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Chapter 6: Suspicions Arise
EMERGENCY ROOM. The sign knocked the wind out of her lungs and left her breathless. There were dozens of ambulances parked out front, paramedics rushing in and rushing out. She turned to face forward and nearly slammed into a sobbing woman. She appeared to be a mother as she held the hand of a little six year old boy who seemed confused. The woman had tears flying down her cheeks and frantic eyes, no doubt she had someone important to her wheeled in to those doors.
Edward gently grabbed her hand and led her into the wide entrance, the sliding doors automatically opening upon their arrival. Hunter was too disoriented to snatch her hand away, or to forget about that woman's face. She hadn't been in the vicinity of a hospital since her father and horrid memories were flooding back.
A draft of air hits her face, warm and tinged with the smell of hand sanitizer and bleach. People, families, were sat on the sides, awaiting their name to be called. Some people looked normal, as if this was a regular routine and some people looked like her, adrift and frightened.
"Hello, we're visiting." Edward's voice enters her ears and it was then that she realized that they had reached the front desk. The nurse seemed polite. She bared a smile and her hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail. She asked who they were visiting but Hunter couldn't find it in her to deliver a response. "Where's my dad! I want to see my dad!" Her own voice screamed in her head.
She could remember vividly running into Ocean Shores Hospital and feeling the world crumble underneath her. She had been in a math class when the principal called her out into the hall and told her the information of her father's condition. It didn't take much for her to run out of the school building with the faculty calling after her. All she needed to hear was, "Your father's been in an accident."
"Here to visit Forge." Edward replied, watching Hunter's vision zero out onto the desk between them and the nurse. He wished that he could read her mind again, just so he could help her relax. But he was stuck on the outside. The nurse reached over and pulled out wristbands that had the words, VISITOR printed out in bold. Edward lifted up their still attached hands and let the nurse click the wristbands on.
The nurse, Delany Scott, smiled as she did so, "You guys are cute together." Edward looked at her and smiled sheepishly, "Oh, she's not- we're not together. I'm just her plus one."
Delany sat back in her seat with a chuckle, "Could've had me fooled. Sorry if I offended you." Hunter drifted her eyes to their clasped hands and she didn't mutter a word. It would've bothered her any other time but now she felt like she wasn't alone and she needed that.
Edward shook his head, "No, of course not." Delany finally looked back to Hunter, her smile falling a bit. "Is she okay?"
'No, I'm not' she apprehended, refraining from reaching over and snapping the woman's neck. Now her anger was settling in. She wanted to leave, to go back home and never have to see another hospital again. But she wasn't here for no reason, Winston was waiting for her, he needed her.
