Man in the Wall (Who is he?)

Chapter 39 - Cold blood

Peggy's POV:

I exit the evaluation room and wait for Frank to do the same, only to hear him yelling at Vivian. What has the girl done now again?... I wonder. Frustration builds up in me as he takes longer than what's needed.

"Fucking hell! I don't have time for you! Just shut up and stay here!" I hear him fume at her, his voice laced with anger and annoyance. Then I remember that I too yelled at her not too long ago.

Was my response irrational?

The friendship-based relationship I share with Vivian has just begun to heal and after yelling at her in the manner which I have, I have a feeling we're back to square one. Back to gaining her trust, back to getting her comfortable around me. I need her to be able to rely on me, to turn to me when things go wrong, not hide her fears. 

I am her nurse after all. The only one in this facility who cares about her wellbeing. Everyone else sees her as a product for profit, but she's not, she shouldn't be. It breaks my heart knowing that I too am responsible for what's to come in a few months time.

I admit it was foolish of me to behave so hot-tempered towards her. The bitter truth is that my emotions get the better of me, a flaw in my profession yet to be fixed. Which should never happen again. However, the truth remains in my statement of her not knowing who Steven is, at least not in the way I happen to know him. She doesn't understand and I cannot make her either. No one in her position would be able to understand, especially with Steven being such an ass.

I don't notice myself pacing back and forth until my body comes to a complete stop as soon as Frank steps out of the evaluation room. "What happened? Who shot him? Where is he?" I question after he slams the door shut behind him.

"I'll explain on the way, let's go." 

He leads the way to where I presume Steven to be. My heartbeat quickens.

"It was the lieutenant," he begins. 

My eyes grow in confusion as it couldn't possibly be the same lieutenant Steven murdered in cold blood. A Confusion which doesn't go unnoticed by Frank.

"No, Daniel's still dead. It's the other one. The wife. Steven's been sent to deal with her. She must have found him first and things went south." Frank explains, his breath ragged as our feet shuffle towards the steel doors. I try to decipher my own image of what exactly happened to Steven.

Yes, he's a prick, an infamous bully waiting to get his arse kicked in. But the thing is  I know his background. I know his story and once one hears it, there's no way humanly possible to unhear it. Beneath the horrid image, he has relentlessly built of himself is a man so torn, so damaged, it surprises me that he even bothers to get out of bed in the morning. What surprises me, even more, is the fact that he has shared his past events with me after discovering my very own.

"Where is he?" I question as Frank pushes the steel doors open. 

There appears to be no one in sight. I search around frantically as my feet continue to shuffle to their own accord. Frank rushes over to his car and before I know it, his feet caves beneath him as he trips on a small rock, causing him to stumble and fall.

If situations were any different, I would be clenching my stomach as laughter would consume me whole. Except there's someone I care about whose life could be in critical danger. So instead of bursting with laughter at Frank's horror-struck features, I unintentionally stare down at him as if he purposely placed himself on the ground. 

As quickly as he went down, is just as quick as he comes back up. He rises to his feet, takes a minute to gather what had just happened and before I'm able to let out a single syllable, he practically Usain Bolts towards his car.