|Eight|

•Week Three• (3)

(Is it obvious I've never really written mystery/horror before? Haha...)

"Please, Miss. Can we ride with our brother to the hospital?" I asked, giving her the best smile I could manage at the moment.

Ryan calmed down faster than I expected, and so now we were trying to get her to let us be with Jack.

She finally caved after 12 minutes of nagging from both of us, and soon enough, we were riding down a bumpy road in an ambulance.

We sat side-by-side next to Jack's unconscious body, and both held tightly to his hand.

I was honestly so scared. What if there wasn't a chance of survival for him? I shook my head, trying to clear the thought from my mind. Jack would be fine......

.........I swear to God he better be fine.

Ryan yawned, and I figured he was probably very tired. I was also tired. My wrists hurt and my body was covered in scabs, bruises, and scrapes.

I examined Ryan. He looked disheveled, his eyes were red and puffy from crying, but he looked mostly unharmed.
Except for.... Was that a rope burn?
His hands were blistered, and I wondered what had happened.
Looking at him more, I began to notice scratches on his arms, and even a deep cut running down his collarbone, which was mostly covered by his shirt. The cut didn't look like something made by a knife or a sharp object, no, it reminded me of an animal.

"Ry-" I began, gesturing to all his injuries. "Are you okay? What happened to you?"

Ryan noticed what I was looking at and shied away. "Oh, it's uh- embarrassing." He pulled his shirt up higher to try and hide the cut.

I raised an eyebrow. "Tell me what happened."

Ryan sighed, looking down at his blistered hands. "Well, what happened wa-"

He was interrupted by the ambulance stopping, and less than a moment later, the back doors were opened. Several nurses pulled the stretcher out and began to wheel it quickly into the hospital.

They were in so much of a hurry, I doubted they even noticed Ryan and I.

He took this as an opportunity to avoid my question, and slipped out of the back of the ambulance. I followed, deciding I'd ask him about it again later.

I just wanted to make sure that Cass hadn't done something to him, too, since she was so adamant about finding him.

We walked into the hospital, immediately being welcomed by several doctors and others rushing to Jack. They wheeled him to a room only a few doors down the hallway, and ignored Ryan and I.

Ryan was about to follow them into the room, but I stopped him. We needed to talk to someone at the front desk before going somewhere we aren't supposed to.

Ryan sighed, and reluctantly followed me to the desk where a guy much older than us was typing away at a keyboard.

"Excuse us, but our brother is in that room and w-" I was cut off by the man.

"No."

I could tell Ryan was triggered, so I put a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him down.
I needed to be there for him and let him know everything was going to be okay.

"But can't we just-" I tried again.

"No," he said, more forcefully.

"But our brother-"

"I don't care," he snapped. "I'm busy so leave."

Ryan opened his mouth to protest, obviously annoyed. I was angry, too, but I still didn't want to cause a scene.

Thank goodness, we didn't have to. A tall woman who looked very tired, but kind, smacked the man.

"Fred! Stop it, they're obviously worried about their brother. Show some sympathy at last," she scolded, before turning back to us.

"I'm sorry about him. He's a pain in the butt."

"Yeah, we gathered that," Ryan retorted, still irritated.

She pursed her lips. "So, who exactly are you here to see?"

"Um, Ja- I mean-" I stopped. It was probably okay to tell them his real name, right? I mean, they'd probably figure it out anyway. "Jack Metzger. We're his brothers."

"Uh-huh." She hummed, pushing Fred out of his seat. She then sat down and typed something down on the computer. Fred was obviously annoyed, but didn't say anything.

"And what are your names?" She asked after several minutes of staring at the screen.

A sick filling rose in my stomach. I didn't want to tell them Ryan's name, because whoever the killer was was obviously targeting him in some sick, tormenting way. He had to stay hidden in plain sight.

But...... Jack also needed us.

"Adam and Ryan Metzger," I said, and I was relieved that my voice didn't crack.

She nodded and smiled, pulling her eyes away from the monitor. "It's nice to meet you two, I'm Nova."

I returned her smile and so did Ryan, but I could tell his smile was fake. I brushed it off, though, because I couldn't judge Ryan when there wasn't a lot of things to smile about at the moment.

Her name was familiar, though. I swear it was in the back of my mind for some reason..... Nova...... Nova.....?

I didn't know why, maybe I just barely watched a TV show with someone named Nova? I was trying to remember when she interrupted my train of thought.

"I'm sorry, but we're experiencing some..... Difficulties and-"

Ryan perked up. "What kind of difficulties?"

She bit her lip, and avoided eye contact. "The doctors haven't seen this kind of...... Poison," she decided on saying, but quickly tried to reassure us. "Your brother will be absolutely fine, though! But, the thing is, only one visitor per patient."

Ryan and I exchanged worried glances.

I sighed. Ryan should be the one to stay with Jack. Besides, he'll most likely be the safest here.

"That's fine," I said. "Ryan can stay with him, right?"

Nova's smile came back. "Of course!"

Ryan was surprised, but only muttered a small "thank you" to me.

"You two are welcome to sit in our waiting room until Ryan is allowed entry to your brother's room." She fidgeted with her necklace that was a beautiful silver color. I couldn't pry my eyes from the gleaming chain, and I realized, neither could Ryan. I wondered why the silver was so mesmerizing.

Eventually, we went to the waiting room and sat down. Still, I wondered where I heard the name Nova.