The lost time

Hospital

We arrived at the hospital and detective Grey went to the nurses’ station to ask for information about Veronica. I sat down on one of the chairs in the waiting room. It smelled like disinfection solutions and sick people in here. I never liked hospitals. The rooms were so sterile and boring, there was no paintings or anything on the white walls. There were 10 chairs in the waiting room, and a couple of small tables. The chairs were very uncomfortable, and I wished I didn’t have to sit in it for long. I was the only person sitting in the waiting room. I looked over to the nurses’ station and saw that one of the nurses were still talking to detective Grey. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and turned it on. I always turned my phone off when I was at work, and I had forgot to turn it back on. No one called me anyway, so I didn’t need it for other things than to call Caroline and ask for more shifts, or when Ronnie called to check up on me. I jumped in my seat when I got a text. I never used to get texts, so this frightened me. I opened it and saw that it was from Veronica. It said, “Call my boss” and there was a phone number. I immediately called the number and an angry voice answered. “Jonas Black” I was taken aback at how angry he sounded, and it took me a few seconds to collect myself. “Hi, my name is Alexis Warner. I’m calling from Hillcrest Hospital. I’m a friend of Veronica Black, and I’m calling the let you know there had been an incident…” that was all I managed to say before he cut me off. “WHAT HAPPENED?!” he yelled. “HOW BAD IS IT?!” He continued to yell on the phone. “I…I.. uh…” I was stuttering and couldn’t form a single sentence. “Is she alive?” he asked, more calmly this time. All I could say was yes, and then he hung up. I leaned back in the chair and tried to relax. I was shaking in fear after that call. Detective Grey must have seen me. because she rushed over to me. “What happened?” she asked. I showed her the text message from Veronica and told her that I called the number and that her boss yelled at me and was so angry that it scared me. I wasn’t used to being yelled at like that. For the first time today, she asked for Ronnie’s full name. “Her name is Veronica Black” I told her. “And her boss?” she asked. “He said it was Jonas Black” That’s when it hit me, they had the same last name. Could it be a relative of hers? I looked over at detective Grey and she sat down next to me, and she looked scared. “Do you know anything about the Black family?” she asked me. “No, Ronnie doesn’t like to talk about her family. All she’s ever told me is that her boss is an asshole” We never talked about family. Not since the night I told her what happened to mine. “Jonas Black is her father, and her boss. She and her brother moved to the city to get some work experience before they are going to take over the family business. They work for Mr. Black’s companies. He is known to be a brutal businessman, and I’m sure he was hard on his children when they grew up” she said calmly. It was almost like she was remembering something. Something from her own experience. We sat in the waiting room and talked when we heard a commotion at the nurses’ station. “WHERE IS SHE?” someone yelled, and I recognized the voice. I knew I was about to make a big mistake, but I got up and walked over to the man that was yelling. He had light brown hair and green eyes. He was at least 6’3 and looked to be very fit. He was in his late 40’s, early 50’s and was wearing a grey business suit with a white shirt. He held a black tie in one of his hands. This was a big man, and his look screamed for respect. I cleared my throat as I approached him, and when I stood next to him, I said, “Mr. Black, I’m Alexis. I’m the one that called you” He looked at me like I had three heads, and suddenly I felt small. All I wanted to do in that moment was to bend my neck in fear, but I didn’t. I stood event straighter and continued talking. “I was the one that found Veronica lying on the floor of her apartment. I came here with a detective, detective Grey” I pointed to the woman sitting in the waiting room. “We are still waiting for an update from her doctors. She is currently in surgery, and she has lost a lot of blood. Please don’t scare the poor nurse, she is only doing her job. As soon as she gets an update, she will come find us.” I looked at the nurse, making sure she understood that this man needed an update about his daughter, and he needed it NOW. She nodded her head in