Chapter Two

The First Steps on the Path

I looked up from my DS, seeing my father still lying on his bed in the hospital room. He had been sleeping more and more lately, which worried me. The room had a window, overlooking most of the small city from the fourth floor. What made the room have a decent view was because the hospital itself was on top of a rather steep hill that I would never, ever walk up regardless of the situation. It may not be all that big of a hill but it was steep enough that I was scared of slipping and wind up breaking my neck from the fall as I fell all the way down. It also didn't help that the city was also in a valley that was bisected by a river.

This was the city I've lived in for as long as I could remember. This was my home. I've always loved the sight of my hometown from such a height. I could make out the massive park in the downtown district. But I wasn't in the hospital just for the sight. I turned back to look at my father who was barely in his mid-fifties. He was the only parent who was always there for me. All my life, he was always there for me. I could say that I was always there for him too. We were really close, been really close since I could remember. Since we only had each other, we never really had really big arguments that most teenagers and young adults had. We respected each other and in a way, he was the best friend I've always had.

I let out a sigh of worry, hoping that he'd get better and turned back to my video games. It was that exact moment that my life changed. It was that exact moment that I met him.

"'Ello, this is Derrick Malcolm's room, right?" a man asked, rushing in as his words seemed to be coming at me at a hundred miles an hour.

"Uhh...yeah," I stated, feeling a bit unnerved at the sight of this strange man.

He clearly had some sort of accent from the England-ish area. This coming from an American who believed that the best exports from the UK were Monty Python and Whose Line Is It Anyway. I knew enough to know when the accent I'm hearing is from another country and perhaps to know which country the accent was from.

I felt unnerved right at that exact moment following his question partly because of his accent, partly because of how he held himself, and mostly due to his choice of dress. He looked like he was full of energy with his hair looking like it was channeling the brunt of his energy. He seemed like he was incredibly old and yet young at the same time, which I thought was unusual.

He was pretty tall but looked as if he was as skinny as a rail with messy brown hair. He had a blue suit on with a red tie and on top of the suit was a brown coat. He didn't look like anyone who would be working at the hospital. He looked respectfully at my father before his brown eyes focused on me.

"He's been sleeping a lot lately," I told him, seeing him frown at that.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" he asked, looking at me.

"Can I ask you who you are first?" I asked in reply.

"I'm The Doctor," he stated with a grin.

"You hardly look like a doctor. Besides, 'doctor' is a title, not a name," I pointed out.

"It's what I go by."

"A pseudonym," I stated.

"Pretty much. Yes. You've been here for a while," he stated.

"A week, keeping my dad company. Why?"

"Have you noticed anything strange in this hospital?"

"Do you count?"

"Yes," he blurted before correcting himself, "no. What?"

"You're definitely pretty strange and you're really the strangest thing I've seen in a while."

"Okay, besides me."

"Well, there are rumors, but no. Nothing I've seen that hits me as odd aside from you."

"What kind of rumors?"

"Well, I'd tell ya, but I dunno... Some information about you would be nice."

"Fiine," he said with a sigh, pulling out what almost looked to be a wallet, showing me a piece of paper, "As you can see, I've been sent by the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the hospital."

"And I suppose your piece of paper was supposed to say something?" I asked.

"Don't tell me it's blank," he stated with a sigh.

"Nope, but it looks fake," I stated with a smirk, "I could prolly make a more convincing one with five minutes and Photoshop. Sides, it lists your age as being over nine hundred."

He let out a sigh, pocketing the wallet-like item before lowering himself to my level, "okay, fine. I'll tell you the truth but only if you swear you'll keep it between us."

"Okay."

"I'm an alien who protects humanity and my ship detected a strange reading from the hospital."

"I'll play along with that story. Could be fun. So, it seems that your ship was unable to specifically pinpoint the energy reading from the inside, which, knowing what I know of science fiction, means that there might be some type of interference on the outside. I assume you've got something to scan for the energy reading now that you're inside the hospital."

