Tahiti (Boy x Boy)

Part Five

Dr. Miller headed towards Daniel's room. He had a heavy heart for the moment, as he hadn't paid a visit to him in a while. Part of him figured at this point that Dr. West wasn't planning on allowing him to ever visit his son based on the strange way of thinking he demonstrated over their last couple of conversations.

Low and behold, while Dr. Miller's heart was as frozen as a glacier when he spoke about what he felt was Daniel's inevitable demise, there was a purpose behind it. Dr. Miller loved his son, and that wasn't going to be subject to any change in the future. However, he had to shine light on his logical side. He knew deep in his gut that Daniel would never recover from his trauma, nor would he ever be a functioning member of society ever again. It didn't make sense for him to continue believing in false hope. Though it was harsh to wish ill will on his own child, it was his way of preparing himself for the pain of death. He didn't want to be like Dr. West who would hold on to any string of hope until the bitter end only to be severely devastated. Instead, he wanted to act aloof as if his offspring was already dead. That way when he died, he would already be used to the idea of it.

Nevertheless, the man still wanted to see Daniel. He fostered an aversion for admitting Dr. West could be right, but perhaps there could've been a narrow ledge of chance to prove that Daniel was able to be rehabilitated. Perhaps if Quinn saw the boy for himself, he would be more inclined to thinking that way.

The doctor didn't know what to expect when he approached the room, but he certainly knew he wasn't expecting to see the room empty. The door was wide open and the sheets were pulled back on the bed with no Daniel in sight.

"What the..." was all Dr. Miller could say at first. He second-guessed the sight many times before he accepted it as reality. Even a toe touching the ground would be enough for the alarm to blare across the entire facility, yet the room was silent.

That was when panic began to arise in the man's body. He entered the room and looked out the giant gap in the wall. No way would anyone be able to survive such a fall, and he didn't see any corpse or blood, so Daniel didn't fall out of the building. Such knowledge didn't ease the doctor entirely, though. Daniel was still a rogue patient. If Quinn was the only one aware of such a fact, it was very possible that he could've escaped anywhere.

Dr. Miller started dashing out of the room to look for his son. He couldn't waste any time. As he ran down one hallway he crossed paths with the nurse that Dr. West spoke to a little bit beforehand. "Felix!" the doctor grabbed onto the nurse's shoulders. "Where's forty-one?! Why did the alarm not sound?!"

"Oh... uh... I... I..." he stuttered, eyes wide open. "Dr. West asked me to turn off his alarm..."

"She what?!" The man was breathing hard. He knew that Daniel was in an unconscious state. If he somehow managed to escape the building, then he was wandering aimlessly in the open world. To think, his life was in danger all because his ex-wife thought of disabling his alarm.

"I'm... I'm really sorry, sir. I was just... following orders," Felix shyly defended himself.

Dr. Miller pushed past the boy and started sprinting down the halls. His next objective was to find Dr. West, as he knew he could find her before Daniel. The man stopped at each open door, shoes squeaking on the floor at every halt. It took him many tries, but eventually he came across an open door with Dr. West, Corrinne, and a patient who was wide awake.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" was all Quinn could blurt out before being forced to take a few deep breaths to slow down his heart rate.

The patient in the room looked scared, Corrinne looked confused, but Dr. West just stared flatly. She was so tired of the shenanigans with him that she couldn't even muster an expression. "Dr. Miller, I have no idea what you're babbling about this time," Dr. West flatly said. "But, in case you forgot to have your eyes checked, I shall point out that Corrinne and I are doing an evaluation right now. So, whatever you want to scream in my face, it will have to wait."