Memento Mori

36

Erik didn't do waiting. Waiting wasn't something that he was exactly an expert in, it wasn't something that bode well with him. He didn't like sitting with nervous energy basically raging through him with no means of dispelling it. Yes, he had grown more in tune with his emotions, not so ready to lash out to ease his mind; whatever possibly broke in the toilet was enough. He was sitting here undetected, anything to compensate his unsettled mind would throw this out of the window.

No one knew he was here, know one knew who he even was. Others in the waiting room came and went, yet he remained. That was surely a bad thing, right? The nurse who had seen him with Liesel hadn't reappeared to inform him of what was going on, and this didn't help him in the slightest. It made him feel worse. The grip on the bag which Liesel had so relaxedly packed tightened, Erik frowned down at it and curiously opened up one of the small side pockets.

He must've looked a little strange almost frantically going through the bag and roughing up the contents. But he didn't care, he knew that Liesel had taken to jotting things down to remind herself of whatever. She may have become a little forgetful with things, she had joked about it being baby brain, and really he wasn't going to disagree. He meant no offence to her, but she had slowly got the trait of tangents, well, more tangents than usual. Finding the small booklet which had typically sunk to the bottom of the bag, Erik flipped it open once he zipped the bag back up and placed it between his feet on the floor.

His eyes flicked over her small but neat writing, dates were circled, memos were written here and there but there was one thing in particular he was looking for, and he felt almost relieved when at the back there was a list of names and numbers. Erik's eyes flicked up and looked around, surely there was a phone around here to use? He had no money to naturally pay to use the phone, but he was sure he could tamper with it to work for him, somehow.

Shouldering the bag and looking around, he made his way over and picked the receiver up. Leaning his shoulder against the wall, he held the earpiece against his shoulder and looked at the number before him. With some resistance, he pushed the number in and stood there looking around at those walking about here. Nurses came and went, he still didn't see the one from earlier. People moved to be seen and disappeared behind doors, and here he stood motionless listening to the line ring.

Erik looked upwards with a frown. The one time he actually wanted to talk to Gretchen, and she wasn't answering her damn phone. Typical. He was close to hanging up before the phone was picked up and a voice answered. Erik frowned more, "Dallas, is Gretchen there?" He didn't have time for the man, no offence to him, but he wasn't the one he wanted to talk to.

Though he sounded a bit put off but Erik's bluntness, it was something he had sort of got used to since interacting with him. Erik waited, and he waited a few more minutes after that before he heard Gretchen's voice. She sounded confused, possibly because Dallas wasn't forthcoming with who was phoning for her, or he told her the truth in simple terms. Erik and Gretchen may have civil ground, but it didn't make them best friends. But regardless of any issues or problems or disagreements they may have, or had, Gretchen was still Liesel's sister and needed to know what was going on.

Naturally, Gretchen was filled with worry upon hearing Erik's explanation of things. He felt bad, admittedly, he explained in such a disjointed manner he was in no doubt at all that Gretchen was probably thinking he wasn't paying attention. When Erik was doing anything but, he was paying attention to everything. "I don't know what's going on." Erik finished, once he had explained he had been waiting for a while now.

"Do you want me to come down? At least then we can both not know together. You know what, ignore my question. I'm going to come down, Erik. You can't be there alone."