Exciti

Chapter 3 (Adam, present)

Adam resisted the temptation to smack the computer screen.

After the incident with the old lady, Adam woke up to find himself in the hospital. His mom cried herself hoarse, telling him how he'd been unconscious for a week, with a critically high fever, after a seizure episode knocked him out on his way to school. Apparently, Liam had to find an adult to call an ambulance.

The worst piece of news, however, was the one his mother delivered inadvertently. She'd finally calmed down enough for him to ask her the most pressing question on his mind: "Mom, where is Tam?"

He knew something horrible was coming when his mother's face went blank and cofused. "Who's that, honey?"

Just like that, Tam's very existence was wiped from the entire world. Every trace or memory of hers was gone, marking the start of the absolute worst week of his life.

Adam tried everything to convince someone, anyone, that Tamara wasn't a figment of his imagination. He screamed at his terrified mom, cried and begged for her to believe him and start looking for his sister. He tried to reason with the doctors and even attempted to escape the hospital, all to no avail. His one achievement was coming close a few times to being sedated for combative behavior.

He glanced at the door, making sure it was closed. He had snuck to an office right across from his room to use the computer thirty minutes ago. He did not want to be caught.

"Come on, give me something!" he mumbled to the computer. He had looked up Tamara Dunton on every search engine and social media site he knew. He combed the web searching for a picture, a comment or a tag that proved her existence, but it felt like his question was the only one in the universe that Google couldn't answer.

All he wanted from the world was just for one adult to believe him and start looking for Tam. It has been two weeks since anyone last saw, or remembered, her. She was out there, possibly hurt, all forgotten and definitely scared. Something very bad happened to his sister.

However, no one was ready to help Adam. His mom cried at least once an hour. "I think I would know if I had a daughter, sweetie," she would say, her lower lip trembling. Liam visited once, for only ten seconds, staring with terrified eyes at Adam before he turned around and ran off.

The memory made Adam sigh. He pushed off the desk and swung back in the office chair. He stared at the ceiling, allowing doubt to ooze into his mind for the first time. What if I did make her up? He growled under his breath, swung back and turned the computer off, frustrated by the search results, or the lack of them.

He was already grabbing the doorknob when he heard a noise that made the hair on the back of his neck rise. A steady, hollow metallic sound began to echo around the hospital ward outside his room.

Cling... Clang... Cling... Clang.

He frowned as an image of an empty, heavy armor walking through the hospital corridors flitted through his mind. He shook his head, feeling ridiculous, his confinement in this stupid hospital must be driving him bananas.

Still, he couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling. Something about the threatening atmosphere demanded his attention. It took him a few seconds to zero in on it, but when he did, he pushed away from the door as if it would bite him. He had only felt this way once before, on his birthday.

He moved back to the door and rotated the knob as slowly as he could, avoiding any noise. He bit his lower lip as he eased the door to open to just a crack. The metallic steps had stopped by then, but different sounds were now coming from the reception desk: muttering, then the shuffle of something soft and heavy falling, followed by a loud gasp, then more muttering. They made no sense.

From the thin opening, Adam could see nothing but his own hospital room's door across the hallway. He knew his bed was dark and empty beyond the closed door.

His heart started pounding, did they realize that I had snuck out? He opened the door a little more and peered through at the nursing station. At first, Adam couldn't understand what he was seeing.

Then when he did, his heart stopped.