”Niceville? What the fuck is Niceville?” AJ rasped.
“It’s where we are,” Tiffany replied, her voice barely audible.
“I’ve never heard of Niceville, is there some bigger city or something that I can tell Brian
where this place is?” Nick asked and then reached out of the window to retrieve his cell
phone from the ledge.
Tiffany shrugged her shoulders. “All I know is Niceville, I’m sorry but I’ve never traveled
so I don’t know of any other places.”
“What are you, freakin’ Amish or something?” Nick asked with an exasperated tone.
“Nick!” AJ growled.
“Well, it’s a little hard to be rescued when she doesn’t have a clue to where we are either!”
Nick defended.
“Please sweetheart, there’s got to be something we can tell our friend so he can get us,”
AJ asked in a calm voice.
“I’m sorry, I just don’t know,” Tiffany replied, her voice wavering. Her eyes widened when
she heard the sound of keys jangling from outside the door.
“Nick, go hide in the bathroom!” AJ directed in a hushed whisper.
Quickly, Nick darted towards the bathroom and left the door slightly ajar. His breathing
was labored and he gasped when his eyes fell onto his cell phone that was left on the
nightstand. “Oh shit,” he whispered.
“There you are young lady!” Esther scolded when she entered the room. “They need help
with the patient in room 423---”
AJ rolled his eyes.
Esther looked at her hostage suspiciously and then at the young girl. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing ma’am, he wanted company while he ate breakfast and that’s why I stayed,”
Tiffany offered.
“Oh?” the woman still didn’t appear convinced.
“Yeah, she was keeping me company,” AJ quickly stated.
“Yes ma’am, he’s been feeling lonely and I just stayed to keep him company,” Tiffany
offered again.
“Well, I guess there’s no harm in that,” Esther replied as she walked towards the closet.
AJ and Tiffany drew their breath in, praying that she wouldn’t open the bathroom door.
Nick, on the other side of the door, could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He was
mentally willing AJ to spy the cell phone and move it before the woman discovered it.
“Tiffany, I think it would be a good idea to change the bed while our patient takes a
shower. Maybe later today we’ll start some thera---”
The woman’s words were cut short when her eyes fell on the cell phone that was laying on
the nightstand. She scooped the phone up into her hand. “Where did this come from?”
Both AJ and Tiffany stood quietly, trying to come up with a quick explanation.
”Where did this come from?” Esther demanded as she shook the phone at them.
“It fell out of the sky,” Tiffany replied.
Esther slapped the young girl with the back of an open hand. Both Nick and AJ winced
when they heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh. Tiffany quickly placed her hand over the
assaulted cheek. “DON’T YOU DARE LIE TO ME!
“She’s telling you the truth,” AJ defended, clenching his fists, trying to hold back the rage
he was feeling seeing the old woman slapping the girl.
The woman let out a sarcastic laugh. “You expect me to be that stupid?”
“Look lady, I was talking to Tiffany and I was facing the window and this phone literally
fell past the window and landed on the ledge.”
Esther shook her head. "You really expect me to believe this?"
AJ had suppressed his hatred for the woman long enough. "Yeah, like you expect me to believe that I've been in a hospital in a coma for eighteen months and my friends and my mother are dead!"
The look the woman trained on AJ should have put him six feet under. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I can see that you need to be sedated again."
AJ shook his head. "You always think that's the answer to your little game when it doesn't go the way you like it, don't you? It's not gonna happen this time. Game's over!"
The cell phone chirped in Esther's hand. A strange smile crept across the woman's lips. As AJ moved to grab the phone, she forcefully slammed it to the ground, shards of plastic sprayed everywhere. "Wrong move there Alex, wrong move!"
