The Way of Fate (Book 1)

26. Finding Him

My heart sunk when it was a woman's voice that started talking. "Hi, uh, Allen? I hope this is the right number. And I really hope this doesn't sound too strange. Or at least, I hope it makes sense to you. There was this guy on my doorstep... Um, I wanted to take him to the hospital, but he was adamant about not going and kept saying 'Allen' over and over. I thought that was his name at first, until he said 'call Allen Carr'. At least that's what I hope he said, so I did some digging and came across your number. Please give me a call back, if this is actually you and you know this man. If not, could you call me back anyway, so I know to keep trying? Thanks. And sorry."

I nearly dropped my phone trying to call her back. It had to be Mika. It had to be. Who else could it be?

When I finally managed to call back, the phone kept ringing and ringing. Each second that went by felt like an eternity. I almost gave up hope, feeling like she wasn't going to answer me or this was some sick joke when she picked up.

"Hello? Is this Allen? Please tell me you're him."

I laughed. It was forced, but I managed it. I didn't want to sound as worried as I felt. "Yeah. And I believe you have my boyfriend. Is he alright? Where are you? I'll come get him."

"I can tell you're panicking," she said instead of answering any of my questions. I guess I didn't succeed as well as I thought about keeping the emotion out of my voice. "Please don't. He's not dead, definitely not dead. But he is currently passed out on my couch. He'll be fine, eventually."

Then she told me her address and I nearly forgot how to breathe. It was Mika's old apartment. The one that was supposed to be vacated completely.

"I know where that is," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." I would have said ten, but I had to remember my son was strapped into the backseat. I couldn't risk his life, especially when I now knew Mika was okay, or at least, somewhat okay.

When I got to the apartment, I hurried to grab Sam and walk up the four steps to the door that separated me from Mika. Before I even had a chance to knock, the door swung open, revealing a petite young woman, probably around the same age as me, if I were to guess.

"Allen?" I nodded. "Hi. I'm Audra. He's inside."

And he was. I found him laying on the couch - a different one from the last time I was here, but I was barely paying attention to the decor of the place. "Mika," I whispered, crouching next to him. "Mika, hey. It's me."

"He's been in and out of consciousness all day," Audra said from behind me. "It happens. Mild hypothermia. Thankfully I found him when I did - and only because of my own habit of staying up way too late to watch storms. He was only outside on my steps for an hour - at the most. Good thing I'm a nurse and knew how to handle the situation, otherwise he would have gone to the hospital this morning, with or without his permission."

It was that moment that Sam seemed to realize it was Mika we were next to. He almost fell out of my arms trying to get to him. I held him back, but just barely, and that made him start to cry.

I stood up and turned back to face Audra, gently bouncing Sam on my hip to quiet him down. "He's going to be okay, right?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. I got him out of his wet clothes first thing - I hope you don't mind I did that with him being your boyfriend and everything. His clothes are here," she gestured to a bag on the floor by the door, "I didn't get a chance to wash them, sorry. Also, he's wearing some of my ex's stuff. Don't worry about getting that back to me, I really don't give a shit."

"You changed his clothes?" It threw me off, not that she did it, but that she was so calm about it.

"Sorry. I'm a nurse. I see everything of everyone everyday. You kinda get used to it all. So don't worry, I didn't look or anything. I was more in a 'get this guy warm' mode than anything else."

Right. I had forgotten she said she was a nurse before. Everything was so jumbled in my head right now. "But is he going to be fine? Will he wake up soon? Why he is sleeping so much?"

She chuckled lightly. "It's an effect from the hypothermia. His body is trying to warm itself up, and the blankets and the sleep are the best way to do that. It wasn't that bad, he just needs to get warm again."

"Can I-" I paused, not sure what I was asking exactly. "Can I move him? Will that be fine? I don't want to bother you anymore than we already have."

"Oh yeah, you can. Or you could try waking him up, see if he could stand on his own."

I glanced down at Mika again. I didn't want to wake him. He seemed to need all the rest he could get. But I was still holding onto Sammy and couldn't carry them both.

After a few minutes, we came to the agreement that Audra would hold Sam while I carried Mika to the car. I carefully placed Mika - who had somewhat woken up and was mumbling something under his breath - into the front seat. Then I took Sam back and buckled him into his car sear in the backseat.

"Thank you for saving his life," I told Audra, as sincerely as I possibly could. "I'll never forget this."

I tried offering her some kind of compensation too, but she refused, saying all she needed was to know that Mika was safe. Of course, as soon as she said that, I thanked her again. And then one more time before I actually got into my car.

I held Mika's cold, limp hand all the way back home. During the drive, I finally let myself relax. He was here. He was alive. He was okay. It's all I could have asked for at this moment.

A/N: Disclaimer - I know nothing about hypothermia. All of this came from the five minutes of research I did before writing this chapter.