Dreamer - Chapter 24

A blast of cold air hit my face as I stepped into the hospital; a bunch of nurses and doctors sat around, typing away at their computers or walking around to each individual patient they had to check on. I walked up to the front desk, scanning my eyes over the nurse sitting there staring at the computer. She wore a laminated nametag that read Janell in small medium sized black letters.

"Excuse me?" I asked her quietly.

No response.

"Hello?" I asked again, this time speaking a little louder.

No response still.

"Ma'am?" I cleared my throat.

"Wait a moment, miss." She finally spoke up.

"No. I have been asking for your attention for a while now, but you just sat there. I'm not going to wait."

"But ma'am."

"I just need to know if A- if that John Doe who came in here due to a gunshot wound is still in the same room as before." I know it was a stupid question because why would they just switch someone's room after one day, but I just wanted to make sure he was still here. With Ace, you'll never know.

Nurse Janell went back to typing away at her computer before looking back at me, "He is."

"Could I see him, please?"

"I see no problem with that.. but I do have a question for you."

"What is it? Is something wrong? I hope nothing too serious happened overnight." I do realize I seem like I cared too much for a man who probably wouldn't have even called 911 if this all was reversed on me, but I couldn't help but think that I was the sole reason he was here in the first place. If I wasn't there in the first place, Ace probably would have never been shot.

"Are you aware that this patient had a visitor earlier who seemed to have made his injuries worse? He may need some more time to recover."

"Oh my god." I covered my gasp.

"Now, the visitor had already left, but this John Doe may not look as good as he did yesterday. Although, he is refusing to tell us if he's actually in more pain or who the visitor was so that we could report this to the police."

I knew exactly who the visitor was. "I'm sure I'll figure it out."

"Can I ask you something else, miss?" She asked me.

I nodded.

"Do you happen to know this young gentleman's name? The doctor never put it into our system yet and I know how weird it's been calling him John Doe since he's been here a day already."

"Just put down Ace."

"You mean as in one of the cards you'd find in a deck of cards?"

I nodded before going down the hall, up the stairs towards the second floor, and up to his room. My hand rested on the doorknob and I let out a small sigh before walking in.

"Lex," He spoke out, "What are you-"

"What the hell did Rev do to you?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me. The nurse just informed me when I arrived that you had a visitor earlier who seemed to have made your recovering injuries worse, as she put it." I folded my arms across my chest, "So what the hell did Rev do to you?"

He sat up, bringing his legs over the bed before standing up. He slowly walked over to the door and opened it with the hand not holding onto his ventilator.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Nowhere." He said as he left the room.

I followed him out the room and watched as he walked over to the nearest nurse, grabbing her by the neck and throwing her against the wall, using his arms to pin her up as if she was some kind of picture frame.

"You weren't supposed to say a single thing." He snapped.

"Stop that, Ace!" I shouted at him.

Everyone suddenly began looking towards our direction as if they suddenly had nothing better to do with their lives than to watch as some random guy was attempting to murder a nurse. Although, I wouldn't blame them. This really isn't something you'd see every day, and hospitals can be quite boring on a typical day. But the most I've felt right now was just the feeling to want to crawl under a desk and never come back out again.

"I told you not to tell anyone about the little spat I was in before," He growled, "You promised that you wouldn't tell a single soul."

"That wasn't even the same nurse as the one who told me!" I shouted at him.

He dropped her to the ground before grabbing my arm and heading back into the hospital room, crawling into bed as if nothing happened. People began to circle around the nurse laying on the floor while other doctors and nurses began to do everything they can to make sure she was alright again. I had no idea why he had the sudden urge to come back into the room again.. it wasn't as if he had a ton of witnesses who just watched what he did in broad daylight.

"You are actually an idiot." I said more to myself than to him, "I'm bonding with a fucking moron."

"i just needed to get some air."

All I could feel in this moment was to laugh just to keep myself from crying, "You could've killed her."

"It wouldn't be like that would've been my first."

"Excuse me?"

"You're so innocent," He let off a chuckle.

"Wow.. I have never thought about murdering a person before, let alone actually attempting to do it, so that must mean I am so innocent."

"Do you not know me?"

Of course I don't. We met only a few days ago, and you barely told me a single thing about you. "I know that you're a giant pain in my ass."

"Nice one." I rolled my eyes at his response.

"Why did you even do that anyway? She wasn't even the nurse who told me in the first place. That poor woman was probably just trying to mind her own business, do her own job, when you just-" My voice cut off. I couldn't let Ace see that I was actually going to get emotional over someone I didn't actually know.

