The Escort

33 - Be free

His hair was neatly pulled back in a low ponytail, and he hid his mouth and nose behind a light blue face mask. Then he put on the surgical cap and added a little stethoscope around his neck to make the outfit click.

He checked himself in the bathroom mirror and took a deep breath before confidently heading out to the hallway.

No one paid attention to him. Wearing those scrubs and looking busy, he could easily pass as a surgeon or an anesthesiologist. He looked at Bill's message on his cellphone again, to memorize the room number.
"1008. 1008. 1008." He mentally repeated as he hastily walked to the elevators.

Two nurses, one young and one old, looked him up and down when he entered the lift, and he gave them a small nod after pressing the button for the third floor. Fortunately, they didn't attempt to make conversation.

His heart started to beat faster and harder as he made his way, looking at the door signs. "1005, 1006, 1007..."
His eyes watered as he stood in front of the door he was looking for, with his hands on his hips, trying to hold himself together.

When he felt strong enought to face her, he pressed his ear against the door to make sure no one was in there with her and once he was certain, his shaky hand reached for the doorknob. He slowly walked in and looked at the hospital bed.

Her eyes were closed.

Laura wasn't asleep, but all the medication really put her down and made her super drowsy. She could hear someone entering but she figured it was another nurse checking on her.
She heard the chair beside her bed screech faintly as if someone was draggin it out of the way, and then a shaky, big soft palm cupping her cheek.

Electricity flowed through her body and she focused her strength in opening her eyes. Her vision was a little blurry at first, but after blinking slowly a couple of times, she could distinguish the most beautiful dark brown eyes staring lovingly at her.

"Hey, beautiful..." He whispered, trembling, and her heart monitor started beeping quicker. Michael turned his head to it and quickly removed his face mask and cap. "Baby, baby calm down."

Tears started streaming down her cheeks and he cried too, as he laid soft kisses across her forehead.
"Shh, baby, it's okay... Please, calm down. Don't cry..." He tried to soothe her, and as if it was a magical spell, she started feeling better and more gathered. She opened her eyes again and gave him a weak smile that broke his heart.

He was furious, he wanted to kill anyone and everyone who did her wrong, who had hurt her. Seeing her lying there pained and distressed him enormously.

He sat down sideways on her bed, his hands lovingly stroking her long hair. "U in pain, mama? U need a doctor or sum?"

"No... I'm fine. I haven't felt this good in a while. Michael, the police came to question me. What happened? What have you done?"

He shook his head, sighing deeply. "I'm takin care of everything. Everything. Juliette's done. Police got her."

"Yeah, I know... Bill and Mesereau told me. But is it true? That you're on the run?"

He licked his lips looking away and she reached for his forearm. "Michael, baby, don't do this... I will never forgive myself for... If you hadn't met me none of this would've happened."

"Nah, girl. Don't. Dontchu ever feel guilty bout none of this. I'm doin it cuz I want to. I want to. U gave me purpose. Can't u see? Meetin' you was my destiny, makin' justice was my destiny. I was numb before this, a living dead, only good at makin' money. But now, I'm takin care of shit that has to stop. This shit has to stop." His eyes were big and dark. He looked in pain but completely resolute.

She raised her hand, wincing slightly, and carefully held his jaw to look into his wide, almost blank eyes. He didn't look like himself.  "Baby are you okay?"

He grinned and it was a strange, almost wicked grin that sent a shiver down her spine. Sometihing was seriously off. "I'm fine, babygirl. And all this will be done before u get outta here. But Laura... If they get me..."

"What? Michael stop, you're scaring me." Her bottom lip quivered as she teared up again. He leaned down to softly kiss her lips with love and longing before resting his forehead on hers as he said.

"If I get caught after this, be certain that I'll be okay. Just be free. Promise me, you'll be free."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cried into the crook of his neck.

***
During the evening, the airport wasn't as busy as usual, and Michael was glad about that. Crowded places always made him anxious and he was feeling so on edge lately, he wasn't sure if he could have dealt with multitudes right then.

Wearing dark sunglasses indoors and during nighttime had earned him a couple of confused looks, but he didn't care, he needed to act as collected as possible for when it was time to go through customs. And he was high as fuck.

He licked his lips with his hands in his pockets, watching his hand luggage slowly sliding down the drop belt. He was confident that they wouldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

As he made his way through the metal detector, the apparatus beeped, so the security personnel asked him to step aside and raise his arms to manually scan him. He complied, chewing on his gum with a confident attitude, but on the inside, he was totally freakin out.

The scanner hovered over his arms, his chest and when it reached his hips, it beeped and lit up.

"Sir, please remove your belt." The man said and Michael immediately did as told. He tossed the accessory into the metal basket, and the guard repeated the procedure.

No more beeping, it was his star belt buckle.

Michael smiled to the woman on the other side when she handed him his bag.

"Have a nice flight, Mr. Scruse." She bit her lip blushing and he grinned chewing his gum.

"Will do, miss."

He strolled down to the gates and greeted the stewardess that led him to his first-class seat.

He was on his way to Milan.