“Shh,” she whispered, stroking my hair again. “You did the right thing. Noah did the right thing by making you run.”
Logically, I knew getting as far away from them as possible was the right thing, but they were insane, and I didn’t think, for one second, that they wouldn’t hurt Noah. He’d disobeyed them, gone against everything they believed and everything they’d taught him to save me. I hated him at first but he did the right thing, and that was what mattered.
“Can you take me for a walk, please? I’m tired of sitting in this bed worrying.”
Dad stood up. “I think that will do you good. Do you need a wheelchair?”
“Yeah, thanks, Dad.” My cut feet made walking very difficult and very painful.
“I’ll go with you to find a chair,” Jeremy said.
“How’re you feeling?” Mum asked when they left the room. “And I don’t mean physically.”
I took a deep breath. That I didn’t know. “Right now it all seems like a bad dream. I know what happened, I know how scared I was and then how relieved I was to escape, but I don’t know. I feel disconnected. Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”
“No, I don’t. I know exactly what you mean, Scarlett. You’re safe, thank God, but it’s not over yet, is it?”
I shook my head. “Not until Noah’s found. He was part of it.”
“Yes,” she said. “He had us all fooled, but that is something I can identify with. For years, your father and I, even you and Jeremy, believed the same things as Noah was taught and, like us, he realised the truth and turned his back on it.”
“What if he never gets a chance at a normal life?”
“I have faith that he will.”
We didn’t even know if he was alive.
Jeremy held the door open as Dad wheeled in a chair. “Your chariot awaits. We’re only allowed down the corridors on the ground floor, but it’s better than these four walls, right?” Dad said.
“Definitely. I’ll take anything right now,” I replied.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I stood carefully and winced as my tender feet screamed at me for putting weight on them. “Here,” Jeremy said, leaping forwards and taking my weight with his arm around my waist.
“Thanks.”
Dad pushed the wheelchair because I couldn’t get it to go in a straight line. It felt good to be out of bed. We rounded the corner with Mum and Dad behind and Jeremy walking next to me. I even managed to ignore the police officer behind us.
We went through the double doors to go through the Accident and Emergency waiting room when paramedics and doctors came jogging towards us, gripping the sides of a gurney and talking rapidly.
Dad moved me to the side of the corridor, so they had plenty of room to get through.
The first thing I saw was blood, and then my whole world came to an abrupt stop.
“No!” I pushed to my feet as Noah’s pale, sleeping face cut my heart.
Scarlet
“OH GOD, NO, no, no.”
“Scarlett,” Mum said, rushing to me, but it was too late. I was already up and hobbling along towards them.
“Noah! Noah!”
One of the nurses looked back and held her hand up. “You know him?”
I nodded frantically and collapsed to the floor, consumed with grief. “Is he dead?” I asked, sobbing on the floor.
Mum knelt down and wrapped me in her arms.
“He’s dead, isn’t he? They killed him. He’s gone.”
The same nurse had a quick conversation with someone else and then came rushing towards us as they took Noah through another door.
“Scarlett, sweetheart, you need to get up,” Dad said. I could barely understand what he’d said. My mind was stuck on seeing Noah like that. He couldn’t die. After everything we’d been through and what he’d done to get me away from Eternal Light, he couldn’t just be gone.
“I can’t. It hurts so much,” I sobbed, trying to catch my breath. He was gone, and I had never felt anything hurt so badly. I was consumed with grief.
“Are you alright?” the nurse said, kneeling in front of me.
“No. Is he okay? You need to make him okay,” I said, gripping her arm.
“Shh, we’re doing everything we can for him, but I need you to help. Can you do that?”
I nodded. “Whatever you need just, please, don’t let him die.” Tears burned my cheeks and made everything blurry.
“Do you know his name?”
“It’s Noah.”
She smiled and nodded her head. “We thought so.”
“How do you know?”
“He was found about thirty minutes ago in the forest.”
The police had found him.
“Why is he bleeding? What’s wrong with him?”
“Let’s get you back to your room and then–”
“No. I’m not going anywhere until I know he’s okay.”