Chapter Five

Parker found her way to her room, where Remy was lying on her bed. Parker bounced on the mattress next to her. Her happy mood changed when the woman's body started convulsing.

"Nurse!" Parker called out.

Someone quickly came in. The nurse pushed Parker out the way and turned Remy on her side. The patient continued to jerk, now drool streaming from her lips. Parker couldn't stop staring at Remy's eyes as they rolled in the back of her head. Parker's own body shook in fear of her friend.

"Code 13!" the nurse yelled out.

The medical team rushed in, forcing Parker to wait outside the room. She slid down against the wall and pulled herself into a ball. Memories of her brother Nick flooded through, and she tried hard to control the anxiety attack that usually followed. She swallowed hard and concentrated on her breathing. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill. It's just a molehill. One molehill, two molehills, three molehills, she silently counted.

She stood up and wiped her tears when she saw Nate coming to her.

"What's going on?" he asked her.

Parker shrugged, pretending in her little world that she's perfectly sane for a moment. "I don't know. I walked in to talk to her, and she started seizing."

"Parker, are you alright?"

Parker nodded before turning away to look back in her room. Past the nurses, she could see that Remy has stopped shaking. A nurse checked her pulse, then two of them rushed her to the emergency room with Parker closely following behind until the nurse told her to wait outside.

She paced frantically as her mind raced. 'Dr. Crane tried to kill her.' She felt someone touch her shoulder, causing her to jump back. The familiar hitter looked at her sadly.

"They're saying she tried to overdose on her antidepressant medication."

Parker shook her head, "No, no. She wouldn't try to kill herself, I know her. It was Dr. Crane. She wouldn't leave me," her voice cracked at the words.

"Sweetheart, I know, but everyone else thinks otherwise. I need you to do a job for me, can you do that?" Parker nodded instantly. "Can you keep track of everyone who comes in and out on this floor? Alright? You think you can do that for me?"

"I'll make sure I'll look out for Dr. Crane. I promise."

"More than him, nurses too. Everyone. We don't want anyone else trying to hurt her, so I need you to watch her, okay?"

"Yes, I promise."

Eliot smiled at her as he punched her in the shoulder. "And stop thinking about her. She'll be fine."

Parker didn't nod, just peered at Remy's door.

Eliot clocked out for an early lunch break. He was trying hard to keep Parker's mind busy. The last thing they needed was for her to go off the rails.

He put his earbud in, "Hardison, you find anything on the cameras?" he asked the hacker.

"No one came in nor out of their room. I followed Remy around, and she went into one of those blackout areas where there are no cameras. I wasn't able to track her."

Eliot sighed. "You're incredibly useful."

Hardison ignored the remark as he thought about his blonde thief, "how's Parker?"

"She could be worse."

Now Hardison was trying to keep his mind busy. "Tara cloned Cowl's phone, and now I'm, um, I can track it. His phone, I mean. He made calls to a set of numbers that bounced all over the place. I was able to track it and narrow it down. I'll have Sophie check it out with me. Talk to Rita. Perhaps she knows more than her hatred for you."

Parker scanned her surroundings carefully. She knew Eliot only gave her this task so she wouldn't find Crane herself, but she was willing to obey him. For now, anyway. Parker took note of the faces of everyone that walked by Remy's room. Her work helped her recall even the slightest details, including those of a person.

She got so caught up in her thoughts that when Remy's doctor came out and tapped her shoulder, she jumped from her chair.

"Are you Alice?" he asked her, she nodded, "she's asking for you."

Parker followed him in as he showed her to her friend. Parker smiled at the ghostly woman. Her skin was pale, and her mouth reeked of puke. Parker sat down on her bed. The room was quiet until the doctor left.

"Did you try to kill yourself?" she asked, though afraid of the answer.

Remy played with her hands, shrugging.

"If Dr. Crane did this, we can tell someone. He'll go to jail, and then you won't ever have to deal with him again."

Remy chuckled. "And who's going to believe me?"

"Someone. We have to try."

"What do you think I've been this entire freaking time? This is your fault. I told you, and you end up telling some crazy hippie doctor about it. Now she's telling everyone else about my 'delusions,' and all this gets back to him. If I didn't tell you, I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't be having my stomach pumped from meds that I don't even remember swallowing. I would be nowhere near this place. I would be halfway through recovery and maybe out of here. Now I took ten steps back."

"This is not my fault. I had to tell. . . I wanted to protect you."

Remy scoffed and turned back towards the wall. "I can do that

myself."

Parker frowned. "Did you ask me in here to express your feelings? He would've killed you if I didn't tell. You think when someone does come snooping around here, you won't be the first loose end he'll clean up. He already killed those other patients. You honestly think he won't do the same to you?"

She rolled her eyes at the comment, "I just want to get out of here. I want to get better. Just leave me alone,"

"Fine," Parker said as she got up from the bed and left.

She stomped back to their room. She ripped the drawers from her dresser, frantically yanking the stolen spork from the cafeteria. She snapped the end leaving it with a sharp edge. Then the thief went to go find the crazed doctor herself.