Fleeing the Nightmarish Father novel Chapter 1

When my sister was in a complicated labor, and only Dad, an expert obstetrician, could save her.

In my past life, I didn't even think twice and called Dad immediately.

After a lot of pleading, Dad canceled his honeymoon and rushed back to perform surgery on my sister.

She was saved, but then came the tragic news about my stepmom.

She had a breakdown and committed suicide by jumping into the ocean.

Before she died, she left behind a letter, accusing my sister and me of bullying her for ten years.

Her honeymoon had been the last reason she had to keep going, and we had ruined it.

Dad read the letter, and while he said he didn't blame us, his actions spoke otherwise.

On my nephew's first birthday, he poisoned everyone's food.

"If it weren't for you two, Elsie wouldn't be dead."

"How could I have such cruel daughters like you?"

"After all the terrible things you've done, you deserve to die a hundred times."

He shoved my sister's and my heads into a toilet and drowned us.

When I woke up, I was back to the day my sister was giving birth.

The first thing I did when I woke up was rush to my sister's house.

But again, I was too late.

As soon as I opened the door, the smell of blood hit me hard.

My sister was lying on the floor, a large pool of blood around her, and my nephew was lying there too, still attached to the umbilical cord.

Shaking, I called 911, grabbed a blanket to keep my nephew warm.

The ambulance arrived quickly, and not long after, we were at the hospital.

My sister and nephew had just been taken into the ER when my brother-in-law showed up.

" Saafia, how is she?" he asked, pale and shivering in just a shirt, having rushed here right after getting the call.

Before I could speak, a doctor came out of the ER.

He told us that my sister's condition was critical and she needed surgery, but there were only two doctors who could perform it: Dr. Jeb Parker at the City Center Hospital or Dr. Amos Grant at the state hospital.

Before my brother-in-law could respond, I spoke up.

"Let's go to the state hospital. Doctor, please arrange things there."

"Hold on, why go to the state hospital?" my brother-in-law interrupted.

"Jeb Parker at City Center is our dad, right?"

"He's been treating my sister all this time, and he knows her condition inside and out."

'It's best to transfer her there."

I explained, "Dad is on his honeymoon with Aunt Phoebe."

"We shouldn't disturb them."

In my past life, I didn't think twice before calling Dad back.

My sister was saved, but my stepmom had killed herself.

Her suicide note was full of accusations about how we'd mistreated her, and she even blamed me calling Dad for being the straw that broke the camel's back.

The smell of toilet water had been foul and disgusting. I didn't want to die like that.

"Are you serious right now? The honeymoon is more important than your sister's life?"

My brother-in-law snapped.

Before I could respond, he pulled out his phone and dialed Dad.

It rang for what felt like forever until Dad's annoyed voice came through.

"What's up?"

In just a few sentences, my brother-in-law explained my sister's condition and begged Dad to come back immediately.

"Dad, Violet's codndition is very serious. Transferring her to another hospital would be such a hassle."

'Please just come here and do the surgery. I'll have them get things ready."

Dad has always doted on my sister, especially after she became pregnant.

We've never had a mom.

Dad was always busy with work, so my sister and I leaned on each other.

We've been each other's everything for as long as I can remember.

I could've prepared myself, but seeing my sister, pale and unconscious, it broke me.

I kept talking to her the whole way, praying she'd pull through.

I had already called ahead, so we had a police escort.

What would've been an hour-long trip was cut down to forty minutes.

When we got to the hospital, my uncle Amos told me he hadn't started the surgery yet, but I should go to the ward and get the head nurse to admit my sister.

Once he was done, she could go straight into surgery.

But when we got to the ward, the nurse turned us away.

"There's no bed available," she said.

I was desperate.

"We called ahead. Amos said we could admit her."

The nurse rolled her eyes.

"Amos doesn't usually do rounds, he doesn't know what's going on with the beds."

"We're completely full right now."

"Doesn't matter if you're his niece, or if the hospital director's your uncle. No beds."

I was on the verge of tears when I saw an empty bed in the hallway.

"Can we use that one? It's fine, just let us use that bed."

"Please, nurse, my sister's bleeding out. Only Amos can perform the surgery."

The nurse glanced at my sister lying on the stretcher and shrugged.

"I'm just a nurse, I can't approve extra beds. Go find the head nurse."