Trouble in Tiltown

The Strong One

"It can't be the end." I said to my group of friends as we sat in the hallways of the hospital. Abraham and West exchanged looks before West looked to me, sympathetically.
"Hey, I'm sure he'll get through this." He reassures me before he looks into his empty coffee cup, standing up and walking down the hall. Abraham takes his seat next to me before sighing.
"You know, I do have memories with him." Abraham admits to me. I glance at him as he looks down into his lap.
"You do?"
He nods, "He always worked incredibly hard. Most nights, he would even work overtime. He was a really caring friend too. When I wouldn't come into work, he'd call me to ask if I was okay and if there were anything he could do to help." He explained, a frown forming on his face. Across from where we sat was the door to his room, and I watched it carefully as he talked.
"He's been like a dad to me." I confessed to him. I felt his eyes land on me but I ignored it.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I didn't really have a dad, and when he chose to look after me for a while, it made me feel like I actually had a father." I said.
He hummed, "So, West wasn't like that to you?"
"No. He was a good friend, but he just seemed too closed off. He didn't allow me to get to know the real him." I replied. Suddenly, West walks up with a full cup of coffee and stops.
"Sorry." Abraham mutters before getting up and leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. West takes a long sip of his coffee before looking at me, his head slightly to the side.
"I couldn't be one to you." He said.
"Be what?"
"A father. I was already struggling to be a father to the one I had, I couldn't try and be one for others. I'm sorry." His voice cracked at the end of his sentence.
"I understand. You don't need to be sorry." I quickly respond and continued watching the room.

As the sunset shined through the windows of the hospital and stretched throughout the halls, Jerrick, James and Kat all walked up to us.
"Hey, we're gonna go now but uh, let me know how it goes." James says before Kat walks ahead of them with James walking from behind her. Jerrick pulls me up from the chair and brings me into a warm and tight hug. At first, I was surprised but then I had embraced it. Breaking down just slightly in his arms.
"I don't want to lose another friend." I mumbled into his shoulder.
"You aren't going to, it'll be okay." He assures me, squeezing one last time before leaving the hospital. Sitting back down next to West, my eyes began closing.

I awoke as my head fell into an empty chair that sat next to me. Glancing around, I was all alone. No West or Abraham in sight. I stood, rubbing my eyes as I made my way to Diego's room.
"My mother said you told her your address, so she's checking up on your grandmother." I spoke to him, although his eyes remained closed. Sighing to myself, I took the chair and sat up close to him. Clasping my hands together and closing my own eyes tight, I spoke quietly in the room that held the only sound of beeping monitors inside of it.
"Please, we can't lose you too. You've gone too far, done too much, for it all to go to waste." I cried quietly to myself. An abrupt knock on the window startled me, causing me to jump up and flip around. The person kept their head down as they walked away swiftly. I stood up and ran out of the room and chased them down until I had them cornered.
"Who are you?" I questioned them. Instead of facing me, they kept their head down.
"A watcher." Out came a woman's voice.
"A watcher? A watcher of what?" I interrogated her. She looked both ways before pulling me into a bathroom and locking it, still keeping her identity from me all the while.
"I'm supposed to be watching a group of people for the new leader of Tiltown. He told me to come here." She explained, nervousness in her voice as she continued explaining.
"He? Who's he?" I asked her. A knock on the bathroom door stopped the conversation and she took the opportunity to run out. Attempting to keep up with her speed, I soon found myself losing sight of her through the crowds of nurses and doctors that filled the halls. Stopping, I looked over to Diego's door. My eyes widened and I rushed up into the room. He was standing, getting dressed in his normal clothes.
"Wha-What're you doing?" I questioned him. Without glancing at me, he slipped on his boots.
"We have to move. There's more of them, and they're coming after us now." He replied.
"Want us? Who? Why?" I bombarded him with my questions. Instead of answering, he took my hand and pulled me out of the hospital along with him and into his vehicle. We began driving almost a little too fast for my own comfort before he started talking.
"I don't know exactly who they are, but they know we destroyed Tiltown. They're rebuilding Tiltown and they're wanting us to be their leaders." He spoke. As I faced the road, a person with their head down was standing the middle of the road.
"Diego!" I yelled as he turned the wheel. After a couple crashes into the ground, my sight went dark.

My eyes fluttered open and I saw Diego slowly opening his eyes at the same time. Instead of an ambulance, I heard voices in the distance.
"Is this the one?" A man asked. I attempted to search for the voice but saw nobody.
"Yes, he's the one who destroyed Tiltown. The strong one." A woman replied with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"Then, let's get on with it." He said as his footsteps distanced themselves further away. As I closed my eyes for a moment, wincing in pain, I reopened them again to see an unconscious Diego being dragged out from the broken car, carefully.
"D-Diego." I attempted to yell only for it come out as a weak whisper before I saw the darkness again.