Minds: Book One

Chapter Fourteen

        That night I had another dream.
        “Hi Isaac.” A voice said from behind me. When I turned around I saw a tall, slim, beautiful woman standing in front of me.
        It was River’s mom.
        “Scarlett?” I already knew the answer to that question but that was all I could say. Scarlett smiled at me and pulled me into a hug. She was almost as tall as me.
        “Thank you for taking care of River for me baby.” She said in a sweet whisper. She pulled away and placed her hands on my shoulders. Her intense eyes met mine.
        “I need you do something for me honey.” She said.
        “What do you need me to do?” I asked.
        “I need you to save her.”
        “Save who?”
        “She needs you to save her.”
        “Save who?”
        “Please Isaac, I need you to save her.” I shrugged her hands on my shoulders and grabbed her arms.
        “Scarlett, I can’t save this person if I have no idea who she is.” I said in a harsher voice than I intended. She stared at me for a second and pursed her lips. She pulled out of my grasp and scrunched her face.
        “Her name is Grace.”

        I shot up in bed almost hitting my head on the bottom of Alice’s bed. For some reason I was out of breath. Alice’s hands were suddenly on the sides of my face.
        “Isaac, are you okay?” She asked in a rushed voice. The coldness of her hands brought me back to reality. I still couldn’t seem to catch my breath. She laid my head on her chest and put one hand on the back of my head and the other was rubbing my back. The sound of her beating heart helped me calm down.
        “What’s wrong?” She asked. I replayed the dream in my head when Alice tried to read my mind. I pulled away and looked at her. Her face was twisted in confusion.
        “Do you know anyone named Grace?” She asked. I shook my head. She stood up from my bed and took my hand dragging me towards River’s bed. River was still sleeping but Alice shook him awake.
        “What the hell Alice?” River said in a groggy voice.
        “River get up we have to talk to you.” Alice as she basically dragged him out of his bed and into his wheel chair. She pushed him outside and I followed her. When we finally got outside River glared at the both of us.
        “There better be a good ass reason for why you dragged me out of bed.” River said with the annoyance clear in his voice.
        “Isaac, and I both had the same dream about your mom.” Alice said. River’s eyes got wide.
        “What?” He asked.
        “Well, Isaac’s dream was a little more helpful.” Alice said motioning towards me.
        “I found out what the girl’s name is.” I said.
        “What is it?!” River almost shouted at me.
        “Her name is Grace. But that’s all I know, your mom didn’t tell me what she looked like or anything.” I said. River nodded his head and thought about that for a second.
        “Do you know anyone named Grace?” Alice asked.
        “No.” River said a little discouraged. His head shot back up as if he remembered something.         “My dad mentioned something a few years ago about a girl named Grace, but I don’t remember exactly what it was.”
        “Maybe she was a patient at ROIM?” I said. Both of them looked at me.
        “My dad never really talked to me about the patients in ROIM.” River said shaking his head.
        “When you were searching through all of those files in the Records Room you never found anything about a girl named Grace?” I asked. He shook his head.
        “Oh speaking of ROIM.” River cleared his throat. “I think I’m going ask Doc to give me that treatment. I don’t want to be in a wheel chair during the attack.”
        “That’s probably a good idea. Let’s go see him now.” Alice said. The three of us walked over to the hospital together. I found the brunette nurse writing something down on a chart at the nurse’s station. He looked up when she heard are footsteps, and River’s squeaking wheel chair.
        “Hey guys, what can I help you with?” She asked with a smile on her face.
        “Is Doc around?” Alice asked.
        “Yeah I think so, let me go get him.” She closed the chart and it in a filing cabinet. After a few minutes the brunette nurse returned with Doc.
        “Hello, is everything okay?” Doc asked in his kind voice.
        “Yeah. I uhh.” River said nervously. He looked up at Alice with pleading eyes.
        “River would like to know if you can give him the same treatment that you gave me.” Alice said as she put her hand on the top of River’s head. Doc nodded his head.
        “Yes, of course. I’ll go prep a room for you right now.” Doc said. He gestured for us to follow him. Alice ruffled River’s hair making him chuckle. I wheeled River over to a small “room”. Doc closed the privacy curtain after the three of us were inside. Doc and I helped River get into the bed.
        “Let me go get some nurses’ to assist me.” Doc said as he walked under the privacy curtain.
        “Alice does the treatment hurt?” River asked in a quiet voice. Alice walked over and sat down on the end of his bed.
        “No it doesn’t. It feels like you go to sleep at night exhausted and wake up in the morning completely refreshed.” Alice said in her sweet voice. She gave him a small smile.
        “We will be here for you when you wake up.” I said.
        “Thanks guys.” He said with a weak smile on his face. Doc came into the room with the blonde nurse and brunette nurse.
        “You’ll be fine man, don’t worry.” I said as I patted him on the head. I sat down in the chair in the corner. Alice got off the bed and sat down on the arm rest of the chair.
        “You will be asleep for a much shorter time than Alice was because of how minor your injuries are compared to hers.” Doc said.
        Thanks for reminding me. Alice said to me as she rolled her eyes. I placed my hand on the small of her back and she relaxed into it.
         “You’ll be awake after dinner time.” Doc said. River laid back in the bed and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The blonde nurse tied a blue band around his arm just above the bend of her elbow and waited a few seconds. She stuck the needle end of a syringe into his arm and pushed down on the plunger. After a few seconds River’s eyes slowly closed and his breaths became swallow. His chest barley rising with each breath. The brunette nurse opened River’s mouth and put a long tube that was attached to a machine down his throat. After the nurse pressed a few buttons on the machine his chest began to noticeable rise again. Just like Alice’s had done.
        The blonde nurse attached a little clip looking thing to one of his fingers. The brunette nurse attached an IV to his arm and put a bag that had the same dark blue liquid in it that Alice had on the top of a pole next to River‘s bed. The brunette nurse wrote something down on the clipboard that was hanging on the end of his bed.
        “Treatment started at eight in the morning on Sunday.” The brunette nurse said. Doc nodded and wrote something down on the clipboard. The three of them smiled at us before they left. I walked over and sat down on River’s bed. He has never looked so brittle before.
        “Alice I don’t know what I would do without him. He’s my best friend.” I said. Tears started to well up in my eyes. Alice came over and wrapped her arms around my waist.
        “He’s like a brother to me.” I said. A few tears fell down onto my cheeks. Alice kissed my shoulder.
        “I know sweetie.” She said in her soothing voice. “He will be okay.” Still sitting on the bed I turned to Alice and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. Her grip around my waist tightened. The sweet smell of her hair filled my lungs, making everything in the world seem okay.
        “Come on lets go get some breakfast.” She said after a few minutes. I didn’t know if River could hear me but I turned to him and said in his head, I love you man.
        Alice fingers laced between mine and she gently pulled me towards the kitchen. We slipped out from under the privacy curtain and started walked towards the kitchen. I saw Nick running down the stairs and straight towards us.
        Alice noticed him too. Nick reached us and was completely out of breath. He stood in front of us and tried to catch his breath for a second before talking.
        “Come on, there is an emergency meeting.” Nick said through labored breaths. Nick started off for the meeting room again. Alice and I exchanged nervous looks and followed him. The three of us ran up the stairs and into the meeting room. For once we were the last people to arrive. Alice and I rushed over to our seats.
        “Where is River?” Kayla asked in voice that almost sounded scared.
        “He is getting Doc’s treatment.” I said between breaths. Richard stood up and clapped his hands.
        “The attack on ROIM has been moved up. We are now attacking tomorrow.” Richard said with a slightly nervous voice.