The Runaways: Industrial Revolution Story ✔

Chapter 11. James' POV

"Maybe if he knew about the concern", Joey spoke and shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, let's go. I wanna know if she's ok or not. And most of all, know who did all of this", I said sounding eager and I felt my eyes feeling as if they were on fire with anger.

****

We made it at Vincent's hospital. It was a low-class hospital because I could tell visually that the chairs looked uncomfortable and the overall state of the hospital looked quite crammed.

"I think I remember coming here when my grandmother became sick", Joey said sounding mysterious and gazed his eyes and everything that was in the hospital.

"Interesting", I responded. "Did she survive?"

"No. She died of natural causes", Joey replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry for this sad news. May she rest in peace forever", I said sounding a bit sad.

"Ah, thanks! She was a loving grandmother. She died a like seven years ago before I started working in a dull factory" Joey gently said.

We were looking in every direction and place of the hospital. Did Maria get discharged from the hospital or what? Were we here on time?

"I wonder where we can find her room?" I asked.

"I'll ask the nurse there", Joey said sounding helpful and gave me a smile. I smiled back. He walked towards the nurse there with the pure white uniform. She was leaning against the wall with some paper and a pen in her tanned hands.

"Um, excuse me madam, but where can I find Maria?" Joey asked sympathetically and waited for an answer.

"Ah, yes, Maria Evans right?" The nurse asked in a soft and sweet voice.

Joey turned his head towards me and whispered to me to ask me if Maria's sir name was Evans. I replied yes and he then looked back at the nurse.

"Yeah, it's Maria Evans", Joey replied.

"She's in room number 33", The Nurse replied and then she asked Joey to follow her. I did the same thing too.

Joey and I were chatting quietly while we were walking to room number 33. I hope Maria's ok. Nothing bad should happen. She only got shot in the shoulder, similar to how I got shot last year by Phillip. Funny.

"Here we are. Room number 33", The Nurse said sweetly.

She slowly opened the cream-coloured door for us and gave us an extended smile showing us her glimmering white teeth.

"Thank you, Madam", Joey and I thanked politely at the same time, forming some kind of harmony.

"No problem", The Nurse responded and left us walking away stylishly.

"Let's go in", Joey insisted.

I forwarded inside the room and so did Joey. Joey closed the door behind us. Inside, there was William, Mr and Mrs Evans and on the bed, there was Maria, whom had her eyes shut closed. She was probably sleeping or just resting in general. Mr and Mrs Evans as always were jolly when they saw me. Mrs Evans stood up from the plastic red chair and ran towards me to give me a warm hug. Her warm hug eased me down and I felt more confident. We then stopped hugging about a few moments later. Mrs Evans gazed into my eyes and I could view the happiness in them. There must be a reason why she seems happy. Is Maria ok?

"You seem happy", I asked.

"Yes, because Maria is fine now", Mrs Evans spoke.

Her good news eased my stress and pain down instantly. I felt relief and my heart was beating at a normal rate now. I smiled like an angel and felt much better.

"Phew! Glad she's ok now. I got concerned", I spoke.

"Same here! But how did you found out about this?" Mrs Evans asked.

"My friend here, Joey told me that he heard Maria's friends shout out in pain that Maria got shot and then Joey heard her. He somehow knew I knew Maria, but I don't bother", I explained as briefly as possible.

"Ah, Joey boy, come here dear", Mrs Evans said nicely and smiled at Joey. Joey seemed shy at first, but he took small steps forward towards Mrs Evans, who as always looked like a friendly person.

Joey walked faster in the end and once he was close enough near Mrs Evans, she took his hand gently and held it. Joey was smiling and I smiled too. Mr Evans was too busy staring at Maria and so was William.

"Thank you for telling James about Maria. It's good Maria's friend yelled out what happened and you heard it. So you don't have a explanation as to how you knew that James knew her?" Mrs Evans asked politely.

"Yeah, no explanation. Just guessed. And no problem. Always want to help. I'm glad I've befriended James. He's great", Joey spoke.

Mrs Evans then let go of Joey's hand and he was gazing directly at Maria's face. He then stopped back and was standing next to me. She was still asleep, but it's good to get some rest if you get injured. It's good to hear Maria's fine, but I must know who did this and why. I'll ask Mr or Mrs Evans. They might know who did this.

"Um, Mr or Mrs Evans?" I asked eagerly.

"Yes, what is it?" Mr Evans finally spoke and sounded a little confident.

"Who did all this and why?" I asked and waited for an answer half a second later.

"A Luddite whom I had known for a bit. He did this because the Luddites hate technological things and so, he knew that Maria was my daughter, and rich people like technology", Mr Evans said and looked up at me. I felt utterly angry that a Luddite did this. I dislike them for sure, but now, I just feel like they're another Phillip and I just want them to vanish away from life. How date they did this to Maria? Maria sure is pure innocent and she did nothing to deserve this. The Luddite has no soul whatsoever.

"Woah, that's utterly harsh!" I responded and felt my eyebrows raise higher.

"It sure is, but now that Maria is fine, we can get over it", Mr Evans said.

"Yeah, we can", I responded and tried to get the Luddite off from my mind. Now that things have settled and are ok now, we can forget it for now.

Suddenly, it saw that Maria was slowly opening her eyes. They got wider and she opened them and they were glimmering like stars. She was blinking slowly and then she sat up slowly and carefully and aligned her back on the sky blue wall that was behind her. Everyone else then saw Maria and were extremely glad to see her wake up. Mr Evans jumped off from the chair and gave her a massive hug. Mrs Evans did the same thing too and so did William.

"Oh, Maria, my dear. We're so glad you're fine now!" Mr Evans said loudly in joy.

"Yes indeed! I'm glad you didn't get shot in the chest or anywhere like that", Mrs Evans said and leaned towards Maria's forehead and kissed her gently. Maria seemed jolly and glad to see us. She gracefully smiled at them and looked around when she spotted Joey and I. I was glad to see her smile at me and of the face that she looked around to spot me.

"James! What are you doing there? Come here close to me", Maria insisted kindly.

I called Joey to come too and so, he followed me. I walked towards Maria and sat next to her on the bed. There was still plenty of space so Joey sat next to me. Maria took my hand gently and put it on her lap. She was stroking my hand and it felt like a feather.

"I'm glad you're fine", I softy said.

"Me too. It felt horrid when I got struck in the shoulder", Maria said. The plaster than was on her shoulder was pure white and basically the same type that she put on me when I got struck on the shoulder.

"Let's just forget of the fact about that a Luddite did this. We'll discuss this later on. It's now important that you're fine now", I spoke.

"Agreed!" Maria responded and shook her head. "Who's that next to you by the way?"

"Joey. My friend who works at the factory", I responded and looked at Joey and he smiled, showing his pearl white teeth.