Created

Chapter Ten

"Adam? Adam is that you?!" Startled, Adam looked up behind him, trying to stop coughing. I followed his gaze to a girl on the other side of the darkened street. She stepped into the the lamplight and I saw her face. This girl was a bit taller than me, I'd guess, and she had pretty waist-length dirty blonde hair. Her face, not to be critical, was rather average, but in a good way. She was wearing a Six Flags 2054 T-Shirt with a knee-length jean skirt and held a few bags of groceries. Adam coughed painfully and called out; "Melissa?" With a gasp, Melissa dropped her groceries and raced to the other side of the road to see Adam. She took his hand, tears gleaming in her eyes.
"Omigosh, Adam! Yo-you're hurt, are you? Are you okay? W-What happened?! You look awful!!" Melissa absolutely freaked out as she clutched Adam's hand. Adam hardly blinked-he must have been used to Melissa's rants.
"Melissa!" He exclaimed again, ignoring her questions. "What are you doing here?! So close to the lab!" Melissa stopped and gave Adam and strange look.
"Adam..." she said slowly. "We-we're a whole state AWAY from the lab. This isn't what I'd consider 'close to the lab'." Adam blinked in surprise.
"A whole state away?! Really?!" Melissa nodded. The worry was evident on her face. "Oh, well... Okay then..." I had accepted the fact that Adam had been confused when he woke up in the hospital and didn't know where he was, but... he did know what STATE he was in?! Curiously, I continued listening in.
"Um, well, Melissa, this is Claire. Claire Brummer," Adam introduced me with his one free hand. The other was wrapped around his stomach. He was still kinda hunched over. I didn't think this was the best place for introductions. "Claire, this is Meliss-AH!" Adam jerked and groaned from the pain, then lost his footing and began to tumble forward. Both Melissa and I lunged to catch him before he hit the ground. Our concerned expressions were mirror images. We righted Adam and considered him semi-stable as we both held him up.
"What's wrong?" Melissa cried.
"M-My stomach..." Adam groaned. I felt utterly useless. Adam was hurt and all I could do was just sit there and twiddle my thumbs? I felt awful. I was the nurse here, I had to help him!!
"What-What happened?!" she asked.
"Assassins," I told her quickly. "They were chasing the both of us."
"Quick!" Resourceful Melissa cried. "Isn't there a hospital around here?!" I would have laughed if it wasn't so ironic.
"That's where we were running from," I told her. "We can't go back there!" Melissa nodded, taking it all in stride.
"I have my car. But its a bit of a drive to the house, do you think you can hold on 'til we get there and Claire and I can help you, Adam?" Melissa said. Adam nodded. I was pretty sure he was lying, but what other choice did we have? Hurridly, Melissa brought us to a small green car and helped Adam into the backseat. I sat next to Adam and Melissa climbed into the front seat. Nothing had been more comforting that day than hearing Melissa turn over the engine and begin to drive away from that dark street. Then I realized what I was doing. I had gotten into a car with two strangers, one of whom I met on a dark downtown street. And we were driving in the exact opposite direction of my house.
"The house is up in the mountains," Melissa explained. "It's really secluded so downtown is the closest place I can come for shopping... And I just left all my groceries in the road back there..." Groaning inwardly, Melissa pushed the car faster. "But Adam, you're more important than my lack of milk! I'll just have to go shopping again tomorrow."
"Why were you shopping so late?" I asked suspiciously. Apparently, Melissa didn't hear the suspicion in my voice.
"All my fault, really! I knew I was running out of dairy products, but I kept putting it off until literally the last moment!! Luckily, we have an all-night supermarket!" Melissa laughed.
"You moved all the way out here into the moutains?" Adam asked, sounding a bit surprised.
"To get away from... Her...," Melissa whispered, her mood changing drastically from smiles and laughs to fear and uncomfortableness. Adam closed his eyes and nodded quietly.
"Smart choice. I didn't know you owned a house in the mountains. Did you just buy it?" I could see in the mirror Melissa look away quickly and swallow.
"Er... no. It-It's Erik's house. One of his favorite vacation spots." Adam seemed to brighten up a bit.
"Is Erik there with you?" he asked. Shrinking lower, Melissa mumbled something incoherent.
"What?" Adam asked.
"Hey, uh, would you believe the price of gas today?"
"Melissa..." Adam growled.
"I-uh... Can-Can I explain when we get home?" Melissa asked in a chocked voice. Adam swallowed. I could see the worry in his eyes as he sat back.
