Dark red stains were scattered across the white bedsheet.
For a moment the stick slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.
Her heart began pounding.
“This… this is blood?” she whispered, her voice trembling.
Then she noticed Emily curled up in the corner of the bed, unconscious. Her face was pale, her lips dry, and her breathing shallow.
Mrs. Harrison screamed.
“Daniel! Daniel!”
Ignoring the pain in her back, she rushed out of the room.
Daniel ran upstairs in panic. When he entered, his mother pointed at the bed with shaking hands.
“What happened to your wife?”
Daniel rushed to Emily’s side.
“Emily… Emily, open your eyes!”
There was no response.
Then Emily let out a faint groan.
“M-mom… it hurts so much…”
When Daniel tried to lift her, he saw blood near her waist and legs.
Mrs. Harrison’s anger instantly turned into fear and regret.
“Daniel, call an ambulance!” she cried.
Daniel grabbed his phone with trembling hands.
Both of them sat beside Emily until the ambulance arrived.
Mrs. Harrison kept repeating through tears,
“I thought she was just being lazy… how could I have known…”
Emily fainted on the way to the hospital.
Doctors rushed her inside immediately.