Elevator 14 // Austin Mahone

Chapter 8

I saw sunlight for the first time in 10 million years. Caution tape was everywhere as soon as we got out. People with masks were all around. I was being pushed around everywhere.

We were quarantined. Blood was drawn, medication was shoved down my throat. Investigators interrogated me. I rarely even saw Blake or Austin. When I did, we didn't really have the chance to talk or hug. We only could give each other sympathetic glances here and there. I only knew that their condition was worse than mine, Austin's being the worst.

Hours passed by. Hours turned to days. I was asked a few times about who I was staying with, and I kept telling them my I got in touch with my "grandma", who actually didn't even live in town. But no one I knew wanted me around at this point. Not even my friends. Having a depressed, diseased girl in your house isn't the best thing ever. I understood it, which is why I didn't even bother.

Then, everything stopped. I was told that was it. I could go now. I was taken care of. But shit, I wasn't leaving there without the other two. I was willing to stay there for however long it took for them to be treated. Either all 3 of us left, or no one did.

The thought of them... dying... It never passed through my mind. It simply wasn't even an option. You can only go through a certain amount of loss before you just give up.

No one told me what the hell was happening with them. It wasn't my business according to them. I was only a stranger. They told me to go. They gave me my phone and anything I brought with me, and showed me the door. All I could do was refuse.

"I'm not leaving here. I don't feel good enough yet." This was my only idea. I knew it wouldn't work, but it was worth a shot.

"We have sick, sick people who need the space. You're well enough to leave."

Austin came out of no where, looking worse than he did before. I cried and cried and cried some more, because I just wanted to hug him, and kiss him, and tell him it's okay. But I couldn't even speak to him.

"Just one more day," I begged.

"Miss. Rhodes, it's time for you to go. You're healthy enough for the real world now. You've been in quarantine for a week."

Day 5, Austin woke up just as sick as my dad. We were lucky that that was our day to come out, but that didn't change that he was sick. Blake wasn't as bad, but he was getting there too. And I was fine. Of course I was fine. The people around me always deal with the physical pain, and I deal with the emotional pain of watching them.

"You're gonna have to drag me out of here. I just wanna talk to Austin and Blake a little more. They're all I have, please."

My arms were grabbed onto by large men, and I was literally dragged away. That's how messed up these people are.

"No!" I screamed while I was pushed towards the double doors, away from Austin. I saw his tired eyes once more before bodies covered up my view of him. "Where's Blake?! I need to stay here with them!" But, I was gone. The doors were closed, guarded by the men. All I could do was turn around and walk away.

That's how quick everything felt. That's about all I can remember, too. If I wasn't being injected with things, then I was being put under.

I was on the 2nd floor of the hospital, which left me face to face with my new biggest fear: elevators.

I stared at it. The ugly steel doors. Those things can just close on you for 4 straight days. They can be the place your father dies, the place where you pee in a bucket, the place you meet people that may completely change the route of your life.

One opened suddenly, something I wasn't used to, so I flinched. People came out and gave me strange stares. The man standing behind me waited for me to get into it.