"Okay," he whispered. I had a bad feeling about Adam's best friend. What happened to Erik?
It was a long ride to the house. I began to feel even worse about Melissa leaving her groceries behind. Driving from her house to the market must eat up a good amount of her time.
It was a very nice house with quite the view. Erik was obviously not poor. Melissa was out of the car in minutes and once again I felt useless as I watched her help Adam to the door. Feeling small, I finally followed them, being the first to feel a few cold drops from the cloudy sky above.
I stopped right before I got inside, right in front of the door. Was I... Was I jealous of Melissa? It sure seemed like Adam and her knew eachother well. And she knew exactly what to do to help him, while I just breathed in their precious air. He was so comfortable with her... Angrily trying to bottle up my feelings, I stepped inside the house and tried to banish any malevolent thoughts. They were probably dating or something and I was just the third wheel in this operation. Dating... With a small sqeal of frustration, I commanded my brain to think about something else and followed the voices I heard through the house.
It was a nice house on the inside as well. Very well furnished, very expensive looking. I was afraid to touch anything. A lot of the decor I saw were themed around Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. The whole house was a strange mixture of modern day and, well, the Ancient Greats, namely those two.
I wandered into large, spacy room. A polished grand piano sat in the corner. Most of the wall on the right side was window and the white rug beneath my feet gleamed. Some things were being displayed around the room as well. But the most interesting were the few glass shelves jutting off the wall on my left. They held a few books and more artifacts. Gold statues of Egyptian gods sat on the glass proudly. They looked like solid gold! Intrigued, I slowly reached out a hand, mesmerised by them. I was so close to touching one when my thoughts were broken by a voice.
"Claire! Claire, we're in here!" Melissa called. She poked her head around the door and I jerked my hand back. Luckily, I don't think she noticed.
"Oh, uh, sorry," I said as I began to follow Melissa. "I got lost." Melissa only smiled back at me.
"It's totally cool. Don't sweat it," she assured me. Melissa led me practically through Erik's whole house until we got to a small living room. I was surprised at the lack of embellishments. There was a TV a few beat-up looking couches, but nothing fancy. A lot of books were piled in corner and a desk the opposite the book-pile was up to here with papers. The whole room was messy. Melissa seemed to notice my surprise and laughed. "Erik's not the fancy-pancy type, believe it or not. I'm pretty sure he felt awkward in every other room in the house, so he piled up all his junk in here and just hung out!" Adam, who was laying on one of the couches, laughed a little, then stopped when it began to hurt him too much. Melissa and I rushed to his side. "Don't laugh if it's going to hurt!!!" She cried and slapped his shoulder.
"Owww...," Adam complained. Now he had two problems.
"Okay," Melissa said, ignoring his complaint. "Where exactly does it hurt?" After a minute of thinking, Adam shrugged and said; "Uh, everywhere." I thought for a minute that he was going to get another slap, but Melissa just sighed.
"C'mon, Adam. Be more specific."
"Mostly my stomach. And my head. And my chest. And-"
"Alright, stop there!" Melissa cried, waving her hands. "We attack one problem at a time! Should we start with your stomach?" Adam shrugged.
"Claire's the nurse." And whooosh! The spotlight attacks me.
"Really, you're a nurse, Claire?" Melissa cried, delighted.
"Er, well, I mean, I just kinda volunteer, but, you know, I-"
"Perfect! We'll need your help!" Melissa smiled then looked to Adam. "Alright, I think we should start by accessing the main motherboard and see if there's any damage there, then we can move on with nerve wires-"
"M-Melissa!!" Adam cried. "Stop!!!" Melissa looked up, alarmed. I was pretty alarmed myself. What was she talking about? Motherboards? Wires? In-In ADAM?!
"What-What are you...?" I watched Adam jerk his head towards me. Melissa looked over at me slowly, looking horrified. "Have you, I mean, does she not..."
"No, she doesn't!" Adam said, wide-eyed and fearful-looking. Melissa looked back over at Adam, more mortified than she had looked at me. Her mouth moved up and down awkwardly as if she couldn't even muster words.
"B-But Adam! Are you planning on telling her anytime soon?!"
"No."
"This is bad. This is a bad idea, Adam. She has to know." Melissa warned. Adam looked away, teeth clenched.
"So maybe I will tell her. One day. On my deathbed."
"You may be on your deathbed." Melissa shot back darkly. Adam, though still avoiding her eyes, swallowed. I was so confused. Adam kept silent. Melissa stood and took my hand. "If you don't know, you can't be in here while I do this." Scared, I let Melissa lead me back outside the door of the room.
