Cabin 9

Chapter 14

Ryan was lying on the hospital bed, with a white bandage wrapped around his wound and a bunch of tubes and needles coming out of his arms. A doctor was beside his bed, scribbling on a clipboard. He looked up when we entered the room, and came forward to shake our hands.
"Hi, I'm Dr. Gilbert and I've been looking after Ryan. We stitched up his wound and put him on some antibiotics to prevent infection. His blood work is at the lab right now and it will tell us if anything is wrong. But for now, I'm confident to say that Ryan will be fine. Have you been able to contact his parents yet?" he said.
"I think the police are working on it," Cara replied. Dr. Gilbert nodded.
"Well, I'll leave you all alone then. Tell the nurse to page me if you need anything." With that, he left the room.
"How do you feel, Ryan?" Cara asked.
"A lot better. They put me on some pain meds so it doesn't hurt anymore. But thank you, Cara. You probably saved my life." he said. She nodded slowly.
"You're welcome."
Suddenly, her phone rang, and she jumped a little.
"I've gotta take this," she said, leaving the room. I took a seat on the edge of Ryan's bed.
"Before you passed out, back on the island, you wanted to tell me something," I said to Ryan, hoping he remembered.
"Yeah. I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I was afraid that you would get hurt," he replied.
"You can tell me know. We're safe," I told him.
"Avery, you know how Cole said that his mother abandoned him? She ran off with another man?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah," I said cautiously, wondering where we was going with this.
"Well, she married that man. And a couple years later, they had a son" he said.
I gasped.  "You're Cole's half-brother?" I whispered.
"Yes."
"When I was a little kid," he began, "I was home alone one day when this guy came to the door. He was older than me, a teenager, and he looked pretty messed up. He asked me where my mom was and I said she wasn't here. He left, but he was pretty angry. Later that night, I told my dad about it and he said I should never open the door for a stranger again. He told me that man wanted to hurt my mom, and I couldn't tell her he had come."
"Cole was looking for his mother," I realized.
"I think his father was abusive towards her too. That's why she left," Ryan told me.
"But why would she leave Cole behind?" I asked, trying not to sound accusatory.
"That's what I don't know. She never talked about it, but as I grew up I started to put the pieces together. I learned that Cole was a counsellor at Camp Malnary, so I decided to come and see what he was like," he said.
"I don't know if he recognized me, but he was definitely suspicious. I could tell he was planning something. That night when we snuck out, I saw him hiding in the woods. I followed him, but all I saw was him making out with his girlfriend. I thought he wouldn't do anything, but I was wrong." Ryan's eyes filled with tears as he told me this.
"It's my fault, Avery. I saw them there and I didn't even say anything. She would still be alive if it weren't for me!"
"It's not your fault, Ryan. You didn't strangle Amalia, Cole did. If you had said something, he might have killed you too," I said soothingly.
"I was so worried about you, Avery. He killed Amalia because she knew his plan, and you were looking for clues to find the killer. That's why I tried to stop you," he continued.
"His plan? What was his plan?" I asked, my interest suddenly piqued.
"He wanted to get back the ownership of the land. He believed it was rightfully his, so he was going to hold Ben hostage. When he told Amalia, he thought she would help him, but she was too good. She tried to convince him to see reason, and she was going to tell Ben. That's why he killed her," Ryan explained slowly.
"Wow." I sat silently for a moment as I tried to process it all. Ryan lay back and stared up at the ceiling. A while later, he spoke again.
"Avery, there's something I've been wanting to do..." he began. I walked to the head of the bed, and kneeled down.
"Yes?" I said.
He leaned forwards and pressed his lips to mine.