12
Emaline
Gramps jolts awake and wipes the string of droolfrom his chin with the back of his hand. I wave and smile as he gets his bearings as to where he is. The ICU waiting room in the hospital that’s where we are. That’s where we’ve been for the entire night and all morning. The ICU nurse told us to go home and that she’d call us when Brielle was stable and ready for visitors, so only the Leroux boys and Rosie left while we stayed. Grandma went home around mid-morning to shower and catch up on some errands for the hardware store that was being managed by their staff.
“Is she awake? Have you gone in to see her?” Gramps asks hopefully.
I shake my head, jaded. “No, Gramps. You’ve only been asleep for twenty minutes.”
The bags under his eyes are extra saggy and dark, and a sense of grief overcomes me. The grief is not for my sister but for my grandparents and the demise of a life well-lived, only to come to their retirement to find that they can’t afford to retire. My sister is just another unnecessary distraction, creating trauma and stress that my grandparents don’t need. I can’t help feeling anger toward her typically selfish decisions, but I have yet to hear her story so that I might change my mind about her. For now, while I’m sleep-deprived and grumpy, I’ll retain my grudge.
“Would you like a coffee, Gramps?” I ask, and he groans in reply, rubbing his tired eyes. “I’ll get you something to eat too.”
“Alright. Take your phone so I can message you if Brielle wakes up,” he tells me as I check my wallet for cash, finding a twenty-dollar note that I slid in there last night just in case Rosie’s car broke and we needed to get a cab. It’s happened before. Rosie and I were stranded two years ago when her brother’s car broke down, and I never forgot it.
Walking down the hall past the swing doors, where my sister lies beyond, I hope she wakes soon so I can fill in the gaps and find out what happened to her. The elevator doors open at the end of the hall, and Officer Davis who’s in charge of Brielle’s missing persons case steps out.
“She’s not awake yet,” I tell him before he has a chance to speak. He glances past me at the security guard sitting on a chair outside the ICU and frowns. “Protection. We have yet to hear the full story, but it seems she devised her disappearance to escape some bad people.”
“Who are these bad people?” he questions curiously.
“We’re not sure yet,” I sigh. “Anyway, I’m going to get some food and a bite to eat.”
He frowns in confusion. “Food and a bite to eat?”
“Oh, sorry, I’m so tired,” I say, normally I’d feel like a dick slipping up like that, but I’m too tired to care. “I mean…food and coffee. Strong coffee. If you want to speak to him, Gramps is in the waiting room.”
Before stepping into the elevator, I spot the bathroom sign and head that way instead when my bladder lurches suddenly. My lower back and abdomen still ache from Aaron and Xavier having their way with me…two nights ago. It seems longer. Even though I ache and am drowning in fatigue, my heart flutters at the thought of Xavier and Aaron coming to the hospital to see me. Me.
They see me and seem to care. I’ve convinced myself that they do; well…at least Xavier cares.
My urine doesn’t burn like it did a few hours ago, but I don’t think I’ll go near a penis ever again. Who am I kidding? Of course, I will. One touch, one look, one kiss will likely spellbind me into their beds, eager for that sensation of fullness and pleasure.
When I open the bathroom door, I notice a dubious-looking character lurking by the elevators, but I can’t move past him without him seeing me. The elevator pings, the door slides open, and he steps inside. The entire floor is dedicated to the ICU, so there’s not a lot of foot traffic up here because only a limited number of people are allowed to be there. So, why is that man here?
I watch the hall lantern to see which floor his elevator stops at and notice that it’s the fourth floor where the café and staff eatery are, the same place I was going. There are several other cafés here, but that café serves the best coffee, so Rosie tells me.
Dithering for a few seconds while I decide what to do, the second elevator door slides open, and I step inside, about to push the button for the fourth floor. The best thing about being a wallflower is that I rarely grab attention, so I can sleuth about, hopefully, without the dubious character noticing.
I grit my teeth when the elevator stops at the fifth floor for a woman in a wheelchair and her husband. I give them a shy smile and shuffle back to the corner. When the doors open on the fourth floor, the dubious man stands by the elevator, swiping on his phone, and I quickly slip past him without him seeing. Dressed in a blue suit, white shirt, and sunglasses, he stands out like a sore thumb even though we’re inside, and it’s not that bright here. Maybe he’s stoned or has eye problems.
I rush down the hall, following the arrowed sign directing me to the café. Once inside, I line up at the counter to order our coffees. Once I place my order, I enter the hall to check where the dubious man has gone. He walks this way, still with his head down, reading his phone.
In a panic, I sit at the small table in the corner and hide behind the plastic-covered menu. He’s possibly an innocent man who’s come to visit a loved one after work, even though it’s Saturday, but I, who is now suspicious of everyone, have decided he’s a bad person.
My phone pings loudly just as the dubious man walks in and inspects the glass cabinet of food, and I wonder how he can see the selection with those dark sunglasses on. I’m being ridiculous. He’s probably perfectly innocent.
