PART 2: WHAT FELL OUT OF THE CAST
The house was asleep.
At least, that was what Victoria believed.
Outside, rain hammered against the windows of the mansion.
Lightning flashed across the dark hallways.
The grandfather clock downstairs struck midnight.
I sat upright in bed.
Sweat soaked my pajamas.
My entire body trembled.
The pain had returned.
Worse than ever.
Something was moving inside the cast.
Not once.
Not twice.
Constantly.
Like dozens of tiny legs crawling beneath my skin.
I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
"Please..."
I whispered.
I didn't even know who I was begging anymore.
God.
My father.
Anyone.
The bedroom door opened.
Maya stepped inside.
One look at my face made her decision for her.
No more waiting.
No more doctors.
No more explanations.
No more excuses.
She closed the door behind her.
Locked it.
Then walked directly toward my bed.
"Ethan."
Her voice was unusually serious.
"I need you to tell me the truth."
"I have."
"No."
She crouched beside me.
"Do you swear you're not making any of this up?"
Tears filled my eyes.
"I swear."
The answer came instantly.
Because it was true.
Every word.
Every scream.
Every nightmare.
Maya studied my face.
Then nodded slowly.
As though reaching a conclusion.
"Okay."
I blinked.
"Okay what?"
She stood.
Walked toward her bag.
And pulled out a small utility knife.
My heart stopped.
"Maya..."
She looked at me.
"If I'm wrong, your father is going to fire me."
The knife glinted beneath the bedside lamp.
"If I'm right..."
Her voice trailed off.
Because neither of us knew what "right" would mean.
Slowly she sat beside me.
Then placed the blade against the fiberglass cast.
The first cut echoed through the room.
CRACK.
I held my breath.
Another cut.
CRACK.
The material began separating.
Maya worked carefully.
Slowly.
Minutes passed.
My heart pounded so hard I thought I might pass out.
Then suddenly—
Something moved.
Inside the cast.
Maya froze.
I saw it too.
We both stared.
Neither speaking.
Neither breathing.
Because something had definitely moved.
Not a muscle.
Not a twitch.
Something else.
Something alive.
"Maya..."
Her face had gone pale.
"I saw it."
The words barely left her mouth.
Then she continued cutting.
Faster now.
The cast split open another inch.
And suddenly—
Something black dropped onto the bed.
Both of us screamed.
The thing landed on the blanket.
Then began crawling.
Fast.
Very fast.
A centipede.
A huge centipede.
Its dozens of legs moved across the sheets.
I scrambled backward.
Maya grabbed a pillow and slammed it down.
Silence.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of us spoke.
Because neither of us could process what we'd just seen.
Then another sound came.
A scratching noise.
From inside the cast.
Maya slowly turned.
Her face looked sick.
"No..."
The scratching continued.
Tiny.
Persistent.
Coming from inside my arm cast.
Maya ripped away another section.
And then another.
And then she saw them.
Her scream echoed through the room.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens.
The inside of the cast was crawling.
Centipedes.
Beetles.
Larvae.
Living insects packed into the padding.
Moving.
Breeding.
Growing.
Some were dead.
Others very much alive.
I started crying.
Not because I was scared anymore.
Because I had been right.
The entire time.
I wasn't crazy.
I wasn't imagining it.
I wasn't obsessed.
Something had really been inside my cast.
The smell hit next.
Rotting.
Moist.
Disgusting.
Maya backed away.
"Oh my God."
She covered her mouth.
"Oh my God."
The bedroom door suddenly burst open.
Victoria.
She stood frozen in the doorway.
And for one brief second...
Before she could hide it...
I saw her face.
Not surprise.
Not horror.
Panic.
Pure panic.
Because she knew exactly what we had found.
"What are you doing?"
she shouted.
Maya slowly stood.
The nanny's eyes never left Victoria.
"You tell me."
Victoria looked toward the bed.
Toward the insects.
Toward the broken cast.
Then something remarkable happened.
She didn't ask where they came from.
She didn't ask what happened.
She didn't ask if I was okay.
Instead she said:
"You had no right to open that."
The room fell silent.
Maya stared at her.
Then realization flooded her face.
"You knew."
Victoria's expression hardened.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
But it was too late.
Far too late.
Because innocent people ask questions.
Guilty people worry about evidence.
And Victoria was worried.
Very worried.
The nanny pulled out her phone.
Immediately began recording.
The color drained from Victoria's face.
"What are you doing?"
"Documenting everything."
Victoria took a step forward.
"Give me that phone."
"No."
The two women stared at each other.
One terrified.
One furious.
And for the first time since my mother died...
Someone was standing up to my stepmother.
Then another voice echoed from the hallway.
A deep male voice.
"What the hell is going on?"
My father.
He wasn't supposed to be home until morning.
Yet there he was.
Standing in the doorway.
Looking confused.
Then concerned.
Then horrified.
Because he saw the insects.
The broken cast.
My tears.
And Victoria's face.
A face that looked guilty before anyone had accused her of anything.
My father slowly stepped into the room.
Nobody spoke.
Nobody moved.
Then Maya pointed toward the bed.
And said four words that changed everything.
"Look inside the padding."
My father leaned closer.
Carefully.
Slowly.
And what he found hidden beneath the inner layer of the cast...
Was even worse than the insects themselves.
Much worse.
Because buried deep inside the padding was something no insect could have placed there.
Something human.
Something deliberate.
And something that proved this wasn't a cruel prank.
It was attempted torture.
Maybe even attempted murder.
May you like
And Victoria's perfect crime was about to collapse.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 3...