"I knew she wasn't her. I didn't even know who that woman was.. I never saw her around this hospital before. For all I knew, she was probably just some intern.. but she was in my path. She was a victim."

She was a victim.

"Am I a victim?"

"What?"

"Do you see me as a victim?" I asked him once again. The fact that he didn't give me a solid answer immediately should've worried me a bit, but I was used to not getting straight answers from him by now that I didn't even think too much into it. "If I was to actually get in your way, would you harm me the way you harmed that poor nurse? Would you murder me in cold blood over something so fucking stupid?"

"Lex." He sat himself up in the bed.

"Ace." I repeated back to him, "Answer the damn question."

"You aren't a victim in my eyes. I promise." He paused before continuing, "I'm pretty sure Rev sees you as one, though."

"What does Rev want from me?"

"I have no idea."

"Sure you don't." I sighed.

"Honestly. I don't, Lex. There is just some things you would never understand about Rev and I."

"Try me."

"No," He looked down at his lap before looking back up at me, "You can't know just yet. Some things just have to wait."

"Do you have a brother?" I figured changing the subject would've gotten me further than the previous conversation.

"What?"

"There's this kid at my school who looks a little bit like you, and kind of acts in a similar way as you. He pretty much treats the teachers and some students with utter disrespect, as if everyone except him are complete garbage."

"Oh, you met Liam?" He answered with a smile.

"You do know him?"

"He's my younger brother. Well.. younger by barely a year. He has a bit of an attitude, but he shouldn't be disrespecting his teachers. Was he?"

"Only a little bit," I bit my lip. Did I really want to get that boy into trouble? "I mean, he only sassed our teacher a bit." Yes. I lied. He didn't need to know the full story. At least not from me. "Lots of high school students tend to sass their teachers. It's pretty common."

He rubbed his chin. I began to think of many questions I could ask, but I felt like saving them for the right moment.

"I have to go," I said as I opened the door, "Try not to get into anymore trouble, you big dipshit." I heard him let off a chuckle as I closed the door. I couldn't help but notice the crowd surrounding the nurse on the floor as a doctor sat next to her trying to revive her once more. Oh god, I hoped that poor woman would be alright. Please.

✿✿✿

I walked back into the house, slamming the front door shut behind me. "Dad?" I asked, walking into the kitchen to find a note pinned to the fridge.

'Went out for a bit. Have a snack from the fridge, Princess.'

I turned my head towards the fridge. Should I eat something? Would that be safe? I opened the fridge to see all the food Rev had apparently felt like we needed. Apparently, he just felt like being neighborly as if he didn't just try to harm me on my first night home. I grabbed an apple off the middle shelf when something caught my eye. A note. Of course Rev would leave a note; that's basically his big ole gesture to me, isn't it? I grabbed the note instead, allowing it to crinkle in my hand as I walked over to the counter.

'I think it's time for you to finally learn more about who I really am.'

My face filled with confusion but disappeared almost immediately. This better not be some horrible trick to get me back into his truck.

"Rev?" I spoke out.

"You called?"

I turned around to see him standing at the window in the front of the house. He seemed to have dressed up quite nicely today, but his hair looked as if it was messed up by someone. "How the hell did you get in my house?"

"Nobody ever changed the locks."

"Do you seriously have a key to my house?"

"No."

I gave him a stern look.

"I see you found my note."

"I guess."

"Are you interested?"

"What?"

"Are you interested in learning more about me?"

"I don't think so, I-"

"Say yes or I will make sure you father never makes it back home."

"Are you seriously going to threaten me to go out with you?"

"Just say yes, Lex." He smiled at me, "I know you want to find out more."

"Fine. Yes. I want to." It wasn't a lie. I did want to learn more about him. He's right about that. I was just scared because I know that the second he opens up to me, is the second I am closer to being apart of his little circle.. even further away from the life I once knew.

"Alrightly then," He held out his hand, "Let's go."

I just walked past him and towards his truck. This felt so weird. Last time I was here, I didn't want to enter his truck. But now I'm walking up to it. Rev opened the door for me and I just gave off a small smile before hopping in. I pulled out my phone and texted my dad a short "Just with a friend" before putting my phone back in my pocket.

Rev climbed into the driver's seat and sat down, "I promise that you'll like this."

"I'll have to see for myself," I said, leaning back against the seat. I'll just have to see for myself.