Beginning
Leon dragged his feet as he walked down the hospital hall. He'd been sent down to the lobby for coffee while Chris took care of the paperwork, but ended up taking over an hour. He'd been sitting in the lobby, his nerves nearly driving him insane, and after his fourth cup of coffee he decided to order for the others and head back up.
He reached the elevators and hit the button to go up, sighing. He looked to the side and saw a kid standing there, staring at him. "Um, hi," he said.
The kid smiled. "Hi. My name's Billy," he said.
Leon nodded, looking back to the elevators. "Nice meeting you, I guess," he said.
"You don't look sick," said Billy.
"I'm not," he said.
"So why are you here then?" asked the boy.
Leon sighed and looked back down to him, forcing a smile. "My friend got hurt last night, so I brought her here to get checked," he said.
Billy nodded. "How did she get hurt?" he asked.
Nosy little... thought Leon. He sighed again. "We got lost in the woods, and she got cut on a tree. It's not that bad," he said.
The boy frowned. "Cut where?" he asked.
"Why are you so interested?" asked Leon, trying not to sound too irritated.
"Was it behind the ear?" asked Billy.
Leon looked at him, eyes wide. "Yeah, actually...How-"
"Did it look like this?" asked Billy, turning his head and pointing to his ear. There was a long cut that went from the top of the ear to his neck, just like Claire's.
Leon couldn't even think straight. "How did you get that?"
Billy looked back to the elevator, his eyes looking lost into space. "From the strangers," he said.
Now, Leon was sure it wasn't a coincidence. "What strangers?" he asked.
"The white faces...woods..." said Billy, trailing off. He was staring at the doors, seemingly spaced out.
Leon leaned forward and put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Billy?" he asked.
Billy flinched and backed away from him. "Don't!" he yelled. He turned and ran down the hallway.
Leon was about to follow him, but the elevator doors opened. He watched Billy turn the corner and sighed, stepping into the elevator and pressing the button to Claire's floor. He took a deep breath, and started thinking again. The boy had reacted
The doors opened up, and Leon stepped out sighing again. He was starting to regret the entire trip, and made a note to mention going home to Chris and Jill
As he neared Claire's room, he saw Jill and Chris sitting on the waiting chairs outside the door. He walked over and handed the coffees over. "Sorry I took so long, guys. Why are you sitting out here?" he asked.
Chris looked up, sighing. He grabbed the coffees and gave one to Jill. "Claire's insisting she's fine, and wanted to change so she kicked us out. Should I even bother asking what happened last night?" he asked, raising a brow.
Leon felt relieved to hear she'd woken up. "The car ran out of gas, and when I pulled over we went over some random cliff and rolled down until the car finally stopped in the middle of some woods," said Leon.
Jill sipped her coffee while Chris took a deep breath. It was a bit entertaining to see him try to keep calm. "And then what happened?" he asked.
Leon shook his head. "Nothing, we just sat there listening to music and Claire passed out," he said.
"Uh huh...and how did she get cut?" asked Chris. Jill sipped her coffee, and looked back to Leon, waiting for the response.
"Well, there was a noise and we went to check it out. It got cold so we ran back to the car, and I think a branch cut her," said Leon.
"And she didn't hit her head or anything?" asked Chris.
Leon shook his head. "Not that I recall...why?" he asked.
Chris sighed. "She said she didn't remember anything, and the doctors thought it might've been short-term amnesia, but turns out it might be some repression thing," he said.
Jill got up. "Which means something happened and her brain's holding it back from her memory," she said.
Leon nodded. "I get it...and that could make sense, if something had actually happened. But I'm telling you, it didn't," he said.
Just then, the door opened and Claire walked out. She was wearing her own clothes, looked exhausted, and had a bandage behind her ear, going down to the neck. She let the door close and noticed everyone was staring at her. "What?" she asked.
"How are you feeling?" asked Leon.
Claire shrugged. "Fine I guess," she said. "You?"
Leon blinked. "I'm fine...hey, can we talk for a second?" he asked.
Jill grinned and dragged Chris away, giving the two some privacy.
Leon watched them turn the corner, possibly towards the vending machines, and sighed. He looked at Claire, forcing a smile. "Well I'm glad to see you're better," he said.
"Yeah," said Claire.
Leon sat down, relieved to see her do the same. "So, you don't remember what happened?" he asked.
Claire nodded. "I do..." she said.
"Then why did you tell your brother that you didn't? They think you have amnesia," he said.
"I know," said Claire.
Leon frowned. "Okay, I need some full sentences here. Why didn't you explain to him what happened?" he asked.
Claire stared at her shoes. "I don't even know what happened," she said.
"But you said that you remember!" said Leon.
"I know, but I don't know exactly what it is I remember...It seems so weird and stupid, and if I told Chris he'd probably laugh at me," said Claire.
Leon sighed. "Yeah, he probably would..." he said. "But I know we're not crazy, 'cause there's a kid in here that had the same cut as you, and he was saying things that sounded just like what we saw."
Claire looked up instantly. "A kid?" she asked.
