Ch. 17 So Scream You

"It's the only way." she whispered.

"Sir, you can't go in there." Jason turned to see a young nurse.

"There's a woman in there-" he began explaining.

"And I'm sure you're anxious to see her, but you'll have to comeback during visiting hours." she spoke to him, understanding that the person in the room probably meant a great deal to him. It wasn't that long since she'd been in the hallway and she remembered the specific room the man was trying to gain access to.

"No, she's not a patient."

Inside the room, Robin heard their voices. More specifically, his voice. Panicking, she frantically stuffed the weapon back in her purse. She realized that she had no way to escape and no where to hide. If he came in the room, she was sure to be caught.

"Ma'am, if you'll just let me open the door-" Jason tried to reason with the woman.

She would have none of it and grabbed hold of his forearm to escort him away. Jason only sighed and easily broke from her grip and spun around back to the door. This time he quickly turned the knob and pushed open the door before she could stop him. As soon as he did, Robin jumped out of the shadows of the dark room and in front of him.

"God, Jason it's you!" she said, an obvious sound of relief in her voice. She reached out, putting an arm on either shoulder and spun the both of them around so that his back was now to the room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I got a message to come here. Said I would find something interesting. So I came, like I was told, but there's nothing."

"Why didn't you tell someone?"

"I didn't want anyone to get hurt. It was a mistake, I was stupid. Lecture me later, I just want to go home."

"You didn't see or find anything?" he asked.

"No, nothing. No one." she answered a bit quickly. She was lucky that so far Jason had kept his focus and attention on her during their conversation rather than allowing it to wander into the room behind him. But she was walking a thin line at the moment, and she didn't want to push her luck. However at the same time she could not look too desperate to get him away, so she calmed her voice down before speaking again. "Can we just go home now? Please?"

"I think that would be wise." the nurse interjected, having listened to their exchange.

Courtney did not know what was going on around her. Some time ago, she had somehow realized that there was someone else in the room. Her eyes were barely open, in her state the small slits were as far as she could manage. Even then she couldn't see anything but various blurs and blotches of shadow and light. It was impossible to make out what the person was saying to her.

Soon someone else was there and their speech was becoming louder. Focusing she could get every few words. Enough to know piece together that they were leaving. She didn't want them to leave. Whoever they were, if there was a chance they could help her she wanted to take it. Gathering what energy she could muster, she strained to bring attention to herself. There was only one word her mind was ordering her to scream.

Help.

But the rest of her could not comprehend the command. Using every ounce of strength she found in her, she tried to make a noise. She got a quick notion and attempted lifting her hand, but found that she was barely able to lift it before it fell limply back to the mattress. Afraid that all her efforts would end up being for naught, she forced herself to do something. All her might only resulted in a whimper like cry.

"Can we go now? Please?"

"I think that would be wise." the nurse interjected having heard their exchange. "I don't know how you got in miss, but there are rules and reasons for them."

" I'm sorry, I understand." she said to the woman. "Can we go now?"

Jason looked at Robin and could tell she sincerely did not want to be there any longer than necessary. He nodded and they began filing out of the room when Jason heard something that stopped him. A small sound, barely one at all. It sounded like some sort of cry. His hesitation didn't go unnoticed by Robin.

"Jason?" she saw an unreadable look on his face and felt her heart stop beating as he turned his body towards the room.

"Oh my god."