Chapter 9
The hallway outside my room got loud before I saw anyone. It wasn't the nurse's shoes or the cart that squeaked. It was a man's voice trying to sound nice.
I was sitting up in the bed with my rabbit held against my chest. The blue blanket had slipped down to my waist. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it in my ears. The door to LOCATION_X was closed but not all the way, and sound leaked through the crack.
"I’m her dad," the man said. "Lily. I’m here to take her home. Her mom asked me to come."
I froze. I knew that voice. My fingers dug into the rabbit's ears and I didn't breathe.
Another voice answered him, flat and tired. It was the security guard from the front desk. "Sir, I need to see ID. Are you listed as parent or guardian? I don't have you on the approved list."
"Come on, man. It's four thirty in the morning. Her mom Sarah couldn't make it. She called me. You want to wake a seven-year-old to ask her?"
I stared at the door. The light from the hallway cut a thin white line across the dark gray wall. The rabbit's pink nose was pressed into my chin. My hands were shaking but I held tighter. I didn't make a sound.
The guard didn't move. "Policy is policy. I need a photo ID and I need to call the charge nurse. What's your name, sir?"
A pause. Then the man said, "Ray. Ray Collins. I'm her stepdad."
That wasn't true. He wasn't my dad. He wasn't anything. Mom had told me what to say if he came. She said don't open the door and don't answer.
The door handle jiggled a little, like he tried it. The guard's radio crackled.
Outside, heavy boots hit the tile fast, coming from the direction of the elevators. I heard Marcus before I saw him. His voice was low and hard.
"Don't touch that door."
Marcus filled the doorway. His leather vest was zipped and his knuckles were still bruised and scarred where he gripped the bed rail earlier. He didn't yell. He just stepped between the hallway and my room and planted his feet. He wasn't kneeling now. He was standing straight and his shoulders blocked almost the whole door frame.
Ray took a half step back. He was tall and thin with a shaved head and a dark jacket that smelled like cigarettes even from where I lay. He tried to smile at Marcus like they were friends.
"Hey, brother. No problem here. Just trying to get my girl."
Marcus didn't move. He looked at Ray's eyes and Ray looked at his vest, at the Iron Wolves patch. The air felt tight, like nobody wanted to be the first to breathe too loud. Marcus's hands stayed at his sides but his fingers curled slightly, ready.
"You're not family," Marcus said, quiet. "You don't come near her."
Ray's smile dropped. "You got a patch, so you run this hospital now?"
Behind Marcus, I saw Andrea rushing down the hall with Deputy Harris right behind her. Andrea's dark blue shirt was untucked and her gold necklace bounced as she ran. She didn't look at Ray at first. She looked straight at me through the gap over Marcus's arm and her eyes went wide when she saw me clutching the rabbit.
Deputy Harris was in his tan uniform and he moved past Andrea with his hand up, not on his gun, just open in the air between the two men.
"Gentlemen, step apart," he said. His voice was calm and official. "Sir, ID please. Ray Collins, you said?"
Ray pulled a wallet out and flipped it open. He held out a driver's license but didn't hand it over. The deputy took it and looked at it, then at Ray's face, then back at the license.
"Mr. Collins, we don't have a warrant for you tonight," Deputy Harris said. "But you're not on the approved visitor list for Lily. Hospital security says you tried to claim parental rights you don't have. That's a problem."
Ray shrugged, trying to look easy. "Misunderstanding. Sarah said I should check on her kid. I didn't know I needed paperwork."
Andrea stepped closer to the door, keeping her body angled so she could see me. "Sarah is Lily's mother. She did not authorize this man. He is not to have contact."
The deputy handed the license back. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the property, Mr. Collins. You're on camera. If you return before sunrise or contact this child again, we'll detain you."
Ray looked past Marcus at me for one second. Our eyes met through the crack. My throat made a small sound and I pushed my face into the rabbit's head. I didn't mean to but I whispered, "That's him."
Marcus heard me. His jaw tightened. He didn't swing or grab. He just turned his shoulder so Ray couldn't see me anymore.
Ray held his hands up and backed away. "Fine. I'm leaving. You all got it covered."
He walked down the hallway slow, like he wanted us to know he wasn't scared. The security guard followed him to the elevators, radioing ahead to the lobby. The elevator doors closed and he was gone, but the smell of smoke stayed.
Deputy Harris turned to the guard. "Lock this floor. No visitors without escort. Log his plate from the cameras."
The hallway lights seemed brighter after that. Andrea slipped into my room and came to the side of the bed. She didn't try to take the rabbit. She just put her hand lightly on the edge of my blanket.
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Marcus was still standing in the doorway, watching the empty hall, breathing hard through his nose. He didn't kneel yet. He was listening for footsteps that didn't come.
Outside the window it was still dark.