understanding. “Would you like to wait with us? That way the nurse can go and get and update of your daughters’ condition” I said and lead him away from the nurses’ station. The men that were with him looked at me like they couldn’t believe what they just had witnessed. That a young, poor, girl had just gotten their boss to shut up and calm down. We walked into the waiting room, and as soon as we entered, detective Grey got up and greeted Mr. Black and his entourage. She told him the same thing I told him, that I found Veronica lying in a pool of blood, barely alive. And she also told him more about what she had observed in the apartment. When he heard how his daughter lived, that she lived in one of the worst and poorest neighborhoods in the city, he became furious. He demanded that all of her belongings were to be shipped to his home as soon as possible. “There is no way I’m letting my daughter live in a shithole like that!” Detective Grey agreed to that, as soon as the CSI was done with their investigation of the crime scene, he would be given access to collect her belongings. She was clearly scared of the man but had to follow protocol before releasing anything that could be evidence in his daughters’ attack. “Great, I will have someone standing by” He was clearly not a man that liked to be told that he had to wait, but he stood down. At least for now. “Have you contacted my son?” He asked the detective angrily, and she shook her head. “We don’t have any contact information. Your daughter sent Alexis here a text to contact you, and that is what she did. But I don’t believe she said anything about her brother” she looked over at me, and I shook my head. I didn’t know she even had a brother until today. He glared at me and then he ordered me to call him, like I was his personal secretary. He gave me his phone number and told me to go outside the waiting room and call him, so I did. I dialed the number and soon a husky voice was heard in my phone. “Hello?” He sounded like he just woke up, so I looked at the time. It was only 9:37 am. “Hi, my name is Alexis Warner” I started, but was cut off. “Where did you get this number?” he asked, clearly annoyed that someone he didn’t know called him this early. “I’m calling from Hillcrest hospital. It’s about your sister” I just continued talking, ignoring his question. “She was attacked in her apartment this morning and is currently in surgery.” He asked about her condition, and I told him everything I knew, even though it wasn’t much. Then I decided to answer his question. “I got your number from your father. He didn’t think you would answer your phone if he tried to call you himself, and he wanted you to know about your sister” He tried to say something while I talked, but I ignored him until I was finished talking. “Is she ok?” he asked. He sounded so worried and sad that it pained me to listen to his voice. “I don’t know, we are waiting for an update” Just as I said that a nurse came towards me. I saw that it was the same nurse that Mr. Black yelled at when he arrived. She motioned for me to come over to her, and I nodded my head at her. “I’m gonna talk to the nurse right now if you want to hold the line” I told the man on the phone as I walked to the nurses’ station. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t hang up either, so I guess he wanted to stay on the line while the nurse talked. “I went to talk to the doctors” she said. I just stood there staring at her, waiting for her to continue. “She is out of surgery. She is stable, but she is still in a critical condition. She has lost a lot of blood, and there were a few close calls during the surgery. She is in recovery right now, and she will get her own room soon. The surgeon will be out shortly to talk to her next of kin” I asked her brother if he heard the nurse, and he confirmed and then he hung up. The nurse looked over to the waiting room with a scared look on her face. “I will go tell them” I said, and she smiled softly at me before going back to work. I walked slowly back to the waiting room. As soon as I entered, I went over to Mr. Black and sat down in the chair next to him. “She is out of surgery. She is stable, but still in a critical condition. The doctor will be here soon” I didn’t bother telling him more than I had to. The doctor would eventually come and tell him what happened. “Thank you, Alexis” Everyone in the room looked at me in shock. Had they never heard him thank anyone before? It surely didn’t look like he had, not in front of them anyways.

