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15

Howie stood open mouthed, staring at Jessica as she walked right passed him and headed for the water fountain herself. She pretended she didn’t even know him which had not only him but Nick baffled as well. She smiled at them both as she bent down to get a sip of water. “Jessica?”
She didn’t answer at first, choosing to ignore him. “My… I was really thirsty” She said and smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Howie had so many questions to ask her, he didn’t even know where to begin.

“I work here Howie….remember?”

He softly pulled her close, “You told me you were fired”

“I was never fired, now if you excuse me I really have to…”

“Jessica what the hell is going on?” She ignored his question and started to walk away.

“What kind of freaky ass twilight zone episode is this?” Nick asked no one in particular as Howie ran after Jessica.

“Jess…wait!” She picked up her pace to almost a run. “JESSICA!” He screamed causing two passers by to look their way. She turned around, now looking scared, “Why are you running away from me? And what the hell is happening?”

“Howie I really have to go; I’m sorry”

“No Jessica! My life has been turned upside down because of you! Now tell me what is going on”

“That’s not a fair statement” She said in a whisper. It relieved the man who really started to think this whole thing was in his head.

“Okay…maybe but then it’s not fair for you to act like you haven’t been fired when I KNOW you were”

“Why are you here?” She asked, now inching closer to Howie who was starting to get paranoid that maybe someone would be listening to his conversation.

“I had a meeting…look can we go somewhere to talk?”

She looked around the hallway, the passers by were now gone and it was just the two of them. “I have to finish working”

“But they fired…”

“They gave me a second chance” She tried to push him away again.

“Jessica, tell me what’s going on”

“I really don’t have time for this conversation Howie…I really need to go… sorry” She turned away from him and started heading down the hallway.

“Is it true? Is he really dead Jess?” That made her stop. While her back was turned her head slumped down and she pulled her hands to her face. “I thought he told you to drop it Howie…why couldn’t you just listen?” Now Howie slowly inched up to her until he was right behind her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she answered with a turn and a hug.

He wanted to ask again but he figured her tears were enough of an answer, “Meet me at my place tonight” She whispered into his ear. So softly that he could barely hear.

“Where is that?”

“Fourth and Brighton…make sure no one follows you”

“You mean security?”

“No…I mean them”

“Who? The guys?”

“No Howie…” She abruptly pulled away from him and pulled herself together when she heard the sound of voices approaching the hallway.

“Tonight” She mouthed as she smiled at the men as they walked by. She turned and followed them, “But Jessica…” He called after her but she didn’t answer.

“What does she mean by following me?” He asked himself still looking to the spot that Jessica had just vacated.

“You were talking to yourself?” Howie jumped and gasped at Kevin’s voice.

“You scared me”

“Nick said you were chasing a hot chick” He laughed imitating Nick’s voice.

“Yeah…something like that…but I lost her”

“Well we should be going; seems there is a little bit of a problem at the hospital”

“What kind of a problem?”

Kevin started walking towards the exit so Howie followed, “Seems the hospital lost AJ”

“What?” Kevin kept Howie in suspense until they were out of the building. He was getting so frustrated with people not answering his questions.

“Kevin? How did they lose him?”

“Don’t know…Brian called in a near panic”

“Why was he panicking…I mean is everything okay?”

“Relax Howie…he’s probably chasing after some nurses somewhere” Nick joked as the three men entered the car.

“Stupid ass hospital” Kevin muttered under his breath.

“Did you talk to her?” Nick whispered to Howie while Kevin was preoccupied with talking to the driver.

“Yes…she wants me to meet her tonight”

“Where?”

“Her place”

“She said make sure no one follows me”

“I want to come”

Howie looked at the blonde and smiled. He knew he should say no, but truthfully he didn’t want to go alone so instead he said, “We’ll see”


**~*~*~*~*~*~*
Brian was growing impatient with the run around he was receiving from everybody. It was a living breathing person they lost, not some little toy or dog or something. The thing that was making him most mad was the conflicting stories he had heard since he began his little search for AJ through the many floors of the hospital. The x-ray department said he wasn’t there and to try the blood lab. The blood lab said he wasn’t there and maybe they had him waiting by orthopedic. The bodyguard went to check it out there and they claimed they never saw him but maybe he was brought to the children’s wing.

