Page 110 of Wicked Deceit
Every day it’s the same routine for Mr. Cole. He walks in behind his wife with a tight smile and greets us with a slight nod before he goes to her bedside, whispering loving words. He then settles in the chair beside her bedside and reads a book while holding her hand.
“Are you boys ready?” Mercy asks with a small but hopeful grin.
“Today is the day!” Chase beams, throws his playing cards down on the table face down, and stands.
“Dude! We weren’t done yet.” Seger protests, throwing his arms in the air. “I still had a chance to come back and win!” He gripes, but I know there is no way in Hell he could have won with all those cards in his hand.
Chase tilts his head, giving Seger a lop-sided grin. “Are you sure about that?”
Seger’s eyes narrow on him, frowning. “This is Go Fish! There’s no way you could have rigged it!” He huffs, jumping to his feet. Realization falls over his crestfallen face as he blinks at Chase. “Wait—you can’t, right? It’s the world’s easiest game.” He frowns, looking between the cards discarded on the table and Chase.
Chase snorts, shrugging in response without uttering a word. Turning his back, he walks to Kaycee’s other side, holding her hand as Seger continues glaring daggers at his back.
“I’m never playing a game with that cheating bastard again,” Seger mumbles, standing by the couch.
“Oscar Sanchez, Hadley Lacey, and Trent Gallagher.” I whip my head toward the television as they speak their names and gape at the photos lining the screen.
Hadley looks disheveled, with eyeliner running down her crying face and smudging black everywhere. You can tell by the sight of her mugshot that she’s been crying for hours, and probably trying to talk her way out of the situation, but sorry, Hadley, there’s no way out of this one. Oscar scowls at the camera with a bloodied and bruised face. I smirk when Seger sniggers beside me, taking pride in the punishment he gave him. Trent manically grins at the camera like a true psychopath, only sporting one bruise near his ear from yours truly.
“All three have been arrested for their vicious roles in the beating and the attempted murder of Kaycee Cole, and the death of countless other victims.”
My heart sinks at the sound of her name.Again. They’ve done so many reports on Kaycee, highlighting her life like she’s some sort of local celebrity. Some stations hail her as the true hero, but they’ll never know how far she went to bat for her best friend. Not even her parents know why she came to East Point, and I doubt they will. It’s something we’ve kept tight lipped about around them.
“When will they stop?” Seger groans as pictures of us and her float across the screen with the words, ‘Surviving Five,’ scrolling below on a constant loop.
“Not for a while, boys.” Mr. Cole says, sighing. “You are all celebrities right now. It’ll die down in a few weeks, rise again when the press gets more answers, and then it’ll flair up yet again when their trials come. You’re in for the long haul now.”
“Don’t let him worry you, boys. We have an excellent team of PR people working for us to keep you all safe,” Mercy says, coming up beside us. Her eyes gaze at the screen with a frown, and finally, she shakes her head.
The pictures of all of us continue, mostly from our FlashGram accounts. Picture after picture of our smiling faces hanging off each other, and they even snagged private images from the day we put Kaycee’s bedroom together. We are all huddled on the bed with smiles on our faces—selfie-style. Thankfully, we have clothes on and haven’t taken compromising photos together.
“This sucks,” Chase mumbles, watching the screen with narrowed eyes.
We stand like that for a few more minutes, listening to the same reports over and over again. Sighing as our faces cross the screen again and then back to the brunette reporter standing in front of East Point Prep, still crawling with activity.
“Yes,” she says into the microphone with a nod. “All students enrolled in East Point are now subjected to temporary virtual learning. No one is allowed in the buildings or on campus until the FBI can conduct its investigations. Everything is fairly tight-lipped at the moment. We presume everyone is a suspect at this time, including faculty and the student body.”
“Ugh, turn it off! I don’t even want to think about that virtual crap they have us doing,” Chase groans, moving to sit by Carter, who by now is slumped over and snoring. The more rest he gets, the more color returns to his cheeks, and he looks better every day.
He blames himself for this entire situation. For Kaycee getting hurt under his nose and us getting shot and burned. He explained everything to us when he woke up with tears dripping down his cheeks. It’s something we’ve never seen from him before. The three of us had a nice long discussion with him and reassured him we would have done the same if we were in his shoes. I know he’ll live with the guilt for years to come because so will we. We all had a part in losing her that night, but we can’t let it eat us alive.
“How is everyone doing this afternoon?” My heart rate spikes at the sight of her doctor walking through the door, several nurses trailing behind him.
Mrs. Cole smiles at him, shaking his hand. “Doing well today, Dr. Hana. We are all looking forward to Kaycee waking up.” Dr. Hana grins, running his fingers through his thick black hair.
“Well then, I’ve got amazing news for all of you. As you know, we’ve been monitoring Kaycee’s brain waves and her overall healing. Everything has gone according to plan. Her MRI shows decreased brain swelling, and her stab wound has healed wonderfully! Are you all ready?” His brown eyes meet each of our eyes as we nod in unison.
Dr. Hana nods at the two nurses standing beside Kaycee’s bed, awaiting his instructions. The moment he nods his head, they inject something into her IV. We collectively hold our breaths as it mixes with her IV fluids and presumably goes into her veins, ready to start the wake-up process.
Hope blooms in my belly as we watch and wait for any sign of life.
“Now, we have started the slow process of waking her up. She may wake up in an hour, or she may wake up in twenty-four hours. Each patient is different. But she will come back sometime soon.” he says with confidence, staring at his patient.
He exchanges a few more private words with her parents, shakes their hands, nods us goodbye, and slips out of the room. Leaving us all to stare at Kaycee’s unmoving body with hope burning desperately in our eyes.
The sun goes down, plummeting the room into a comfortable darkness. No longer do the hospital hallways give me the creeps and make me want to run. I’ve been here for two weeks straight, and I’m finally used to all the extra noises. Even if the memories of my mother’s death play on a constant loop in my head. This was the hospital she came to for help and the same hospital she perished in. I sigh, running a hand down my tired face. We’ve sat beside Kaycee’s bedside on pins and needles, watching for the slightest movements. An hour turned into two, and two turned into six, with no such luck. We knew the wait would be long, and we were prepared, but we secretly hoped she’d wake up sooner than later. You never realize how long two weeks are until you count down the days.
An hour ago, at the request of the head nurse, Chase helped Carter back to his room, staying there to keep the grump company while he suffered in limbo down the hall. Since the moment he woke up, he’s been in one hell of a mood. I’m sure once Kaycee wakes up and shows him she’s okay and doesn’t blame him for a damn thing, he’ll stop climbing the walls.
