Chapter 14 - The Breaking of the Dawn
The shockwave threw Sarah backward out of the hole, her head slamming against the base of the changing table. The world spun in violent bursts of white and gray before finally settling into silence.
The violent thudding against the nursery door had ceased. The sickening smell of embalming fluid and rotting earth evaporated rapidly, replaced by the clean, sharp smell of ozone and the morning wind whistling through the floorboards.
Sarah pushed herself up on trembling arms. Her vision swam, but she dragged herself toward the mattress on the floor.
Toby was lying face down on the carpet, motionless.
""Toby!"" Sarah screamed, her voice nothing more than a hoarse, ragged scrape. She lunged forward, rolling the six-year-old onto his back.
Toby gasped, taking a deep, shuddering lungful of air, his hazel eyes snapping open. He blinked at his mother, his chest rising and falling with deep, normal rhythm. ""Mom... it went quiet.""
Sarah let out a broken sob and pulled him against her chest, kissing his forehead frantically. Then, her gaze fell upon the bundle beside him.
Brendan lay wrapped in the fleece blanket. His eyes were wide open, clear and bright, staring up at the pale ceiling. The grayish tint had completely vanished from his skin, replaced by a healthy, blooming pink. Sarah pressed her trembling ear directly against the baby’s bare chest.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The erratic fluttering was gone. The heart murmur—the irregular beat that had plagued him since birth—had settled into a strong, rhythmic, and steady cadence.
Sarah looked down at her own wrist. The black, necrotic veins had dissolved entirely, leaving behind only the pale, clean skin of her arm.
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Through the cracked nursery window, the first pale golden rays of dawn cut through the morning mist, breaking over the horizon and spilling into the ruined nursery. The shadows retreated into the corners, powerless and flat under the morning sun. The nightmare was over.
Or so she thought, until Toby pointed a small, shaking finger toward the open crawlspace beneath the floor.
