Branded Bones

Chapter 7

I turn and look at Nate right as he falls to the ground, pure terror in his eyes. Everyone looks scared as I kneel down beside him. I cup his face in my hands, a trick I know will knock him out of his state of shock.
As I notice the fog in Nate's eyes clear, I turn around and look at Andy, who is the only one not trembling in fear.
"Andy, grab his cane and follow me." He nods and I turn back to Nate, picking him up bridal style. I hear Andy's footsteps behind me as I walk to the guest bedroom where Nate would be staying in. I lay him down on the bed and Andy lays the cane against the wall between the nightstand and the bed.
Once I make sure Nate's comfortable, I motion for Andy to follow me back into the hallway so we can talk with the others.
Crowding around the room are Brett, Amalee, MatPat, Steph, and AJ and Peter from Random Encounters.
"What happened to him?" Brett asks.
"Well, before I went to Nate's room to pick him up, the doc stopped me and told me that Nate had been diagnosed with a mild case of PTSD, but that it would include flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks, he'd be easy to startle and scare, and he'd get angry and agitated easily." Many people gasped at the startling news, tears appearing in a few pairs of eyes.
"That's just mild?" Amalee asks, fear evident in her shaky voice.
"Yeah. It could've been a lot worse."
"Did he get any meds?" MatPat asks.
"Yeah, I just didn't get a chance to give them to him. Would be a lot worse without them."
"I feel so bad," Amalee declares. Brett walks over to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders to calm her down.
"Don't be. We didn't know and Hunter didn't tell us because we didn't tell him we'd be here. It's no one's fault." Amalee buries her head in the crook of Brett's neck as he completely engulfs her in his hug.
"I did some research while I was waiting for Nate and I found that there will be a lot of self-blame and self-loathing, even with his meds. Same with agitation, panic attacks, and nightmares."
As if on cue, we're all startled by a blood-curdling scream coming from the room behind Andy and me. The two of us barge into the room to see a man standing over Nate who is convulcing. The said man is wearing a red button-down with a black tie and vest and slacks. The man grabs Nate's cane and taps the bottom on the ground, the cane turns black and the tops morphs until it's a three-fingered, scaly claw gripping onto a small, glass orb.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" The figure chuckles, still looking down, and snaps. Nate stops moving. The room starts glowing a faint red, but no light source is visible.
"I've been with him since the first day he got kidnapped. And I'll always be with him." The guy looks up and I can't see much due to the red light almost silhouetting him, but he looks familiar. Wait a minute, that can't be...
"Nate?" I ask. The man chuckles once more and rests both hands on the cane, leaning completely against it.
"Close, but not quite. You can call me Phantom." He snaps his fingers and disappears in black smoke, which quickly dissipates.