Looking down into the glass, I notice granules of some kind.
And then I'm looking down at something else.
On the chair where Chloe was sitting is a huge bloodstain.
I'm staring at it.
And then I'm saying, "Chloe?"
She turns around and says, "Yeah?"
And I don't want her to see how scared I suddenly am but then she sees where my gaze is directed.
She starts breathing harshly. She looks down at herself
The entire bottom half of her robe is soaked dark red with blood.
"Chloe... " I say again.
She staggers over to the bathroom door and grabs the edge of it to balance herself and blood starts running down her legs in thin rivulets and when she lifts up the robe we both can see her underwear soaked with blood and she pulls it off, panicking, and suddenly a huge gush of blood expels itself from beneath the robe, splashing all over the bathroom floor.
She gasps, a thick noise comes out of her throat and she doubles over, grabbing her stomach, then she screams. Looking surprised and still clutching her stomach, she vomits while staggering backward, collapsing onto the bathroom floor. There are strands of tissue hanging out of her.
"Chloe," I scream.
She starts scrambling across the bathroom floor, leaving a trail, a drag mark of dark red blood.
I'm crawling with her in the bathroom and she's making harsh panting sounds, sliding across the tiles toward the bathtub.
Another spray of blood comes out of her, along with a horrible ripping sound. She raises up a hand, screaming, and I'm holding on to her and I can feel the screams buzzing through her, followed by another squelching, ripping noise.
In the bathroom I grab the phone and push zero.
"Help us," I'm screaming. "Someone's dying up here. I'm in Chloe Byrnes' room and you've got to send an ambulance. She's bleeding to death-oh f**king god she's bleeding to death-"
Silence and then a voice asks, "Mr. Ward?"
It's the director's voice.
"Mr. Ward?" it asks again.
"No! No! No!"
"We'll be right up, Mr. Ward."
The line goes dead.
Bursting into tears, I hurl the phone away from me.
I run out of the bathroom but on the phone by the bed there's no dial tone.
Chloe's calling my name.
From where I'm standing the entire bathroom floor seems washed with blood, as if something within her had liquefied.
Blood keeps fanning out from between her legs and some of it looks sandy, granular. A thick ring of flesh slides across the floor as Chloe cries out in pain and she keeps crying as I hold her and then she bursts into a series of hysterical, exhausted sobs and I'm telling her everything will be okay, tears pouring from my eyes. Another long crooked rope of flesh falls out of her.
"Victor! Victor!" she screams madly, her skin yellowing, her screams turning liquid, her mouth opening and closing.
I press a towel against her vagina, trying to stem the bleeding, but the towel is drenched in a matter of seconds. She keeps making harsh panting sounds, then defecates loudly, arching her back, another piece of flesh lurching out of her, followed by another rush of blood that splashes onto the floor.
There is warm blood all over my hands and I'm yelling out, "Baby please it's okay baby please it's okay baby-"
Another explosion of blood pours from between her legs, sickeningly hot, her eyes bulging, another giant intake of breath, and I can actually hear the horrible sounds coming from inside her body. Another harsh, startling yell.
"Make it stop oh god make it stop," she screams, begging me, and I'm sobbing, hysterical too.
Another chunk of flesh, white and milky, spews out. After the next flash of pain cuts through her she can't even form words anymore.
She's finally relaxing, trying to smile at me, but she's grimacing, her teeth stained with blood, the entire inside of her mouth coated violet, and she's whispering things, one hand tightly clasping mine while the other pounds spastically against the tiled floor, and the bathroom reeks powerfully of her blood, and as I'm holding Chloe, her eyes fix on mine and I'm sobbing, "I'm sorry baby I'm so sorry baby," and there is surprise in those eyes as she realizes how imminent her death actually is and I'm lapsing in and out of focus, disappearing, and she starts making animal noises and she's sagging in my arms and then her eyes roll back and she dies and her face turns white very quickly and slackens and the world retires from me and I quit everything as water the color of lavender keeps streaming out of her.