II - Paige
“Where am
I?”
Paige
roused to the sound of Henry’s voice, lifting her head from where it had fallen
against Charlie’s soft brown locks. She
didn’t recall falling asleep.
“We’re at
the hospital, Henry. Don’t you
remember?”
Josh was
leaning over the old man, still pale from blood-loss in the hospital bed.
“The
hospital… oh yes…” Henry replied, his expression no less confused, “something
about a brain tumour, wasn’t it…”
“What?”
Josh asked, sounding shocked, “You have cancer?”
“That’s
why I’m here, isn’t it?” Henry replied, struggling to sit up, now, “It’s the
only explanation for the hallucinations and the…” he looked confused again,
“Who are you people anyway? Did you
find me at the apartments or…”
“Henry,”
Josh said, his voice as calm as he could make it, more soothing than Paige
would have thought possible, “I don’t know what you think has been happening,
but that’s not how we got here, not you, not the three of us. We came here together, remember? We left the apartments because of the
monsters and you wanted to try and see if there were people here.”
“Nonsense,”
Henry spluttered, “that’s all nonsense – the hallucinations.”
“It’s not
nonsense. I’m not saying it makes any
sense at all, but it is what happened and it’s why we are here. You’ve been hurt, maybe badly. You said something about a nurse before, but
all we know is that you were lying here bleeding out through an
IV tube. We stayed to watch you.”
Henry
didn’t just look confused now, Paige realised, but scared too. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for
him. It was one thing to face the night
they had experienced so far, but another to face it in such stubborn disbelief.
“It’s
true, Henry,” she said, hoping that he might believe her more than the boy who
had punched him. Charlie stirred by her
side.
“I… I… I
don’t believe any of it.”
“Then we
can’t make you,” Josh said, sadly, returning to his seat, “but I don’t think we
should stay here much longer, any of us.
We’ve all seen things here, dangerous things, and clearly something
wants to harm you, Henry. I don’t know
if it will do any good, but we need to try somewhere else, see if we can find
any help.” He gave an ironic smile, “It’s what you were saying all along.”
“Are we
leaving?” Charlie asked.
Paige glanced
down at him and gave him her best reassuring smile. “Maybe,” she said, “we’ll see.”
“I can’t
leave here,” Henry blustered, sounding stronger by the second as his anger
grew, “I can’t just self-discharge. I’m
here for a reason!”
Josh
sighed, “You’re here because you suggested we came here. Now I’m taking the lead and I suggest we try
the city centre again. There has to be
someone else about, right?”
“But,
but, but-”
Josh
stood up, wincing for a moment as he flexed his shoulder, then started towards
the door to the corridor.
“Are you
coming, Paige, Charlie?” he asked.
Charlie
bounded to his feet and Paige glanced at him in surprise. The boy seemed to have gained so much energy
since the incident in the corridor and she wasn’t sure why. It was like he had a sense of purpose in the
midst of all this madness.
“Come on,
then Paige,” he said and he almost smiled.
“But
where will we go?” she asked, “And what about Henry?”
“If Henry
wants to stay we can’t make him come with us,” Josh replied, “as for where
we’ll go, I guess we just take the main road down the hill towards the centre
and see how far we get.”
Paige
stared him for a moment, uncertain, then glanced back at Henry in his bed. The old man was looking at them both
fearfully, but Josh was right. They
couldn’t make him go with them, not if he didn’t want to believe in what was
happening to them.
“Alright,”
she said, taking to her feet, “lead the way.”
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