Insert Witty Title Here :) by S. N. Albright (the top 100 crime novels of all time TXT) 📕

out the proper thing to say to Nathan. I had configured so many approaches. I decided to just wing it.

“Hey, Nathan!” I waved over to get his attention. He gave a weak, dismissing hand flash, than walked the other direction, faster than normal pace. I caught up with him and walked alongside him to our lockers. “What’s up?” He responded with little interest. “Nothing.”
“I have a question, more a suggestion if you ask me.”
“Don’t care.”
“Can I help you carry your books, at least? You only have one arm.”
“Stop making fun of me. I got to go.”

I grabbed his shoulder and swung him around. “Hey, what’s wrong with you? Can you take a hint? I need to talk to you.” He looked similarly depressed to Thursday.
“Listen, Grace. I know you want to help. And thank you. But I don’t need it!” I never knew how tense and unsettled he was.
“No, you listen. If you don’t get to the hospital, your going to loose that arm of yours! I know you don’t want me to get involved. I knew that from the beginning. But I can’t stand by and watch your injury get worse and worse as the days go by! Nathan, my mom is a doctor-” I lied. I didn’t want him to know I went out of my way to go to the hospital. “And she tells me all the time how, because of the economy today, if you can’t pay, most patients get significant discounts, sometime even FREE.” He looked furious.
“Grace! I trusted you not to tell anyone!” “Nathan, I knew this before I even knew you’re name!” I continued lying. His fury faded away.
“Fine. I’ll talk to my mom, okay? Will that make you happy?” I was relieved to here his give in. “Very.”

Chapter 6

After school on the following Friday, his mom had agreed to allow Nathan to go to the hospital. He gave me his address and I was to meet him there so we could walk (his mother couldn’t stay home long enough to drive.). But, it wasn’t that far away to begin with.

I walked to, what I thought was, his house. Instead, I ended up at the sign that read, “Tony’s Trailer Park”. Nathan lived in a trailer. Each trailer in the lot was either a tan, or chrome color, each with its own large number on the side. Which I believed simulated a house number, because on Nathan’s not that he scribbled, it read at the bottom “1784”.

After a small walk down a line of trailers on either side of me, I found the one that matched Nathan’s note.
I knocked unsurely and awkwardly on the rounded door on the side of the trailer. A husky, scruffy woman opened the door. She smiled sweetly. “You must be Grace. Hello, I’m Ms. Polly.” She reached out a welcoming hand and we shook hands. “Please, come in. I apologize for the size-”
I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed, so I said, “Oh, no! This is an upgrade compared to my little apartment. Theirs barely enough room for my mom and I!” She smiled. “Well, if that’s all you need- NATHAN! YOUR FRIEND IS HERE!” Nathan walked out, struggling into his jacket. “Mom, how many times do I need to tell you, I’m only 20ft away. There’s a very thin door between us.” She gave him a look that said ‘don’t you embarrass me’ and we were out the door, and on our way.

We returned to that same hospital, where, instead of Olivia, a very irritated woman in the same outfit was glaring at us, obnoxiously chewing a stick of gum. Nathan looked slightly worried. I leaned in and whispered, “For the record, a week ago, there was a very positive lady in that chair.” He simply shook his head in aggravation, and walked over to the woman. “Olga” read her nametag.

“Um, hi. I’m sorry to bother you, but I recently spoke to a woman named Olivia, and she knows about a rather personal situation, do you think we can talk to her?” I asked politely. She looked very insulted.
“Ugh. Fine. Just wait a second.” Olga got up out of her chair, and left.

Nathan was furious. I didn’t understand. Nothing different has happened than I anticipated. “What do you mean ‘You’ve been here before’?” Oh, no. I lied to Nathan before. I shouldn’t have said what I had. “What, do they have my record already? Huh? Do they know I live in a box on wheels?” his voice rose to a shout. Luckily no one else was in the waiting room, again.

“Fine. You want the truth? My mom is a Computer Programmer. I came here before to ask about any available discounts. I couldn’t let you deteriorate in front of me, Nathan!” He was still fuming.
But he was silent. Then he lowered his voice back down. “I didn’t ask for your help. I didn’t need your pity.” “Nathan, you don’t understand! I don’t pity you. I admire you!” He looked as if I had just said something completely stupid and irrelevant.
“Admiration? Really? You think you’re so good at this, don’t you!”
“Nathan, what are you talking about? I admire you because you don’t have nearly as much money as some kids, but look at you!”
“There’s a whole in my arm…”
“You go to school, you protect people, and you care about others! You’re more than 10 times the person I am, and money has nothing to do with it!”

He was silent. His ferocity faded away completely. And still, we said nothing. Finally, Olivia scrambled into the room, looking frazzled. She hadn’t yet looked at us. But, when she did, her eyes were a mile wide.

“Hey! How are you? Is this your friend?” She extended a hand out to Nathan. He shook it with a fake smile. “Here. Come in. Lets go see your room.”
He seemed afraid. “Um, how long will I be here?”
“Oh, not too long. You have nothing to worry about, sweetie! I’ll be back in a minute.”

I followed them in to his room. Nathan and I sat down on a bed with a strip of paper run across it. We looked awkwardly at the white, tile floor.

“Well, you made it, Nathan. You’re in good hands here.”

He gave me a small smile at the corner of his mouth. Then Olivia came back. “Let’s have a look here. Where are you hurt?” Nathan pointed to his arm, then took off his jacket and removed his bandages. Olivia went pale at the sight of the injury. “Oh…Dear-”
Nathan quickly asked, “Is it okay?”
She said, “Oh, yes, you’ll be fine, honey, some Neosporin and a couple tests. Are you aware than a small, simple surgery may be involved? Nothing major!”
Nathan looked slightly less worried. “I’ll be asleep, right? You’ll knock me out, so I won’t feel it?”
Olivia quickly, accidentally shouted, “OH YES! Of course! Everything will be fine, Hon.”

“I’m just going to need you to change into this garb, for me. Every patient should, thank you!” Olivia left the room, and Nathan now had a thin material that looked like a dress, that tied at the back, in his hand. He get gave me a look of ‘get out’ and I got the message.
“Bye, Nathan! I’ll tell your mom where you are!”
“Uh, thanks. Bye.”

Chapter 7

I was walking through the hall of the white hospital, the sounds of my quiet footsteps echoing down until the sound ended at a sharp turn at the end.

On the right, I saw a few doors swung open outward into the corridor, whereas all the doors were closed on the left; this was probably a very irrelevant detail. I leisurely walked down and down, glancing curiously into the room every once in a while.


But, one room was extremely interesting. The walls in there weren’t white, like everywhere else. They were a deep blue, with pictures and letters scattered along the wall. Each addressed to a boy named Kevin.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I looked into the bed, and there was indeed a boy there. And what I feared most was confronting the boy who was asleep in that same hospital bed. It was Kevin.

He had a large bandage wrapped around his left thigh. I remembered exactly how he got here, in this hospital, in this room, and in that bed, almost as if it were yesterday.

Kevin looked so feeble and frail just lying there. Next to the bed, a bag of, what I supposed was medicine, was suspended in the air with a tube running down and into a small metal object attached to his right index finger.

I was speechless. I guess it didn’t matte anyway, considering Kevin was asleep, and incapable of conversations, or fights, for that matter…

I heard a doctor walking with a woman down the hall, their voices getting closer to Kevin’s room. I panicked, hoping against hope they were going to pass by, but anyway, I looked around and saw a medical closet, slipped inside, and ever so slightly cracked the cabinet door for a view