The Chance to make a Change

Chapter 27: Dogs

Summery: 'Uncle Al' stays by your bed in the hospital. Until he doesn't.
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Albert had been by your side all day and all night. During the day, he had made it a point to touch you as often and as discretely as possible. He'd held your hand and asked you all about the book he brought you, showing such interest that you wondered if he was going to try and bring you all the titles you had claimed to love or be interested in – although you were pretty sure you'd mentioned a lot of books that still had to be published.

Your roommates had returned and thus you had to be very careful with what you said and how you acted toward Albert. Little Charlotte was an adorable girl, very happy and positive. She'd been delighted when Albert had entertained her with one of his tricks while she waited for her parents to arrive. The thing was, she seemed to be smitten with the man. And you'd eyed Albert curiously while he laughed and made jokes with the girl, who seemed to like him more and more. How could this man be such an enigma? To be such a charismatic man yet at the same time harbor dark and unpleasant desires.

"Your uncle is really funny," Charlotte had said, and Albert had eyed you as if to say: 'Did you hear that?'

"He must be your favorite uncle in the whole wide world," she had added, and you had confirmed that he was, because what else could you have done? The damned man promised to magic a white rabbit out of his hat for her, and she had loved it.

Her parents joined her somewhere during the day, and Charlotte was discharged in the evening.

This left you with Mister Swift who was a chubby Mexican who seemed to be more interested in minding his own business for the night. He didn't seem to be bothered by Albert's presence in the room at all and started the night by snoring loudly.

You had been woken up a couple of times during the night by a nurse who came to check in on you, only to find Albert next to you. He'd be watching you, pretty much like he had done when you had been in his home. Though he would ask how you were feeling and if you had any dreams. The nurses didn't seem to mind that your uncle was sticking around. They were having some small talk with him whenever they entered the room. A slight concussion, they said. It explained why you were dizzy and thinking was hard.

At one point, when you awoke, Albert had fallen asleep on the chair next to your bed, and you'd just stared at him in the faint glow of the night light. He stayed perched on his chair, snoring. But he was there. A weak imitation of how he had sat on the chair during the night in his own home. Waiting for the naughty boy to come. You wondered what it was that he was waiting for now.

When you woke up in the morning, however, his spot on the chair was empty. Albert was gone.

You instantly did your best to sit up and scanned the room. Mister Swift was gone as well.

You were all on your own.

The loud pounding of your heart filled your ears, ringing until it became hard to think. If Albert had gone? Then? Then?

Finney? Was he going to kill the boy? What did this mean for you? Could you call for a nurse and tell her what was going on? Reveal that Albert wasn't your uncle but a man who had kidnapped you?

You gasped, struggling for breath. Where is he? Where's Albert? You wanted to step out of the bed, to go after him, to do so many things at once that you were physically unable to.

It took you a moment before you realized that you were in a panic. A blind one at that. And that all it had taken for you to get into this state was the absence of Albert. Worry for your own well-being as well as for Finney and Max pushed away all your sense of reason. But you realized this now, and you managed to calm down just in time.