Once the initial shock had worn off, the room seemed to explode. People were yelling, trying to run out of the room while Mrs Daimon stood clutching at her husband, silent as she tried so hard not to cry.
I looked wildly up at Heath, "What? What do they mean? Where is River?!"
"Shh, sweetie," My mother tried, her hand gentling over my forehead.
"No, no, no, no, no, no," I whimpered, pushing her away and throwing the blanket off of my legs.
"Alira," Mum pleaded. "Timothy! Control the situation, please!"
"Let me go!" I cried, ignoring the frantic beeping of the machine beside me.
My father's concerned face swam into my vision, "Jellybean, you need to stay in bed. We'll figure out what's going on but you need to stay resting."
Heath was still heading for the door even as his parents trailed after him, seemingly deaf to my pleading.
In an act of pure desperation, I ripped at the tape covering my arm and mercilessly pulled the cannula out, blood staining the white of the sheets.
Even with my father trying to restrain me, I still managed to gain my feet just as Heath's hand hit the door.
"What did you do?!" I screamed at him, the noise a shriek that wouldn't be ignored.
His strong body froze for a second before he turned to me, "What?"
"Where is River?"
His chuckle was choked with disbelief, "That's what I'm going to find out." He seemed to realise that I was struggling towards him, "You need to lay back down, Kitten."
"Don't tell me what to do. I want to know what happened to my friend. I need to find him."
Face slowly turning red, he pointed a finger at my face, "I need to find MY brother."
"You mean the little brother you most probably put into the hospital yourself?"
"Fuck you, Alira." He roared, the Blackbourne guards pouring into the room as my father clenched a hand around my arm.
"You'll watch your mouth, boy," Daddy spat, his tether snapping.
"They did something stupid and both ended up in the hospital!" His protest was heated, his mother trying to restrain him as Thorn clenched a fist.
"You're right," I replied, calmly. "But that was our choice to make and I am as guilty, if not more so, than River. I could have mentioned it to my father, gotten someone else to keep me company at the Ball instead of stupidly going alone when I knew that Miranda was still out there. I didn't do anything and I ended up paying the price. If you're going to stay angry at your brother then you can't give me a free pass."
"What is all this about?" Heath snapped. "River's missing and you want to pick a big fight when I've already told you that I'm not angry about you both lying to me."
"You may have told me that but it's not exactly true," I sighed. "When you find him, what will you do?"
"I'll..."
"You'll yell and probably hit him but that's exactly what can't happen, Heath." I tried to show how much I meant my next words, "Don't destroy your relationship with your brother because of me. Please."
He nodded shortly, "I'm sorry for swearing at you," and turned to walk out of the door.
"What was that, Alira?" My mother asked, a frown emphasising how tired she looked.
"I was trying to give him a different target for his anger. I didn't want him to storm out of here to find River and then start throwing punches before they could talk."
"It was a stupid thing to do," She chided.
"Just another thing to add to the list," I smiled slightly, waiting for my father to wave Thorn and his partners out before I let him help me back to bed.
Dad began to grumble about the needle as I waved him off, "I'm feeling fine. Just exhausted from all the drama."
"Do you think that they'll find him?" My mother asked, worrying at her lip.
I shook my head, "I don't know. Heath did a bit of damage I'm guessing so there's no way to tell how far River will make it." I peered up at my father, "I'm sorry for all of this. I've done so much damage."
"Shh, Jellybean. We can forgive you for being young and stupid this once as long as nothing like this ever happens again."
"Oh, it won't," I murmured, turning on to my side as I tried to sort through everything. I honestly felt as though I was going insane, one moment having a panic attack over the thought of Heath leaving me to picking a potentially explosive fight with him the next minute. I just didn't want for him to go off carrying all of that rage – he needed to be open to listening to his little brother if either of them were going to move past anything.
God, I hoped that he was safe! Heath hadn't mentioned anything about River explaining his night with Camilla and I was desperately worried that the worst had occurred and my friend was battling too many of his demons to overcome them.
Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes. "What happened with Miranda?" I tightened a fist amongst the blankets, "And what exactly happened between River and Heath while I was unconscious?"
... ... ...
By the time that the Daimons had returned, I was sitting up in the bed, eating a sandwich and watching Morgan's fingers fly across the keyboard of his laptop. It was funny, the man was nearly as rich as my father and a musical prodigy but here he was, the computer whiz of Blackbourne Investigations.
After ordering my father to make sure that my Mum went to a local hotel to rest, I had quietly asked the guards still situated outside to do a little of their own investigating in regards to the disappearance of my best friend.
"Anything?" Thorn asked quietly in his deep voice.
