Even the parents who had always trusted me wouldn't listen to my explanation.
They dragged me into an alley, then beat me up and yelled at me for ten hours until I died.
As a doctor, I never expected gratitude, but since they wouldn’t believe me anyway, I couldn't be bothered explaining.
Hearing what I said, the parents could no longer remain calm.
Their faces flushed red, they approached me slowly with the same momentum as when they beat me to death in my previous life.
Ian felt that the time was ripe. He stepped forward and slapped me.
"Joyce, you're the head of pediatrics. How could you do such a thing? Shawn exposed you even though he's your son, yet you still argue that you did nothing wrong? Aren’t you afraid the children will come back as vengeful spirits to haunt you? None of the parents want their children to be harmed, but if you had saved a few, at least it showed that you tried! But now, look at you with your indifferent attitude. Where has your conscience gone?"
The way he and Shawn glared at me was exactly the same. I held my face and remained silent, quietly watching what other tricks they had up their sleeves.
After Ian finished speaking, he gave Shawn a look and motioned for him to play the video on his phone.
In the video, I looked like a madwoman, roaring, complaining, and cursing.
"There are so many sick children every day. I'm so tired that my body hurts!"
"These premature and severely-ill children don't deserve to live! They're wasting medical resources and should just be euthanized!"
"They keep crying and crying, it's so annoying. I'll kill them all sooner or later!"
After Shawn posted this video on social media in my previous life, the parents were so enraged that they lost their rationality.
They used sticks, iron bars, and stones to torture me for ten hours until I drew my last breath!
Thinking of this, I trembled with anger and looked up at the Giddey family.
Ian couldn't mask the smile in his eyes, though he maintained a facade of righteousness.
"Joyce, we've been married for 25 years, but I've never realized you were such a cold-blooded woman! The entire hospital was fine, only the PICU where you're on duty had a power outage for several hours. If you didn't do it, who did?"
Shawn played along. "I'm ashamed to have a mother like you! You caused over 100 deaths! You deserve to be tortured to death!"
They incited the parents' emotions, and the parents all turned red-eyed, like man-eating wolves.
"You monster! I thought of you as my child's savior! Are you even human? How could you do this to the young children?"
"You're simply a devil! I was 40 years old when I had this child. You've ruined our family!"
"We heard that you're a better doctor than the ones in our city, so we traveled hundreds of miles to send our daughter here, but you killed her. I'm going to kill you!"
The parents who were smashing the door also turned around and advanced on me fiercely.
Right then, a stern shout was heard.
"Stop!"
Everyone froze and looked towards the source of the voice.
Five policemen walked over.
"We received a report that someone was abusing their position to murder children in the PICU. Which one of you is Joyce Luther? Come with us."
The parents pointed at me with trembling hands while yelling:
"This is the murderer! Shoot her, officers!"
"Beat this scumbag to death to avenge our children!"
"Beat her to death!"
-
What a familiar scene. In my previous life, the police came not long after I woke up.
Everything felt like a series of traps, pushing me down to the depths of hell one step at a time.
After taking a few deep breaths, I calmly looked at the police officer who was speaking.
"I didn't kill anyone, accidentally or deliberately. A claim like that requires evidence. Without evidence, it's slander, and I will hold anyone who accuses me accountable."
Ian snorted coldly and turned to the police.
"Officer, I'm the one who reported the crime. I'm her husband, Ian Giddey, and also a doctor at this hospital. I have evidence to prove that she murdered over 100 children in the PICU!"
After hearing that, the officers instantly became alert. They asked nervously, "Over 100 children? That's a really serious accusation. If you make an accusation like that without evidence, you'll be held legally responsible!"
Ian nodded hard. "The PICU has always had an independent power supply. Even if the entire hospital has a power outage, the PICU won't. But last night, the power here was cut off for several hours. Someone must have done something. If you investigate, you'll find Joyce's fingerprints on the power supply!"
His confident statement caused even greater commotion among the parents.
If the police hadn't stopped them, they probably would have torn me to pieces.
I retreated behind the police and calmly stated, "If you beat me to death now, you'll never know who tried to harm your children."
A trace of panic flashed in the eyes of my husband and son but they stubbornly yelled.
"The evidence is right in front of us, yet you're still trying to deny it? You might as well turn yourself in and try to get leniency!"
"Officers, I know my mom, she'll never repent. Hurry up and take her away!"
The parents who had hesitated after hearing what I said cried out again.
"My poor son is only three months old, and he was frozen to death by this monster. He hasn't even had a sip of breast milk..."
"Officers, my daughter has leukemia. We were planning to take her to the park today to take pictures and fulfill her wish, but now it's too late..."
"There were so many children, how loud must they have cried last night? We want this scumbag to pay for the children's lives! Even dying a hundred times is not enough! It's not enough..."
The officer frowned, "Since so many people are accusing you, we'll have to ask you to come with us for now. We can only let you go after the investigation."
As he said that, he tried to handcuff me, but I calmly withdrew my hands.
"I said I didn't kill anyone."
I turned around and pressed my finger on the door's fingerprint lock.
The moment the airtight door opened, I couldn't help but smile. I had been waiting for this moment.
