A/N: This chapter is all about Chloe's mom, and what made her leave her family, and please be warned: this chapter includes a mention of violence against a child.
Chapter 6
Sarah Donovan sat inside the office of Dr. Bellick at the Fox River Sanitarium, and waited for her daughter to show up.
At first, she had been overjoyed when she recognized the beautiful young woman standing in the prison yard, as her now very grown up daughter, but that quickly turned to nausea when she realized that Chloe's presence in the asylum meant that she hadn't escaped the curse of mental illness that ran rampant through her family.
Dr. Bellick had been thrilled to discover who Chloe was, and she decided to stage an impromptu family reunion in the disguise of a therapy session.
So Sarah was forced to relive the last time she had seen her daughter's face.
Chloe had been five years old, and she was fast asleep. Sarah had stared down at Chloe's little face, and she could feel her own heart-breaking at the knowledge of what she had to do
.
Sarah was going to have to leave her family.
She was going to have to walk away from the two people she loved the most in world, because Chloe was no longer safe in her care.
Sarah stood in Chloe's bedroom, and looked at her daughter, and knew, deep in her heart of hearts, that she was doing the right thing for her family. She was having the dreams again, and she would be damned if she let anyone, including herself, hurt a hair on that little girl's head.
From the minute that Sarah had first told Gabe that she was pregnant, strange things had begun to occur. She had the early pregnancy symptoms that most women had: morning sickness, excessive tiredness, moodiness.
Sarah's mood swings veered from her screaming at the top of her lungs, to her just as quickly dissolving into tears. Her doctor assured her that this was all perfectly normal.
But then she started seeing and hearing things, and her dreams became plagued by nightmares.
The majority of people who are mentally ill don't actually know that they are sick. But there is a small percentage who are fully aware that they are going insane, and Sarah Donovan Sullivan was one of those people.
There was a part of her that knew that what was happening to her was not normal, and that she was powerless to stop it.
People from her past that she knew full well were dead, would appear out of nowhere, and she could hear them talking. In fact, they were usually talking to her, offering her advice.
Sarah convinced herself that this was God's way of looking out for her--that they weren't ghosts or figments of her imagination, but that they were angels, sent by God, to watch over her family.
But at night, her dreams were full of shadows that always seemed vaguely threatening. She would wake up, her heart pounding in fear, but she was never exactly sure why she had been afraid.
This went on throughout her pregnancy, and the shadows became more and more sinister until Sarah became convinced that there was a black cloud of doom hanging over her baby's life.
And adding to that, Sarah continued to have her spectral visitors, but they had become a source of comfort for her. Perhaps the good spirits would be able to counteract the demonic ones, and she had her baby would both be safe from the darkness that was threatening them.
The part of Sarah's mind that was still sane knew that she should mention what was happening to her doctor, or her family. But she never told a soul about her fears for her baby, or herself,
It took a long time for Sarah to admit this to herself, but she realized that she was afraid that she really was crazy and she knew, beyond a doubt, that she would get locked up, and she would be separated from her child for the rest of her life.
The days leading up to Sarah's giving birth had been so hectic that she hadn't even realized that not a single dead relative had made an appearance. And she was finally getting a goodnight's sleep.
She closed her eyes, and breathed a silent prayer, and hoped that maybe the visitations and nightmares had stopped.
Sarah went into the hospital and, after ten hours of excruciating labor, gave birth to a six pound, seven once baby girl. The little girl was promptly named Chloe, and both mother and father burst into tears at the sight of their squealing infant.
Sarah had tried to get her emotions under control, but she couldn't seem to stop crying. Until that very moment, she hadn't realized how scared she had been that something was going to go wrong.
There could have been a problem while she was giving birth, or the even more terrifying thought, that the baby itself would come out with a horrible deformity.
Either way, Chloe Elizabeth Sullivan was now alive and well, with all her finger and toes accounted for, and all of her limbs attached, and Sarah knew that it was up to her and Gabe to keep her that way.
Sarah was able to keep her optimism until about the third week of Chloe's being born.
It was 2:36am, and Sarah was giving Chloe her fifth bath of the day. Gabe had come home early from work with a touch of the flu, and a couple hours later, Chloe had started throwing up.
So, Sarah was changing Chloe's sleeper and bedding yet again, and she felt like bursting into tears herself.
Either that, or screaming at the top of her lungs.
Instead, she looked at her daughter's little face, and noticed how pale she looked, and how her eyes looked glassy. She was about to reach for the thermometer to check to see if Chloe had a temperature when her grandmother appeared next to her at the tub.
Sarah didn't jump or even gasp in fear. Instead, she closed her eyes, and hugged her daughter to her chest, not even realizing that the baby was still soaked from her bath.
She didn't open her eyes again until her grandmother spoke, and when she heard what the old lady said, Sarah did gasp, and she clutched Chloe even tighter to her while she asked her grandmother to repeat herself.
The older lady looked at her granddaughter, and smiled. "I said you should drown her, and put that poor baby out of its misery. My God, what kind of life will she have with you as her mother?"
Sarah was broken out of her reverie by a knock at the door of Dr. Bellick's office. Miss Tancredi came in, and Sarah noticed that her face was set and she looked stern.
When Dr. Bellick heard what the nurse had to say, her face noticeably paled. She looked at Sarah, and said, "I'm sorry, but the reunion is going to have to wait. There's been another death in Ward B."
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but she's more with it than I would have thought. Very interesting, I can't wait to read more!
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