Chapter 52 Bloody and Injured
Ariel
The hospital still felt so ominous to me even though this was my what… tenth time coming here? “Hey… Miss Bennett," the only nurse I'd seen on the premises since I started coming here, Tasha, said with her signature eerie smile as I approached the front desk.
“Hey.” I responded with an awkward smile of mine.
“I'm guessing you're here to see your mum."
I nodded. “Yes.” Why else would I be here?
“Well, give me a minute. I’ll go inform her that you’re around.”
“Inform her?” I echoed, my eyes following her movements around the desk till she was in front of me. “Yes. She didn’t have to complain about boredom for us to know she was itching for something to do, so we created a space for her in the garden out back to grow plants and walk around. She said she loves to plant.”
“Oh.” I cocked my eyebrow at that, both confused and pleasantly surprised. I would have never expected that from them at all in a million years, especially since it was common knowledge between us that they were practically holding her hostage.
“You can come with me.” She signalled for me to follow her as she led the way to wherever the garden was, and I followed behind her, my brain pondering if I should say thank you now or after I'd seen my mum.
I settled for the latter.
“Right…” I started again, though after a moment's silence of just walking down hallways, the door leading out back now visible at the end of the current hallway we were in. “Is Vincent… Mr Russo here?”
She came to a sudden stop right there in the middle of the hallway, her head whipping around to face me with all traces of a smile gone from her face. “Why are you asking?”
“Uh… I…” I took a step back, her deep, intense gaze scaring the shit out of me. “I… saw his car outside. Or at least I think it's his car. Black, tinted, Mercedes. I-is it not?”
She looked past me like she was going to go confirm what I had just said before her face suddenly morphed into that smile. I took another step back, even more flabbergasted.
“Right. Black, tinted and Mercedes. It's a pretty common car, though, so I can understand your confusion.”
She whipped her head back around and continued her walk towards the door, leaving me speechless in the middle of the hallway. Wait, what?!
“So he's not here?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Then why hasn't he responded to my message for four days now?
I mean, considering our past conversations on the burner since this whole deal thing started, that was very unlike him, no?
My mum was very excited to see me when we got to the garden space Tasha had told me about behind the building. Honestly, I wouldn't call it a garden considering how bare it was but at least it was something and garden enough to keep my mum entertained.
“Come here.” I went straight into my mum's arms, hugging her tightly as she cooed words of endearment into my ear and I had no idea someone else had crept up behind me until I heard the words. “Who are you?”
That alone nearly made me jump out of my skin but when I turned to see a teenage girl with a sharp knife raised at a ninety-degree angle directly at me, yeah, you can imagine the fear and uncertainty that went through me.
“Iris, drop the knife.” I heard Tasha say with a sigh before I could form any words. Iris? She's not an imposter?!
Tasha walked past me to grab the knife from the girl before turning to face me. “Sorry about that. She's a new hire and always on edge.”
“A new hire?”
“Yes. To help with things around the hospital but most especially your mum.”
She's helping with mum?! I glanced at my mum to see her oddly relaxed, like she was used to the girl already. She nodded when she saw me looking.
“She has been of great help to me.”
“Since when?” I blurted out after a second.
“Huh?” Both my mum and Tasha echoed. “Since when did she get hired or start helping out?”
“Uh… about three weeks ago. Your sister knows about it.”
“Yes.” Mum confirmed.
Still my gaze wandered to the girl again, my unease remaining present as she held my gaze. I took in the scar she had on her right cheek and her messy red hair. She looked really young.
“Okay. Iris, help Mrs Bennett freshen up. This is her daughter…” Tasha pointed to me. “Ariel Bennett and she's here to visit.”
She gave no response as she walked towards Mum to take her from my arms. I tightened my arms around her instantly. “Uh… I'll do it.”
“What do I do?" I said, a second later, when I realised that I actually had no idea what to do.
"Thanks, baby.” My mom said with a bright smile minutes later as I led her to her room after helping her freshen up. Apparently what that had meant was cleaning her hands of dirt from planting and changing the random clothes she’d had on to a normal hospital gown.
I nodded and sat beside her on the bed once she was laid back on the bed properly. “Have you been doing alright? Sorry for not coming sooner… things have been hectic.”
She waved my apology away. “Come on. I understand. You've been busy with your music and the interviews; I see it on TV. Besides, Chloe had been paying me a lot of visits.”
I let out a chuckle at the facial expression she made. "They're treating you well here though, right?” I asked as a second thought.
“Yes. It's been great here, though..." I perked up when she glanced away, hesitation evident in her eyes.
“What?”
“It's just… it's a little weird. Chloe did tell me it's because of privacy and all that you transferred me here but i mean…” She leaned forward and looked at the door like someone might walk in at any moment. “...I haven't seen any other patient here since I got transferred here.”
“Well…” she added almost immediately. "...There was that guy the other day but that's all. I haven't seen any other doctors, nurses or just people and sometimes, it feels like something… weird is going on here. I can't really place my hands on it.”
“There was a guy?” That had registered the most out of all she said.
“Yes.” She perked up, eyes wide. “About four… five days ago. A guy rushed him in, bloody and injured real bad. They didn't know I saw them.”
Bloody and injured?
The door burst open before i could ask any more questions, though, with the girl from earlier, Iris walking in.
She had in her hand a tray of food and looked at the both of us warily before placing it on the makeshift table attached to the bedside. "Dinner".
I huffed quietly, thrown off by her attitude.
I don't like her.