Chapter 10 - Dawn After the Nightmare
The flashing red and blue lights illuminated the rain-slicked trees of the estate like a chaotic carnival. Paramedics swarmed the subterranean bunker, carefully lifting Mike onto a spinal board, securing his vitals, and wrapping him in thermal blankets.
Harold Vance was led away in handcuffs, his expensive suit ruined, his collar soaked in blood, his head bowed as news cameras from local news vans flashed against his disgraced face. The discovery of the underground medical prison, along with the recovered encrypted drives and Dr. Ross’s full confession, sealed his fate. He would spend the rest of his life behind bars.
I rode in the back of the ambulance, holding Mike’s hand the entire way to the university hospital. His fingers were weak, but they never let go of mine.
Three days later, the morning sun broke through the hospital room window, bathing the white sheets in warm, golden light.
Mike was sitting propped up in bed. He had gained a fraction of his color back, the toxins slowly being flushed from his system by the hospital’s medical team. His face was shaved, his hair washed and combed, looking once again like the man I had married.
The door to the room creaked open slowly.
A little face peeked through the gap. Mia’s eyes went wide.
“Daddy?” she whispered, clutching her stuffed rabbit tightly against her chest.
Tears spilled over Mike’s cheeks, unashamed and free. He opened his arms wide. “Mia... my sweet little star. Come here.”
Mia dropped the rabbit and sprinted across the room, climbing up onto the edge of the mattress and throwing her tiny arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder just as she had done in Harold’s garden.
“I told Mommy you were there,” Mia sniffled, her voice muffled by his gown. “I told her she had to save you.”
“You did, baby,” Mike whispered, kissing her hair again and again, looking over her shoulder at me with eyes full of infinite devotion. “You saved my life.”
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I walked over to the bed and wrapped my arms around both of them, resting my head against Mike’s chest, listening to the steady, strong, undeniable beat of his heart.
The nightmare was over. The ghost had returned home.
