Time Keeps Ticking

[April 24th, Thursday]

Awakening with fluttery eyes, a young man scanned his surroundings, seeing nothing but a white ceiling and half a dozen monitors around him. Wanting to sit up, the young man, Marcus, began to move, his hands weakly clasping the rails around him as he raised his head.

Recognizing the room as a hospital room, the monitors around showing his vitals and other information, Marcus was momentarily stunned until he felt his body covered with warmth. "You're awake! My baby boy!" A woman Marcus recognized as his mother spoke, her voice trembling with excitement and terror.

"Mom, that's a little tight…" Marcus whispered softly, his voice weak and steady as his arms wrapped around her, tightening as he briefly remembered recent events..

"Sorry!" she responded quickly, her body quickly moving away to get a good look at him. "How do you feel Marcus?" she asked, unsure how to proceed as she had much to say. Locking eyes with his mom, a tan woman with a mature yet adorable face that sported her curly auburn hair loosely tied into a braid that hung off her shoulder, Marcus smiled as he responded, "I'm alright…"

"Let me get the doctor to look at you ok? Then someone will come and ask you questions about what happened." She said, getting up to grab his doctor, only stopping by the door to look at him and say, "Your dad is still working, if everything with you is fine and good then you'd be able to come home in a couple of days minimum."

"I… see…" Marcus responded plainly, the room's silence being a catalyst for him to revisit events, one by one. Recalling what had occurred, the moment of the girl's death surfaced in his mind followed by Damian's. Thinking back to his final words, as well the shot that ended his life, his hand clenched as he thought about how stupid he was at the time. "I'm too weak!" he grumbled softly, his face developing onto a rageful glare.

Luckily his mental review of that night was interrupted by a knock on the frame of his door, a male doctor walking into the room with a shorter female nurse. Seeing them enter, Marcus took a few deep breaths and forcefully calmed himself down. Raising his head to the doctor that was followed by the nurse and his mother, Marcus complied as simple checks were run on him for the next couple of minutes until the doctor gave the by next week as they want to continue monitor his situation.

"Now Marcus, I wanted to inform you of the events and choices taken when you were brought here." The doctor said as he took off his glasses, his silvery eyes meeting Marcus's own as he continued somberly, "You and your friend were brought here after being put into life threatening situations. Unfortunately your friend didn't make it and was announced as dead moments after he arrived here.

Our ER doctors did the best they could to stabilize him but the condition of his head was so severe that he was unsaveable. You, on the other hand, were resuscitated in transport but in need of a new heart as we were unable to repair the damage done to it."

Hanging the glasses on the vest pocket of his doctor's jacket, he stated softly, with a practiced tone, "We had to do an organ transplant with you and your friend, his heart taking the place of your own. We needed permission from both sets of parents and with agreement the surgery took place mere minutes after you both arrived. I'm sorry to inform you of this but we truly tried everything." The doctor finished with what he said as he slowly left the room with his nurse in tow.

"Marcus, we did what we had to in order to save you…" Marcus's mother said, wanting to continue but noticed Marcus lost in thought, his eyes glazed over as a sad expression marred his face and tears slowly streamed down his cheeks.

"Forget it… just rest alright? I'll be right outside waiting for your father if you need me" She said, squeezing his hand supportingly before leaving him to rest and think alone.

…

..

.

As seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, Marcus replayed events over and over in his head. He felt an unhealthy amount of guilt for the result of things as he thought continuously about why he had been so greedy. He was the reason they had gotten caught in the end, his greed for revealing the truth of the city turning just another hang out session with one of his closest friends into a final meeting, witnessing his death as the result of his actions.

Interrupting his self destructive thinking, shouting drowned out his thoughts. Turning his head to the source, the doorway in which his parents stood beyond, he recognized a pair of voices being the parents of Damian.

Hearing things like he was the death of their son, and how bad of an influence he had become on Damian, Marcus covered his head with his pillows, only stifling the shouts as he sobbed softly, heart rate increasing as a sadness from deep within emerged from his being.

"I'm sorry…" the only thing he was able to say as he continued to replay that night's events in his head.

…

..

.

"Knock Knock" a raspy voice said, rounding Marcus from his trance like state as he turned his head from the tv monitor he had been watching.

Not recognizing the older gentleman, he grew concerned as his eyes darted over his body and quickly settled on the holstered pistol resting under his left arm. Instantly thinking back to the traumatic events, his heart rate began to increase rapidly as he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Relax kid, I'm a good guy," The man said, as he showed him a badge, stepping closer as he did. Reading it carefully, Marcus relaxed ,and began to calm down after recognizing the badge the man held.

"You work for that private detective place… I forget the name"

"Grey Path," The man said, causing Marcus to get a spark of remembrance as he nodded. Pulling up a chair from the wall, The man took a seat beside Marcus's bed and looked at him. "I'm Detective O'Donnell, you can call me Detective or Detective Rhys, it's my first name. I'm going to ask you about what happened 3 nights ago-"

"3 nights? I've been asleep for that long?" Marcus questioned in a confused tone.

"Yes, it's been three days since the incident. Now, Can you tell me what you did after you and Damian left school that day? I want to see where your version of events can help me and my team solidify our own thoughts on everything."

"I see…" Marcus said softly as he began to narrate what had occurred three nights before. After reminiscing about the events, taking nearly an hour to do so since he was asked questions to clarify some things for clarity or to see if it was remembered correctly, Rhys stood up as he prepared to leave the room.

"Thank you for cooperating with our investigation Marcus," He said as closed the mini notebook he carried with him. Stretching his arms as he took a few steps towards the door, Rhys looked back at Marcus and stood there silently for a moment before he was noticed.

"Was there anything else Detective Rhys?" Marcus asked curiously.

Sighing to himself, not knowing what Marcus planned to do after this meeting, he asked in turn. "Have you received a new phone yet? I want to give you my number in case you find yourself in a bad spot."

"I was told my mom had another surgery on me as I was asleep. It was a non-invasive surgery to get one of those neuro chips put into my head."

"Ahh, The new age tech from a few years back… the thing where you can access the same stuff as a phone but through the eyes right?" Rhys said with a surprised tone, he knew a bit of stuff about it because Yuna spoke nonstop about getting one when she's saved up enough money. For Marcus to have the procedure done so quickly when it cost a small fortune to get, he was truly surprised.

"Have you tried using it?" He asked a follow up question, which was rewarded with a nod of Marcus's head.

"You can add me as a contact. Just give me a call anytime you need to, either about the incident or if you just need fresh insight on stuff. Either me or my partner can meet you and help out."

"Are you sure?" Marcus asked in a surprised tone of his own. He was skeptical as he listened but Rhys seemed to genuinely want to help him.

"Mhmmm '' Rhys nodded, to which Marcus added him as a contact and also gave a direct line to his office. "Just call or shoot me a message if anything comes up, anything at all." He said as he waved and left the room, nodding to Marcus's parents as they walked past him into the hospital room.

Taking a stride through the hallway, he wondered what would become of Marcus, he had read his academic file and knew he had a good shot at succeeding in this city, but these types of events change people. Some take it and use it as fuel for the fire for achieving great things in life while others crumble under the pressure of surviving said event, falling deep into the darkness as either revenge or release from the pain become their only options.

As to which path Marcus would choose, he didn't know. He just knew he wanted to try and prevent another bright kid from dipping into the dark side of this city and waiting to get taken away by its heavy current.