Chapter 4 - THE SECOND MARKThe ICU doors opened.
Doctors rushed inside.
James and Anna followed until a nurse stopped them.
“Please wait outside.”
Through the glass, James watched Dr. Vell examine Oliver's neck.
The tiny mark had changed.
It was no longer dark.
It had become red.
A thin line extended beneath the skin.
Like a vein.
Like a branch.
Like something spreading.
Dr. Vell looked terrified.
“Bring the ultrasound.”
A nurse moved quickly.
The machine was brought in.
The doctors examined Oliver.
Then one of them whispered:
“This isn't vascular.”
“What is it?”
“I don't know.”
Dr. Vell stared at the screen.
A pattern appeared.
Small lines beneath the skin.
They formed a shape.
A circle.
Then three intersecting lines.
Dr. Vell had seen it before.
In Lily's file.
He pulled out the old photograph.
The same pattern.
The same shape.
James entered the room.
“What is happening?”
Dr. Vell turned.
“Your son has the same condition as Lily Moore.”
James stared.
“Then why did you say it was rare?”
“Because I was wrong.”
Anna looked at the screen.
“Can you treat it?”
Dr. Vell did not answer immediately.
That was enough.
Anna's face fell.
“No.”
Dr. Vell said:
“We can treat the symptoms.”
“But not the cause?”
“No.”
James looked at the mark.
“Then find the cause.”
Dr. Vell nodded.
“I intend to.”
A sound came from the doorway.
Eli.
He was standing there.
His eyes were fixed on the screen.
He whispered:
“That isn't the same.”
Everyone turned.
Dr. Vell frowned.
“What?”
Eli pointed.
“Lily had three lines.”
The doctor looked at him.
“And Oliver?”
Eli stepped closer.
“Four.”
Dr. Vell stared.
The room became silent.
Four lines.
Not three.
Dr. Vell looked at the image again.
Eli was right.
Oliver's pattern was different.
James asked:
“What does that mean?”
Eli shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Dr. Vell looked at him.
“Then how did you know?”
Eli touched the old scar on his own neck.
“Because my sister drew it.”
“What?”
“She drew it before she died.”
“Where?”
Eli reached into his canvas bag.
He pulled out a folded piece of paper.
The paper was old.
The edges were worn.
He opened it.
A child's drawing.
A neck.
A dark mark.
Three lines.
And beside it—
a second drawing.
Four lines.
Dr. Vell stared.
“Where did she get this?”
Eli shook his head.
“She said a man showed her.”
“Adrian Cross?”
Eli nodded.
James felt the room tilt.
Why would Adrian Cross show a child a drawing of a mark?
And why had Lily drawn a different version?
Dr. Vell took the paper.
On the back was a date.
Two years before Lily died.
Then, beneath the date, a name.
OLIVER.
James stared.
“That is my son's name.”
Dr. Vell looked at him.
“Was Oliver born then?”
“No.”
“Then why was his name written here?”
Nobody answered.
Eli suddenly looked toward the hallway.
A man stood at the far end.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a dark coat.
He was watching them.
James recognized him.
Adrian Cross.
The man smiled.
Then walked away.
James ran after him.
But when he reached the hallway—
the man was gone.
Only a small black card remained on the floor.
James picked it up.
May you like
On it was a single sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED CLOSER.
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