rumour has it | ✓ [ old version ]

xxxii. last night calls

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

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My eyes flutter open as the sounds of my phone ringing from my bedside table fills the room, the noise echoing off the walls. The blinding light of my phone illuminates the whole room that was once engulfed in darkness and gives my eyes a hard time to adjust to my surroundings. With a groan, I pick up my phone and without seeing who it is, I answer it and place the device to my ear.

"Hello?." I say, sleep deprived while rubbing my eyes of sleep. Whoever it is that is ringing me so late at night better have a good reason as to why or I'm going hulk on somebody and that somebody won't make it out alive.

"Faye?." A familiar female voice says, but instead of the cheerful tone, it is replaced by croaking. It sounds as if Athena has been crying; worry fills me as I sit up straight with raised eyebrows even though she couldn't see it.

"Athena?." I say "are you okay?." Something isn't right. First Mitchell and now, Athena. I didn't like this, not one bit.

"You need to come to the hospital." Is all she says and immediately my eyes go wide at her words. I expected the worst, but I never expected this. I knew something wasn't right, but I wish I had been wrong because now situations as to why they're at the hospital flys around my head which is giving me a headache. I have so many question.

"Hospital? Why are you at the hospital? Is everything okay? Who's hurt?." I ask all in one breath. Now, I know why Mitchell has been acting like this for the past few days, but I wish I didn't know because now my worry has heightened and pain hits double as much as before.

"I'll explain when you get here, but please come-." Athena begs, her voice breaking, sounding as if she's on the verge of tears "I don't know what to do and I'm scared." She whispers like a scared child, asking me to check her wardrobe for monsters. When hearing her begging for me to come, I immediately get up from my bed and put my phone between my head and shoulder.

"Athena, breath: I'm coming okay?-." I tell her which hopefully calms her down "just give me five minutes." I finish, but she doesn't say anything "do you need anything?."

Athena sniffs "no." She simply replies.

I don't care about getting change or anything. Instead, I put on a cardigan before exiting my room and walking down the stairs. Dad is still asleep since its late at night, so I carefully grab a piece of paper and pen before writing a note for my dad, telling him what's happened and where I've gone just in case he wakes up. After placing the note on the counter where he'd be able to see it, I go to the front door quietly, grabbing the keys on my way out, before exiting the house and into the cold night.

"Athena?." I ask, making sure she's still on the phone, I didn't want her to be alone in this state; goodness knows what she's going through and I want to be there for her. She's my friend and even though, we don't hang out a lot, I still care about her and will be there for her if need be.

"Yea?." I hear her whisper as I unlock my car.

Once in the car, I put Athena on speaker and put the phone on my lap before starting the engine. I waste no time before pulling out of my driveway and toward the only hospital we have here. Never would I expect me to be doing this is the middle of a night for a friend I ever rarely hang out with and to a girl who is the sister of a boy I use to hate, but now care deeply about.

"You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?." I tell her.

"I just don't know what to do." She begins to tell me "Mitchell won't eat o-or sleep and mum and dad haven't talked at all and I feel so alone, I'm scared Faye." She finishes and her pain filled voice breaks my heart, I speed up just slightly, not enough to be considered dangerous. Mitchell hasn't eaten or slept at all and Natalie and Mr Preston hasn't talked at all? Neither of them are okay, but if neither of them are in the hospital bed then who is?

"I'm almost there, so I'll need for you to meet at the front desk-." I say "I don't think they'll let me in at this time of night." I finish explaining "can you do that for me Athena?." I ask her, not waiting to force her to do anything she doesn't want to do especially when she sounds like she's in pain.

"Okay." She simply says.

After Athena and I say our goodbyes, I keep my eyes focused on the road in front of me and when spotting the hospital, I turn into the parking lot before parking the car into an empty space. I take a deep breath as I turn the car off, preparing myself for the worst; anything could be inside the hospital and I need to be there for Athena and Mitchell, I need to keep my emotions in. I run my hands through my hair before getting out of the car.

Wrapping the cardigan tightly around myself, I begin to walk to the entrance of the hospital. The smell of cleaning chemical enters my nose when I enter the hospital through the sliding and automatic doors, my eyes begin to search the empty waiting room, seeing if I can spot Athena.

"Can I help you miss?." The lady at the desk asks me, watching me with questioning eyes.

Before I can reply, I hear someone calling my name and without seeing who it is, I immediately know that it's Athena. She runs to me and when reaching me, she wraps her arms around me and buries her head into my chest. Like a mother comforting her child, I wrap my arms around her and stroke her hair, hoping to calm her down before asking her what's happening.

We pull away "Athena, what happened?." I ask her, looking into her red eyes.

She takes a deep breath "there's something we didn't tell you."