"How old are you, Adam?" Selene asked hesitantly.
"10 this year."
Selene did not mask her surprise, as Adam's age had visibly upset her. She turned to his father with a forced smile.
"10 years?" She whispered.
Before his father could answer, Adam's mother began coughing.
"My love!"
"Mom!"
Adam and his father relieved his mother of her purse and held her steady as the coughing fit rocked her violently. When her fit subsided, his father wiped the spots of blood from her lips.
"I'm fine, you two." She said, caressing them.
"Log—"
"I'm sorry, Selene; I need to take my wife home. It was good to see you again."
Adam and his parents quickly made their way to the elevator and down to the parking garage. When they got to their vehicle, his father assisted his mother into her seat and handed her a bottle of water.
"How are you?"
"Logan I'm fine. Did you get what you—"
Adam's mother gripped her shirt, her face contorting as she gasped for air. Logan reached into the glove box and pulled out a small box with auto-injectors. When he tried to administer the medication, his wife stopped him.
"I'm fine." She rasped. "Let's go. Adam, get in the car."
Adam and Logan got into the car, and the family headed home. His mother had several more instances during the drive home. One instance saw her body spasm and slam into the seat. Adam panicked when she went limp.
"What's happened to her?"
"She's trying to disconnect from her pain."
Unable to bear his wife's struggles, Logan pulled over and once again pulled out the box of auto-injectors.
"Don't," she whispered.
Ignoring her pleas, Logan administered the medication.
ns 15.158.61.21da2
