The Forest

Chapter 18

    I stared at her in disbelief. What is she doing here?

    "Suzanne?" I asked in a whisper even though I knew it could only be her, "What are you doing here?"

    She leaned closer towards me so that I could only hear her words, "I came to get you out of here. I heard about what happened..things get around this place pretty fast...I knew my dad would be here to ask you questions. That can't happen. My dad knows more than you realize" she says in a urgent whisper.

    "How are we going to leave? He's right in the hall" I ask and that was the truth. He'd see us walking out and he'd stop to ask us where we were going. He would realize it was Suzanne and it would be all over. I don't want that to happen.

    "Leave it to me. I know what I'm doing" she tells me and I don't know how she plans on playing this out, but I trust her anyway. It's not as if I have someone else.

    "I hear him coming..just play along alright?" she asks and I nod my head in approval.

    Sheriff walks in and I feel tight in my chest. He walks over to the left side of my hospital bed, opposite Suzanne, and tilts his hat toward me as a hello.

    "Is he doing alright nurse?" he asks Suzanne. She was facing the other direction and mumbled a "yes" in a very harsh, older woman type voice.

    "That's good to hear. So boy...need to ask you a few questions about today-" he started, but a painful yell filled the room. It was mine.

    Coffee spilled all over my chest and on to my lap. It was burning hot and I felt like my skin was on fire. Suzanne had knocked it over purposely on my lap to cause a distraction.

    "Oh my god, I'm so clumsy! I have to help you clean up" Suzanne exclaimed in her harsh voice.

    "But I needed to ask the boy som-"

    "That can wait. He can't lay in this sticky mess" she says back to him, keeping her head down and putting my arm around her shoulder. There was a wheel chair next to her that they most likely used to bring me into the buliding. She helped me on very slowly because of my foot.

     She said, without turning to his direction. "We'll be right back"

    We remained quiet untill we were fully out of the room and around the corner. I had to direct her while her head remained down because police surrounded the place. They could recognize her as missing. As soon as we were alone in the elevator to go down to the first floor I let out a heavy sigh.

    "How'd you think of that?" I asked her

    "I lied, I didn't have a plan. I just acted on instinct I guess."

    I frowned, "My body is burning still"

    "Yeah...sorry, but you didn't want to have to deal with my dad. I had to do it"

    'How the hell are we going to get out of here?" I ask her as the doors of the elevator open.

    "We're going out the window"

    "What?" I asked, but she didn't answer. She wheeled me over to the main desk and said to the women, "I'm going to take him into the staff's bathroom. The patient's bathroom is occupied"

    The women looks down at me and sees the mess on my body. She says, "Alright, just don't leave him in there alone. The patients aren't supposed to be in there"

    "I understand" Suzanne replied and wheeled me to the bathroom, pulled me in and locked the door.

    "What's going on?" I asked impatiently because she didn't answer the first time.

    "I noticed in the patient's bathroom there isn't a window. However, the staff's bathroom does" she said with a smirk. "We can climb out of it"

    "What happens when Sheriff figures out that I'm gone?"

    "He won't find you where we're going" she says with a devious smile.

    I didn't know where we were going and I wasn't liking the idea of climbing out of a window, but what other option did I have? We can't just walk out of the front. Someone would notice either one of us and stop us instanty. It'd never work.

    "Give me your hand" she says after pulling the window open and lending her hand to me. I give her my hand and she helps me on my feet. I bite my lip at the pain still lingering in my foot.

    "Don't worry" she continues, pulling a pill bottler out of her pocket, "I got these pain pills for you and if anyone notices they're missing they'll just think..." she says and stops to look at her name tag, "Paula took it"

    "How'd you get the uniform anyway?" I ask her

    "Let's just say they don't lock up this place tight enough" she answers me with a shrug.

    She gently pulls me over to her and says, "Okay, I'm going to boost you up. Alright? I'll boost you up with your good foot and you're going to climb out of the window. Then move to the side so I can come out"

    "Is there a long drop?" I ask her, hoping she'd say no.

    "No, just be careful" she tells me and I get a horrible gut feeling.

    I grab hold of the window shield and she pushs me upward with my right foot. I climb up, slightly stuggling, and pull my body through the window. I come out and I can't stop how fast my body is falling and I hit the concrete hard. I groan in pain and look around to see if anyone saw me. I didn't see anyone except Sheriff's police car and a few others lined up the street. Before I could react I felt something slam into my body. Suzanne.

    "Sorry. I told you to move out of the way" she told me

    "Sorry...I was distracted"

    "It's arlight. Let's hurry before someone comes looking for you" she continues, "I have to show you something"