I do want to be checked as soon as possible.
I also need to make sure Sadie is seen as the criminal because it would be easy for her to be viewed as a victim too, especially when the paramedics who are working on her suddenly let out a desperate cry.
‘She’s going into cardiac arrest!’ one of them calls before the other rushes to grab a defibrillator.
‘What’s happening?’ Arthur cries, and I see the colour drain from Reid’s face as he is tasked with trying to explain to his son what the current situation is with his mother.
It’s a task that is too much for him at this moment because he cannot respond, though he can wrap his arms around the crying Ruby and hold her back from getting in the way of the skilled staff currently working on Sadie.
‘Get those children out of here!’ a paramedic calls, clearly overstimulated enough with trying to save a life without two poor children standing by watching on and potentially making it harder.
But nobody other than the paramedics moves, everybody stunned into silence and standing as still as statues, trying to figure out if this is the moment when Sadie leaves this life.
As the paramedics work frantically to save her, and the police stand by to see the latest development at this rapidly escalating crime scene, the only thing that could make the situation more tense would be having more people arrive.
That’s when I see Sadie’s mother and father appear in the open doorway, the pair of them out of breath and ashen-faced as they see their daughter fighting for her life right in front of them.
There’s too much going on here. I feel like I could faint. But all I can do is the same thing that everybody else is doing.
We’re watching the paramedics as they try to resuscitate Sadie.
But there is one difference.
I’m the only one here who wants her to die.
Then I hear the words I prayed I would not hear.
‘We have a pulse!’