|Eight|

•Week Four• (3)

I told my mom the plot of my story and now she's concerned. Please excuse any spelling/grammar mistakes you find. Anyway enjoy

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Alba called me to let me know she was here, and I quickly went to the main part of the building to get her.

Nova's body was gone, which was good since I didn't want Alba to know exactly what was going on. She would freak out, and I have other things to deal with.
The best course of action was getting her to look after Jack and Ryan and make sure they didn't try to continue looking for the killer.

Was that considered manipulation? No, it was for a good cause, right? It didn't matter if I told Alba the whole truth, it doesn't matter if I lie to her about everything. I'm doing what's right by using her.

"Adam!" Alba waved to me, quickly walking over.
"Where's Jack?! Is he okay?"

I lowered my voice to try and calm her down. "It's okay, everything's fine. It was just an accident."

I began leading her over to room 330 whilst reassuring her that Jack was okay. I was lying, though. Of course he wasn't okay. Sure, the poison was gone, but the killer wasn't.

The less Alba knew, the better.

I opened the door and Alba immediately pushed past me, rushing over to Jack. She gently sat down next to him and smiled. He smiled, too, albeit a little confused.

"Alba?" He asked slowly, looking from her to me and then back to her again. "What are you doing here?"

She held tightly to his hand, her smile turning into a small frown as she looked at him.

"What happened to you?" She asked, concerned as she gently stroked his cheek where a bruise was forming.

"I...." Jack paused, I could see pain in his eyes. I knew he didn't want to tell Alba that the cuts, bruises, scrapes and other things were self inflicted. But he also didn't want to lie to her.

Thank goodness, Ryan interrupted, probably noticing the same thing I did. "What are you doing here?" He asked Jack's question again since Alba didn't answer it.

Jack shied away from her and she pulled her hand back.

"Adam called me. Why? Don't I have the right to know when Jack's in the hospital?"

Ryan and Jack's attention snapped back to me, and I could tell they were angry.

"What were you thinking?" Jack said, staring straight into me.

I knew he wouldn't understand. This was all for their safety, and obviously, they couldn't get that. They never think ahead. So what if I brought Alba into all of this? One small sacrifice..... But was it really a sacrifice if I didn't care?

.......What am I doing?

I pushed that thought away. I was protecting my brothers, and if that took putting others in danger, so be it.

"Alba, could you leave for a second?" Ryan asked, still not tearing his eyes from mine.

She looked very confused, but still let go of Jack's hand. "Well, okay...."

And once she was out of the room, I winced, preparing myself for the backlash.

"What were you thinking?!" Jack said, more loudly this time. "Do you have any idea how much danger she's in now?!"

Ryan attempted to calm Jack down, but it wasn't working very well since he was just as angry.

"The killer knows our EVERY move. What if they get her?! Did you not once stop to think about that?!"

I sighed a little, quiet so they couldn't hear me. "So?" I said, surprising myself, but I continued even when Jack's expression changed to shock. "Don't you get it? People are going to die. We can't stop the killer, but at least I can stop them from hurting you two."

His confusion changed to a hurtful look. "But if the killer hurts her, I'll be hurt."

He'd get over it eventually. I wish they could see things from my perspective, I might've dragged Alba into this, but who's to say the killer would even go after her?

...... The killer probably would, but that's besides the point. Did it really matter? Did anyone's life really matter  more than the safety of Jack and Ryan?

No. They were all small sacrifices, really. Insignificant lives that were all doomed from the start. I wasn't trying to stop the killer because of the victims, I realized that now, the only reason I'm going after the killer was for Ryan. I couldn't care less about the others. It was all for these two, and still they couldn't understand.

It's really a pity, but I had to continue on with the plan. They'll stay with Alba until I found the killer, or the killer goes after Alba and I'll find the killer that way. Either way worked for me, Jack and Ryan wouldn't be happy, but I assume they'll be a lot less happy if they were dead.

Ryan's expression slowly changed, and I could tell he knew what I was feeling. He was like that a lot of the time.

"Please," he said. "We can do this together, you don't need to put more lives in danger."

I took a deep breath, tired of arguing with them and myself.
"We can't do this together. We never could."
Jack flinched as I spoke, tears threatening.
"You two will get hurt, and I can't do that again."

"You're a fucking coward," Jack snapped through his tears. "It was always 'For Ryan', remember? We were working together and it was great. But now you're leaving us? Just like that?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but he continued, interrupting me.

"Your sick plan was to tie Alba into this as some sort of distraction or sacrifice for the killer?" He asked, and I knew he wanted an answer. He wanted me to explain to him what I was doing, so that maybe, maybe he could be wrong about me. But he was right.

"Yes," I said, looking away.

"Get out."

That surprised Ryan and I.
I didn't move, which made Jack even more furious.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!" He screamed at me, his tears turning hot and violent. "FUCKING STAY AWAY FROM US!"

That one hurt, but I had to keep my cool.

Ryan was immediately concerned, and gently pulled Jack into a hug. Jack's crying was muffled now, but I could still hear him screaming at me to go away.

I wanted to join the hug, but I knew I couldn't. I sighed and left the room, immediately taking a deep breath once I left their presence.

They'll understand soon, wouldn't they?

"What's going on?" Alba asked, surprising me. We could both still hear Jack's pained cries, and she looked worried because of it.

I smiled a little. "Everything's perfectly fine, he's just letting out some of that extra emotion. You can go in and see him now. I just need some fresh air."

She slowly nodded, and a part of me feared she didn't believe my explanation. But she still went into the room without questioning anything.

And since that was finally over with....
I pulled out one of the nurse's keys that I pocketed, quickly locking the door to Jack's hospital room. It was just an extra precaution to make sure they wouldn't follow me.

Then, I started to make my way to room 100, carelessly throwing the key in a garbage.

It will all be worth it in the end
I reassured myself.

(Adam's got some issues he needs to work out....)