Into Folklore | W. Halstead

Hospital Rooms

" It's okay, it's okay. I'm okay. Go get him-"
"What?. No, I'm- I'm not leaving you."
"Olivia, you have to go."
"No. I can't."
"You have to let me go."
"I don't want to... Bek? No no no..."

Olivia shot up in bed, her eyes darting around the dark room. It was just a dream. A dream. A faint meow came from Pickles who did not sound too happy to be woken up, no doubt getting frightened when she snapped awake and forced him to the floor.

Her face was hot, her heart racing in her chest. Nothing around her seemed to sooth her in the first few moments of being awake so she knew she had to get out of the bed, take a lap around the apartment and try and go back to sleep after.

Nights like tonight were always difficult. Sure they were rarer than they used to be but every night she did wake up she was stuck, sweating in bed after reliving that night. One she oh so much wished she could just erase from her mind. She'd get rid of it completely if it meant getting some peace of mind.

Slowly, Olivia slid out of her bed, not wanting to wake the sleeping Connor next to her. Pickles instantly ran between her ankles, rubbing up against her legs when she leaned down to grab her boyfriend's shirt off the floor and pulled it on.

2:45am.
An earlier wake up call than she would have liked but she sucked it up, going to the kitchen. Tea always calmed her afterwards. If she didn't have someone to go to anyway. And she thought about going to Kevin's but decided against it.

What type of friend would she be if she woke him up at 3am just because she had a nightmare? A bad one. So instead she just went to her couch, sipped her tea and pet her cat. Not even ten minutes passed before her phone was vibrating on the counter.

With a sigh she got up, grabbing it and heading to her room. If anyone was calling it was from the unit and they caught something so she'd have to be there in the next half hour. "Hello?" She whispered, finding clean clothes to put on.

"Olivia," Voight's voice was on the other line, which was a shocker. He only called if something bad happened. "You need to get to med," The detective froze pull of her jeans, her back stiffening.

She glanced at the time again, "What? Why?" It took everything in her for her voice not to raise as she grew more worried. In the time it took Voight to take a deep breath and reply she had already pulled her jeans on completely and finished getting dressed, keeping Connor's shirt on.

"Kevin's been shot."

Three words. All it took was three words for her to hang up, toss her phone on the bed to grab socks and run out of the room. Her shoes not even on properly when she got in the car. What the hell did he mean?

How did he get shot? If they were out in the field tonight why wasn't she told? Why would they keep that from her? More importantly, not knowing if he was okay was digging a hole through her mind as she selfishly flipped her lights on.

Traffic and other cars be damned, she was getting to med as fast as she possibly could. Her car wasn't even in the lines when she shut it off, keys just making it to her pocket as she ran inside, almost passing the others.

"Where is he?" Olivia asked loudly as Jay stepped in front of her, his hands clasping onto her upper arms.

"He's in the back-"

"I want to see him."

"I know, I know, and you can but you need to prepare yourself because Liv, he does not look good." He wasn't one to sugar coat things. Not when he knew exactly what feelings, memories, this was evoking.