That’s when Brian had to take a breather and step outside for fresh air. He wasn’t sure why, but he was nervous for his friend. He had called Kevin at that point and told him all about it. At first he wasn’t even going to do that because he would have blown things out of proportion but when AJ failed to show up anywhere he decided to make the call.

Brian suddenly felt uneasy, like he was being followed. Now he was freaking himself out. He turned around quickly to find no one there but an old man in a wheelchair being escorted by a younger woman talking sweetly to him. Just the same, he decided it was time to go back inside. Once inside he was greeted by his body guard, which he finally remembered was named Bart.

“I thought I’d have to find YOU now” Bart grunted. He certainly didn’t look like he was in a very good mood.

“Still no AJ?” The bodyguard shook his head, then picked up his cell phone and walked off, no doubt going over the situation with somebody.

Brian once again grew restless. He decided to walk down to the chairs and have a seat. He grew uneasy when he noticed a man looking at him from behind a newspaper. It was almost too cliché to be happening so he brushed it off as his overactive imagination. Once again he looked up to find the same man staring at him. When their eyes met, the man behind the newspaper quickly looked away.

“This is freaking weird” He muttered to himself while shifting in the uncomfortable plastic chair.

He decided he wasn’t going to even look that way anymore. He closed his eyes and tried to relax; only to be woken up in a matter of seconds by Nick who plopped down next to him. “Hey Brian…still no AJ?”

“Nope”

“No one really knows where he is?” Brian finally decided to open his eyes to see his cousin and a nervous looking Howie talking to Bart and three security guards.

“No, no one knows where he went”

“You think he is okay?”

“I hope so…Nick see that guy over there?” Nick started to turn around to blatantly look at the guy but Brian grabbed his shoulder and pulled him close, “don’t let him see you looking”

Nick looked over to the man pretending that he was looking past him at the clock on the wall, when he turned back to Brian he answered, “Yeah…what about him?”

“He’s been staring at me”

“You’re famous Brian”

“Yeah…but I don’t know I get a bad feeling that’s all”

Nick looked over to where the guy was sitting to find an empty seat. “He’s gone”

“This is weird” Brian got up and walked back over to where his cousin and Howie were, Nick following at his heels.

“Everywhere?” He heard as he got right up next to them. Howie looked about ready to vomit.

“Hey” He said once he saw Brian standing there.

“Hey…so any news?”

“They think he left”

“Why would he leave?”

“I don’t know…was he scared or something?”

“Kevin he’s not 5. He was totally fine and looking forward to pain medicine”

“This is my fault” Howie said to his friends.

Kevin placed his arm around him, “Howie stop…it’s not your fault”

Brian walked back over to Nick, “There he is again” Nick turned to see what Brian was talking about and sure enough, the man who was sitting in the chairs reading his newspaper was now standing right by the front doors acting like he was waiting for someone but really glancing over at the boys and listening to their conversation. Once he noticed Brian’s eyes he walked away out of sightline.

“Guys, I think we should go talk somewhere else” Everyone looked over to Brian confused. “We should stay by the main entrance Bri, so this way if AJ does happen to walk by he’ll see us” Kevin sounded disgusted.

“What’s wrong Brian?” Howie walked over to Brian, picking up that something was wrong.

“I just think we need to…”

“They found him!” One of the security guards said running towards the guys.

They all looked at each other, “Is he okay?” One of them finally dared to ask. “They said he’s unconscious”

“Where is he?”

“This way…follow me” The guys raced after the security guard as he led them to their friend.

The man who was watching them came walking back into the main area and once he saw them bolt down the hallway, he nodded and walked out the front doors.