Chapter 45

Mia POV
 
"What the fuck am I doing here?" I tried sitting up, but I was so pale and weak.
 
My left stomach hurt so bad while I tried to get up. The sharp pain made me sit back on the bed with a pale expression.
 
Looking around, I was surrounded with family members, with me wearing a hospital green dress.
 
"What's happening?" I tried screaming, but the more I talked, the more my stomach hurt me more and more. 
 
"You have to rest," Ethan said.
 
"Where's my Alexander?" I quickly asked with my eyes scanning through the entire room.
 
"His safe," I interrupted.
 
"Where?" I asked.
 
"Home," I felt relieved already with the reply.
 
The tension in the room was so much already; everyone was looking with anxiety, while my sister bowed her head, not trying our eyes to cling.
 
"So, why am I here?" I asked to break in the silence.
 
"You can't tell now," said my mom as she drew herself closer to me.
 
"Why?" I questioned.
 
*********
 
I pressured the whole family to speak up, but they didn't just say a word to me. 
 
They just looked at each other nervously, avoiding eye contact with me while they kept me in the dark. 
 
The tension in the room was fully palpable, and I could feel my frustration growing by the second, since there wasn't anything they were telling me.
 
"Tell me what's truly going on here!" I demanded with a medium screech, trying to sit up again despite the pain in my stomach.
But still, no one said anything to me.
 
My sister still had her head bowed looking to the floor, and my mom just shook her head with a sigh.
 
I glared at them all, trying to will them into speaking. But they just looked at me with sad eyes, still keeping me in the dark, and I knew that something was very wrong.
 
Just as I was about to give up on my query, Amanda spoke up immediately.
 
"Mia, I have something to tell you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, with her head still facing down.
 
I looked at her, expecting her to reveal some deep secret to me. But what she said next shocked me to my core and just made me feel more bad and pain deep.
 
"You ate... I mean, I thought it was food, but it was rat killer," she said, her eyes welling up with tears and emotions.
 
"I was just trying to make breakfast for you, Mia, and I accidentally grabbed the wrong package. I didn't mean to... I didn't mean to hurt you." Tears dripped down from her eyes slowly.
 
I felt like I had been punched in the gut or stabbed through the chest with a dagger.
 
"What? Why?" I asked, trying to process what I had just heard from Amanda's.
 
Amanda started sobbing so hard, and my mom rushed over to comfort her with her nice words. 
 
"Mia, you just have to rest," Ethan said, trying to calm me down also while I boil within.
 
"We'll talk about this sometime later." Ethan added.
 
But I was having none of it at this point. I needed answers to my query, and I needed them now and no time else. 
 
"No, tell me what's going on here!" I shouted, despite the pain in my stomach.
 
But no one said anything else to me. They just looked at me with sad eyes, and I knew that something was very wrong again.
 
Questions ran through my head. "When did Amanda start making breakfast?" I asked myself as the sharp pain started again.
 
"Amanda, how could you be so careless?" I asked, trying to keep my anger in check just to prevent another pain.
 
Amanda just shook her head, still sobbing so hard. 
 
"I don't know, Mia. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or do something that would kill." She sniffed at the end of her statement.
 
I took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm my nerves. 
 
But I couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal within. My own sister had almost killed me, and no one had told me anything, nor  did she warn.
 
"Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" I asked, looking around the room with anger.
 
My mom just shook her head slowly.
 
"We didn't want to worry you, Mia. We thought you had enough to deal with already, so we called Ethan." She said.
 
But I didn't want to be protected from the hard truth. I wanted the real truth.
 
"Tell me everything, mother," I said, my voice firm and gentle.
 
And finally, they started talking. They told me about Amanda's mistake in making the breakfast and how they had rushed me to the hospital after I fainted twice. 
 
They told me about the rat killer that was mistakenly set in the kitchen and how it had almost killed me after eating the food Amanda made.
 
I listened to them, my heart heavy with emotion pudding. I couldn't believe what had happened to me. But I knew I had to forgive Amanda.
 
"Amanda, when did you start making breakfast?" I questioned.
 
"Quite not too long," she said.
 
"But how did the rat killer get into the kitchen?" My head was filled with different questions that I couldn't wait to deliver.
 
"I don't know," she just kept on crying so badly.
 
" Ethan!" I turned to him.
 
" What!" He gave a curious look.
 
"You have two things you haven't done for me yet, and you have to do that now," I said.
 
"What that?" 
 
"We have to take them packing!"