Chapter Two

About one hour later Howie found himself pacing back and forth nervously in a waiting room at the local hospital. Absentmindedly he pulled his hand through his dark, curly hair and made an attempt to think straight. He had no idea who that poor girl could be or why someone would want to hurt her. In his mind he put two and two together and realized the man that ran into him at the street had to be involved in all this. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what he had looked like. In his memory he found a picture of a man in his late twenties, with cold grayish eyes and a black cap. But it had been dark outside so the picture was somewhat blurred but Howie was positive about the eyes. They had been gray and he shivered when he remembered the desperate anger he had seen in them.

"Excuse me" a female voice made Howie snap out of his thoughts and he looked up and faced a middle-aged nurse who flashed him a stressed smile. "Are you the guy who brought in the girl with the knife cut... " She paused and gazed down at a notebook in her hands, "Kelsey MacShaw?"

"Um... I... I guess" Howie hesitated. Actually he had no idea, since he never knew the girl’s name but he guessed this had to be her. How many girls with knife cuts could there be?

"Good, you’re allowed to see her now Mr...?"

"Dorough, Howard Dorough" Howie filled her in.

"Ok, Mr. Dorough, it’s this way. Follow me." Howie was about to explain that he didn’t know this girl but before he got the chance to, the nurse had shot down the corridor, and Howie scurried after her. Finally she stopped.

"Here it is." Once again the nurse looked at her notebook. "Kelsey has lost a lot of blood as a cause of the wound, but she’ll be fully recovered. We’d like to keep her here over the night for observation though" she informed Howie before showing him in to the hospital room. "There, now take care of your girlfriend and make sure she rests" the nurse said and patted Howie on the shoulder.

"She’s not my girlfriend" Howie protested but she had already disappeared. He sighed and looked around the room. A hospital bed caught his glance and he walked over to it and found the girl, who’s name obviously was Kelsey MacShaw, laying in it. She was asleep and her brown hair that was spread on the pillow made her face look even paler. Howie tilted his head to the side while observing her. She looked so harmless and fragile and he couldn’t understand how anyone would want to do her any harm. Next to the bed was a chair and Howie sat down in it, still watching her. Kelsey twitched and mumbled something in her sleep and without knowing exactly why Howie reached out and carefully took her hand in his. While sitting like that the fact that Howie hadn’t slept for nearly 24 hours started to show and not many minutes later he was asleep too, still holding Kelsey’s hand.