Not Mine

~Part 8~

John saw Philip run past the doorway. He knew Philip was too fast for him to catch, so he went to talk to Alex instead.
When he left the room, he heard soft crying coming from down the hall. The lounge. He quickly jogged down the hall, knowing he could get stopped for running, and make it to the lounge, to see Alex curled up on the couch.
"Uh- dad? Are you okay?"
Alex tried to slow down his crying a little, "I'm not your dad..."
"Well jeez. Then what is a dad? I can have 2 dads, and you were the one who even let me live." John walked over to Alex and sat down next to him, even though he was still curled up.
Alex tried telling him, "Go away," through his tears, but he couldn't quite get it out.
John layed up against Alex's shoulder and started telling him everything would be fine, and that he would find Philip, no matter what.
Alex attempted to shove John off his shoulder, but failed, and decided it wasn't that bad after all to have someone to comfort him. They stayed still for a while until James came to the lounge.
Alex looked up at him and asked, "What now..."
James walked closer to him, "I'm gonna let that slide, since I know what just happened, but I came to check on you. I heard you crying from down the hall, are you doing okay?"
"I- uh, yeah..." Alex lied, hoping James would leave him alone.
"That was the biggest lie I've ever heard..."
"I-it wasn't a lie..." Alex could barely
talk through his tears.
"How about this. You can try to calm down a little, and I'll head down to the cafeteria to get you a milkshake or slushy or something."
Alex slowly nodded then asked, "W-why are you.. you being s-so nice to m-me?"
"Do I need a reason? You're going through troubling times and I'm trying to help, okay? Now just get some rest, I'll be right back." James responded in the nicest, smoothest voice he could.
"Th-thanks..." Alex shifted a little before settling into the corner of the couch.
They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before James came back.
"I wasn't sure what flavor you liked, so I got mint choc chip," he handed it to Alex.
"This is great, thanks... For everything..." He sipped the milkshake and went back to minding his own business.
     "I need to get back to check on Maria, but just let me know if you need anything else," he looked at John, "either of you," and walked back down the hall.
     Alex continued slowly sipping his milkshake and John found a puzzle to help pass time.
     After a few minutes, John slowly stood up and looked down at Alex, "I'm going back to the room for a little bit if you need me for any reason."
     Alex looked back up at him, still half-crying, but getting better, and asked John if he could stay with him for a couple more minutes.
     "Sure, I guess," John sat back down next to Alex. Alex leaned over and rested his head on John's shoulder, then closed his eyes. John let him be and eventually noticed Alex had fallen asleep.
     He slowly and gently moved Alex off of him, trying to not wake him up, then took one of Alex's blank papers and a pen and wrote a quick note reminding him where he was going. John slowly stood up and walked down the hall back to the room.
     Without looking where he was going, John walked into the room and ran into someone.
     "Oh- sorry!" He quickly backed away and looked up at who it was, "Philippppp!!!"
     John grabbed Philip's arm and pulled him out into the hall towards the lounge. Philip tried breaking away, but he couldn't by the time they were already in the lounge.
     Alex heard them and woke up. Still half-asleep, he looked up at them.
     "This has to be a dream... Philip wasn't here..."
     Philip walked over to him, sat next to him, and layed against him, "Is this a dream now?"
     "Yesssss, a good oneeeee," he looked around then saw Philip's shirt, which seemed soaked, "is it raining out or something? Your shirt is weeeeeet."
     "Oh- it's nothing," he lied.
     John went over to Philip and felt the shirt, getting his hand slightly red.
     "Uh- Philip? What is this?" He lifted up Philip's shirt just enough to reveal some sort of wound.
     "It's... it's nothing... really, I'll be fine..." Philip quickly smacked John's hand away.
     "Tell me what happened. Please?"
     "Okay fine, I may have gotten into a fight with one of the nurses and they stabbed me or something with one of their fancy tool things... It'll be fine in a couple days!"
     Alex was almost fully awake by now, "You did what now!?!?!?"
     "I- uh- nothing..." He quickly got up and started to walk away again.
     "Philip please stay... I'm sorry I snapped like that, you just shocked me, that's all..."
     He turned back around, "Fine... What time is it?"
     Alex checked his watch, "12:36"
     "Guess I'm not going to school today," Philip sighed.
     "Is that a bad thing?"
     "No, not really. Just, it's only the first week and I don't want to get too far behind."
     John looked at him, "Wow, you're obsessed with learning..."
     "Am not! I just uh- just..."
     "Just?"
     "Just shut up... That work for ya?"
     "I guess... But your stomach... You need to do something about that..."
     "N-no, it'll be fine..."
     John walked over to Philip and led him to a chair, "Yes, stay here, I'm going to find someone or something that can help."
     John came back a few minutes later, "No one would believe me when I told them what happened, said 'they only hire the best, nicest people', but I got some supply stuff." He lifted up Philip's shirt again and cleaned off his stomach. Philip winced in pain and bit his lip to distract himself. John put a cloth over it and wrapped an A.C.E bandage around him.
     "There, just stay here and rest for a little, maybe I can stay with you tonight to make sure you're fine."
     Philip stayed in the chair and nodded at John, obviously still in some pain.