Matters of the Heart

Chapter 34: The Silent Killer

Chapter 34:

The Silent Killer

The gurney's wheels wiggled unevenly and squeaked against the floor as it flew down the hallway.

"We lost her pulse. She's crashing."

They turned a sharp corner, one of the wheels leaving a scuff against the ground.

"She's not going to make it..."

Spencer quickly slid out of the way of the EMTs and doctors as they rushed by with an older woman on a cot. After they disappeared around a corner, she turned and walked in the opposite direction.

She walked into the waiting room where Aria and Hanna were sitting next to each other. Aria was staring off into the distance, her face stained with tears. She was chewing on her lip. Hanna had her head back against the wall, an exhausted expression on her face. They saw Spencer coming.

"Anything?" Aria asked hopefully.

Spencer shook her head.

"Should we check again?" Hanna asked.

"It's probably a waste of time." Spencer replied. "I doubt she's even still here."

"How do you know?" Aria questioned.

"Because nothing is on fire and the hospital is still standing."

"Did you look in the chapel?" Hanna asked. "Maybe she's back there going all one-woman demolition crew on the pulpit again...making Jesus sad or whatever."

"I've looked everywhere," Spencer sighed. Well, everywhere that wasn't restricted. "She's not answering my texts. And her phone is still going straight to voicemail."

"She probably threw it against a wall in a fit of rage," Hanna muttered, her voice hoarse from crying. She glanced at her own phone, considering doing the same. "If A hadn't crashed that truck into Toby's cruiser..."

"Yeah, well, A did. And now Emily is dead." Spencer snapped, surprising her friends with her heated response. "And Ali is God knows where going off the deep end and we're just running around like a bunch of ants on a hill about to be stomped on."

"We've already been stomped on," Hanna sniffled, tears glistening in her eyes.

Aria rubbed Hanna's arm to try and comfort her. It didn't help much.

"I'm so done with this." Spencer ranted. "I'm done with these threats. I'm done with losing people. I am done feeling like this. I have half a mind to just get in my car and drive until I hit Canada. Hide out among the moose, farm the legal hash. And just become one of those mountain people somewhere A can never find me."

"What about Ali? We can't leave her." Aria frowned.

"She clearly doesn't want our help right now." Spencer glanced around the waiting room. "If she did she'd at least return a freaking text message. Instead she's gone all Houdini on us. Just like high school."

"Spencer!" Aria looked at her in surprise.

Spencer regretted it the minute she'd said it. She knew she was out of line. She knew how much Ali was hurting. She'd seen how much pain Ali was in. The look Ali had on her face in the holding room at the police precinct would haunt Spencer forever.

"She can't die alone."

The words sent a shiver down Spencer's spine. Ali had looked so small and helpless when she'd whimpered about losing Emily. Spencer had never seen her like that. And now Ali was the one alone.