"Yeah, he was downstairs...I really wish he hadn't run off like he did, I had so many questions for him," said Leon.
Claire grabbed his arm. "We have to go find him!" she said.
Leon shook his head. "This is a big hospital, and I'm pretty sure Chris wants to take you back to the hotel to rest," he said.
"I don't need any rest, I need some fucking answers!" said Claire, standing up.
Before Leon could try calming her down, Chris and Jill turned the corner and walked back over. "Hey, what's going on?" asked Chris.
Claire looked at him, then back down. "Nothing," she said.
Chris sighed and walked over to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's get you back," he said. Claire nodded, glancing over to Leon before following her brother down the hall.
Jill sat down next to Leon, and waited until the siblings turned the corner before clearing her throat. "Okay dude, tell me what happened," she said.
Leon blinked. "I already told you guys the story, like, three times," he said.
"Yeah, but I don't believe 'nothing happened', like you said. Just tell me, I promise I won't tell Chris, and I won't judge either," said Jill, smiling.
"...Fine," said Leon. "Well first off the car broke down in the middle of the woods, like I said, but we didn't just fall asleep..."
Jill grinned. "Didn't think so," she said.
"No, Jill, it's not like that. We were sitting there with the music on, but then we heard a weird noise...kind of like a boom, and then it was quiet. I wanted to check it out, but Claire seemed kind of freaked out about the idea," he said.
Jill blinked. "What was it, a car accident?" she asked.
Leon shook his head. "It was like something crashing...I don't know, really. Point is I was about to go check it out, but these...faces...appeared in the headlights. I thought someone might've been hurt, so I tried asking them if they were okay..." he said.
Jill almost laughed. "Let me guess, they were drunk?" she asked.
"No! They never answered! They just stared at us, it was a little creepy," said Leon.
"You got scared by someone who just...stared?" asked Jill.
"Okay, if you're gonna be sceptical and sarcastic, I won't even bother..." said Leon, standing.
Jill took his hand and pulled him back down. "Okay I'm sorry! Please continue," she said.
Leon sighed and sat back down. "Okay...well, they kept staring at us, and they were coming from different directions. I thought they were really hurt until two of them were getting closer and closer to Claire. I went to get the knife to scare them away, but instead I accidentally hit the horn and they ran off," he said. Jill was nodding, so Leon continued. "When I turned to look at Claire, she was gone."
Jill blinked. "What do you mean, gone? She passed out?" she asked.
He shook his head. "She wasn't in the car, or anywhere near it. I went out calling for her, and she randomly ran out of the woods looking terrified and acting really weird," he said. He took in a deep breath, the scene still fresh in his mind.
Jill stood up. "This doesn't really make sense, Leon," she said.
He stood as well. "I know! But it's what happened, I swear! She passed out right after that, and I put her in the car. I fell asleep at some point, and John woke me up. That's only when I realized she'd gotten cut," he said.
"Well what we're trying to figure out is how she got cut...the doctor said it wasn't from a tree branch," said Jill.
Leon nodded. "Didn't think so, but I don't know what else it could be. Wanna hear the weirdest part?" he asked. He looked into Jill's eyes and could tell she believed him, somehow.
"What's the weirdest part?" she asked, intrigued.
"When I was coming back up with the coffee, I had a conversation with some kid staying here...he'd seen the same things we had, and has the same cut as Claire," he said. "He ran off before I could ask him about it, and when I mentioned it to Claire she freaked out."
Jill thought a bit then nodded. "We should find that kid," she said.
"His name's Billy, and he was wearing hospital pyjamas so I bet he's in the children's wing," said Leon.
"Okay, let's head there now," said Jill. She took her phone out and started typing a message. "I'll let Chris know to go ahead, we'll take a cab back later," she said.
They headed down to the children's wing and went straight to the receptionist. Leon asked for a boy named Billy, and gave a slight description. Before the nurse began her search, she asked how they were related to the boy. Leon came up with a lie about how he'd met the boy downstairs and they'd talked about comic books for a bit, and the boy had asked him to come up and play video games with him.
The nurse bought the story, which made Jill laugh, and started searching for the boy's name in the computer.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have a boy named Billy in this hospital," said the nurse.
Leon blinked. "That's impossible; I was just talking to him. Maybe he's not staying then, maybe he was just in temporarily and got sent home?" he asked.
The nurse stared at her computer screen. "No, we don't have any patient named Billy registered. Even if he was in here for an emergency, he'd be listed somewhere. I'm sorry, maybe you were at a different hospital," she said.
Jill looked at Leon, now completely believing his story. They thanked the nurse and walked back towards the elevator, keeping silent. Once they were in and heading down to the lobby, Jill spoke up. "Okay, so a kid went through the same thing Claire did, wouldn't talk about it, and ran off before you could ask...and now he's apparently not even real?" she asked.
Leon nodded. "I don't understand," he said.
Jill sighed. "Unless he just...disappeared," she said.
"Think it could be related to the strangers and the cut?" asked Leon.
"I hope not...cause if it is, Claire's in trouble," said Jill.