The never ending Chase

Nathaniel Theodore Harrison (PART ONE)

I flung open the door and ran across the room, before Anna or Nadia could ask me anything. I loved them very much, but living in a hostel room together with them brought my personal space to an all time low.

This was one of those moments I wished I was back home, in my brother, Nathan's company. Despite being a pain in the arse, he was the only who had the ability to keep me sane in such a situation.

I slowly climbed into my bed and pulled the sheets over my body. A moment later, the tears began flowing.

What had I even done? I mean, I've been a pretty good kid. Excepting that time I got so drunk that I may have pole danced. Apparently, I was kind of good. But that's besides the point.

The subject of importance at the moment was this new revelation about me, that I myself had just been made privy to. Everything seemed to make sense now. Of late, people had been giving me weird looks in the corridors and classrooms. They were scrutinising me. At first I thought it had something to do with the bet, but in fact it had nothing to do with the bet. They all knew. The worst part of this whole situation was that no one had been considerate enough to inform me about the rumour. Was that how everyone thought of me now?

I wanted to just die! I really had no point of living any more. There was no way I could survive this. I had heard many rumours before, but none like this. I felt so alone.

Between sobs, I heard a soft knock on the door, and saw Anna and Nadia, peep into the room.

"Go away!", I yelled, tossing a pillow at them. They easily ducked and climbed into the bed.

"Sweetie,.....", Anna said softly, but she couldn't say anything else.

A long silence filled the air between us.

"You knew didn't you?", I finally asked.

Their prolonged silence only confirmed my thoughts.

"I-I got to go..."

"Wait, Victoria", Anna shouted, trying to stop me.

"Guys, I'd really appreciate if you would leave me alone.", I said firmly before I left the room.

How could they do this to me?, I thought as I hurried down the stairs. I stuffed my clenched fists in the pockets of my coat and hurried down the path.

The sky was beginning to turn a dull shade of grey-the sign of rain, but I didn't care. I couldn't breathe......

I pulled out my phone and dialed Nathan's number. After a couple of rings he picked up.

"Nate?"

"Yeah?...."

"I really need to talk to you. Are you busy?"

In the background I could hear a girl screaming along to Oops I did it again by Brittney Spears.

"Yeah, wassup Vic?"

"If you're busy I'll call you later..."

"Nah its all right...."

"Yo, Nate, someone's trashing your car outside, man", a voice in the background yelled.

"Hey Vic, how 'bout I call you in ten minutes? I just gotta deal with this idiot."

"Yeah ok. But, Nate, don't do anything reckless. ok?"

"Yeah ok, I promise." I could almost see the smile on  his face as he said this.

I was just about to press the end call button, when I heard a loud sound on the other end of the line. It sounded awfully like a gunshot.

So here I am, two days later in my hometown, in H.J.R. Hospital.

I looked over towards the door when I heared the sound of footsteps. The nurse, an elderly lady with greying hair stepped in.

"He's going to be fine, Ms. Harrison. He just needs some rest is all.", she said, examining the I.V. saline drip bag hanging from a stand. Nathan used to scare me when I was a kid, by telling me that the drip bag was filled with poison.

I looked at her curiously. How could she say that? I had heard the 'they'll be fine' speech enough times to know that I could not trust what the doctors said.

I looked over at him, lying in the hospital bed, completely weak, and my heart went out to him. He had suffered minor brain trauma and an injury at the nape of his neck. He had been unconscious for the past two days, but the doctors said it would only be a matter of time before he gained consciousness. He looked so helpless, so alone.

The lunatic who had been trashing his car, when I had called, had been completely wasted. When Nate had gone to confront him, he had gone berserk. He had pulled out a gun and had shot my brother, narrowly missing his skull. When he finally sobered up, he confessed that he had no idea, what he had done and he apologised profusely, but the damage was already done. My brother lay on a white hospital bed, cuts and bruises all over his hands, a drip line connecting a vein in his arm to an I.V. bag  and stitches all over his face. He looked like hell.

I'm not really the kind to stand the sight or smell of blood for long, so as you can imagine I was craving to get out of the hospital, but I had to be their for my brother. Everything in the room screamed nausea, so the only thing left for me to do, to keep myself from vomiting, was stare out the window. 

I stared at the street outside. It was quiet and there didn't seem to be much activity. The door behind me opened and I turned around to see my dad. He had been in Paris on a business trip. When he had heard of Nate's accident, he had taken the first flight back home. I hadn't seen him since summer and I was kind of glad to see him, after so long.

"Dad...What are you doing here?", I asked hugging him. Despite being here, there was something about being next to him, that brought me some comfort. Nathan had inherited this quality from my dad.

"Um.. Excuse me ...Doctor?", both of us looked towards Nathan.

"Nathan, you're awake", we both exclaimed as we came closer to hug him. He looked a little taken aback.

"Yeah..... but who are you?", he asked us, a confused frown on his face.

To be continued.....