Beechwood Descendants

DUNCAN

"You have to eat something, Duncan. They're going to force you onto a feeding tube soon, I'm trying to save you from that embarrassment." Connor stood at the foot of Duncan's bed holding a plate of food with a sad face.

Duncan hadn't left his bed in two days, the nurses were getting aggravated, Connor was getting worried, and Duncan was starting to smell. He didn't have the energy to lift the blankets off of him, it was too much. He constantly told himself to stop being lazy and just get up and figure out how to get out of this hell but he just couldn't bring himself to actually do it. Noah had abandoned him, his friends were dead, and his family didn't care enough to even call. He didn't have anything left, so what was the point?

Suddenly, right before Connor was about to speak again, their door swung open and Duncan lifted himself just enough to see who it was. A nurse stood there with an envelope and handed it to Duncan. This was one of the nicer nurses, she had pale skin and ginger hair and her body looked malnourished but you could see from her face that she was healthy. "The others were going to hide this from you as a punishment for your behavior but I took it before they could. I hope it'll encourage you to eat something."

Duncan took the envelope and nodded a thanks before ripping it open. Connor sat at the edge of Duncan's bed and curiously watched over his shoulder. Inside was just a single slip of notebook paper with just four words written across the top line: ɪ'ᴍ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ.

Duncan fumbled with the envelope, searching the outside for a return address or name but there wasn't one. Whoever sent this didn't want him to know who it was, or so he thought. Duncan jumped out of bed and practically sprinted out of his room, ignoring how the world spun when he did. He caught the nurse that had delivered the envelope. She looked at him with a shocked smile, happy he was outside of his room. He didn't care, he didn't even acknowledge it. "Who sent this?"

"A boy hand delivered it, said his name was Jared or something like that. Was he a friend of yours?" The nurse asked, still smiling.

"No." Duncan responded. He sprinted back to his room, startling Connor when he jerked open the door.

"Is everything okay?" Connor asked, standing from Duncan bed. Duncan ignored him, slipping into their shared bathroom and slamming the door closed. There was a slit at the top corner and no lock on the door but Duncan had found a way around the locking situation. He wrapped the shower curtain around the door knob, tugging it to make sure it was secure before stepping over to the sink. He stared at himself in the plexiglass mirror. His eye bags had gotten worse and his overgrown hair was sticking up every which way.

"Duncan? Are you okay dude?" Connor yelled from the other side of the door. He was trying to pull the door open but the shower curtain kept it in place.

"Someone's coming to kill me, but they can't if I do it first. Right?" Duncan mumbled under his breath but he knew Connor could hear.

"Duncan, open the door." The shower curtain rattled as Connor frantically tugged at the door.

The single locked drawer held Duncan's medication since Duncan refused to leave the room to take them, the nurses came in each morning to unlock it and force the pills down Duncan's throat but if he could just pry the drawer open somehow...

"I'm going to get a nurse if you don't open this door, Duncan." Connor warned, still frantically tugging at the door.

"I can pick a lock, Sammy taught me just in case I ever needed the skill. Now I just need something metal." Duncan started to search the other drawers that contained, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and nail files but nothing he could possibly use to pick the lock on the medicine drawer. Then, something crossed his mind. He ripped the drawer out of the cabinet and reached into the hole it was just in, using his finger nail to unscrew the metal that allowed the drawer to come in and out of the cabinet. It took longer than expected but he got it.

He wondered if Connor had gone to get a nurse as he stuck the nail into the lock, fidgeting with it until he heard the click. He ripped the drawer open and smiled at the pill bottles in front of him.

He got it, it was open.