Chapter 101 The Monster
Theron’s Point of View
“You can’t be so sure.” I finally whispered when I was able to control my beating heart, there must be some other explanation for this—something that isn’t love, but I will figure it out later. “But I will take these suggestions seriously…” My eyes flickered from the notes she scribbled down. “And give me your phone.”
Lola glanced at me weirdly, but didn’t protest. She searched for her phone in her pocket and brought it out, handing it over to me.
I could see the hesitation written all over her face.
“Doesn’t this count as bullying?” she queried, and I handed the phone back to her. “If it’s bullying, you should report me then…put your password in.” I urged her, and she rolled her eyes before collecting it.
“You told me to give you the phone, but you didn’t say what it is for.” She grumbled under her breath, but that was none of my business.
Lola was quite annoying, even more annoying than Eden, but she seemed to have some sort of warmth to her; it was a friendly and welcoming energy.
It makes even a stranger relax with you… she must get along with all her patients. “Here.” She stretched her hands, and I picked up the phone, going to her call logs.
“I hope you are not installing some monitoring apps on my phone.” She panicked, and my lips curved into a smirk.
“You have no relevance to me,” I answered back before returning the phone to her. “That’s my number, you should text me. I would like to update you on my progress, and if I need more help, I could easily reach out to you without waiting to get to the office.”
“If you need my help, you should take my number, not the other way around.” She seemed confused.
“I am your boss.” I reminded her. “Now, you may leave my office.”
“Is this how you are at home? You should be more considerate of people working under you, sir.” She added that she just called me inconsiderate in a polite manner, but I wasn’t offended.
“I will only be considerate to whom I want to be consider…” I tapped my hands on the table. “You are on your way to earn your consideration, now, be gone.”
Just as she opened pushed back her chair, and we heard the emergency fire alarm. Lola and I were quiet as I wondered if there was a fire and how serious the fire was.
But seconds later, we heard a panicked voice over from the built-in speakers.
“Code Silver! Code Silver! All staff take cover while the security team initiates control.”
Cold silver meant what again? Armed violence, isn’t it? I jumped out of my chair; there is someone who is holding a gun or something that could cause any potential harm to us.
Eden… My brain screamed at me… was it a shooter, is the person shooting at random, or is it just threatening people?
Where is Eden? Is she safe? My legs moved as I headed for the door in a hurry.
“Boss, where are you going?” Lola’s panicked voice filled the air, and I turned back towards her, her eyes shaking from fear.
“Stay here.” I ordered fiercely, “Lock yourself inside, and only open when you hear my voice.”
Without spending any more minutes in there, I left the office, my legs moved as I tried desperately to convince myself that she was going to be fine… it is Eden, she was always fine no matter what.
But then I soon start to pick up a pace, running along the panicked nurses and doctors trying to get their patients and themselves to safety.
“Hey!” I grabbed one of the nurses who was running. “Have you seen Eden?”
“No!”
I ran towards the reception area, anywhere I could find anyone at all who could tell me where the hell my wife was.
“Have you seen Eden?” I yelled this time around, the voice that broke out of me didn’t seem to be my own, it was the voice of the monster, its vices slipping out of the cage that I had locked it in.
“No, I haven’t.” The nurse trembled from fear. I let her go, following up the stairs, meeting some other people who were running down.
“Have you seen Eden?” I asked, grabbing the nurse’s arms, shaking her also, so she could be focused on me.
“Dr. Eden is on the fourth floor; I saw her there before the shooting started.” The nurse cried in a panicked voice, trembling even. “I think she went to evacuate a patient there.”
“The shooting started on the fourth floor?” I was desperate at this point, and the nurse nodded hurriedly.
“Yes, we first heard the gunshot in one of the rooms on the fourth floor.” I released her quickly, running as fast as I could across the stairs.
The shooting started on the fourth floor, but for some reason, that was where my wife was, and no one had seen her on the ground floor, which meant she was still on the fourth floor.
Please, God…
I know you shouldn’t be wasting your time listening to the prayers of someone like me, but if there is anyone out there who could listen to my earnest prayers, let me get there, and she is fine.
I need her to be fine.
The pain in my chest started again, but this time it was more intense with every single step that I took, my breath was hot against my own skin, any further andi might even breathe fire. I reached the fourth floor, getting out to the hallway, I saw three people in the very quiet passageway.
My heart is pounding aggressively in my chest.
Two of them were women, one of them was dressed like a patient on her knees crying her eyes out, while the other one was wearing a green scrub, lying on the floor with a man towering over her and a gun in his hands.
That was the shooter…
My eyes raked through them, trying to identify them, but the moment I recognized the doctor on the floor, my eyes widened as they settled on the blood that was streaming out of her nose and the ends of her mouth.
I felt time stop, and everything seemed to slow down in my vision. My heart was about to explode; I could feel the adrenaline rush; it was almost physical.
The fear and the pain in my chest soon became a raging anger; the only thing I could see was red.
I heard just one sentence in my head from the monster that I had kept locked in for years, the voice that I had fought against for so many years. The very monster I had rebelled against had slipped out of the cage I had kept him in, and I simply let him; he took form, merged, and became one with me.
And it told me just one thing.
The one thing that I was going to make sure of.
It told me to kill him.
“No!” Eden noticed me first, her swollen eyes went wide with concern, and I lunged at him, my fingers hooking his sides as I tackled him to the ground, but the gun went off anyway, pain searing through me.