Seconds Away

CHAPTER 11

The nurses’ station was in the middle of two corridors. There were rooms on both sides of the station. Three minutes after my attempt to enter the butterfly room, Spoon sprinted up the opposite corner to the nurse who had stopped me from entering.

“Nurse! I need a crash cart, stat!”

“Huh?”

“Stat,” Spoon said. “It means quickly.”

“I know what it means but-”

“Nurse, do you know the origin of the term? Stat is actually short for statim, which is the Latin term for ‘immediately.’”

The nurse squinted at him. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven.”

Another frown.

“Okay, I’m fourteen. But I’m one of those genius kids you read about.”

“Uh-huh. And how come your scrubs have ‘Dr. Feelgood’ embroidered on the pocket?”

“That’s my name! Do you have a problem with it?” He arched an eyebrow. “By the way, you’re very attractive.”

“Excuse me?”

“We doctors always hit on the nurses, didn’t you know that? I bet you’re very flattered right now.” Spoon flexed an arm with about as much thickness and tone as washed-up seaweed. “Do you want to feel my muscle?”

Two more nurses stepped over. “Is this kid giving you trouble?” one asked.

“That’s Dr. Kid to you, Nurse.” Again he arched an eyebrow. “By the way, you’re very attractive.”

I was right near the butterfly door now. All eyes were trained on Spoon. I was just about to reach for the door when one of the nurses, maybe sensing something, started turning back toward me.

Oh, this wasn’t good.

I was going to duck… but what good would that do? I was right out in the open. The nurse’s eyes were almost on me when Ema shouted, “Kevin! Where are you? Kevin!”

The nurse swiveled her head back toward the voice as Ema hurried over to Spoon.

Time to move.

I opened the door with the butterfly on it and stepped into the dark. As the door closed behind me, I heard Ema going on, “Kevin, you were supposed to stay in the psych ward. I’m so sorry, this is my brother and he wandered off. I’ll take it from here…”

Her voice-all voices-fell away as the door closed behind me.

I was turning toward the bed when I heard someone say, “Mickey? How did you get in here?”

There, sitting up in the bed, was Rachel.