I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to mentally reconstruct the last time I had seen my family that afternoon, before rushing off to the hospital to cover my night shift.
Leo was sitting at the table doing his math homework while Nora argued with Evan about what movie they would watch after dinner, a scene so normal that it now seemed to belong to another life.
“What were they eating?” I asked, almost automatically, because the doctor in me kept looking for patterns even as the mother in me was breaking down.
“Soup,” the officer replied. “A soup that, according to the paramedic team’s initial rapid tests, contains a highly toxic compound that we are still trying to identify precisely.”
I felt my breathing become irregular as I tried to understand how something as simple as a family dinner had ended with three people unconscious in a trauma room.
“That doesn’t make sense,” I muttered. “Evan hardly ever cooks, Nora arrived this afternoon, and Leo only eats what I prepare before coming to the hospital.”
Marcus then lowered his gaze, and that small but devastating gesture caused a feeling of terror to slowly begin to grow inside my chest.
“Emma,” she said carefully, “there’s something else you should know before you go in to see them.”
I stared at him, feeling the air grow heavy around me as I waited for the words that seemed trapped in his throat.
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