"I'm sorry, Claire," she said. "I really am. I can't believe Adam hasn't told you yet."
"We've only known eachother a day," I said.
"Still!! The assassins were chasing you too, you have a right to know whats going on!" Melissa seemed furious with Adam. "And being so stubborn. This isn't like him, you know. He was never like this, this is all her fault!!" Melissa's voice seemed to raise octaves the angier she got.
"Melissa," I whispered, trying to calm her quietly. She slowed down and looked at me sorrowfully.
"You have every right to know. But it's not my secret to tell, not entirely. I guess I'll just have to see if I can wear him down." Melissa turned and was about to go back into the room to do whatever she had to do to Adam but I stopped her again quietly.
"Just, uh, just don't yell at him, okay? He's already stressed out enough. Stress usually makes a patient's condition worse, so, uh, just a pointer," I said quietly. Melissa smiled softly at me and nodded.
"Okay," she said sincerely, then, to lighten things up, she laughed and said; "I'll yell at him later."
So I waited outside the door. I waited and waited and waited. It was silent in the room. Curiosity ate away at me, but I wouldn't sink to spying. I just hoped that someday, before Adam was on his deathbed, he would tell me.
I waited outside that room for what seemed like hours. I was probably only there for maybe thirty minutes, but a strange sense of curiousity had taken a hold of me, something that, I assure you, didn't happen often and it was killing me.
Finally, after that maddening stretch of time, Melissa stepped out. I jumped out of the wooden chair I'd been sitting in (I was contemplating scratching lines into the wall for each day I'd been imprisoned in this room) and ran to her.
"Well?!" I asked, near frantic.
"He's sleeping now," Melissa told me. "I think I can kinda guess whats wrong with him." She sighed. "Erik would have it all figured out by now." Erik. Now I remembered.
"What happened to him, Melissa?" I asked quietly. She avoided my eyes and swallowed. I watched her wring her hands axciously.
"Adam and Erik were best friends. Closer than you could imagine. I, uh, I think I'd best tell him first, or at least you both together." I understood. I'd wait.
"Can I go see him, at least?"
"He's asleep," Melissa said.
"Still," I replied. "I just... I dunno..." I muttered. Melissa smiled sadly and nodded.
"Sure, fine. Just don't wake him up. It'd probably be best that he get enough rest, you know?" I knew.
"I won't wake him," I assured her.
"Alright, I guess I'll go make up the guest rooms." And Melissa rushed away, leaving me alone in the empty room. I walked to the door of Erik's rec room and peered cautiously through the door before entering. Adam was still asleep, like Melissa had told me. She had apparently russled up some blankets for him amoungst this ocean of junk and fixed him up a little bed on the couch. I sat on the coffee table a few feet away from the couch and stared at him. He finally looked peaceful and his slow, steady breathing was comforting.
"Um, Adam?" I said quietly. When he didn't stir, I continued. "I'm just going to guess you can't hear me, and I kinda hope you can't hear me, too. But, er, I wanted you to know that I want you to tell me who you are. I mean, I'm not forcing you or anything, but it'd just be nice to know. I'd feel like I know you better, like we're..." I swallowed and looked away, embarressed. "I'd start to feel more like we're friends and I'm not just following you around, being a hindrence. I, uh, I'll tell you a secret. I've never had a friend. I guess I was never the type of person to go out and get friends and I was so quiet no one would talk to me anyway. But... But you were so nice to me. Odd, yes, very odd, but nice. And you talked to me and didn't look at me like you were scared I'd just run at the first sign of human contact. You've got that about you, did you know that? You make people feel welcome, people like me." I could feel my face burning already and I looked down at my hands, wringing in my lap. "I, uh, I guess I'll stop now because I've been rambling, but just in case you can hear me, I just want you to know, above all, that I could never hate you. I consider you a friend and no matter what secret you have, I'll never be mad or scared or want to never see you again. And I hope that who ever it really is that you're running from, well, I hope that you can turn around and fight them one day. You're strong, and not just because you can take out a whole room full of people," I chuckled a little. "But because you are going through a trial, something hard, right now, yet your still kind and thoughtful. That takes effort." I stood, now feeling awkward and ready to end this one-sided conversation. "So, uh, get well soon!" I tried to smile, but just found myself hurrying out of the room as fast as I could.
I was glad I'd gotten all that off my chest.