The Right One

Seventeen

Heart in throat, Hope hurried after Alex who almost seemed to be flying. By the time she and Val entered the hospital, Alex was already throwing questions at a nurse who seemed overwhelmed by the sudden barrage of questions.

"Alex."

Hope turned along with everyone else in the direction of the voice in time to see a man who she distantly recalled as a close friend of Raymond walking over to them, looking like he'd hurried over as well seeing as he was only wearing a singlet and pyjama bottom.

“Efe. Is he okay? Where's he?” Alex demanded, turning away from the flustered nurse to address Efe instead.

"Calm down, Alex," Efe urged, sensing how riled up he was. "I think he's fine."

"You think?" Alex asked, distrust evident at the uncertainty of the words.

"I haven't seen him yet," Efe admitted. "He's in examination right now, and has been ever since I got here. But if he's in an examination room and not the ER, that probably means whatever injuries he might have suffered are not major, right?"

Alex sighed, but it was heavy and loaded with worry. "Where?"

Efe motioned for them to follow him and they obliged as he headed back in the direction he'd come from until he finally stopped in front of the examination room.

"He's in there," Efe announced, pointing at the shut door.

Alex's gaze fell on the door and lingered. It was almost as if he was willing it to open.

"How long has he been in there?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the door.

Efe shook his head. "I don't know. He's been in there even before I got here."

Hope released a shuddered breath, clamming her hands together to suppress their shaking. She'd never felt more terrified about anything her entire life. Not even when she had been battling for her life had she been this nervous.

Please, be okay, her mind whispered and she wished there was a way she could communicate those words to Raymond.

"God, I hope he's okay," Val stated, saying out loud what everyone else was thinking.

Efe's eyes shifted to her and they were filled with curiosity about who she might be. He had an inkling to who she was but he couldn't just outrightly ask her, at least not in that situation.

"You should have a seat," Efe suggested, gesturing at one of the benches directly opposite the room which only had one occupant at the moment. "We don't know how long we'll be here."

Hope obliged, mostly because she was afraid her legs would give out if she didn't take her weight off them. Val did the same while Alex just remained staring at the door and he looked like he was somehow locked up in his own world. Hope was worried about him as well. Knowing his history, the last thing he needed was to lose another relative to a car accident. God forbid he had to go through that again.

Efe started pacing and Hope suspected he'd been going at it even before they got there. When he noticed the questioning look she was throwing at him, he shook his head and smiled, "I can't seem to sit still."

It could have been minutes or hours after, but the door finally opened and Val and Hope jumped to their feet. Raymond stepped out and Hope's eyes budged as she took him in. He looked . . . Completely fine.

He seemed taken aback as he stared at the four who were staring back at him with matching looks of confusion, disbelief and predominantly relief.

Raymond seemed to recover first as he regarded them, "What are you all doing here?"