Hey tumbleweed, great to see you again :) here's your long awaited update.
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"S-sorry?" Charlotte stuttered, staring at Layla with wide eyes.
"Uh, a really tall guy with a short beard was running around like crazy calling your name, and then he disappeared somewhere."
Tall guy, short beard. To Charlotte there was no way this couldn't have been Rhett, and remembering seeing a tall man leave out the fire escape made her believe even more. Instantly panic settled in, as there'd be no reason he'd do that if there wasn't something wrong. Something wrong with Link at least.
"Yeah, okay," Charlotte said calmly. She was definitely not, but she didn't want to worry Layla who needed to get back to her rounds. "I'll go find him, thanks."
Both girls left in opposite directions; Layla to her next patient and Charlotte down to room 403. The corridors were a strange arrangement, with only Link's door and one of the fire escapes at the end of a tight turn that wasn't visible from the main waiting area. A large window was right at the back looking over the city, and that was about it. Handily, there were little gaps in the walls where things were stored, like medical equipment and desks, but they weren't used much as nobody needed to come down to just one room.
As Charlotte came down the corridor with a tight feeling in her chest, she began to hear faint noises from Link's room. It was easy to tell they weren't coming from Link himself, as they were a very strange, almost agonising pitch. She didn't know who it was, so she tiptoed slowly to the door and ducked, trying to hear if anyone was saying anything. Charlotte didn't want to go into the room at all, after seeing who she thought was Rhett dashing out. For all she knew there could be someone with weapons, or anything in there.
Charlotte caught her breath as she put her ear against the wall and listened carefully, hoping to find out what was happening. Although it was very muffled, she could make out some words.
***
"H-he, he's got h-him," Scott stuttered. He could barely feel anything anymore, especially his head which was completely numb after a few minutes. Scott attempted to forget it and he really didn't want to admit it to himself that he just got annihilated.
"T-they went b-" he gasped, coughing a few times and resuming. "B-back to his place."
Beads of red rolled down Scott's cut lip as he got out the words he needed. He listened intently to his phone and nodded, finishing the speedy conversation and preparing mentally to carry himself and get cleaned up. He was thankful nobody was around to see him in such a mess, and he knew a good way out he was pretty sure Rhett just took too.
Blood was surrounding him on the floor, but that wasn't his problem now. Scott held himself against the wall to slide up, and he gathered all his things to leave.
***
More sounds were coming from the room, making Charlotte jump and dash around the corner and out of sight. She peered round ever so slightly to see Link's door swing open, and Scott drag himself out limping with every step. Soon he was out the fire escape door, and silence fell. Charlotte was lost for words, and built up so much anger she didn't know she had. There was always something Charlotte sensed a bit odd from Scott, but nothing like this. What could he have done?
What did he do?
Charlotte found herself standing at the entrance of the room, grabbing onto the door frame to keep herself standing as she saw the ruffled up empty bedsheets and everyone vanished. Her steps were shuffling against the ground as she reached the blood on the floor, making Charlotte gulp in fear. Link was gone, Scott was gone, and it must have been Rhett who left earlier too.
Charlotte's eyes were becoming watery, glancing around at the cold, eerie room hoping she was just imagining it all. It wasn't even the lurking thought she'd certainly be fired for losing her closest patient that was making her cry, but the worry and fear that her close friend-almost was absolutely gone.
After taking it in for a while, Charlotte perched herself on the side of the bed and tried to think where he could have disappeared to. Scott didn't have Link when he left, so that wasn't an option. However, the end of his phone call Charlotte overheard was present in her head, and the words he used might have been related to Link.
'He's got him' and 'back to his place' rang around her brain until there was only one answer that made any sense.
Rhett had taken him.
But who was Scott talking to? If he was to call any of the doctors it would have been Charlotte herself, or 'Char' as Scott tended to call her as they passed in the corridor on occasion. There wasn't anyone else he'd need to tell. This was getting more complex and insane the more she thought, and Charlotte felt so bad looking to her right where she'd usually see Link smiling gently back, but instead was just a creepy, weird, nothing.
Since Rhett was already out and could have taken a million directions to anywhere, there was no point trying to follow him. Charlotte went straight to the main floor desk and logged in her computer, to find Link's details. Rhett was his main connection and his address, phone and records were recorded in the lengthy file on Charlotte's drive, which she hoped would maybe find them fast. The intense searching face appeared, as her eyebrows sunk and she bit her lip scrolling down to find the information.
"What ya' looking for?" A passing doctor asked, glancing at the computer and Charlotte spun around from the sudden scare.
"Oh, just a patient's family member, that's all," she answered quickly. Rhett wasn't family at all, but he was basically all Link had at this point.
"Everything okay, you look flustered hun," he knelt down, rubbing Charlotte's back. She fixed her eyes on his name tag which hung around his neck, with the name Liam Clark in bold writing. He must have been the Liam that the girls were talking about who hooked up with Deb, but that only briefly entered her mind as she was still fixed on finding Rhett's address and trying to hide the fact her most sensitive patient was gone.
"Yes, just need to update the family."
Liam nodded and stood back up, letting Charlotte resume finding the number. Soon enough it appeared at the bottom of the file, and she typed it all out into her phone so she could make her way to Rhett's and maybe find out if that's where he was. Because in the end, she didn't even know.
