Nearly four and a half hours later, at 11:36, Hannibal’s phone rang. He was in the kitchen, preparing the beginnings of a breakfast he would take over to Will and Alana in the morning. He heard the phone ringing in the study and wiped his hands on a fluffy white towel that was sitting on the counter. Hannibal walked into the study and picked up the phone, holding it to his ear.
“Hannibal?!” Alana asked frantically from the other end of the line.
“Alana?” Hannibal asked, worried. “What’s wrong? Is it Will?”
“He woke up screaming and I can’t get him to calm down! He keeps talking about how he killed someone!” Alana cried into the phone. “I don’t know what to do, Hannibal!”
“Keep him from hurting himself. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Hannibal told her quickly. He hung up the phone without waiting for Alana to respond. He quickly grabbed his coat from the peg in the entry way and walked out the door while shrugging it on.
It was an hour long drive to Will’s house in Wolf’s Trap, Virginia and Hannibal made it in thirty minutes. Alana was waiting on the porch for him when he pulled into the driveway. She ran over when Hannibal got out of the car.
“Thank God you’re here!” she cried. “Will’s locked himself in the bathroom!”
“How long ago?” Hannibal asked quickly.
“I don’t know, maybe twenty minutes? He was in his room when I called you and he was in the bathroom when I went to check on him after I hung up,” Alana said worriedly. “He won’t answer me when I try to get him to open the door.”
“He’s extremely unstable right now. I don’t know what he will do,” Hannibal said and started running toward the house. Once inside the door, Hannibal took off his coat and turned to Alana. “Where is Will’s bathroom?” he asked.
“It’s upstairs and down the hall. Next to the bedroom,” Alan told him.
Hannibal nodded and quickly walked up the stairs and down the hall. He knocked on the bathroom door. “Will, are you alright?” he asked. No response was forthcoming.
Alana walked up beside Hannibal. “Did he answer you?”
Hannibal shook his head. “No.” He knocked again. “Will, I need you to open the door.” Once again, Will didn’t answer. Hannibal was beginning to worry. There was no telling what Will might do in his fragile condition.
Hannibal backed up a few steps and rammed into the bathroom door with his shoulder. It gave, splintering around the door handle and enabling it to be swung open. Cautiously, Hannibal entered. He didn’t know what he would find, but he found was not what he expected.