My heart pounds rapidly as I expect to see a message from Gramps informing me that Bri is ready for visitors, but I’m wrong. It’s from Xavier.
Xavier: How r u, babe? I hope you’re ok xx
Me: I’m ok. (:
Xavier: Has Bri woken yet?
Me: Not yet.
I sigh and smile as a warm, fuzzy sensation travels through my body. As per usual, when it comes to the Leroux boys, I struggle internally to trust them, yet I have yet to see any evidence that they’re not trustworthy apart from their self-interested jockness.
When I look up from my phone, smiling smugly, my eyes lock with the dubious man whose sunglasses are gazing directly at me. He meets my smile with his crooked one as nerves tremble down my spine, and my mouth suddenly becomes dry as a wasteland. My shyness makes me virtually useless at conversing with strangers, and as he moves closer, I hold the menu over my face again and shrink into my seat.
I sense him breezing past my table, carrying a repugnant stink of cigarettes and body odor, but I’m too frozen to turn around to see where he went. I tell myself that he’s just a creepy man in sunglasses, possibly praying for a lonely girl like me. The barista indicates that our coffees is ready, and I precariously rise from my seat with two packets of sandwiches and, with my head low, grab the coffee cups. As I turn around, my eyes strike the shaded man sitting at a table with a second man who’s just as odious as he is. The second man grins cockily, aware of how intimidating he is and enjoying me shaking in my boots.
People surround me, but I feel utterly alone and fearful of making a scene. I move my short legs as quickly as possible, carrying two cardboard cups of coffee and a bag with sandwiches. If I need to, I’ll drop these coffees and run.
As my shoes squeak along the linoleum, slow, heavy steps follow behind, but I don’t dare slow to look back. The police officer investigating Bri’s case is up in the ICU, so I need to get to him fast before they catch up with me.
I arrive at the elevators and panic to find all four are in use, so I press the button and glance back to see that I am right. The guy in shades is walking causally my way. He’s in no hurry because he knows he can run faster and is much stronger than me. Besides, I’m on the fourth floor, and there’s no way out from the elevators and stairs.
Just as he walks around the bend into the waiting area, the elevator closest to me opens. Luckily, three people are inside and are going up to the next floor. I quickly nip inside, and the man in shades stares at me as the doors close.
My heart thuds against my ribcage as my hands turn icy cold, even though they’re clasping hot coffee cups. Since my hands are busy, I ask a woman to press the button for my floor. As the elevator moves upwards, I imagine the shady man running up the stairs to greet me when I arrive.
I breathe a sigh of relief when the doors open, and he’s not there in the foyer. As soon as I spot Officer Davis down the hall standing outside the ICU speaking to the security guard, I call out to him.
“Good, you’re here,” he says, stepping toward me.
I barely hear what he says. “There’s a man. Two men. Down in the café,” I pant, stumbling over my words. “I think they’re here to cause harm.”
His eyebrows drop low over his eyes as he gazes past me. “Where?”
“Fourth floor. Two men in suits. One is wearing sunglasses,” I tell him. “I think they’re following me.”
“Okay,” he nods, and I suspect he thinks I’m being paranoid. “I’ll take a look.”
“In the café,” I repeat as Gramps pokes his head out from the ICU waiting room.
“Oh, Em,” Gramps sounds relieved and takes the coffees from my hands.
“I have sandwiches in my bag,” I tell him.
“Bri’s ready,” Gramps says as I watch the Officer Davis stroll down the hall to the elevators.
“Huh?” My eyes fixed on the officer until I couldn’t see him anymore, and then I panicked when I imagined the shady man turning up just as the officer disappeared. At least the security guard is still here.
“She’s ready,” the ICU nurse says cheerily.
“She’s ready?” I ask, gasping in apprehension. “Bri is ready?”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to tell you,” Gramps states flatly. “Bri’s awake and wants to see us, Em.”
“Oh my gosh,” I cry out, nervously whisking my glasses off to clean the lenses.
“We can give you ten minutes,” the nurse states, glancing between Gramps and me. “Both of you can come in.”
“Okay,” I say, taking a deep breath and following behind the nurse. Once through the swing doors, I expect Gramps to be on my heels, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I push open the swing door, assuming Gramps has returned to the ICU waiting room to offload the coffees onto the table. But instead, he’s leaning against the wall with his phone pressed to his ear.
“You go in,” he says seriously. “You need to speak to your sister alone, but I’ll update your grandma.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, stunned. “He hasn’t seen her for weeks.”
Grandma answers the call, and when he turns his back on me, it dawns on me what this is about. He wants me to question Bri about her disappearance, and she’s more likely to be brutally honest with me than with my grandparents in the room.
Reluctantly, I shut the swing doors behind me and find the nurse walking quickly through a room with machines hooked up to beds. Daunted by sight and smells of patients in their beds on the brink of death, it suddenly hits me how serious this is and the hell we have been through over the past few weeks.