Him & Her

Ch.37

Ch37

Elizabeth tried to pull away, but Cole's grip was iron tight.

"What did you say?" Cole asked again, more sternly this time.

Elizabeth couldn't find her voice, she just stared at him, eyes wide, barely breathing.

"Hey, Cole," Henry said softly, "How about-"

"What did you say?!" Cole suddenly yelled, gaze never wavering from Elizabeth's face.

Elizabeth jumped slightly in her seat, and for some reason, she couldn't speak, couldn't move. Why couldn't she control herself?

"Liz. What. Did. You. Say?" Cole said, sitting up, his face inches away from hers.

Elizabeth squeaked, "Dr.Mark is your dad."

"How do you know?" Cole asked, voice surprisingly steady.

"I figured it out. You have his eyes, and he said so himself. He is Arthur." Elizabeth replied, slightly afraid of his reaction.

Cole didn't reply for what felt like agonizing hours, but must've been only mere seconds. Then he spoke, "No." he said, "My dad is millions of miles away. My mom is-was just hallucinating. He doesn't even look like my dad. My dad has blond hair, paler skin."

"Cole, you were really young when you last saw your dad. He could have changed, he did. I know you don't want to hear it, but he is your dad. your mom was right." Elizabeth said slowly.

"No!" Cole sounded like he was trying to convince himself, "No, my dad is not a doctor. He's probably working at some stupid low paying job half way across the country. He could be dead for all I know, for all I care."

"Cole," Elizabeth paused, "That's what you want to hear, but it's not the truth."

Cole didn't say anything. He still clutched her wrist tightly in his hand. He swallowed hard. The silence was almost unbearable as Elizabeth waited for him to do something, anything, she wouldn't mind if he screamed again.

The look in his blue eyes told her that Cole believed her, but didn't want to. Elizabeth's wrist hurt, but she didn't say anything about it. She waited patiently for Cole to get the idea in his head.

"Cole-" Henry broke the silence. And as if his voice had awakened Cole from a deep sleep, Cole let go of Elizabeth's hand, slipped out of his hospital bed, removing the IV from his arm and any other tubes in him and ran into the bathroom.

Elizabeth stood up and Henry just stared at the closed door.

"Welcome to my world." Elizabeth muttered. She walked over to the small bathroom, hoping Cole was ok.

She was about to knock when the door suddenly opened and there stood Cole in a black shirt and pants, the ones he was wearing before he fainted. That day seemed like centuries away to Elizabeth.

"Cole?" Elizabeth said, surprised and a little worried, "What are you doing?"

"I'm finally going to make sense of what the hell is happening here." he snapped. His voice was harder than usual, like he was at the breaking point of his sanity.

"Cole you can't just-"

Cole cut her off, "Watch me."

He pushed past her and walked right past a stunned Henry and out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Elizabeth didn't hesitate. She ran out the door and caught up to Cole, who was fast walking down the hall.

"What are you doing? Cole, get back to your room right now." she told him and moved to stand in his way.