Fort Oakley | Part One

10 | Stealing An Ambulance 101

14 February 2022 - Monday

I wake up to monitors beeping around me.

Frowning, I open my eyes, looking around the darkened hospital room I found myself in as I tried to recall what happened. 

The memories of me not feeling well float through my head, but with that comes Lieutenant Cobbet's words.

I have to go, Charly, but stay as far away from Diego Andino as possible. He sent those men after-

He never got to finish his sentence, but I knew what he was going to say.

Lieutenant Diego Andino sent the two men after him, with the intent to kill. And if he was capable of that, in my eyes, he could kill someone himself. 

I had to warn someone.

I had to warn Jacey.

Sitting up in the hospital bed, I slide my legs off, only for them to give in, sending me tumbling to the floor. Before I fall, a pair of arms wrap securely around my waist, and I'm lifted back up onto the bed. ''Easy there, kiddo. You can't go escaping just yet,'' an African American woman says in a nurse's uniform.

''I need to warn them. His father-''

I try to stand up again, but the nurse just pushes me back down onto the bed. ''Calm down. Your boyfriend has been here since he carried you into the hospital. I'll call him. You need to rest.''

The nurse leaves the room as quietly as she entered it, switching on the light and leaving me with a thousand questions spiraling through my head.

Who were the group of people Lt. Cobbet said were after me? Were they with the two men who had chased me? Did they want to hurt me since I saw what they did to Lt. Cobbet?

What was the case that Lt. Cobbet had been assigned to, and why had it almost gotten him killed by a dirty cop?

''Charly.''

Jacey rushes into the room, a relieved look on his face. He stops at the foot of the hospital bed, his eyes quickly traveling over me. 

I don't miss the fresh bruises on his face and neck. 

I didn't notice the bruises when I collapsed in the school hallway, but I was probably too busy passing out to notice anything else than the world spinning around me.

''Jacey, your father-''

''I know.''

''No, you don't. He sent those men after Lieutenant Cobbet.''

''I know Charly,'' he says, walking to the side of the hospital bed and falling into the chair that was pushed up next to it. ''And there's nothing we can do about it.''

I watch as a dark look passes over his face, and I decide it's best to stop talking about the topic, even if I can't understand how he knows and how we can't do anything about it, and even if there are still questions floating through my head about his father. 

''Does he hit you?'' I ask, and his forest-green eyes meet mine.

''Yes,'' he says coldly. ''Anything else you want to ask?'' 

He looks away from me, seeming to contemplate something before he runs a hand through his black hair, dropping his head.

''I'm sorry, Charly. I thought I was going to lose you again.'' I don't ask him how he lost me the first time, instead, I ask, ''Why didn't you tell me we were friends when we were younger?''