What Was in the Pill
Chapter 02 - What Was in the Pill
Marcus didn't let his mother finish whatever she'd been about to say.
"Nobody's leaving this kitchen," he said, "until I understand exactly what that is."
Judith's composure, so carefully maintained through the struggle, finally cracked at the edges. "It's not what you think."
"Then tell me what it actually is," Marcus said, "because right now what I think is that you just tried to drug my pregnant wife, and I need you to give me a better explanation than a supplement, said twice, like repeating it makes it more true."
Elena, still catching her breath, one hand protective over her belly, watched her mother-in-law's face for any sign of the truth beneath the practiced calm.
"Call poison control," Elena said quietly. "Now. Before anyone decides what this actually was."
Marcus made the call immediately, describing the pill's appearance while Judith stood rigid near the refrigerator, saying nothing further, her earlier explanations apparently exhausted.
The poison control representative asked him to bring the bottle to the nearest emergency room for proper identification rather than attempting to describe it over the phone, cautioning that visual identification without lab analysis could easily be wrong.
They drove down the mountain in silence, Elena in the back seat with Marcus beside her, Judith seated up front, her posture stiff, unreadable.
At the hospital, a toxicologist examined the bottle and its contents, running the pills through a rapid identification database while Marcus, Elena, and Judith waited in three separate, carefully spaced chairs in the emergency department's family room.
"The tablets are misoprostol," the toxicologist said, once the identification came back. "Combined with a second medication typically paired with it. Together, they're most commonly used to induce labor or, at earlier stages of pregnancy, to end one."
Elena's hand went to her belly instinctively, horror settling cold and absolute.
"She was trying to end my pregnancy," Elena said.
Marcus turned to his mother, the full weight of what she'd nearly done finally landing with complete, unavoidable clarity.
"Why," he said. "Why would you do that."
Judith's composure finally, fully collapsed, tears falling for the first time since the kitchen.
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"I can't tell you why," she said. "Not here. Not like this."
"You'll tell me," Marcus said, "or I'm calling the police right now, and you can explain it to them instead."
