The Disappearance of Taylor

Chapter 15

Cole plodded down the stairs of the hotel. The elevator was out of order.

"Another day," he murmured. For two weeks since Taylor had gotten her illness, he had stayed in the hotel. Having gotten no word from the doctor about improving, he decided to visit the hospital once again.

Numb, he walked stiffly down to the hospital near the hotel. He opened the glass door and went to the waiting room, where he sat down on a chair. He waited, but nothing happened, so he went again to Taylor's room. He pushed open the door slowly and looked inside. He saw a different women's kind face and realized he had run into the doctor as he had gone through the door.

Her face broke into a smile. "Cole! Long time no see!"

He went straight to the point. "How's Taylor?"

She smiled again. "I'm actually glad that you came today. For some reason, the illness left three days ago as quickly as it had come. She's been getting better every day since then."

"Can I see her now?"

"Of course." The doctor stepped aside and motioned for him to come in.

Cole stepped over to Taylor's bed. Surprisingly, Taylor did look better. Her face had gotten its color back and all the bruises and scratches on her that had been there before had gone. Her eyes were still closed, though, and Cole wanted nothing more than to see them open once again.

"Taylor," he whispered. "Wake up. I'm here."

Taylor's eyes suddenly flitted open like the wings of a butterfly. She looked straight at Cole and slowly lifted up one of her hands. Cole took it in one of his.

"Taylor, it is lovely to see that you are getting better," Cole murmured to her as he knelt down beside her bed.

"Thank you, Cole," Taylor replied softly, her voice no more than a wisp of air.

"How are you holding up?" he wondered.

"Fine," Taylor mumbled a bit as she said her next words, which made her sound afraid. "They... just... might... keep me here a bit longer... because of the pain."

"What pain?" Cole asked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you. Well, when the doctor finally saw me wake up, she told me that I had had a terrible slash in my side. Did you know that?"

"Yes."

"They stitched it up, but for some reason, from time to time, it just... causes some really painful agony to hit me. They have to give me pain meds every time and they said it will probably clear up in about another week or two. And- oh no." Taylor moaned. "It's happening again!" She began to move around in the bed as a huge stabbing pain hit her.

Cole gasped and ran out of the room. He quickly met the doctor in the hallway. "Doctor, she needs help!"

She also gasped. "What? There's no one with her?" Her expression changed to one of anger. "I need to get that Ryan guy fired! He never does his job right! I've had a patient before die because of him and it will not happen again!" She rushed down toward Room 166 inside the room and Cole followed her, but watched from outside of the room.

The doctor grabbed a syringe from the counter filled with some blue liquid inside it and approached Taylor's thrashing body with it. She tried to grab Taylor's arm, but Taylor was moving around so much that she couldn't get a grip. Soon, though, another doctor went past Cole and came into the room. He threw a hand onto Taylor's shoulder and another on her arm. Then, he motioned to the other doctor who quickly stepped forward and jammed the syringe right into Taylor's side where it was exposed and expertly pumped the medicine in before taking the syringe out of Taylor's skin and placing it back on the counter. All in two minutes' worth. Taylor moaned again as her thrashing stopped and she collapsed back on the bed.

Cole ran to her. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged, her chest heaving with every breath. "I warned you."

Cole sighed. "Just glad you're okay."

Taylor grinned. "So am I."