Alone in the Dark - A Dark Ghost Sequel

THIRTEEN

Because nothing in life comes easy, and America is unfortunately large, we couldn't make the whole journey to the hospital as quickly as we'd have liked to. That left us in a pretty unfortunate situation in an even more unfortunate place.

The situation being having to stay the night.

The place being the Ranch.

No one said a word as we went in, but I ignored my old room and instead made a beeline for Cole's. Still hanging on the back of the chair was the jacket I'd worn during the Sawtooth rescue, the one I'd ditched to swap out with Cole's before I left to find Chubs. A few days at most, but it felt like forever ago. Everything felt like so long ago, everything other than the airfield and Cole.

I laid down on the bed, ready to fall asleep, but something was digging into my side uncomfortably. I sat back up and pulled out the pack of cards, turning it over in my hands. I knew exactly what it was, and I knew it was missing a jack of hearts. Still, I pulled out the cards and started to shuffle them, images of Cole being annoyingly good at throwing cards almost on a slideshow in the back of my mind.

A knock at the door dragged me out of my thoughts.

Ruby.

Quietly, she sat down next to me, crossing her legs and looking at the cards. "Room for one more?"

"Two, actually," Nico hovered in the doorway.

I nodded, and despite the circumstances I felt a small smile grace my lips. I dealt out the cards almost evenly, and when Vi poked her head around the door a few rounds later I re-dealt them for the four of us. Just like old times, even though we were missing someone. Still, even though there was an empty place where Jude should have been, and seven empty years where I should've been... it felt like home, because I was with my family again.

The only thing left was to bring Cole back with us.

~

"This is it?" Vida looked the hospital up and down as she leant against the car. "This is where Sleeping Beauty spent her seven year slumber? Wow, I thought you had standards, boo."

I rolled my eyes, trying not to laugh. "Yeah, I was real pissed about the state of it," I replied sarcastically. "Even though I was unconscious, I was very disappointed in the customer service."

"Can we focus?" Chubs nudged the both of us, trying to stay on task while hiding the fact that he'd definitely clearly missed the moments like this.

"Go over the plan once more?" Liam prompted, locking up the car and looking around.

Ruby nodded. "We go in, we get access to the files, and we find out who signed Aria and Cole in, and who signed Cole back out. Then we use that to figure out where to go next. See you in ten?"

"Twenty, maximum," Chubs warned. "Or we're coming in after you."

Ruby looked nervously up at the hospital, trying not to show how uneasy she was at the prospect of going in. "We'll be fine." At Liam's concerned look, she added: "I'll be fine."

I shook my head. "Switcheroo, let's go."

"What? Absolutely not," she folded her arms. "You checked yourself out of this place, if you go in people might recognise you."

I quirked an eyebrow slightly, cocking my head to one side. "I'm a ghost, remember? Besides, you're way more likely to be recognised. Do we have a deal?" I held out my hand.

"Don't do anything stupid," she warned, shaking it.

"Relax, I know why we're here," I reminded her. "I'm not going to fuck this up."