Hailies Song

Chapter Eight

Rated R

"Hey," Kim said softly into the phone reciever, still at the hospital.

"Hey," Aaron answered back. "Any news on Hailie?"

"No, but Marshalls in with her now, so we can see her. Im going in when he comes out, in like five minutes. Did you find anything out?" Kim bit her lip, hoping for good news.

"Actually... Yeah, I did." Aaron said solemnly. "You really wanna know?"

"Yeah."

"Promise not to freak out because we dont have any evidence of whats happening to Hailie?"

"I'll try..." Kim sighed. This was going to be bad news. She could already tell. "Tell me, please."

"Okay." Aaron took a deep breath. "I ran a background check on her, her records, to see if shes ever been in trouble with the police before, and it turns out she has, a few times. A few for minor traffic violations in the past year, she had about two of those, and one about 11 years ago."

"A traffic violation from 11 years ago?" Kim raised an eyebrow. "This horrible news is supposed to make me wanna freak out?"

"No. 11 years ago, Diane Callart, thats her maiden name right?" Aaron double checked.

"Yeah, thats her." Kim sighed.

"Well 11 years ago... She was a suspect, in a case involving her late husband, who they believed that she poisoned, with a poison called methomyl, its a pesticide. She was put on trial, but released, because of the lack of evidence that they had. And I also looked up some stuff on methomyl, which you would be interested in." Aaron cleared his throat.

"What?" Kim looked at the floor. "God, Marshall and his girls..." She sighed.

Aaron chuckled over the receiver, and pointed out, "hey, you were one of his girls once..."

"Yeah, 15 years ago! And thats not something Im proud of. So tell me what I would be interested in, hurry up." She persisted.

"Alright Alright..." He said. "I found out some of the symptoms are the same as Hailies. Actually, all of the symptoms Hailie has are identical to the ones that a person who has mehtomyl poisoning, would have. Weakness, blurred vision, headache, nausea, abdominal cramps, chest discomfort, constriction of pupils, sweating muscle tremors and decreased pulse. Hailies got most of those right?"

"99 percent," Kim sighed.

"And, it says here," He was reading it off of a computer in his office, "If there is severe poisoning, symptoms of twitching, giddiness, confusion, muscle incoordination and slurred speech, low blood pressure, heart irregularities, and loss of reflexes may also be experienced. That explains her not being able to walk." He concluded.

"Jesus Christ..." Kim cursed, and watched Marshall walk through the double doors, and glance at her. "What the fuck would make her want to do this?"

"I dont know," He shrugged. "Shes sick..."

"Okay, thanks, I gotta go." She hung up the phone quickly and walked over to Marshall. Sick didnt explain the half of it, she thought as she approached him.

"Who was that?" Marshall asked, taking a seat in the chair.

"Aaron... I called him." She said quickly. "Wheres Diane?"

"Uh, I dont know. I havent seen her since that arguement we had before..." Marshall sighed.

"Marshall... We need to talk. But first, I wanna talk to Hailie. All 3 of us, need to talk." Kim said, not wanting to think of how she was going to tell him that his wife was poisoning his daughter. He was going to KILL Diane when he found out.

"Why?" He looked up.

"Because, I want all 3 of us there when we talk, okay?" Kim bit her bottom lip and turned, heading towards the double doors to her daughters room. Marshall watched her go, and shook the thought from his head.

"Whats wrong mom?" Hailie asked, watching her mother pace the room. She had been in here 10 minutes, and she kept trying to talk, but then changing the subject to something Hailie could tell was not bothering her.

"Nothing," Kim shook her head. "Listen... I just... I wanna talk to you."

"About what?"

"About, Diane." She finally admitted, swallowing the lump that formed in her throat.

"What about her?" Hailie raised an eyebrow.

"Hailie... I... I think you..." Kim sat on the side of the bed, and took Hailies hand. "I called Aaron, and had him look into some stuff about Diane..."

"Why?" Hailie asked, uncomfortably.

"Because, I dont trust her. And it turns out, that Diane was a suspect for murdering her first husband. But there wasnt enough evidence, so they had to clear her of the charges." Kim explained.

"Yeah? She was cleared, not enough evidence, means she didnt do it." Hailie defended.

"I know. I know, but, okay..." Kim cleared her throat. "Her husband died of methomyl poisoning. Its a type of metal poison, a pesticide, Hailie. He had all the same symptoms that you have now, and more. I think even the doctors are starting to figure this out, and I really think that we need to talk about her. Has she been giving you anything to eat, any medication, or anything in the past weeks youve been sick?"

"Uh... Yeah." Hailie shrugged. "What are you saying?"

"Im saying, your symptoms are identical to the ones in methomyl, which you know that she used on her husband, and now-" Kim sighed. "Look, Im saying, I think shes poisoned you."

"What?" Hailie said increduously. "Mom, She wouldnt-"

"Hailie I was so sick last night. I puked all night, I havent slept at all. And I felt sick, thought I might have caught your virus, but then I talked to your dad. He hasnt caught it, and Diane hasnt caught it, and the doctors arent finding anything in your blood system, they found out something and I think their talking to your dad about it now, but yeah. I think that Diane is feeding you stuff, with poison in it. Remember I drank your orange juice?"

Hailie bit her bottom lip and looked away from her mother. Diane wouldnt try to poison her! Diane was her friend! They went shopping, they hung out, they got along really well... She looked back at her mother, who leaned in, finding it as the right time to hug her daughter.

"Hunny, I got sick from your orange juice." Kim explained. "Remember dad said that Diane had got you the drink, hunny he has no idea of this, and I think we need to talk to him, after me and you talk about this."

"Whats there to talk about?" Hailie stared at Kim.

"What do you mean?" Kim raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you think Dianes poisoning me, and to tell you the truth, I believe you. I mean... okay, Remember that couple days I felt better?" Kim nodded and Hailie continued. "Well, we went shopping, and we had SO much fun, like, talking, hanging out, shopping... It was the best day ever. We went out to eat, after, and I didnt have a straw, so I went to get one, and when I came back, she was like, I dont know, it looked like she was doing something to my food, but she said she was just taking a frie. Weird thing is... She had her own fries."

"See? Hunny shes insane. I dont know what shes trying to gain by doing this to you. Your father is going to be PISSED when we tell him, and just to warn you hunny, hes gonna be very... I dont know. Disbelieving?" Kim sighed. "Its normal though. I guess if Aaron was trying to poison Whit, and Marshall was the one to tell me, Id be kind of... Disbelieving also."

"Yeah, well, I dont know if I wanna talk to dad about this." Hailie replied, looking down at the blue sheets covering her legs.

"What? You have to..." Kim said, looking at Hailie curiously.

"Well, what if, I dont know, what if shes NOT poisoning me..."

"She is."

"But, what IF? And what if dad hates me for telling him?"

"Your dad could NEVER hate you. Your his baby girl, his first and only baby girl. Do you know how proud he is of you? I dont think ANYONE knows how much he loves you. But trust me, the day he decides he hates you, Im telling you, an icicle will actually GROW in hell." Kim said reassuringly. "We have to tell him. We cant let her keep doing this, and even if she stopped, we still have to tell him. Hes dealing with a physco here, Hailie. What if for some reason she does it to him? What if 10 years from now she poisons him and you KNOW you could have done something to stop it?"

"Fine," Hailie sighed. "God, I'll tell him." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.