He's a She

Chapter Twenty

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CHAPTER TWENTY

            Luke sped to the hospital, arriving there not ten minutes after he had talked to his sister.  He was hoping that Charles was there, praying for it.  He had to forgive his friend, he couldn’t let Charles leave with a horrible memory of him stuck in his head.  He also couldn’t let him leave without Pangaea.

            When Luke entered the hospital, Pangaea safely tucked under his arm, he headed straight for the front desk.  There was a different lady there than there had been the other day. 

            “Hi,” he said to her.  She looked up from her computer and raised an eyebrow.  “I’m looking for Payne West.  I was wondering if they moved him out of the ICU yet.” The lady turned to her computer and started to tap on the keyboard.  She frowned.

            “There is no Payne in the computer.”

            “Oh, uh,” what was it that Charles always called him?  Percy? Peyton?  “Parker!” He blurted.  The lady didn’t seem all that amused.  “How about Parker?  Parker West?”  She typed again and nodded.

            “Third floor, room two-twelve.  It isn’t visiting hours so-” Luke took off before the lady could finish.  He ran up to the elevator and started jabbing the button.  Once the arrow pointed down, showing that the elevator was returning, he gave up on it. 

            Luke turned down the hall and started up the stairs, taking them two at a time.  He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to rush, but it was there and ever growing.  No matter how fast he went he felt that he could go faster, that he needed to go faster.

            As he wound up the three flights of stairs he passed none but one doctor.  The doctor yelled after him, trying to tell him that he shouldn’t be there, but he didn’t care. 

            Luke burst out into the third floor hallway and his heart settled a bit.  The same could not be said for his racing mind.  He scanned the empty hall, the dull florescent lights were humming and the scent of cleaning supplies was thick in the air.  He started down the hall at a normal walking pace with his head swinging from side to side, scanning the room numbers. 

            He stopped at room two hundred and twenty.  This was it.  He prayed that Charles was behind that door.  He inhaled deeply as he reached for the knob, a worm of doubt still eating at him.  What if Charles didn’t want to see him?  What if Charles was still mad?  What if?  He paused, his fingers flexing just out of reach of the knob.  He debated leaving the bear, Charles would find it eventually if he opened the door.  He shook his head, he had to face Charles again, he had to apologize.  He nodded to himself and opened the door.

            Luke snuck his head in, taking in the floral wallpaper and the single bed.  Luke frowned and walked in.  The room was entirely empty.  The bed was nice and neat and the chair next to it did not seat Charles.  The only sign that anyone had ever been there was the empty box of dots in the garbage bin and the inhaler on the nightstand. 

            He shuffled across the room, disappointed now.  He walked up to the bed and sat Pangaea down.  He wondered not only as to where Charles was, for he had been walking on a thin line for him to be there anyways, but to where Payne was.  That didn’t make any sense to him.