He was sleeping, just like the doctor had said. I took a chair and sat next to him on the bed.
For some time, I don't really know how long, I just watched his chest rise and fall. With each rise I felt more air enter my lungs. With each fall, I felt the tiredness kicking in. Eventually, I don't know when, I fell asleep.
I only woke up once I felt a movement under me, which made me rise in horror. I had fallen asleep with my head on his bed. I looked like every clingy girlfriend in every cheesy romance ever.
I rubbed my eyes to remove all traces of sleep. These past days have been getting to me. I need to keep myself in check.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Nicolas whispered.
Shaking my head, I stifled a yawn. "How are you feeling?"
He laughed bitterly, "like shit. When are we leaving?"
I shrugged and grabbed the remote, "in a few days."
"A few days? We can't wait that long."
"Relax," I looked at him. "It'll be before you're discharged, so the doctors won't know. I'm trying to figure out how long we have before the cops get here. Besides, we need to get the medicine you need to heal."
He tried to sit up, but failed. "We can get that in Sicily. After we get Vee."
I put my hand over his, making his eyes focus in nothing but that.
Somehow it felt good to still know him this well. "You need to get better if you want us to find your sister. Otherwise, you'll really only be a burden to carry, you know that."
He stared at our hands and frowned. "She doesn't have much time. I can't just sit here and--"
"I can't have you dropping dead while looking for her. The doctor said a week you'll have to be here. Stay for five days. On the night of the fifth I'll break you out, yeah? Just until you get a little better."
He bit his lip, making something turn in my stomach. "Fine. And we'll get right back to looking for Vee afterwards."
I smiled involuntarily. "Obviously."
Before I forced myself to stay any longer, I got up and stepped back.
He looked up at me, alarm in his eyes. "What?"
I shook my head. "Have to take care of a few things. Don't move! I'll send your ass back to Sicily if you do. I'll be back in a few hours. Byeeee!"
I walked out quickly, before he had the chance to stop me.
"Be careful!" He shouted as I closed the door behind me.
I made my way through the hospital, looking for an exit. The hospital was humongous. I hadn't expected that when I looked at the map.
Finally, I found two automatic doors and made my way to them. I was just about to leave when a hand landed on my shoulder.
My entire body went tense and I felt my fists curling instinctively. I was ready to tackle whoever it was to the ground until I heard the voice it belonged to.
"Heading off?" The doctor who fixed me up spoke. I turned to face him. His name tag read Dr. König.
I forced a kind smile on my face. "The coffee here is God awful. I was going to look for a nearby place to get some."
He laughed. "Of course. Hey, when you get the chance, can you bring both of your traveller insurances?"
I nodded. "You bet. Thank you again, Doctor."
"No problem at all."
As soon as he left, I turned around and walked two blocks down from the hospital, then I took a cab to a block away from our place. I took all precautions necessary. I circled the block multiple times, I checked out every store and made sure no one was tailing me. When I felt sure enough to head in, I did.
There was no damage to our place, which is what I was afraid of. Everything looked to be the same as it was when we left it. I checked everywhere multiple times before I decided to go down to use a computer.
It felt eerie. I had gone over every safety precaution, yet I still felt uneasy. I didn't like the feeling. It made me afraid.
I got down to the computer and entered the code for the chatroom. Mateo joined in a minute later.
S: I've been trying to contact you. Are you guys okay?
B: I am. Got away with a popped shoulder, some back pain and another dead body. Nicolas was shot. He's at the hospital right now.
S: fuck. Is he okay?
B: he's alive. Got surgery done a few hours ago. The bullet was huge. But he's resting now. I have a question.
S: shoot.
B: not funny.
S: pun totally not intended. I am so sorry.
B: whatever. Do we have any sort of insurance for this place? I need to get his medication.
S: yes. Should be with the passports. Elijah made sure he forged those in case anything happened.
S: i have bad news.
B: what?
S: i got a message. It popped up in the system a few hours ago. It was in German.
B: what did it say?
S: rough translation was : no one takes what's mine. I always get it back.
B: ???
S: that's not all. They sent two pictures.
B: of what.
S: first one was of Vee. She was tied to a pole. She's in one complete piece from what i can tell. Just a few bruises. The second one was of you guys in the warehouse you went to.
Oh shit.
B: fuck. I have to go.
I logged out of the computer and ran back to the room. I didn't need to check for anyone tailing me. I knew no one was.
Bursting through the doors, I searched the whole room for the drive that held all the information we took from the brothel. Desperation drove me insane as I flipped mattresses, searched in cabinets, emptied pockets and drawers.
Nothing. It was gone.
"Fuck!" I couldn't help but shout.
This couldn't be happening. They knew we were here. They knew we were here.
They knew where we would go. They knew when and how to lure us there.
Fuck.
Nicolas can't know about this. He needs to recover first. Nicolas.
Nicolas! Fuck!
I bolted out of the room and ran to the street, waving like a madwoman for a cab.
FUCK.
When one cab finally stopped for me, I threw myself inside. "Bethel Hospital. Hurry!"
The woman turned around to look at me with a weird look. It made me impatient. "Bethel Hospital!" I shouted.
She turned back around and began driving. "Faster!" I shouted again.
I felt my glass slowly tipping over. All the anger, rage, overwhelming feelings began to break out of the tight cage I had them in.
It took the lady ten minutes to get to the hospital. I threw whatever money I had in my pocket and ran out of the cab.
My heart pounded hard enough to burst through my chest. My forehead was showered in sweat. My palms were clammy. My chest was tight. I was ready to explode.
I stopped right outside his room. I couldn't force myself to go inside.
What if...
No!
He's fine. He has to be.
With a final breath, I walked in.
**
I think I'm going crazy. I was positive I posted a chapter just a while ago but I think i just edited an existing chapter and didn't notice. Stupid people tingz yk yk?
Anyway ty for 5k reads. I had written a heartfelt message but wrote it in the wrong chapter and now my intellectual juices are spent.
Love yas!