Chapter 6
By the time Johnson returned to the hospital room, it was already empty.
There was no one waiting for him–only the rumpled, still–warm impression in the blankets where I had so recently been, a
ghostly echo of my presence.
The thermos in his hand slipped, crashing to the floor with a sharp clatter.
Scalding hot soup splashed across his legs. He didn’t even register the burn.
“Jess…” he called out, his voice trembling.
He rushed to the wardrobe, yanking the doors open like a madman–only to find it completely bare. There wasn’t a trace of
me left.
“Jess… don’t do this to me, please don’t scare your brother…”
His voice was cracked and hoarse, a desperate, broken sound unraveling in the sudden, oppressive quiet of the room.
A nurse, alarmed by the noise, rushed in.
“Sir, are you okay?”
“Where’s my sister? Where did she go?” Johnson seized the nurse by the shoulders, his eyes wide and wild with panic, the composed, successful businessman he usually was utterly gone.
The nurse stammered, clearly startled. “Sh–she… she was discharged earlier. She said her family came to pick her up…”
“Family?” Johnson’s voice rose to a roar. “What family?!”
His hands dropped. His face turned pale as chalk.
He stumbled back and hit the edge of the hospital bed.
“She only has me… I’m her only family… Her only brother”
He mumbled the words over and over, as if trying to convince himself.
With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone and tried calling me. But the call didn’t go through.
The person you are calling is not available. Please try your call again later.
“Why didn’t she pick up…?” he muttered, disoriented.
Then his pupils shrank to pinpoints. In the next instant, he bolted from the room like a man possessed.
“Chadwick Gabriel!”
Chadwick was in another room, still trying to calm Vivian Ayla.
Something didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t shake the image of my eyes from that morning–dull, lifeless, completely void of emotion–as I fell down the stairs.
Vivian had spoken to him several times, but he hadn’t really heard a word.
He kept telling himself that if he just saw Jessica Lachelle again, this feeling–this nagging dread–would disappear.
Chapter 6
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Chadwick had just decided to come check on me when Johnson’s fist crashed into his face.
“You happy now, Chadwick?! Is this what you wanted?!”
Johnson’s eyes were red in rage, his fury wild and unrestrained like a wounded beast.
“You promised me Jess’d be okay! You swore nothing would happen to her–so where is she?!”
Chadwick staggered back in shock, completely caught off guard. Vivian shrieked and rushed forward to help him up.
Chadwick wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, gritting his teeth.
“I’m letting that slide because you’re Jess’s brother.”
“Letting it slide?” Johnson snarled, then hurled his phone at Chadwick’s face. It hit with a loud thud.
“You think you get to let anything slide?!”
“If it weren’t for your drunken mistake–if you hadn’t gotten Vivian pregnant–why would I have ever helped you hide it?”
“Jess must’ve figured it out. She’ll never forgive us now!”
The words “She’ll never forgive us” made Chadwick’s blood run cold.
An overwhelming panic surged up from his core. He shoved Vivian aside. “What did you say? She found out?”
Johnson’s voice cracked. “Yes! She discharged herself from the hospital–I can’t get in touch with her!”
Chadwick knew me. I wasn’t the type to simply vanish without a reason, no matter how heated our past arguments had been; I had never just run away.
Without hesitation, he stormed out of the room and shouted at his assistant:
“Find her! Pull the security footage now!”
The footage came up quickly.
There I was–wearing a loose hospital gown, walking slowly down the corridor. My figure was thin, fragile.
I passed right by Vivian’s room without even a glance.
At the nurses‘ station, I calmly signed the discharge papers and left with unwavering determination.
Chadwick stared at the screen, eyes wide, heart pounding painfully in his chest.
It felt like something invisible had reached inside and crushed it in its fist.
He couldn’t breathe.
Suddenly, a memory flashed in his mind.
Three years ago. It was my first surgery,
They were wheeling me into the operating room. I had tears in my eyes, shivering in fear, but my voice was strong.
“Chad, I’m going to get better. Wait for me.”
“Okay. I’ll wait for you–always.”
Chapter 6
