She told me

Chapter 21

When I finally get off the couch, the first rays of sunlight are streaming in through the window, and I'm exhausted. I drag myself to the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee because there's no way I'm going to make it through the day without it. To be fair, I'm not even sure I'm going to make it through the day with it.

The only thing I know for sure is that I'm done. It was stupid of me to think that I could even hope to stop a serial killer. Cathy had chosen the wrong person to warn because no matter how much she screamed, yelled, and shrieked, I could not save them, not a single one. And now Mrs. Hayes was dead or at least as good as dead and it was all my fault. I was supposed to keep an eye on Cory, and I had royally screwed up. I was mad at Mia, but the fact was that she was probably the only reason both Mrs. Hayes and Cory were still alive.

I decided that the least I could do was go to the hospital and see if Cory was allowed to have visitors. I down the cup of coffee, wincing at the bitter taste and go upstairs to shower and change.

Ten minutes later, I lock my front door and walk down the steps to my bike which Mia had apparently dropped off. I pause as I realise that I hadn't left a note informing my parents of my whereabouts. I swing my leg over my bike as I come to the conclusion that it absolutely does not matter, I'll probably be home before them anyway. I try to enjoy the ride to the hospital, particularly as the roads are pretty empty and the weather is bordering on perfect but unfortunately my mind has other plans, namely running through every possible way this whole killing spree could end or if it would ever end.

I pull into the hospital parking lot and get off my bike. I buy a simple card from the gift store and after talking to a nurse, make my way to Cory's room. I'm right outside the door when it opens and Mia runs straight into me, nearly throwing me off balance.

She straightens up as soon as she sees me, "hey".

"Hey"

"You going in to see Cory?"

"This IS his room, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I was just asking".

"Cool, I'm going to go in now".

She nods and moves aside, "I thought you might want to know, there's a fifty percent chance Mrs. Hayes will pull through".

I pause, "thank you" then I walk into the room, leaving her outside.

Cory is sitting up in the bed, eating pudding out of a cup, "can I just say I find it extremely weird that you were defending her like crazy when we thought she was a serial killer and you're fighting with her now when we know for sure that she's not a murderer".

"I'd prefer it if you did not say that actually".

Cory shrugs, "what are you going to do? Give me another concussion?"

"Don't tempt me" I place the card on the table by his bed, "so how are you feeling?"

"Everything hurts but I really thought I would never feel anything again so I'm going to take this as a win".

"What happened exactly?"

"Well, you texted me to come meet up and by the time I figured out it wasn't you, it was too late".

"Did you see their face? The person who tried to kill you?"

"They wore a ski mask the entire time. All I know is that they chased me through the park and then I caught sight of Mia cycling past and it kind of threw me off because I thought Mia was the one chasing me with a fucking kitchen knife and that's when they got the drop on me".

"So, you don't remember anything else?"

"I got a few jabs in before they knocked me out".

"Anything a little more concrete?"