บท 38: Marvin's accident
Tom ditched his beloved motorbike in the first, random spot on the parking lot that he could find before rushing towards the hospital doors.
"Marvin Suera, where is he?" he shouted as soon as he got to the hospital's reception.
"Excuse me, sir, but first, do not shout in the hospital," the clerk behind the counter attempted to calm Tom down. Yet, just like in many scenarios like that, he only managed to infuriate him even more.
"Listen here, you little shit. You either tell me where he is at, or I will burn this fucking place to the ground," Tom spoke in a cold and strangely calm voice.
"I'm going to call the security if you do not leave..." the clerk attempted to threaten Tom but stopped mid-sentence. Then, with his eyes glued to the screen in front of him, cleverly hidden from anyone on the other side of the counter, his attitude suddenly turned meek.
"Mister Tom Hubrian?" He asked, only to instantly continue speaking. "Forgive me my insolence. I wasn't aware who I was speaking with," he spoke before furiously tapping into the keyboard. "Your friend is held at the room fifty 'a'. It's right on the left past the staircase," the clerk was so scared by his earlier attitude that he even went as far as to stand up and point Tom to the stairs.
"Good choice," Tom's replied with the same, monotone voice before leaving the counter and rushing for the stairs.
'Hang on, brother,' he thought, unaware of his true self seeping through his usual mask. His guts were curling in his insides as if some kind of parasite was eating him away.
Tom didn't even realize when he climbed the stairs. In his half-conscious state propelled by worry, his mind was too preoccupied with his dear friend's wellbeing to bother with such minute details.
"It's here," Tom suddenly stopped when he reached the doors. Given how small the place was, it would be too much of a needless luxury for the hospital to invest in the glass doors. As such, Tom wasn't any wiser about awaited him on the other side of the doors.
For a long moment, Tom just stood before those doors. The simple act of pushing them open was bound to a great reveal, one that Tom wasn't sure he was ready for.
'Fuck it, nothing good will come from just standing here' Tom finally forced himself to place his hand on the door's knob. Then, he pushed the doors open.
"Yo," Marvin smiled at his friend from the hospital bed. He even went as far as to raise his hand in greeting. On the side of his bed, Cleo sat on some chair while holding her brother's hand. Her usual, cheeky attitude was nowhere to be found, replaced by the teary expression on her face.
"Oh God," Tom said before resting his back against the doors he closed behind himself. "Cleo..." his voice turned dark when he looked towards the girl.
"I'm sorry..." Cleo averted her eyes as a small blush appeared on her cheeks. "I kinda panicked and wasn't in my right mind," she explained herself before lowering her head. "I really am sorry. But if you were to see his state before the doctors cleaned him up..." she cut her words, pursing her lips instead of explaining what happened.
"Marvin, are you okay? What happened?" Tom took his time before calming himself enough to be able to ask this question.
"Nothing much," Marvin said while gently shaking his arms, only for a grimace of pain to resurface on his face. "My bike malfunctioned, and I had a..." he took a glance at Cleo sitting right beside him before finishing, "a little accident because of that."
"An accident, you say," Tom mirrored his friend's words while falling in deep thought. 'Could it be a message to me? Could it be that someone messed with his bike?' he thought, instantly trying to connect the event with his own situation.
"Malfunctioned? Don't even joke like that," Cleo muttered in a low voice, one that was far more threatening than a shout. "The company we bought them from claimed they are faultless," she ground her teeth against each other before raising her eyes at Tom. "Tell me, is there some kind of great conspiracy going on that we don't know about, or should I mobilize our people to deal with that company?" she asked, clearly intending to follow up on her words.
"Cleo..." Marvin attempted to intervene. It was clearly not the first time he heard this question, yet it made him cringe all the more.
"You shut your crap!" Cleo shouted, smashing her fist into the best, right beside where Marvin's bandaged hand was. "Tom," she moved her eyes back at their friend, "tell me!"
"I don't know," Tom shook his head, troubled by the situation. 'A conspiracy? If I were to tell them about it, they would believe me either way...' he thought before noticing a single, peculiar point that disqualified such theory.
"Marvin, when did the accident happen? Or rather, when was the last time that you left your bike unattended?" Tom asked, unwilling to just go and lie to his friends that there was no conspiracy whatsoever.
"Huh?" Marvin looked at Tom with surprise all over his face before the light in his eyes darkened. "Tom, don't tell me..."
"Just answer the goddamn question," Cleo interrupted her brother once again, not surprised by Tom's suspicious question at all.
'Does she know?' Tom appeared the be the most surprised out of the three of them. While he could foresee Marvin's reaction, the lack of it from Cleo was clearly worrying. 'Or maybe she is just too worried about Marvin to notice what I just implied?' he asked himself, yet there was no one to give him the answer.
"The last time I left it unattended was when..." Marving started speaking, only to suddenly raise his eyes at Tom. "It was when I brought you to the Online Hub," he said, staring at his friend intensely.
"It's not a conspiracy, then," Tom announced without even a shred of hesitation.
'It can't have anything to do with my strange level up nor my discussion with that monster,' he thought. 'The timelines just don't match for that, he added in his thoughts.
"Tom..." Cleo suddenly spoke up. While it wasn't strange or surprising for her to speak during an open discussion like that, her weird tone was the unexpected factor. "Leaving Marvin's accident aside for a moment, I need you to listen to me for a moment," she announced as she stood up.
Cleo then approached Tom and sent a harsh slap to his face.
"Huh?" Tom stared at the girl with surprise, not even bothering to avoid the attack. He was more than aware that attempting to dodge would only result in real pain later on.
"I know that you still can't believe that your father just went missing," Cleo suddenly said. "But all of his people looked into this matter. All of our families and friends did," she said, pushing Tom into a weirdly uncomfortable state. "And do you really believe that a group of retired spec-ops would fail to figure out what happened to him?"
For a moment, the silence filled the room. It was as if no one dared to say the word to break it. Then, after a long moment, Cleo sighed and shook her head.
"Well, you can take my advice on it or not. But even if you believe all those former troopers are incapable of such a simple intelligence task," Cleo's face suddenly turned tense, "I'm more than certain that they are more than enough to deal with that fucking company behind those bikes!"
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