Freed

33

The smell of the hospital was something I was starting to become too familiar with. Bleach was the most prevalent out of all, along with the bitterness of cleaning agents. Nurses passed by holding tablets, their footsteps quick and rushed across the pristine, linoleum floors. A doctor or two occasionally strolled by, their white coats matching the color of the walls. The silence in the waiting room was suffocating, and I was having trouble breathing.

Caleb sat next to me, holding my hand. I focused on that feeling when the same panic from before began to bubble up in my throat, sending my heart into havoc. My hands felt clammy and my face felt feverish. There was a dull ringing in my ears as if all the noise had impacted my hearing.

Sophia sat on the other side of me, letting her shoulder serve as something to lean on. She was quiet, watching visitors and hospital staff walk by us every few minutes. I had my temple pressed against her shoulder, and my eyes were half-lidded as I barely managed to stay awake.

Kaiden was out of jail. It turned out Caleb had been on the phone with Alastair, who'd made arrangements and managed to get Kaiden out in less than an hour, but Kaiden's criminal record was more fucked up than before now. Sophia had tried to go with him, but he'd said it was probably better if she waited a while. I didn't know where Kaiden was now, but I felt relieved because Alastair had said Kaiden had good friends with him to stay with him and take care of him. He was safe and he had people to stop from doing something reckless. He claimed that it was better if we gave Kaiden time.

Sophia had met Caleb and I at the hospital; the tension in her shoulders revealed everything that she was feeling. Her jaw had been tight and she'd looked pissed off, but she hadn't said anything to prove that she was.

Despite what Alastair said, Caleb and I had called Kaiden multiple times, only to receive no answer every time. He'd tried to reassure me that all was okay, but I saw the concern in Caleb's eyes grow with every unanswered phone call. Sophia hadn't said anything about Kaiden because she'd been focused on Caleb and me, but I knew it was killing her to not be able to be with him right now.

Caleb had called Ethan a few minutes ago and he'd been vague, but we knew he was on his way here. He was about half an hour away right now, and I didn't want to imagine his reaction when he saw Sophia sitting right next to me since we hadn't informed him of that over the phone. I was too tired to care.

Out of everything, the worst part was that we hadn't seen Elijah and Olivia since we'd arrived, nor had we heard anything about them. The front desk had been vague and told us that they had no information to give yet and we couldn't see them.

"Can you..." Sophia cleared her throat and I picked my head up off her shoulder to look at her. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard, her blue-grey eyes clearly revealing hesitancy. "Can you give me Kaiden's number? I wanna try calling him again."

Caleb wordlessly handed over his phone to her and she grabbed it, before standing up. She said she'd be back soon and walked out of the hospital, disappearing after the sliding glass doors. I shifted my gaze downcast and fiddled with the hem of my loose sweater, pulling at the threads.

Caleb and I didn't speak as we sat there, and before we knew it, the doors were opening again. Ethan's gaze was intense as he halted near the front desk and scanned the waiting room, before his gaze landed in our direction.

He scanned us both from head to toe as he started in our direction, his jaw tightening as he noticed the small injuries over me; the result of Amina's attack.

"What happened?" Ethan rushed out, coming to a stop in front of us. Caleb stood up, but I remained sitting, my entire body too sore to handle any movement. He scanned Caleb again. "You look exhausted. Why aren't you home resting?" His gaze whipped down to me. "And what happened to her? Why is she bleeding?"