An Angel Straight from Hell

Chapter 6

Sam quickly skimmed through the article and found out that the other car involved in the crash belonged to a guy who was apparently taking his girlfriend home after a long night of partying. He seemed to have fallen asleep while driving, which caused him to lose control of the car and hit Chloe's. The article also mentioned that one of the women had not survived the impact. The guy and the other woman had been taken to Huntington Hospital on the spot.

Reheasals could wait. Sam burst through the hospital door as if in a drama movie and headed straight to the front desk.

"We cannot give you any info unless you give us a full name," the woman said unaffectedly.

"But I don't know her full name. It's Chloe. Please." Sam was desperate and he was not even trying to hide it anymore.

"Sorry. It's not up to me. You can maybe try the news."

"I have! But all they say is that there were three people involved and one is dead. I know that it's a woman and that she is young and I know it's not difficult to belong to such a broad category but Chloe fits perfectly. You have to understand! I need to know that she is okay, that she is not the one."

The woman looked at Sam from behind her thick frame glasses. "Listen. I get it, but all you are giving me is a name. Just imagine there are two Chloes involved. I need to make sure that I'm giving the right information to the right person." She was not helping but Sam could see that she had softened a little.

"Out of the three people involved, one is a man. What are the chances that both of the women are Chloes? Just tell me. I need to know." Sam's voice was quavering. "Please, I'm begging you. I don't need a room number or anything."

The woman started fiddling with some papers on her desk pretending to ignore Sam. When she noticed he had not left she looked back at him. "Well," she said matter-of-factly. "I can't give you her room number because she needs to rest, okay? Now, leave."

"I'm telling you I don't need a room number. I just want to kno-" Sam stopped in his tracks. He took a few seconds to go over what the woman had just said. "Oooh, thank you. Thank you so much! This is-"

"Shhh. You can return the favor by not ratting me out, don't you think?" She was trying hard to keep a straight face but it was clear from her half smile that Sam's joy had rubbed off on her.

"I'm sorry," Sam whispered. "This is such a relief. Thank you, thank you. Now I can start bugging you about the room number, right?"

He had meant it as a joke. The woman, however, did not seem to notice. Maybe she did not want to. "Just stay around. If no one else shows up in the next half hour or so, I will help you in. She shouldn't be alone when she wakes up."

Sam nodded hesitantly. He was planning on leaving as soon as he made sure that she was in the hospital but he could not walk away after what the woman had just said. Also, for some weird, non-romantic reason - or so he told himself - he wanted to stay, though a part of him was hoping her parents would show up giving him an excuse to stop that madness.

But they didn't. Once inside, Sam paced the room nervously from corner to corner. Since he didn't know what to do and he seemed to have lost his ability to do nothing, he started talking to her.

"Is it weird as fuck that I'm here? It is, isn't it? And I'm also talking to you. Not just talking, I'm asking you questions. If you can hear me, please don't tell anyone about this. I have a reputation to protect." He smiled to himself and shook his head in disbelief of what he was doing. "I don't know why but I feel so guilty. And so ashamed." He sat next to her bed and took her hand. "Oh my! Just thinking of the text messages you'll have to read when you wake up makes me blush. You'll wish you had never texted the number on that Solo cup."

As Sam was pronouncing those last words, the door was flung open and a bearded guy entered the room with a worried look in his eyes. "Oh, hi," he grunted.

Sam had jumped to a standing position, not letting go of Chloe's hand. "Who are you?" he asked, ignoring his salute.

"I'm Troy, Chloe's boyfriend."