I got up and went over to my chair. I sat down and waited for the doctor to come and give us an update. As soon as the doctor walked into the waiting room everyone, except me, got on their feet. Mr. Black walked over to him and started yelling at the poor doctor. I got on my feet and rushed over to them. “Mr. Black, the doctor is trying to give you an update on Veronica, and you are just being rude! Yelling at the doctor won’t help!” I rarely got angry, but right now I was getting angry at Ronnie’s dad. I hated people that tried to make others feel like they were beneath them, just like Mr. Black did to the doctor right now. I don’t know how I got the courage to do it, but I told him to sit down and shut up, and that is what he did. The doctor got to say what he needed to say, and a nurse showed us to Ronnie’s room. Usually, they only allowed family members to visit patients, but the doctor begged me to stay. Apparently, this wasn’t the first time they had experienced Mr. Black in this hospital, and they had never seen anyone that could get Mr. Black to calm down long enough to actually listen to what the doctors had to say. The nurses even brought a few comfortable chairs into the room, one for Mr. Black and one for me.

As I sat next to Ronnie’s bed, someone knocked on the door. One of Mr. Black’s men went to open it. I heard them talking for a minute, but I didn’t listen to what they said. Mr. Black looked at the door, and then he got up. “I will be back soon. Alexis, can I get you something to eat or drink?” he asked me. “No, thank you, Mr. Black” I was getting hungry, but I didn’t have any money to spend in the hospital cafeteria. Mr. Black smiled at me, and then he left. His men followed him.

A young man walked in and looked at Ronnie. She laid in her hospital bed, and it looked like she was sleeping, but she wasn’t. She was hooked up to all kind of machines, wires covering her body. She also had a breathing tube in her mouth, she needed help breathing. She had two IV’s, one in each arm. She looked so pale. I had never seen anyone look this sick before, it almost looked like she was dead. I looked over at the young man, and I decided to introduce myself. “Hi, I’m Alexis” I told him. He looked at me and gave me a small smile, one that didn’t reach his eyes. He had grey eyes, and dark brown hair. He was a tall man, and I could clearly see his muscles under his clothes. He was wearing a dark grey form fitted t-shirt and black jogging pants. It almost looked like he came straight from the gym, but I knew he didn’t. He had to be at least 6’5 and he looked like a god. He was the most handsome man I had ever met. “I’m Jason, Veronica’s brother” he told me. I blushed when he caught me looking at him. I turned to look at Ronnie again. I really wished she would wake up soon. I needed her to wake up, I needed my best friend back. I didn’t have anywhere to go, and I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I took her hand in mine, and just held it. I had been sitting like this for hours now, and the doctors had told us that they didn’t know if she would ever wake up. A single tear fell slowly down my cheek, and I quickly dried it with the sleeve of my sweater.

Jason was standing by on the other side of the bed. He looked like he wanted to talk to her, so I excused myself and went outside to stand in the hallway. I was shocked to see all the people standing outside her room. I could clearly see that Veronica was loved and had lots of friends, something else she never talked about. I felt like I didn’t belong here. I didn’t know anything about her life, there was so much she hadn’t told me. We had spent every single day together the last few months, but it became clear to me that I didn’t know her at all.

I decided to walk down the hallway, away from all the people standing there. “Alexis” someone shouted from behind me. I turned around and saw Mr. Black standing in the middle of all those people. “Where are you going?” he asked me. “I just need some air, Mr. Black” He looked at me before he said, “I think I’ll join you” And with that we walked towards the elevator together.

We were standing next to each other outside the hospital, and I was feeling a bit uncomfortable under his glare. He was staring at me, and the more he stared, the more uncomfortable I got. I decided to talk to him, maybe that would stop him from staring at me. “Can I help you with anything?” I asked him. He looked at me, guilt flashed in his eyes, but it was gone in a matter of seconds. “You look so much like someone I used to know” he said, sounding sad. “What was her name?” I asked him, trying to get him to talk. I was getting curious about that woman and what happened to her. “Her name is Cassandra. She is still alive, but she is not the same person she once was. She lost her only child a long time ago, and it broke her heart. She changed after that, it’s like she became a different person. Her husband changed too. They were my best friends, and they just shut everyone out from their life. They turned their backs to all their friends; they’re never talking to anyone anymore. You look just like her, except from the hair color, that looks like her husband’s” he sighed. “They had a daughter, Alexandra. She was the most beautiful little girl. Her smile brightened up the room, it didn’t matter how bad your day was, when she smiled, you couldn’t help but smile back at her. When she was five years old, she was kidn*pped. Her parents searched everywhere for her, but they couldn’t find her anywhere. She was gone. I worked in a private security firm back then, and my specialty was finding lost people. I tried to search for the young girl, but I never could find her. No one could. There was no trace of her anywhere. She was the only person I couldn’t find. The only one that slipped away.” He looked at me with sadness written all over his face. I took his hand in mine, “I’m sure you will find her, don’t give up Mr. Black” I gave him a reassuring smile. “Would you be willing to give a DNA sample, just so I can rule out that you are not that little girl?” he asked me. I could tell that he didn’t want to ask me, but he did anyway. He needed answers, he had to make sure that I wasn’t the one he was looking for. “If that will help put your mind at ease, I will do it” I gave him one of my biggest smiles, and then we went back inside to find a doctor to take the test.