Morgan's eyes burned as they glanced away from the screen, "Half the security cameras in this place are broken. Remind me to mention that to them before I leave."
"Morgan," Lee murmured, command in his voice.
"River requisitioned a pair of scrubs and a ready supply of pain medication before he took one of the elevators down to the car park where he jumped in Alira's Spyder. I've sent out the number plates and asked that the driver be peacefully apprehended and am also watching the cities cameras for any sign of the boy."
The computer pinged.
"Well, hello," He whispered with distraction, ignoring us all once more. "Looks like he just managed to make a significant withdrawal from his savings account." I watched with concern as his expression narrowed. "He emptied it, enough that by the time we are mobilised, he could be on his way to anywhere."
"But he's leaving a wide trail," Thorn cut in, walking towards the window where he crossed his arms aggressively. Even if he makes it to the other side we can easily follow him."
"I'll have Nathanial go anyway. He's only a teenager and he may change his mind along the way," Lee replied.
"Hit on the plates a street away from the bank. He's heading east along Turbinin Road."
Lee nodded and headed for the door. I almost wanted to laugh to break the tension in the room but I figured having them forget I was even there had to be better than garnering their full attention.
The door barely had a chance to swing back before Heath came charging through with his mother and father sticking close behind him.
I straightened up as much as possible, "Heath. We tried to call you."
His eyes took in Morgan and Thorn as they glanced between us and the screen, "It's gone flat. What is going on? River isn't anywhere that we can find." He gently hugged Keira before handing her over to his father.
"He's not in the hospital," Thorn announced, his face softening slightly as he looked the three Daimons over. "He's decided to run at this point and has emptied his bank account. Any idea where he might be heading?"
"How the fuck did he make it out of here with a fractured jaw?" Heath's expression was flat, closed off.
I moved slightly, "How did he break his jaw?"
"I broke it for him."
"What?" My eyes felt ridiculously wide. "Daddy told me what happened between you two but I didn't think you would actually hurt him."
"He hurt you," He growled back.
"You're going to have to forgive him that," I whispered. "He doesn't control Miranda and I am just as culpable."
"So you pointed out before," His eyes dropped to the arm where a lovely nurse had reinserted the cannula. "I'll get over it but it's going to take a while."
"Where is our son?" Mr Daimon asked, his tone telling us all that he was done staying silent.
"His bank account was emptied approximately half an hour ago and the car that he borrowed from Miss Heath was spotted less than a mile away from the bank. One of our team has gone to try and intercept him but chances are he's already decided where he's running too."
"Will he go by plane, do you think?" Keira asked with hope. "You'll know if he buys a ticket, won't you?"
Morgan smiled, "We will."
Thorn snorted, "Surely he won't go through an airport if he's trying to disappear."
"Why would he try so hard to run?" I asked the three of them. "Besides all of this and Heath beating him up, what happened with Camilla?"
They glanced at one another, "We don't know," Mr Daimon replied. "Heath never gave him any time to talk and he was already gone by the time that the doctor rang to tell us he had woken up."
Heath groaned, "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have attacked him but I was just so angry! Fuck!"
The laptop's alarm sounded.
"Seems he's not all that worried about being stopped," Morgan muttered, eyes firmly on whatever had popped up. "One ticket in his name was just purchased to Florida."
Keira shuddered at that, "Someone needs to be there. Someone needs to stop him and bring him home." It was a plea, an order given by a mother who was barely holding on to her composure.
"It'll be taken care of, ma'am," Thorn answered, taking his phone out into the hall.
"So," I asked no one in particular, "What do we do now?"
"We wait," Morgan glanced over at me, those eyes still getting to me.
... ... ...
By the time that anyone reported in, my parents were both back in the room, talking quietly to the Daimons as we all waited tensely to hear back from the Blackbourne team.
"Fuck," Heath muttered, not for the first time. "I fucked up."
Sitting beside the bed with his fingers playing through my own, he had barely been able to settle but if I could say one thing about being stuck in the hospital, it was that he appeared to want to make sure that I did nothing for myself.
Frustratingly cute but it did keep him anchored to my side.
"I need to tell him that I'm sorry." He looked at me with tired eyes, "I need to be able to do that. I should never have hit him."
I cooed, "I think he will forgive you that after everything that happened."
"Will he? None of us know what happened with Camilla and he came in already busted up. I could have killed him because I never bothered to use my words instead of my fists," He pulled away to stare down at said limbs. "It's all I'm good at."
"Hey, enough of that," I ordered. "You're just like every other human being who has lost it temporarily and you know that he'll be found. There'll be time for you to make your peace with one another."
