Chapter Eighty-One: If at First you Don't Succeed... Please don't try again

Murder: the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Being in a hospital was always a strange experience. On one level, there was tonnes of people constantly walking the halls. Patients, doctors, nurses, specialists, janitors, countless people wandered the halls and yet I always felt like I was alone in this hospital room, like there was something isolating about my room, that the walls created a fish tank mentality.

My mind wandered to how sanitary hospitals were. They had antibiotics and sanitisers, everyone wore gloves and white lab coats, and the building itself smelt like latex and allergy friendly cleaners. I assumed with the amount of times people washed their hands, germs wouldn't stand a chance, but if someone came in with a deadly disease how many of us would be screwed.

My thoughts of the Indiana Jones melting of the face scene was interrupted by someone's voice at the door. "Landon?"

I shifted my eyes from the ceiling to the door, shocked by who was there. "A-Alexis?" I sat up quickly, ignoring the mild discomfort I felt in my arm, and tried to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep. I didn't want to go through that nightmare again.

She turned bashful as she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and stepped into the room. "Am I welcome?" she asked as she stood at the foot of my bed.

I cleared my throat, "Yeah. Of course."

Alexis rocked on her heels as she leant on the railing, a shadow of a smile on her lips. "I know we haven't spoken much lately," she admitted.

Smiling seemed easier for me then for her as I leant back on my pillows. "All it takes is a heart failure to get you back," I joked. It wasn't well received. At the sight of her sudden guilty look, I added, "I wouldn't worry about it. You're getting settled in. It's a lot to do." It didn't ease her expression. I reached an arm out for her, "Hey, come here."

Slowly, she stepped around the bed, sitting by my chest as she faced me. "It's good to see you," I admitted. She smiled as she blindly reached a hand out, finding and holding my hand. She was warm.

"You really worried me," she confessed, looking down to our hands, "Estelle called me. And Bonnie. And Ava. I even got one from your parents, weirdly enough."

I scoffed, looking back to the ceiling as I chuckled, "Not that I'm not happy to see you, Alexis, but how did you get here? I thought you didn't have the money to do much travelling."

Alexis nodded, "I had some savings aside, but the girls put in the rest to get me here. Every time I tried to call something was going with you." She tightened her hold on my hand. "I needed to make sure you were okay."

A wave of warmth filled me hearing her say that, grinning like an idiot as she rested our hands against her chin, brushing her lips against my hand.

As much as I appreciated her comfort, my logic prevailed as I sighed and voiced, "Alexis, is this pity?"

She frowned, "What?"

"Is this pity?" I repeated pulling my hand from hers.

She shook her head, "What do you mean?"

I pressed my lips together as I sat up, scratching at my brows as I tried to word this in a way that didn't sound offensive. "Didn't we break up?" I asked.

The words seemed like sucker punches to Alexis, a hurt look crossing her eyes. "I…"

"Alexis, please, I'm really happy to see you. But how do you want to act right now?" I asked.

Alexis paused, biting the inside of her cheek as she faced away from me and made a shaky sigh. "Can't I just be worried for you…?" her voice wavered, "Just let me still care."

I considered her words and withheld a sigh as I beckoned her close. "Come here."

Alexis hesitated at first but shuffled closer to lean forwards to embrace me. Her touch and presence enveloped me with a great sense of calm, the familiarity was nice. "I am glad you came," I assured, feeling her hair against my cheek.

When she pulled away, she sniffed. "Where're the others?"

"I refused to subject them to hospital food," I informed, "They went out for dinner like twenty minutes ago."

Alexis nodded, standing as she scratched at her face. "Can't wait to say hi to them. I've really missed everyone."

I smiled. "So, tell me about New York? As crowded as movies make us think?"

She mockingly laughed as she crossed her arms and nodded, "Even worse."

It was nice just hearing Alexis' voice again. In the two video chats we had since she left, she wasn't as chatty, as free-flowing with her words as when she is in person. She spoke of her initial opinion of the city; how colourful and vibrant it was but equally how much she hated it. Describing how crowded and at times dirty it was, but how fascinating the people could be, how similar some were to places like Windmill Lake or her home town, just that there were more of them. There were street performers with instruments, dancers, robot impersonators, artists and more. Like those people, there were ten times more business-like people, dressed in suits, wearing different head pieces to answer phones, but almost the exact same types of shoes. "Even the women wear the same heels, it's that uniform," Alexis informed.

