Ride with you

18

"Are you sure you don't want me to pick you up afterwards?" Asked his mother, "Yes, I'm sure, I need some time to clear out my head," Darryl replied. His mother nodded and he shut the door, he watched her drive off. He looked up at the tall building and sighed, "may as well get this over and done with," he thought, walking towards the front doors.

"So Darryl, your back,"
"Yes," he mumbled, his knee was bouncing up and down as he looked at the ground. He didn't want to look at his therapist, not after all the fear she put him through. "Let's get right to the point then, shall we? Why did you run away in the first place,"
"I don't know..." that fact that he was back still shocked him. He thought that he was doing well with Zak and that they would never see the city but here he was, back in therapy, back in square one. "Darryl... there had to be a reason for you to leave, we're you trying to escape something?"
"..."
"Rebel against the cities customs?"
"..."
"Did you not want to get matched with Maddison?"
"..." Taylor sighed. "What happened when you were out there then... how did you meet Zak?" Darryl raised his head slightly at the sound of Zak's name. She smirked slightly, "That got a reaction," she thought. "So what is your and Zak's relationship?" Darryl hesitated, "It's complicated..."
"How so? Are you lovers?" Darryl didn't respond. Taylor sighed once more, "Look, if I'm not going to get any answers then this is going to be a long session." Darryl still didn't respond. "Look, I think it will be better if we rescheduled this, it's obvious that you still haven't gotten used to being back here. I'll let you rest up some more, do you need me to call your mother?" He shook his head, "No, I told her I would be walking home anyway," Taylor nodded in reply, "well, stay safe," she said sympathetically.

As Darryl walked down the path, he noticed that people were staring at him, some would just glare whilst others would whisper to each other. "Isn't that the guy who ran from the city?"
"I heard he had to take conversion therapy before he left"
"He belongs in Fayhaven"
"I feel sorry for the poor girl that got matched with him" Darryl tried blocking these comments out and eventually put his hood over his head so that people might not recognise him.

He stopped outside the hospital and looked up. This was the place, he hoped that his plan would work. He stepped into the hospital, his head hanging low and covered by his hood and his hands in his pockets. Zak would be in the forensic ward, it was on the fifth floor of the building and there would be some security but hopefully not many. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The elevator slowly ascended, then stopped. The doors opened to reveal the 3rd floor and a young man standing outside the doors. He stepped inside, Darryl presumed that he was a doctor because he had a white coat on, he looked oddly familiar but he just presumed that it was because of this small closeted city. He pressed the button for the fifth floor and the elevator doors closed. Darryl kept his head down and neither of them spoke a word.

The elevator stopped once again and opened to the fifth floor. It was extremely quiet and Darryl didn't see many people around. The two of them stepped out and Darryl quickly began to walk down one of the halls, in the direction of the forensic ward. "Excuse me but where do you think you're going?" Darryl stopped, the man from the elevator was standing behind him. "Gosh darn it," Darryl thought, "I'm gonna need some ID before I let you go that way." Darryl turned around and made eye contact with the man. Both of them stopped. "Darryl?" He mumbled. Darryl removed his hood, "Alex? What are you doing here?" Alex chuckled, "Well I work here obviously!"
"How did you get the job? Like, your so young!" Darryl asked. Alex just nodded, "Yeah, quite surprising, isn't it? What happened was soon after, you know..." he blushed a little and looked away, "That time I got caught with you..." he then smiled and looked back at Darryl, "My father decided to move me to his house in Coastton so that I could "get my life together" and when I was old enough he got me a job here. Of course, I can't treat patients or anything, I just check up on them but the worst thing about being out of Fayhaven is that I have to stay closeted once again..."
"Oh..." Darryl felt bad for him, "So how has everything been? I heard you finally got out of this forsaken place!" Darryl hesitated, "Yeah, but as you can tell it didn't quite work out..." the two stood in silence until Darryl got an idea. "Alex, can I ask you something please?"
"Sure thing bud,"
"Do you know where Zak is?" Alex hesitated whilst looking around he then sighed then nodded slowly, "Because you're my friend, I know you have no ill-intent so... you want to see he him,"
"Please,"
"Ok then, follow me. I just came up here to do a check-up on him anyway." Darryl followed Alex down the hall, every time another staff member would ask who Darryl was he would just say, "He's visiting a family member, I'll be accompanying him so it's all good."

They finally arrived at room 514. Alex opened the door to reveal Zak laying in a hospital bed, turned away from the door. "Zak?" Darryl asked. Zak's face lit up as he sat up to see Darryl rushing towards him. He was quickly engulfed in a hug by the older boy, his face turning red and tears starting to stream down his eyes. Darryl let go and looked at Zak, seeing him crying instantly hurt his heart. "Zak? Are you alright?" Zak snuffled and wiped his face, "Yes! I'm so happy, I thought I would never see you again but..." the two looked into each other's eyes. Darryl wiped a tear off of Zak's cheek and smiled, "Don't cry, I'm here," he placed a hand on his cheek and pressed his lips up against Zak's. The two stayed like that for a good 5 seconds before pulling away. Darryl leaned closer to Zak and whispered, "We need to get out of here, ASAP."