Not seeing him, not feeling his touch, not knowing if he was even alright: I'd never been so scared in all my life. I was terrified because I thought I was never going to see him again. I was never going to be able to tell him I loved him ever again.
Chapter 29 – The Fury of Bad Luck
It had been a long night. Everyone must have had at least twelve cups of coffee each, but they were all worn out with worry.
Eugene's condition had not changed overnight. He was still in critical condition and still in the danger zone. He'd taken to Raven's blood, but he had required more blood later the afternoon of the next day when his bandages were changed. The medical staff was watching over him, monitoring even breath, every flutter of an eyelid. So were his family and friends.
While they thought about Eugene, they also thought about Rapunzel. Where could she be? Was she alright? She was not a suspect, but was still a person of interest to the police, obviously. The police weren't indicating anything, but it was suspicious that Eugene had been attacked and she was absent. She needed to be found, so she could be by Eugene's side when he woke up. She was his fiancé.
No one had moved from the night before, save for Raven who was now sitting by Jeff on a chair. She was still woozy from her blood transfusion; she was resting her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed. Isabelle was still sitting by Eugene, Nic right beside her. After their press conference that morning, they'd holed themselves up in the hospital room and asked to be left alone with their son. Mrs. King's eyes kept misting over and she would dab at them.
Mr. Hook couldn't go into work, not with his store taped off as a crime scene and Vlad wasn't budging down to his bar. Everyone else had called into to work, to say they had a medical emergency.
Max had left early in the morning to report to the police station. They'd given him the rest of the day off, considering how close he was to the case. He came back to the hospital in his uniform.
It was near silence in the room, so when Max's phone started singing The Andrew Sisters' Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree, they understandably all jumped.
"You have a 40's swing number as your ringtone?" Pascal asked.
"Eugene put it on here," Max said as he dug his phone out of his pocket. "He's the only one who knows how to work this damn thing." Max wondered who could possibly be calling him. Surely not the station. He looked at the ID and gasped. He scrambled to answer, nearly dropping the phone in his hast. "Rapunzel?" Everybody leaned to him. He put his finger to his lips for them to be quite.
Not a soul in the room noticed that Eugene's heart monitor skipped a beat.
"Rapunzel," he said again.
"Max?"
Max sighed.
"Oh, God, Rapunzel, where are you? Please, please tell me you're alright."
"I'm fine, but I don't know where I am. Some hotel. Max, I just saw the news report. Eugene, he-" Max cut her off as he glanced at his best friend.
"Hey, hey, it's going to be okay. Eugene is going to be fine. Are you with someone?" She took a breath.
"Aunt Donna. Max, she showed me these pictures. I was confused. Max, I'm so sorry." She started to cry.
"Rapunzel, it's okay. It's not your fault. We saw the photos too. No one blames you." He was trying to keep her calm, but he needed to know where she was. "Do you know if you crossed any state lines?"
"I don't know," Rapunzel sniffed. "We've been traveling north. We've been driving since last night. Max, I think my aunt shot Eugene."
"Rapunzel, don't even think about that right now. Worry about yourself, okay?"
"Max, I'm scared."
"I know."
"No, I'm scared for Eugene."
"Eugene is going to be fine, Rapunzel." Max tried to laugh off her worry. "But you need to keep yourself safe, okay? Keep you and the baby safe. Don't let your aunt know you know what happened. I want you to hide this phone, but don't hang up, okay? We'll use GPS to track where you are, okay? Don't do anything. We'll come get you, okay?"
"Okay."
On the other line, Max heard a door open and Rapunzel gasp. Max heard a second voice.
"Rapunzel, who are you calling?" Max assumed that the deep, sultry voice was Rapunzel's aunt. He heard a struggle on the other end.
"No!" Rapunzel shrieked.
"You goddamn, fucking little bitch!" Max heard Rapunzel scream again and the phone went dead. He stood, panicked.
"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!" He looked up at everyone. They were staring expectantly.
"Max," asked Raven, "what happened, where's Rapunzel?"
He swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Rapunzel's been kidnapped by her aunt. I need to get to the police station. Call me if Eugene's condition changes." Max ran out of the ICU as he dialed the station to relay the new information.
Just as the door closed as he left, Eugene's heart monitor sounded that he was in distress. They all looked at the screen. The peaks were irregular and sporadic. Doctors and nurses filed in and had them all leave. Outside the room, Eugene's loved ones watched as he started to have seizure like contractions on his bed. A nurse closed the blinds on the window.
Mrs. King put her hand to it, blinking back tears.
"He's as worried about Rapunzel as we are."
No one argued her statement.
