The wise man warned the family not to look back, else they turn to stone. The family climbed away, up a hill. The mother, carrying her baby, felt remorse and sadness. Ignoring the wise man’s warning, she looked back to gaze upon the town.







She and her baby immediately turned to stone statues.







I don’t know why, but despite the wise man’s warning, I wanted to look back at the hospital, as the foolish wife did. I wanted to turn and simply dissipate to a crumbling stone in Dr. Sullivan’s arms.







So I did. I turned my weak head and look at the flaming hospital. Just as I turned the roof collapsed and the hospital was no more.








I felt sick. All those nurses that had been trapped inside.... I was lucky to be far away enough from the hospital to not get scarred by the flying debris. Along the little hill was tons of patients, all wearing the same blue dress as me. They were lined in a straight line, people, now distracted by their horror, were watching them, holding cattle prods and tasers.








Dr. Sullivan sat me next to a boy whose hair was cut like the police man’s. His hair was a dark blonde, as far as I could tell, and his arms were strangely pale in some areas, like mine. This means he probably had a bunch of tattoos too. He turned to me and smiled. He had dark green eyes.








“Hi,” I said with a smile. I wrapped my skinny pale arms around my knobby pale knees, realizing that I had deteriorated greatly since I first came here. I noted his sitting posture, which was him leaning back, his legs bent so that his feet rested on the ground, his hands holding him up.








“Hello...?” he said curiously, raising an eyebrow. It was a question.








“I’m Acid.” I replied, grinning my fangs. He tilted his head back and laughed heartily.









“I’m Stephan. Why are you here?” he asked. I sighed, hoping my weariness wasn’t showing too much. I smiled lightheartedly. I shrugged lightly, not saying that I didn’t know but that everything was confusing at the moment.









“I fell into a coma. Bam - I’m here.” I whispered, my voice cracking on ‘here’. I turned back to the horizon, resting my chin on my wrists. I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders, Stephan’s attempt at comforting me kind and uncertainly reassuring. I smiled again.









“I came here because I am apparently suicidal.” he whispered back, his voice right next to my ear. It tickled.









I took my black bangs out of my face.









“That sucks.” I replied pointedly. He laughed.









I liked the way his laugh made me feel. It made feel like everything would be alright, that if he was laughing then nothing could be wrong. His presence entirely was pleasant in the least.










“Where are you from?” I asked. He froze for a second, which forced me to freeze as well. This subject was obviously touchy.










“Seattle....” he muttered. I widened my eyes, and turned my head to meet his.








“Me too!” I laughed. His arms were around me, now seeming to be there for his own good as well. I put my head next to his.








I felt the tingle in my arms again. Pain exploded in the back of my mind.








Mosquito spun the barrel. Its clicking sound ticked off.








“C’mon guys. This will be fun.” he laughed. We all laughed with him, except the nervousness was audible.








Mosquito pulled the trigger.








Bee, another of the gang’s eyes widened and he jumped and pushed the gun down just as it fired.








“Noooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” his shout faded into the loud BOOM of the gun. Everything erupted into chaos.










“Acid! A-ed! WAKe Up!!! Are oo a-right?” I heard Stephan’s voice through the darkness. His voice faded in and out of distance. I blinked the blackness out of my eyes. Stars faded away.









“Did I seize again?” I asked. I felt dizzy. Before Stephan could reply, I turned and vomited in the empty space. I felt his warm hands brush my short black hair away. I held one when I was finished, putting it on my face. He caressed me worriedly, obviously concerned.












“I’m fine. I’ve been doing this ever since I came here.” I whispered in my worn voice. His forehead wrinkled up. I sighed and cuddled with him. It felt like we’ve been friends forever. I liked it.









“Don’t worry... We’ll be out of here soon, Acid....” I fell asleep as he continued to reassure me.






















Someone must’ve carried me to my bed and strapped me down again. Then I remembered that the hospital burned down and noted that this bed was far more comfy.









I heard talking. They were talking about the hospital. I listened intently.










“Why didn’t the fire alarm go off?”










“They say it’s because someone clipped the fire alarm wires or something.”










“How’d the fire start?”










“Someone was smoking in the bathrooms. They threw down the cigarette onto some gasoline. That’s all they’d tell me.”










The two people continued to talk and gossip. I ignored them. I realized I was in a room with someone else, who was strapped to a bed as well.










“Hey,” I called. They didn’t move or in any other way reply.










I ignored them and studied the room. It was exactly like my old one, except the walls were see through and I could hear from the other side. I turned back to the person in the bed. They were, in the least, breathing.










“WAKE UP, THERE’S POLICE AT THE DOOR!” I screamed. They jumped up screaming ‘It wasn’t me!!’









I recognized the voice.









“Stephan!” I gasped. He got up groggily. His straps had been thrown over him, not tied together. I pouted. Lucky.









“Acid?” he moaned. He looked around, confused. Then he saw he had a chance to free me, so he did. As fast as he could, he untied my straps. The moment he did this, I jumped up and hugged him.









“Where are we?” I asked, looking up into his eyes. He shrugged. I turned from his face and cuddled with his chest. He leaned away but did not let me go. He took my chin and forced me to meet his gaze.









“Listen, Acid, I have something to tell you-”










Pain coiled my arms and legs. I collapsed to the ground, feeling myself uncontrollably twitching and jerking. The memory overlapsed me.










Bee looked around the room panicky. He looked down at Mosquito’s body, his eyes wide with shock. He had the gun in his hand.










