the model

forty one

David and I rushed in after the paramedics rolled Louis in on the stretcher. They were saying numbers and colors that I did not understand. But the more I didn't know, the more I got worried.

"What are you saying?" I'd ask after every time they spoke. But they just told me that 'now wasn't the time.'

They rolled Louis through double doors and a nurse stepped in front of me. "Excuse me." I spoke, trying to get around her.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't go back there." She tried to nicely say.

"But-" I started before David showed up next to me.

He gently placed his hand on my shoulder, "It's just protocol, Alex." He told me.

"Protocol my fucking ass. I want to see Louis. I want to know if he's okay." I tried to push by the nurse again.

"Ma'am." Her voice was stern and filled with annoyance. "If you will not cooperate with me then I will have to get security and have them escort you out." She threatened.

I paused in my actions. She was grabbing my right arm in a firm grip. I looked at her and yanked my arm from her before proceeding to the chairs. As I sat down, my legs couldn't stop shaking.

----------

"Tomlinson." A nurse called out after about six hours of waiting.

David and I immediately stood up. Throwing the hospital's magazines on our seats. David realized our actions before turning around and putting away. I rushed to the nurse's side.

"Is he okay? How is he? Did he ask for me? Does he need anything? Will he be okay? Is he awake? Did you give him water? Stick him with ivy's?" I blurted out.

"Yes, he is fine." She was more collected than I was. "He is asleep right now, but you can wait in his room until he wakes up. Are you guys family?" She asked us.

David and I looked at each other with wide eyes. "Uhh..." David said.

"I'm his girlfriend." I blurted before thinking about it. David cocked his head at me. That would've been a dead giveaway if the nurse was looking at us rather than her board.

"Okay, you can go back." She told me before she turned to speak to David. "But if you're not family, I'm sorry but I can't let you see him right now." She apologized.

"It's okay." David told her. "As long as I know he's okay and that he'll live, then that is fine with me." He chuckled. The nurse nodded, told me where I would find Louis, then left.

David and I were left standing there. "I'll come by later and bring coffee and snacks maybe." David leaned in to give me a kiss on the side of my head but I flinched away. The look that was on his face would have immediately made me feel bad but now it didn't.

Yes, he helped Louis and I escape. Yes, he brought Louis to the hospital with me. But that doesn't change the fact that he is the one that got me in that fucking warehouse in the first place.

"Keep me updated on him, will ya?" He asked as he tucked his hands in his pockets. I just nodded before walking away from him.

The nurse told me that Louis' room is the second to last door on the right down the West hallway. I followed the signs. As I walked down the hallways, there would be little mini hallways leading to more rooms.

From the corner of my eye, I'd imagine that Julius was standing in them. I would flinch or turn my head so hard that it attracted people's attention to me. I was just being paranoid but it looked so real.

203

204

205. Bingo. I placed my hand on the doorknob and held it there. I hated hospitals. Fucking hated them. I hated seeing tubes in people. Seeing needles underneath the skin. The smell of it. The eerie sound that it has. How cold it was. But I hated seeing patients in bed. I hated seeing tubes in people. Seeing needles underneath the skin. Everything.