Broken Promises by Terri Reid Read Free Book Online Page B

pharmaceuticals were stored in a room directly behind the nurses’ station. In the past she’d only been able to take a few pills, that only lasted several days or a week at the most if she took them judiciously. But, if she was able to take them from storage, rather than the carts, she could get enough to last for much longer.
    She looked up and down the hall and, seeing no one, slipped behind the counter. Watching the halls in front of the station, she slowly walked backwards, toward the storage room. With her hands behind her back, she grasped hold of the door knob and turned.
    Unlocked!
    She quickly slipped through the opened door and hurried into the small room. The shelves were loaded with medications, all arranged in alphabetical order and then by prescription strength. Tracing the names on the shelves with her finger, she finally came to the theophylline. The case was filled with the bright orange capsules, she couldn’t believe her luck. She reached up and opened the case, grabbing several months’ worth of pills and stuffed them into her pants’ pockets. Then she reached up to get one more packet.
    “Thank you, God,” she breathed quietly.
    “I don’t think God has anything to do with thieves,” said the voice behind her as the door closed with a click.

Chapter Nine
    “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are,” Clarissa held the last word of the song for a moment and then bowed to the applause throughout the room.
    She took a deep breath and was about to start another song when Mami stopped her. “Clarissa, dear, I need your help for a few moments,” she said. “Would you please push me to my room? I seem to have forgotten my medicine.”
    Knowing how important her mother’s medicine was to her well-being, Clarissa didn’t hesitate. She walked around the wheelchair, grasped the handles and pushed it forward. “Where do you want me to go?” she asked.
    “Just through those doors,” Mami said, pointing in the same direction Becca had taken a few minutes earlier. “And then turn to the left.”
    A nurse rushed past them pushing an empty gurney down the hall, but other than that, there were no other staff in the hall. Clarissa guided Mami carefully, making sure she avoided bumping her against the wall or any other objects in the hall.
    “You are a good girl,” Nadja said. “Your mother must be proud of you.”
    “She’s proud of me and I’m proud of her too,” Clarissa responded.
    “And how long has it been since you had to run away and hide?”
    Clarissa stopped pushing for a moment. “How did you know...”
    “Ah, draguta, you have no need to worry. I am not going to give you away, I want to help you.”
    Clarissa looked slowly around them, making sure there was no one who could hear her. “There’s a bad man who’s trying to take me away from my mommy,” she explained in a lowered voice. “He killed my daddy, so we have to hide.”
    “And this bad man, do you know who he is?” Mami asked.
    Clarissa shook her head. “Mommy says he has lots of money and he wants to take me away,” she said. “He wants me for his daughter, even though Mommy and Daddy ‘dopted me.”
    Mami pondered the child’s words for a moment and then nodded. “Well, first we must help your mother,” she said. “And then we will see what we can do next.”
    “Help Mommy?” Clarissa asked.
    Mami nodded and pointed to the nurse’s station, only a few feet away. “Just push me over there,” she said, “and then I want you to knock on that door, as hard as you can.”
    Once they reached the desk, Clarissa hurried to the door, closed her hand into a fist and pounded. The door opened and the head nurse stuck her head out. “What is it?” she asked curtly.
    Clarissa stepped back, several feet away from the door. “I’m sorry…,” she stammered.
    “Don’t frighten the child, Alicia,” Mami said. “She was just doing me a favor.”
    The startled nurse turned towards Mami. “Oh,