Chapter 18

The air was heavy with a dark, cold silence. The abandoned warehouse stood lonely in the middle of the shadows, giving a lethal sense of horror. The silence was taking over the place till out of that deserted building came out a panicked cry of pain. Inside a dark room in that warehouse, a man was tied up to a metal chair, screaming in pain while a couple of men stood watching his leg bleed; his leg wasn't the only place bleeding; all his body was hurt and cut, even his face was swollen of beating. " I just followed the orders, plz spare me " the man begged out of his cries of pain. The two guards turn back to read the man sitting comfortably on a sofa behind them. The man in black was still checking his phone like there was no one around. He was responding to a text where the sender assured once more " She is awake, don't worry, I'll stick around till you're back"

"Allan?" As the man responded, he waited for a few seconds to get the reply," he is here, but didn't see her." " keep it that way," He ordered, and finally, he seemed to hear the injured man when he kept pleading, "Please, please, Black A, forgive my ignorance." Black A stood up and in his usual grace stepped closer to the man, held his disfigured face with one hand, and spit his angry words from between his clenched teeth "You would have been forgiven if you'd threatened only my life..." his grip tightened when the pictures of the attack that day he was shot. Pictures of this man slapping Anna to the ground hitting her hard to the wall, and his attempt to suffocate her. He lost his calm, composed demeanor, finishing his words with a furious cry, "... you dared to try to kill her. " He pushed the chair to fall back and leaned on the man, hitting him with no mercy.

Back at the hospital, Anna sat by the hospital window, the sunlight casting long shadows across her bed. Everything felt blurry, like fragments of a dream just out of reach. Her head still throbbed, the memories teasing her, pulling her toward something she couldn’t grasp. She sighed, pressing her hand to her temple, frustrated by the patchwork of half-remembered moments. There was an emptiness, but something had shifted after the game—like someone had turned on a light in a room she hadn’t realized was dark. However, something else was bothering her too....Alex didn't show up yet. He wasn't the only one, but he was the one who counted the most to her.

As the day wore on, Anna found herself glancing at the room door, half-expecting Alex to walk through at any moment. Each time someone entered—a nurse with a clipboard, Sue carrying another get-well card, Mark checking in with a joke about keeping her out of trouble—her heart would leap, only to settle again when she realized it wasn’t him. It wasn’t like him not to be here. Alex was the one constant in her life, her anchor when the world felt shaky. But this time, something was different.

A seed of worry had taken root, an instinct whispering that something wasn’t right. And it wasn’t just the hospital or the memory lapses. It was the absence of the one person who’d always been there. As she lay there, memories of little things drifted back—Alex’s late nights at work, the dinners he’d missed. It hadn’t seemed important at first. He’d always been busy, always pulled in a thousand directions, yet she’d felt his presence in all those small ways. Now, the emptiness left by his absence seemed louder somehow, as if it was signaling a shift she wasn’t ready to face. A knock on the door brought her back to her senses only to see Liz stepping into the room; for a second, Anna panicked; she shook, feeling cold to the core; she wanted to stand up and push her back from where she came. Agent Anderson sensed the panic all over Anna's face, so she smiled in assurance and said, "Anna, breathe; he is OK. No need to freak out. " Liz waited for Anna to take her breaths and kept saying, " he was just going out of his mind out of worry about you, and here I am. He insisted on me hanging around till he gets here; you know how he loses control when it is about you. He will be here soon ". Anna wanted to say something, but a heavy knock followed by basketball team members entered and stopped her. Everybody was nice to her, even Dan, they chatted and laughed, trying to give her some positive energy. Anna was more concerned about their preparations for the coming game " Did you guys go through the other team's previous games?" Jordan – Known for his speed and agility, often the one to break through defenses replied "We got it covered coach, just get well so you can be there" Benji – Quiet but incredibly focused, a strong defensive player commented "I and Jordan will handle it, still we need Allan The playmaker, quick passes and assists, to help the team’s plays come together. The rest is up to Mark and Darren " Anna and the rest nodded in agreement to his explanation to the play plan, and finally Anna asked the question that been hanging in the back of her head since she woke up " where is Allan? " they all exchanged silent looks which Anna noticed clearly. Allan has been acting weirdly since they left the restaurant to bring Anna to the hospital; despite his fear and worry, when she fainted, everybody was wondering, "Why isn't he here with her".

No one answered her, so she repeated it, asking directly the one who's counted as Allan's friend Jade," Where are you, friend, Jade ?" Jade looked at his feet, patching the back of his head in confusion, and said, "Honestly, I've got no idea what' s going on with him. He didn't leave since we brought you here, yet he is staying outside, and...." Jade paused, looking at Liz, who had been standing there watching silently; Anna followed his gaze and encouraged him to continue," And what?" Jade cleared his voice and said "When I came in the morning, he was having an argument with the lady. It's like she wasn’t letting him in" Everyone's gaze turned to Liz, who felt like a suspect, she shook her head and raised her arms in surrender saying "Easy, guys.... it is not me. It's your uncle" she directed her last words to Anna who exclaimed " Alex?" Liz nodded a yes and continued "You know how protective he can be, the celebration thing wasn’t planned, Allan was supposed to drive you home after the game, where I would've stayed with you, I even prepared popcorn and a list of movies to choose from, but instead, you spent the night at the hospital, the worst part is that Alex can't be here now, he's just venting his anger on the boy, but there is nothing I can do "

After a few more chats, the basketball team left. Anna wanted to go home too, but the doctor insisted on keeping her for a couple of hours more. Anna rested on her bed, wrestling with different emotions, but the most annoying one was that of waiting. Anna shifted on the hospital bed, her gaze glued to the sterile white door. Every faint sound outside made her heart jump, anticipation clawing at her as she waited for the one person she was sure would come. Alex should have been here by now. He would never leave her alone in a place like this, not with the memories hospitals stirred within her. Every time since she moved to live with him, she’d found herself in a cold, sterile room like this, Alex had been there—his hand steady on her shoulder, his voice the first thing she’d hear.

But today, only silence filled the space he would have occupied. Even when she’d first opened her eyes, a blurry haze still clouding her mind, her instinct was to search for him. Instead, Sue’s worried face had filled her vision, and when she asked about him, she got a vague reassurance that he’d come “soon.”

Liz came in after another fight with Allan, who ended up being driven away by security; Liz must have caught the look in her eyes. “Hey,” she said softly, trying to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Nilson. Your…guardian will be here soon.

Anna gave her a half-hearted smile, but the word guardian felt wrong, almost hollow. Alex wasn’t just her guardian; he was her family, her rock. The only person she could count on to never disappear, no matter how chaotic his life became. Yet now, for the first time, she wondered if that promise he’d never spoken aloud—to always be there—was beginning to fray.