AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

20| HOSPITAL TRIPS AND IV DRIPS

The woman at the front desk seemed to perk up more when she returned. Callas could tell that Reed was uncomfortable with the way she was speaking to him, especially the way she was looking at him. He awkwardly took a piece of paper from her when they left to go to the elevator, Reed opened the folded paper up and Callas could see a few numbers jotted down with a love heart next to the name 'Amy'. He scrunched it up and shoved it in his pocket, but Callas knew he wanted to throw it away immediately, or burn it at least. He was never one who liked it when he was advanced on, for some reason it made him uncomfortable. Callas assumed it was because he liked to be traditional.

When they made it to the elevator, Reed pressed the button and ran his hand through his messy, curly hair, his fingers getting caught in the knots. As they stepped in, Callas watched a nurse roll one of the patients out on a wheelchair, the man smiled kindly at Callas before he continued to walk down, talking to the old man in the chair. She stepped in and turned around, facing the doors, watching them close. Reed noticed her hood still up and yanked it down, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to his warm body as they watched the number on the small screen above the doors count up.

The doors opened to one of the floors, they walked out and looked at the side on the wall telling them where the room would be. Callas didn't like hospitals. They always freaked her out knowing that people might never leave the building or their room, dying in the same spot that they see day in and day out. She shuddered. She quickened her steps, making sure to keep up with Reed, who was looking around trying to find the room number. He turned down a corridor abruptly, causing Callas to let out a yelp, backing up to follow him. The entire building was like a maze, each turn looked the same as the last one and it was impossible to navigate.

It wasn't long before Reed gave up and asked one of the nurses. She brought them to one of the rooms and smiled lightly before leaving to go back to what she was doing before. Reed turned around to Callas and offered her a small smile. He turned back and knocked on the door. A man—who Callas could only assume was Mr Blanchard—opened the door, dark bags under his eyes, a few cuts and bruises littered his skin as he stepped aside to allow them to enter. Callas walked in slowly, looking around the room before her eyes landed on Henry. She heard Mr Blanchard ask to speak to Reed outside, allowing Callas and Henry to be alone to talk.

Henry was hooked up to a few machines, some of which Callas had never seen before, or knew the purpose of them. He had an IV drip in his left arm, a pulse oximeter was attached to his forefinger on his right hand. Instead of a shirt, he had bandages wrapped around his torso. He had a few cuts on his face and a sad look plastered across it as well. He let out a sigh, struggling to sit up as she got closer to him. This definitely wasn't food poisoning. Callas opened her mouth to speak, but, evidently, nothing came out.

"C—"

Callas stepped forward and wrapped her arms gently around his neck, trying to hug him. Henry relaxed and tried to wrap his arms around her waist, struggling as the wires stopped his arms from going very far. She pulled back and looked at him, frowning. He shook his head and motioned to the seat behind her. She looked back, dragging it closer, sitting on it before turning to look back at him. The food tray next to him, on the wheeling desk, had half eaten food and some bloodied tissues. She looked back over to him.

"I had a few nose bleeds." He shrugged, looking from the tissues to her.

"I thought you had food poisoning? That's what you told me."

Henry sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I didn't want you to worry."

"Henry," Callas started in a soft voice. "I'm going to worry regardless of what you tell me. You're my best friend, I'm not going to just forget that you're not okay." She shook her head.