The ceaseless dread and hyper-vigilance quickly became utterly exhausting in those following weeks. Every unexpected sound or masked shadow in my peripheral vision ratcheted my heartrate into panic-stricken overdrive.
I barely slept, consumed by the notion that any moment Sienna or her depraved aunts might slither through the cracks of security to finish what they had started. It got to the point where every unexplained cramp or bout of morning queasiness sent me spiraling into overwhelming terror that the horrible motions were already in progress to forcibly terminate my pregnancy.
On more than one occasion, I awoke screaming from nightmares where skeletal, fanged versions of the Westbrook matriarchs loomed over my slumbering form - prying apart my abdomen with reaper's talons to evisce
