Deadly

Chapter 8

"He's where?" Peter asked for the third time.

"The hospital!" I snapped. "Now, come on! We have to go!"

Peter just stood in the middle of the living room, dumbfound. James sighed. "I'll drive."

James sped to the hospital, ignoring Peter's complaints and demands for him to slow down. "If you wreck my truck, I'll kill you." Peter grumbled from the backseat. James just smiled a small smile and sped up. When we got to the hospital, we parked in the first spot we found and ran inside.

"What room is Sam McKinley in?" I asked a nurse breathlessly. She looked at Peter, James, and me with wide and worried eyes before typing Sam's name into her computer.

"I'm sorry, there's no one here under that name." she replied. "Are you sure you're at the right hospital?"

"Yes, we're sure. Check again." Peter snapped.

"Peter!" I elbowed him.

He sighed. "I'm sorry," he said to the nurse behind the counter. "It's been a long night."

"I can tell." She said sympathetically. "Could you give me a description? Maybe your friend's a John Doe."

"That's gotta be it!" James said loudly. "He's-"

"Peter!" Mason called. "Marilyn, James!"

"Is he here?" Peter asked. Mason nodded. I thanked the nurse and we followed Mason into an elevator, and he pressed the button for floor three.

"How'd you find him?" I asked Mason.

"Luke did. I'm guessing he just gave the nurse a descrpition or something."

"So why haven't they put his name into the system?" Peter asked, annoyed.

"Who cares?" I snapped at him, then turned to Mason. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I mean, for the most part. They want to keep him over night to make sure his injuries aren't too serious."

"What happened?" James asked as the the doors to the elevator opened.

Mason led us out, shrugging. "We can't really tell. He's got a few cuts and bruises, and he hit his head pretty bad. Doctor says he might suffer from temporary amnesia."

"Amnesia?" I repeated, shocked. What the hell did Sam do?

"They're assuming the worst." Mason tried to reassure me. "They don't want us to think he'll be completely okay when he wakes up, if there's any possibility that that's not the case."

"He's not even awake?" James asked.

"No, but he should be waking up anytime now. Come on." Mason led us into a fairly large room that smelled of bleach and other cleaning supplies. The lights were bright, and I hoped they wouldn't disorientate Sam even more when he woke up.

Mason sat down next to Luke, who was next to Kyle. Luke stood up when he saw me. "Marilyn! I'm so sorry-"

"Why are you apologizing to me?" I asked.

"Because, this is our fault!" he gestured to Mason and Kyle. "We shouldn't have let him wander off.."

"He's a big boy, Luke." I said. "This isn't your fault."

Luke gave me a small, sympathetic smile and sat back down. David came in the room shortly after, holding a small tray of coffee. "Okay, guys, I got it- Oh, hey."

"Hey," Peter said, accusation in his voice. "What the hell happened?"

"How the hell should I know?" David shot back. "Luke lost him."

Luke's face fell even more, his shoulders slumping.

"Don't you dare blame Luke!" Peter said, his voice getting louder. "He was out with all of you!"

"Yeah, but Luke tried to stop him from being an idiot. They wandered off, and only Luke came back."

I looked back to Luke, who had his head in his hands."Luke?" Peter said pointedly.

"I'm sorry!" Luke said, not looking up at us. I glared at Peter, and went and to stand in front of Luke. Mason got up, offering me his seat, and I nodded, giving him a half smile before sitting next to Luke. 

"What happened?" I asked Luke, much more gently than Peter had.

"He was rambling about who knows what. Something about a ghost or something. Mason told me he probably just missed his brother, but then Sam said the thing was outside the bar. He got up to follow whatever he was talking about, but he could barely walk, so I went with him. But he kept walking, into all the trees, and I couldn't keep up with him. And then he just dissapeared, and I couldn't find him. And, I'm- I'm sorry, it was an accident." Luke lifted his head from his hands.

"That's not your fault." I said, putting my arm around Luke's shoulders.

Luke sighed. "Yeah, it is." he sat up, and became too tall for me to keep my arm around him. "I'm sorry."

"Just apologize to Sam when he wakes up." David said, trying to lighten Luke's mood.

"Yeah, unless he, ya know, has amnesia." Mason said. Luke's head fell back into his hands.

"But it'll be temporary!" Kyle blurted out.

"Stop talking!" Luke groaned.

Sam stirred.

"Is he waking up?" I said in a stage whispered. He stirred again, before opening his eyes and looking at us all with wide eyes.

"I'll get a doctor." Peter said, running out of the room.

"Where am I?" Sam asked. My blood ran cold. Did he have amnesia?

"The hospital," Mason said slowly after waiting a few moments for me to respond.

"Why?" Sam asked.

"You were in a bit of an accident." Kyle answered.

"What happened? And why is Luke so upset?"

Luke's head shot up, and he smiled at Sam brightly. "You remember me?"

"Yeah, man, we lived together for a bit."

"That's right." Luke answered.

"Sam, do you remember what happened?" I asked him.

He looked at me confused. "Who are you?"

My eyes got wide, and so did Kyle's, Mason's, Luke's, David's, and James'.

"I'm, uh- uh," I stuttered.

Sam laughed. "I'm totally kidding, I heard someone say I might have amnesia, I just had to say something."

"Sam!"

"I'm sorry!" he laughed.

"So, what else did you hear?" Luke asked anxiously. "What do you remember?"

"I just heard that, and then I woke up." Sam said.

"And what do you remember?"

"I remember... Uh...."

"Don't think too hard. Just, the last thing you remember. The first thing that comes to mind." David said.

"Oh, that's easier. I helped Marilyn pick out her outfit for her date, and then we watched TV. But I don't remember what."

"How long ago was that?" a doctor asked, walking into the room. "Sorry, I just over heard-"

"That's okay." I said. "And I don't know, three, four hours ago?"

"Not too bad." the doctor said, putting a fresh pair of gloves on. "Could you guys step out of the room? I should check Sam's vitals and brain."

We nodded, leaving the room.