Halfway through her description, a male nurse stepped into the room, "I'm just here to administer medicine," he informed. On his way through the door, he adjusted the lights slightly, giving the room a slightly dimmer look, "Terrible headache currently. Hope you don't mind."

Alexis offered a blind smile to the man before returning to me and continuing to talk. The nurse pushed a small cart along, parking it beside me as he pulled out a bottle and a syringe. A chill filled me as I voiced, "Umm… I was given something for my IV before," I informed.

The man nodded, "Just some more antibiotics, boy. Won't even pinch." He extracted a clear liquid from the bottle, Alexis ceasing talking while she waited for whatever situation going on was done.

The male nurse was odd to stare at. He was dressed in scrubs, which on its own was entirely unusual, but the mask he wore covered half of his face and the medicine hat he wore covered most of his forehead. I scratched at the needle in my arm as the man quickly tested the needle like one did in movies.

Half a second too late, I recognised his eyes, his body shape, his voice that he didn't try to hide. I yanked out the needle from my arm, causing a slight sting in doing so, just as the man who tried to kidnap my friends injected the 'medicine' into my IV.

"There's no need to be difficult," the man borderline hissed as he suddenly produced a hunting blade, instead of aiming it at me however, he rested the knife's tip inches from the back of Alexis' head, silencing all my attempts at warning.

Alexis seemed somewhat aware, enough to sit frigidly, but was more confused then scared. She turned her head, the unnamed man more then happy to tease the idea of cutting her in front of me. How did he bring a knife in the hospital? And such a large one at that?

I gulped, looking around feebly for a means of calling for help. "Something the matter, boy?" he asked, producing the syringe again, and lowering the knife to refill it with whatever liquid he used before.

Alexis took in a deep breath through the nose, as if smelling something, and her face became something I recognised she did when she was analysing something, committing it to memory. "You wear quite the cologne, sir," she announced, her nose scrunching, "You aren't a nurse, are you?"

Her words distracted the man, and I wondered whether I'd be able to reach the distress button by my bed.

"And you, my dear, are of no use to me, so I suggest you behave yourself," he warned, "Lest I hurt you too."

"You'd be quite the man then, wouldn't you? Hurting a blind girl and a bedridden heart-failure boy after all is incredibly courageous," she countered.

My eyes flickered to the button and I wondered if in my state I could reach out and press it.

"My quarrel doesn't have to be with you, so I suggest you don't test me," the man informed, "You aren't worth anything."

"How very cryptic of you. Tell me, are you only chatting so much because we won't be able to identify you? Because the only one who can put a face to your voice is gonna get killed?" Alexis continued. Her blunt statement made my throat go dry.

But that didn't stop me from almost leaping across my bed, much to the machines' objections, and practically slapped the distress button. A red light flicked on and caused a prolong beeping to fill the room. Seconds later, nurses came into the room, a moment of fright coming over the man, before he completely changed his demeanour and re-hid his knife.

"The patient has become hysterical," he informed, launching forwards and pulling me back down in my bed, "He's taken out his IV."

Taking the information at face value, one of the nurses asked Alexis to leave and another nurse assisted in holding me down, my pulling and near thrashing wasn't helping my case as I tried to explain that this man meant me harm.

Pretending it was an anaesthetic of some kind, the man held the syringe and was ready to jab me with it and was almost successful until Alexis blindly knocked him over, sending the syringe to the floor. "This man wants to hurt Landon," she said in a firm but loud voice, "He's not a nurse!"

The accusation halted them for a moment, long enough for the nurses to examine and be equally confused by the man's attire.

In a last bid to attack me, he produced the knife again. "This didn't have to be messy," he said, the knife startling the nurses, but equally promptly one of them pressed a button on a device sitting on their hip, and when he went to stab me another closer to the cart grabbed a different syringe, this one only needed a cap removed, and jabbed it in the man's neck herself.

In a matter of seconds, the nurse was guiding him to the ground, disarming him of the weapon and laying him on the floor. Moments later, doctors, some security guards and other nurses either came into to the room or peered in from the doorway. The now unconscious attacker was in handcuffs on the floor.