"Don't ever do anything like this again," He grabbed my chin insistently. "I don't like the person that I am when you're hurt."
I smiled wearily, "I don't think that I'll ever be going anywhere without you again so it won't be a problem."
"Don't say that. Miranda's been arrested and the last I heard, they were talking about what to do with the one's that helped her. You won't have to worry about that shit anymore when you start back at school."
If I start back, I replied silently. No matter how different it would be without Miranda, I didn't think that going back was going to be easy or comfortable. My identity was out now and it wasn't like I had already answered the questions that I had naïvely thought important.
Fighting back tears, I grasped his hand tighter, "Let's just concentrate on River right now. We need to make sure that he's ok."
"Are you ok?"
I laughed quietly, "I'm fine. My body doesn't even ache that much and it's just a bit of drowsiness now."
"Have you remembered what happened?"
I shook my head, "No. It's as though the time between leaving the house and waking up here never happened. Maybe it's a good thing. I can be the strong one for a change."
"You're always the strong one, Kitten."
A phone in the room chirped with an incoming message.
"Damn," Thorn muttered, looking up at the others on his team.
"What is it?" Mrs Daimon asked shakily.
"Nathaniel was waiting at the airport to intercept River but he never even checked in," The tone was grim.
"What does that mean?" My own mother asked, looking towards where Heath had slowly risen to his feet beside me.
"The ticket was a decoy," Daddy answered. "He must have guessed that we'd have someone keep an eye out for him after he slipped away. My guess is that he threw the ticket out just after he bought it."
Morgan nodded, "He probably got in a cab and has either holed up or he's decided to use other transportation to leave the city. Bus and train tickets are a lot easier to get and will it make it harder for us to track him."
Another chirp sounded.
"Police just found the Spyder abandoned in the airport carpark," Thorn announced.
"So you've lost him?" Keira asked shakily. "My baby."
"Mum..."
She held up a hand, "I don't blame you, Heath. I was angry at River too for not bothering to tell any of us about meeting Camilla. I just want him back." The last was a sob as she strode from the room.
Marcus also jumped to his feet, eyes on the swinging door, "Find my son, please."
"We will," Daddy replied. "You have my word that everything will be done to bring him home safely."
"Thank you, Timothy," He tried to smile but the usual cheer was glaringly vacant. "I'd better go after her."
Silence remained after he too disappeared.
"What now?" I asked, my heart twisting as I tried to imagine what could be happening to him right then. What was running through his head to make him want to just give up and run after he'd fought so hard.
"I'll start checking the cameras at bus and train stations as well as putting out a missing person's report," Morgan replied, fingers already moving.
Heath was still frozen but as I started to get his attention, my own phone started vibrating on the bedside chest.
I frowned, twisting awkwardly to reach across for it.
The screen read Unknown as I showed it to Heath.
No one outside of the room should have had the number but I cautiously pressed the green button and lifted it to my ear.
"Hello?"
The quiet sounds of traffic answered me for a moment before a familiar voice replied, "Hey, RiRi."
"River?! River, where are you? Are you ok? I'm still at the hospital but everyone is worried about you. Tell me where you are."
My eyes had locked with Heath's as they suddenly started burning. He wanted to snatch the phone from me, I could tell, but something held him back.
Probably the fear that if he tried to speak to his brother, River would hang up.
"I'm fine, Alira, and I know that you sent the men in black after me," His voice sounded weird, distorted. "I just wanted to call and let you know that I'm ok."
"You're parents and Heath are frantic to find you. Please, come home."
"I can't." Tears sounded, "I need to get away for a little while after everything. I'm so sorry for what I did."
"You don't need to apologise to me."
"I do," He choked. "I was selfish and you got hurt because of me. I just wanted to find out what Camilla needed to say and now, fuck, I wish that she'd never turned up."
"What did she do, River?" I was hanging on by a thread as I heard the finality in his voice.
It scared me.
"It doesn't matter now. Tell them all that I'm sorry for being a coward. I'll call back when I have the chance."
"No...wai..." The dial tone mocked me as looked around helplessly.
"He's gone."
Heath exploded, "Did he say where the fuck he is or what's going on?"
"No," I shook uncontrollably, "He said that he was sorry and that he'd call back when he could. There was a lot of noise in the background." I looked up at him, "I think that he's leaving town."
"Did you track him?" My father asked Morgan.
The man nodded, "It was a payphone somewhere north of the city but the conversation wasn't long enough for me to get an exact location."
"Fuck!" Heath pushed a hand through his hair, "What am I supposed to tell Mum and Dad?"
I drew in a breath and snagged the cord attached to my bed, pushing the Nurse Call button. "I get discharged and we go to pay Camilla a little visit."