Recluse

Chapter 21

I literally have no idea where I'm going.

I sprint aimlessly around the hospital, peeking my head into every emergency room I can. I need to find Niall. I need to find Niall.

As I'm exiting yet another room that he's not in, I'm beginning to think he must be on some other floor. My eyes land on an elevator and I begin to limp towards it (I also sprained my ankle when I jumped down into that hole when I first found Niall...)

Right as I'm about to enter the doors, a pair of brown eyes block my path.

"Excuse me miss, are you suppose to be out here?" He asks gently, raising an eyebrow at me. He's a good looking boy who seems to be around my age.

"Um yes, my nurse told me I could go to the 4th floor to check on my brother." I lie smoothly.

He smiles down at a clipboard in his hands, "And your nurse's name is?"

"Gloria."

"And your brother's name is?"

"Niall Horan." I respond.

"And your name is?"

"Madison."

"Madison what?" He presses.

"Madison Kelly."

"So he's not your brother, and he's not on the 4th floor, he's on the 3rd floor. We actually don't have any patients on the 4th floor." He informs me, deep brown eyes lit up in amusement. 

"How do you know we don't just have two different last names?" I question, raising my eyebrows.

His smile widens, "Because you're a bad liar."

"How do you know I'm lying?" I cross my arms.

"Because I can see it in your eyes."

"You're just so great at reading people, then?"

"That, I am." He nods with a smirk, 

I look down at his nametag, "Well, Zayn, will you please let me go to the 3rd floor so I can see my real brother and we can forget this little interaction ever happened?"

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, miss. By the looks of you, you aren't even suppose to be out of bed. I'm gonna need to escort you back to your room."

"Please don't make me go back in there. You don't understand how antsy I am, I've been in there too long, and I need to know if Niall's okay and I want to see my family but I can't take one more second in that god awful-"

He lays a comforting hand on my shoulder and smiles, "How about we go down to the cafeteria? Then we can avoid putting you back in that room right away. How does that sound?"

"Alright I guess... But you're sure you can't let me go to the 3rd floor?" I plead one last time.

"I'm sure. Not only would you get in trouble, but so would I. But I'd be happy to escort you to the cafeteria for some lunch." 

I sigh, "I guess that's better than going back to that hellhole of a room."

"I gotta let one of my coworkers know where I'm going, give me a second." he says to me, before walking down the hallway and speaking to a more formal looking man. From my distance, I see the man look from Zayn to me, and then nod before walking away. Zayn walks back to me and motions for me to follow him. 

We begin walking down this hallway that's identical to all of the rest. In complete honesty, I have no idea where the cafeteria is, but Zayn expertly leads us down each hallway until, together, we're standing in a huge cafeteria. My eyes widen as they scan the huge room.