A New Beginning

Secrets

"Steven? Hey Doc?" I say, wondering behind the handsome man.

"What can I do for you?" He turns rather slowly to face me, his eyes icy and glazed.

"Well, I was wondering...this might sound a bit weird but...I think I have something of yours? I apologize, I've been writing in it, I hope you don't mind." I hand him the old notebook which is bound in black leather and I feel as if I'm a detective set around the time of the mysterious man's disappearance. Well, it was something to occupy my time while waiting until Mitch gets better. So I had myself my first mystery to solve, and I admit, I was pretty enthralled.

"Oh..." Steven mumbles, scanning the pages in the notebook. I look at him curiously, as he seems to disregard the notebook and the stories in it.

"So, what do you think?"

"Scott...I can't help you," He says, handing the notebook back to me and walking away, his white coat flowing back away from his back like a cape.

"Steven? But why?" I ask, following him. He leads me into a small janitors closet and shuts the door part way. When we enter, he places one hand on the wall next to my head, leaning in to whisper to me. His nose is almost pressed against mine and I feel his breath against my lips. His cologne is sweet of must and something else that smells nice.

"Listen Scott, and listen carefully. You need to just forget about the notebook and everything in it. Just forget about this whole thing. It doesn't matter, it's just an old story. Some things are better forgotten and left unknown. Please, leave me be, I have another patient to attend to. Now, if you'd excuse me." Steven says this very close to me, his eyes piercing through my own. He left me to my thoughts in this small closet, and I let my mind wander.

Wait a sec...how did he know that much about Mitch and I?

When he was removing Mitch's stitches, he was reassuring him about our relationship to calm down. And now this whole thing about the notebook? There's no way that the notebook would've stayed in this hospital all these years. Besides, the last entry Steven wrote in his notebook said that he was in a nearby state, in a forest! He must've died there! How else would this notebook magically find its way to Mitch's room in the hospital? My thoughts are interrupted by a shorter woman walking in the room and jumping at my sight.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll leave," I mumble, moving past her. I walk down the hallway and decide to find more about Steven and what secrets he had to hide.