Chapter 3 - The Blue Bottle
I held the small blue bottle in my trembling hands, finally understanding why Garrett had felt so weak for months.
Gertrude had been slipping this powerful sedative into his nightly tea to simulate cognitive decline and physical paralysis.
Garrett told me to pour the pills down the sink immediately.
We barely had time to hide the empty bottle before Douglas and the corrupt doctor entered the bedroom.
Douglas put on a fake mask of concern, introducing Dr. Vance to his brother.
Dr. Vance pulled up a chair and began asking Garrett a series of confusing, overlapping questions designed to disorient him.
I stood quietly in the corner, my blood boiling as I watched them try to break a brilliant man's mind.
Garrett played his part perfectly, pretending to be tired but answering just sharply enough to avoid looking insane.
Dr. Vance seemed frustrated that Garrett was much more lucid than Douglas had promised.
The doctor eventually packed up his briefcase, stating he needed more time to make a definitive legal ruling.
Douglas glared at me, aggressively ordering me to go to the kitchen and prepare Garrett's evening tea.
I walked down the grand staircase, knowing exactly what Gertrude usually did to that specific cup of tea.
When I entered the massive kitchen, I found Gertrude already standing by the stove with a silver tray.
She handed me a steaming cup of chamomile tea and told me to make sure Garrett drank every last drop.
I took the tray upstairs, my mind racing with a dangerous new plan to turn the tables on this toxic family.
When I reached the bedroom, I poured the poisoned tea into a potted plant near the window.
I replaced it with fresh water from a bottle I kept in my medical bag.
Garrett drank the clean water, his eyes shining with a renewed sense of hope and vengeance.
Without the sedative in his system, his strength improved dramatically over the next forty-eight hours.
On the third night, Garrett managed to take three full steps across the bedroom without my help.
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We were celebrating in quiet whispers when the bedroom door suddenly swung open without a knock.
Garrett's elderly mother, Evelyn, stood in the doorway staring directly at her paralyzed son standing on his own two feet.
