The Fourth Notebook

75

Patricia POV
1/29/15
I'm glancing over Emma, Cody, James, and Grace's medical files at my desk. I look up at the clock. Seven A.M.
Oh no, Jace is probably waking up right n-.'
My thoughts are interrupted by Jace's screams.
I walk into his room.
When he sees me, he stops crying and lifts his pudgy arms up for me to carry him.
"Ah. Ah, Jace. You're four now, remember? You're a big boy," I say.
He goes back to crying.
Poor thing.
His parents never babied him. They visit him once or twice a year. They're horrible. They think that his schizophrenia makes him a bad child. They dumped him here when he was two after an incident. If he was my child, I would make sure he had a strong connection with me.
I pick him up and take him to the play room. He immediately goes for the blocks and lines them up. He never builds up but rather tries to make a perfect line across the room. He is almost across the room when he runs out of blocks. He is devastated and curls in a ball on the floor. May sees him from across the room and brings him one of her blocks. He doesn't make eye contact but he gives and awkward smile. I am scheduled to watch him for an hour before I got back to my desk.

Emma POV
I jolt awake. Sitting up in my bed I rub my sore head covered in bandages.
James.
I run to his room and find it cleaned out and bare.
"No," I whisper to myself, "He promised he would be there when I wake up."
I run to Grace's room hoping to find him in there with Cody and Grace.
Empty, too.
"So it's true," I say to the sky, "They're dead?"
This can't be true.
"Did I fail?" I say again.
My gut tells me to walk down the hallway.
I stop at Nurse Patricia's desk where our notebooks are piled.
"I'm coming home," I whisper as I grab the notebooks.
The cold concrete stairs chill my feet as I ascend them.

Patricia POV
My hour is up an I walk back to my desk. A glance at my desk and I see that the notebooks are missing.
"Doug?" I call out, "Did you move the notebooks?"
He walks down the hallway and does not acknowledge me. He must be hurt because I turned him down. I head for the files room and pass by Emma's room and find the door open but no Emma.
"Emma?" I call out with no reply.
Now I am worried.
I go to the front desk and look at the hallway surveilence. There she is running down the hallway with the notebooks in hand.
Oh God, the roof.
I take the stairs to the roof hoping that I am not too late.
Through the window I see Emma walking towards the edge of the building. I pound on the door, but it seems to be locked from the outside.
I run back down the stairs stopping at the children's ward to yell out, "It's Emma."
I finally reach the lobby floor and break into a sprint to the door.
I'm standing too close to see her at the top of the six story building.
I step back into the middle street.
Cars honk at me as they swerve around me.
"Can you see her?" I screech. The people around me do not look at me or even seem to listen.
"Emma!" I see her now.

Emma POV
I stand on the roof, clutching the notebooks close to me.
I lift my foot and stand on the ledge.
The wind blows my gown.
I look down.
The ground below me is gray.
I am scared for a moment.
I look up and remember that this won't hurt me.
I close my eyes and let myself fall.

Patricia POV
Emma starts tumbling down.
The papers fly out of her hands and become loose.
They seem to multiply because an impossible number of pages explode around her.
I look away and find myself looking into the face of a truck.
Time stops.
The pages are frozen in the air around Emma's falling body.
They are the brightest color of white.
Or is it a glow from Emma?
The pages go back into motion and the truck is coming towards me.
I am pulled out of the way.
A young man is looking at me.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" he asks.
"Y-yes. Did you see that?" I point to the hospital.
The last few pages flutter in the wind.

"The pages? Yes I see them, strange. Someone must have thrown them out a window."
"No! Not the pages, the girl who jumped off!"
He backs away.
I realize that I am standing now and yelling.
"None of you saw that? None of you?"
A crowd is forming now.
"None of you. I'm the only one who saw that," I whisper to me self.
Realization sets in.
I'm the only one who saw them in their own points of view.

Rain clouds form and the sky pours down rain.
I can barely see in front of me.

The pages!
The only thing left of the four. I must protect them.
I run back across the street dodging even more cars.
I come to the papers and start grabbing them shielding them from the rain with my own body.
It's no use, the papers disintegrate in my hands, saturated by the heavy downpour.

Tears roll down my cheeks.
Their notebooks are gone.
They are gone.
And I will never forget them.

~The End~

(A/N: Hey readers, I can't believe I am saying this. This is the end! There will be an epilogue on Friday and a special announcement in a few weeks. Stay tuned. This is not over. Thank you for supporting me and The Fourth Notebook. I love you all. ~Elsariddlehemsworth~)