Everyone was screaming, panicking like him. Suddenly a group of people burst through the door. I felt something pierce my arm and knew that it was poison. Not the deadly killing kind, however. The coma kind.





































One second Acid’s beautiful blue eyes were gazing into mine and then she collapsed to the ground, having a seizure. I gasped, panicking. I looked around, trying to sort out what to do.










That doctor that carried Acid out of the hospital burst through the door, his mouth open with shock. He pushed me with a lot of strength. I smacked the wall. The air whooshed out of my lungs. I collapsed to the floor in a sitting position. I watched him through hazy eyes, dazed.










The man went to his knees and picked her up. He did his best to avoid her flailing limbs and bouncing torso. He struggled to strap her wrist and ankles down, but managed it. He took a syringe out of his pocket and injected her with it.










He turned to me, anger and fury in his eyes.










“Why does she like you?” he shouted at me, but in his eyes I could see pain. He loved her.









“We’re old friends. She just doesn’t know it.”





















My chest was on fire. My arms and legs were so tired and they were burning. I struggled to open my eyes, stars flaming my vision. I felt so exhausted....










Dr. Sullivan was staring down at me blankly but calmly. Waiting for me to awake.










“Hello, Dr. Creeper,” I muttered, looking around. I felt strange, like something was out of place. I wasn’t completely strapped down.... Just my arms and legs. I remembered that I was in Stephan’s arms.....










And he needed to tell me something.










I looked around the room, searching for Stephan. He was standing at the others side of the room, watching me.










“Acid,” Dr.Sullivan said, clearing his throat for my attention, which I waited just a minute to give him, because I liked to irritate him.










“Acid you had a seizure. Again. Take that sarcastic look off your face, dear God! We know what’s wrong with you!











“Oh really? Well, so do I. Take that surprised look off your face, dear God! I’ve known what’s wrong with me!”











“Shut up Acid. Were you kidnapped or something lately?”











“Yes.”











“Where and by who?”











“Here and by you.”











“Acid?”











“Yes?”











“Quit it.”











“I wasn’t kidnapped. I was reported to the authorities after I was hit with a large dosage of poison, but not large enough to kill.”











“...Oh.”











“Yeah.”











“I took a blood sample.”












“Ok?”












“You were allergic to that poison and it’s damaged your heart. We can give you some surgery to fix the injured places in your heart.”












“Alrighty!” I said cheerily. Dr. Sullivan rolled his eyes and left the room.











“Hey Stephan. Sorry about that episode....” I sighed. He walked over to me and untied my straps. Something was bothering him. He was eerily silent.












I rubbed my wrists as I sat myself up. Stephan watched me, studying my every move. I smiled tiredly at him. I gave him a weak and light hug.











Stephan grabbed me and kissed me. It lasted thirty-five whole seconds. When we were done, I had only one thing to say.











“Well, gee, we’ve only known each other, what, twenty hours?”












The blank look on his changed to that of frustration.












“No! We’ve known each other for fourteen years!”












I gave him a confused look. “What?”












He walked to the other side of the room, facing the wall. Refusing to face me. He was angry, I could feel it.












I heard him sigh. He can back, dull and resigned anger on his face. He sat on the bed, looking at the floor. He then put his face in his hands. A groan escaped and I wanted to laugh and talk at the same time, but I couldn’t move.












“Acid... It’s me. It’s Mosquito.”


















































The girl was inside the ward. She had been moved to the one because the other one burned down. That stupid stalker doctor saved her just before it collapsed. And now they had to try to kill her again.











Crap.











They had burned down the freaking thing to kill the girl and now all eyes are drawn to the ‘Why’. Why was it burned down? Hopefully they wouldn’t find their finger prints - the rookie Bee forgot his gloves, the moron - because his prints would lead to his phone calls and their gang could be discovered. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for their recent ‘accidents’ and ‘borrowings’.









He checked his watch. Eleven forty six. It was time. He looked back to the hospital glowing in the night. He snuck out of the bushes and stood, gazing, relishing the moment. He wore all black, including a ski mask. He smiled beneath it.









“Close in.”










I sat on the little edge placed purposely next to the window of the ward. I was looking out of it, gazing at the full moon. I couldn’t believe that Mosquito’s real name was Stephan.








“Holy. Crap.” I said aloud. Mosquito was sitting on the bed behind me, his elbows to his knees, his face in his hands. He looked up when I talked and then got up and sat next to me. I turned and faced him.









“Why didn’t you just... tell me you were Mosquito the entire time? I mean, now I am close to you like ….. Ugh!!!” Frustrated with the English language, I did as he did and put my face in my hand. He took it off and leaned in. I edged away, killing whatever his was about to do.









“Acid I don’t see …. Why... Okay, yeah, I get it, the gang wasn’t-”









“ISN’T!!!!!” I shrieked, correcting his foolish grammar.









“-isn’t for getting close, but being family. I know, I know! But...” he fell silent. Then it hit me. I immediately pushed him, stood up and ran across then room.









“NO!!!! No no NO no NO no NOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed, curling up into a ball on the bed, tears streaming. He came, picked me up, even in my ball and hugged me. When I stopped crying, I looked up and asked what had provoked me to run.









“Are you....” I choked on the words. “In....” he was stroking my hair.









“In love with me?” I whispered, gazing up into his green eyes, now soft in wait. They softened even more, love brimming tears at the complication of the situation.









“Yes,”