Sitting anxiously in a lounge chair outside of the operating room. Leaning back in the chair, the back of my head resting on the wall and staring up at the ceiling with a contemplative expression.
The reason why I was here, at the hospital of all places, was because of what happened about an hour ago.
—Flashback—
I had just gotten out of the shower, waiting for Harper to come when I got a phone call from Quinn, another SPO officer.
"Ryder? This is Quinn." he said, causing me to immediately hang up. Quinn had a habit of annoying me, even more than Harper. He would always act cocky and superior toward me and other newcomers. And that pissed me off
The phone rang a second time within a few seconds of me hanging up. I knew his type, so instead of ignoring him, I decided to hear wh he had to say to save my own self some trouble.
"What." I said with annoyance. Making it clear that I disliked him even though he already knew that much.
"Darn it, Ryder. Now is not the time for games." said Quinn in an unusually serious tone, which surprised me.
"My bad. No need to get all riled up." I said with very little interest.
With an annoyed sigh, Quinn began to speak, "Look…" he paused and looked back. "It's about Harper."
I raised an eyebrow slightly in confusion. "Harper? What about her? She was supposed to be coming over." he replied as he glanced at the time, seeing that an hour had passed since the call.
Quinn put a hand in his pocket and looked back ahead, away from the scene. "We found her unconscious… by the docks. She's barely alive."
My eyes widened slightly at the unexpected news. "What? How the crap did that happen?" I asked, my voice raised slightly.
"Beats me," said Quinn. "It was actually a bystander that found her and reported it, so we didn't get any specifics." he finished.
I then quickly put my shoes on and grabbed my coat and SPO armband. "On my way." I said heading out of the front door.
—
"Excuse me, Mr. Stone?" said a gentle voice, belonging to a nurse as she came out of Harper's medical room.
I stood up from the chair, "Yes, that's me." I informed as I stepped closer. "You may see her now." she said with a slight bow and stepped aside.
"Alright, thanks." I replied. Entering the room, my eyes immediately landed on Harper as she laid in the medical bed. She seemed awake but hadn't noticed me yet.
"What's the situation?" said Harper as she turned to look at me. Nevermind, she had noticed me.
I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What? Do you mean the attacker?" I asked as I crossed my arms.
She nodded in response, "Did you get any leads?" she said, obviously more concerned about the case than her condition.
"No. No one really saw what happened. But Kasey is working on checking any cameras that were in the area." I informed her.
She didn't say anything further, and just turned to look back out of the room window. I sighed and sat beside her in the chair that was next to her bed. "So, you don't remember anything? Like at all?" I asked. We needed all the info we could get after all.
"...no." she said before looking back at me. I sighed, "Well that's a bummer." I replied as I leaned back into the chair, my right leg atop my left. "Guess all we can do now is wait for Kasey."
She nodded at this. What was heard next was the sound of the door sliding open. "Sweetie? Are you here?" said a female voice, followed with a cheerful, "Harpy!"
Looking back, my eyes landed on a woman with red-ish brown hair, holding a smiling child in her arms, along with a man with blonde hair beside her.
"Mom, dad…" mumbled Harper as she too, looked at them. They walked up to us, the mother setting down the small boy on the bed, in which he crawled up to Harper. "Harpy!" he said again as he stretched out his arms, signaling that he wanted to be picked up.
Harper was usually such a serious person, but today was the first time I saw her smile.
She picked up the boy in her arms, smiling warmly as she did so. "Hey, Noah." she said calmly.
I smiled slightly as well, the scene warming my heart. Just a little. I then stood up, "Well, I should get going." I said and gave her parents a brief nod before walking to the door. "Ryder. Don't be a bonehead, alright?" said Harper, causing me to glance back at her.
I frowned a little then turned back to the door, "Bonehead? Couldn't come up with a better name?" I replied with a slight smile that they couldn't see, but I knew that Harper knew I was smiling.
With a small wave of my hand, I exited the room, "See ya." told her before closing the door and walking away." he was annoying, as I said before, but she has her moments.