"There's something interfering with the scan on the inside too," he stated with a frown.

"So then, how do you plan on tracking down the reading? If you keep pestering people, they'll think you've gone funny in the head."

"Do you think I'm crazy?"

"Yeah, but I'm playing along. I'm pretty sure that's what one does with the harmless kinda crazy people. Sides, sitting around playing video games and nothing else has kinda worn thin. And on the other hand, if you really are what you say you are, this can turn out to be a fun adventure."

"I'm not going to let you follow me, so just tell me what rumors you've heard and I'll be off," he stated, sounding stern.

"Let's see, I have heard from Jessie that Pam's pregnant with her second kid which in and of itself is kinda strange...actually, seeing as how it is Pam, it really isn't. Then I heard that the High School had a ghost haunting it and used to have a pool on the fourth floor even though the school itself only has three floors."

"How does that have to do with the hospital?"

"I never said that all of the rumors involved the hospital."

"Do you know anything about this hospital that I'd find interesting?"

"Actually, last night, I was eating down in the cafeteria and overheard two nurses talking. All I got is that someone died with no known cause, about two floors down from here and that it seems that random people are falling due to whatever's causing it. Was that what you wanted."

"Yes, now stay here," he stated, looking at me.

"It's boring in here, watching my dad sleep," I stated lightly.

"Boring is good," he stated, "well, for you at least."

I watched as he walked out of the room and I smirked to myself as I set my DS down and walked out. I was able to see him, since he hadn't gone running off and I decided that I may as well follow from a distance since he probably wouldn't notice me. At least, not for a while. I saw him stand at the elevator and I knew I couldn't keep following without him noticing me. I saw that there was no one else waiting for it, so I waited behind a corner. When those doors opened, I waited until he entered the elevator and booked it, running as if my life depended on it. I breathed a sigh of relief as I got in before the doors closed.

When I looked up, I was greeted by a death glare.

I've seen death glares on tv and in real live alike. Some death glares were as intimidating as a kitten while others cause the victim to unconsciously step back while feeling as if they now have a hole in their body. I felt like that glare was like the laser of the Death Star in comparison of the worst death glare I had received up to that point. I unconsciously took a step back and caught myself mentally praying for my life. It was that bad.

"I told you not to follow me," he stated, sounding much like a parent chiding a very difficult child, coming from one who once was a very difficult child.

I glanced around, noticing that we were alone moments before the elevator doors opened. He stepped out and before he could do anything to the doors – assuming that he could really do anything to the doors – I stepped out, following him. Since I was as tall as my dad, I found that it wasn't too difficult to match strides with the guy as I continued our conversation.

"Anything's better than just sitting around being useless," I said, perhaps a little too bitterly, "I know my dad's getting worse and there's nothing I can do but sit around."

"I don't want any more people dying because they were involved," he stated.

"And I don't wanna be spending my time sitting around being useless," I replied, crossing my arms in front of me, doing my best to level my own death glare at the man who had introduced himself to me as The Doctor.

"I don't want to be responsible for your death," he stated.

"I'm twenty. I think at this point, you can say with a clear conscience that you warned me and that it was my own choice. Wouldn't you say that at my age, I should have the responsibility of having my own life on my own shoulders? That I should be mature and responsible enough to make my own decisions about my life and how I want to live it? Or do you think that you have to make everyone else's decisions for them, thinking that you know oh so much more than they do or that you know everything so of course you'd know what's best for them even if it isn't what they want out of life? Huh?" I rattled off at him, noticing that at several points, he did open his mouth to speak but I had continued on at a breakneck pace even for myself.

At the point I finished ranting at him, I saw that he had his hand rubbing the back of his neck, looking particularly rueful before asking, "are you done?"

"I think so," I stated with a pause as I looked for anything else to say in my noggin before deciding that I had actually ran out of things to say and I nodded, saying, "yeah, I am. Why?"

"Good because I think the whole hospital heard your rant," he stated with a smirk.

Oh crap.