Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cathy was in a state of shock. She couldn’t believe what her siblings were planning to do. They sounded really serious. She knew they would go on without her. Though she was terrified of thinking it she almost wanted to help. How much pain has she caused all of us? Who would care if she were gone? It’s not like anyone still loves her. So as she sat there in her hotel room she planned what her and her sibling would have to do to get rid of their mother.

Satisfied with what she had come up with she picked up the keys to her rental car and left the room. The whole way to the car she thought of her plan. She almost felt giddy about coming up with it, and a bit proud. It was weird how she felt like that. As she drove to the restaurant the giddiness started to fade and it was replaced with fear and nervousness. What if they got caught? What if Maybelle found out? What if she backed out? No, she would go through with it. Her siblings had already endured enough, and as the oldest she had to take care of them, it was her duty.

She drove up to the sleazy looking restaurant; in any other situation she would never be caught eating there but for now it was a good cover. No one there had ever seen them before and there were barely any customers. Still she was on edge; there were so many things that could go wrong.

Her logical side kicked in and she started to panic. She sat in the car for another 20 minutes letting her thoughts wash over her. She finally decided she wasn’t going to let her irrational thoughts get the best of her. She was surprised she even had to think about it so long. This was the woman who she had to listen to criticizing her everyday of her childhood; the woman who had slowly been witling away her self esteem for years. It wasn’t even obvious; she hid her snide comments with seemingly caring comments. So if you told her she was being rude she could quickly remind you that you knew nothing and probably heard her wrong. Everyday was a battle for my sanity with that woman. This should be the easiest decision I have to make. I would never have to worry about her, ever!

After coming to this realization Cathy got out of the car and walked towards the restaurant with a renewed sense of determination. Her head held high, her long brown hair, now let out of its tight bun, flowed around her with an unseen force. She looked almost ethereal and serene to anyone who saw here, yet her thoughts were nowhere near tranquil. It was only in her eyes that you could tell that she plotting, her eyes looking manic. However, the moment she stepped into the restaurant her demeanor changed, her eyes were now cold and emotionless, something she had learned from years of walking into boardrooms, giving nothing away.

Her eyes scanned the small room and quickly found the table that her siblings had been sitting at, they saw her in the car, but decided to leave her to her thoughts. They knew she would eventually come in. Clarissa stood up and walked over to Cathy and put an arm around her and ushered her to the round table they were sharing. All of the siblings looked at each other for a while before her younger sister started talking.

“We knew you’d come to the right conclusion about this situation, Cathy. We’ve done all we can up to this point, and we were hoping you could help us put the final touch to this plan of ours.” They all looked at her expectantly. For once in her life Cathy didn’t know what to do.

Throughout her childhood her siblings would ask her what to do, and she would know. In her career, her co-workers would ask her for help or advice and she always knew what to say. But when it came to something this sinister she didn’t know where to begin.

Luckily for her the framework of the plan had been created. The poison had been slowly worked into their mother’s body, making her inevitable death seem like an accident. In keeping with that her eventual demise should also look accidental through the use of poison. It would have to be something that no one would be able to detect, perhaps an herbal poison that could be disguised as a tea. When questioned about it they could simply say that it was a holistic medicine that they assumed would help in curing her.

“I think the best way to go, seeing as you’ve already started slowly making her worse with some sort of poison…”

Her brother Tom interrupted Cathy, “We’ve been using a natural insect poison, it’s very rare and hard to detect.”

She knew that would be hard to trace, also that if given a high enough dose, could be lethal.

“Alright, that works out. Maybelles’ birthday is in one week. When we make a toast at the end we’ll put some of the insect poison into her wine. Then if someone asks us we’ll simply say that she shouldn’t have been drinking wine while taking her medicine. That way they can’t point the blame on us.”

The plan seemed fool proof enough. Now all they had to do was wait. The more Cathy thought about the plan the more excited she got. This could actually work. We will be rid of Maybelle once and for all. No more having to take care of her, no more issues with self-esteem, thought Cathy.

At the same time, however, there was this little nagging voice in the back of her mind. Her logical brain loved the idea and the thought that this plan would go through. Her conscience, the moral, kind part of her brain, that she hardly ever used, was telling her this was completely wrong. She quickly quieted that part of her brain; no one likes a nagging conscience.