Give Me Hope by Zoey Derrick Page A

possess as an angel.” She sounds almost chipper. It’s rather odd, given the circumstances.  
    Not wanting to discuss this any further because I’m not sure how much more of this I can handle right now, I slide off of the bed and head toward my bag.  
    I’m going to shower. Any chance you can scram?
    She laughs and vacates. Her absence sends a chill through me. I look back to Vivienne, who is still unconscious.  
    Please let her wake up okay, I pray, and then add, But not before I get back into her room.

Twenty-Nine
    After my shower, I start to pace, impatiently waiting for Vivienne to wake up. Around noon, Red brings me lunch from a restaurant near the house that I enjoy, but my nervous energy makes it hard for me to want to eat anything.  
    Finally I decide to distract myself with work. Not long after I’ve picked up my laptop and replied to a couple of emails, Sydney jumps on my case about working. I let out a nervous chuckle at her response and move onto the emails Jack has been sending me over the last twenty-four hours.  
    Information about Riley’s background, Elton’s background, some Riley sightings and a new batch of evidence on where he’s possibly hiding. Jack is a real genius at tracking people. I have no doubt that at least half of the information he obtains is illegal, which is why we have to be careful about what we send on to Detective Stevens.  
    One of the emails catches my attention.  
    It’s encrypted - for my eyes only. Unfortunately, I’m not equipped at the moment to open it, as I’m not sure of the level of security I have on the hospital’s network. If he is sending this to me, it means he’s found something important in relation to Riley or Elton. Which is good, but it could be pretty bad too.  
    After the voicemail from Elton yesterday, combined with Sydney’s email, I begin to wonder, idly, what Elton is up to and how he plans to go about ‘destroying me’, as he so eloquently put it. Huh? I wonder if that’s what Jack’s email is about?  
    I try to push it from my mind entirely, and in doing so, it registers once again that all the humming is gone. Okay, maybe it’s not gone, because I can still feel it slightly as I flex my back and shoulders. For now I’m going to take this as a positive sign that there is little to be concerned about right now.  
    Just as I think this, a prickling spreads across my skin. It’s not painful, but rather it’s pleasurable. Instinctively my eyes drift to Vivienne lying on the bed, and in the instant that I look at her, I see the corner of her mouth twitch slightly.  
    My heart swells to see some life in her face. Though her eyes are still closed, that twitch is more than I’ve seen from her in the last day, and I become hopeful that she is going to be alright.  
    I quickly close the laptop, set it aside and lean forward toward the bed.  
    “Vivienne.” I gently place one hand on her upper arm and my other hand on her gorgeous red hair, stroking lightly. “Vivienne. Vivienne, can you open your eyes?” I pause a moment, waiting for a reaction.  
    There isn’t one.  
    “Vivienne,” I whisper.  
    Still no response.  

    I stay where I am, playing with her hair, until Dr. Alston comes in to check on her again.
    Before I can tell her about the mouth twitch, Dr. Alston pulls up the blankets at the foot of the bed.  
    “What are you doing?” I ask a little defensively.  
    She doesn’t flinch at my tone. “I’m looking for reflexes. To see if she has any reaction.”  
    She takes a pen from her jacket and runs the top of the pen from heel to toe on one of Vivienne’s feet.  
    We both watch intently.  
    After a heartbeat, Vivienne’s toes curl in slightly.  
    I can’t help the smile that spreads across my face.  
    Dr. Alston checks the other foot, and the end result is the same.
    “What does this mean?”
    She tries the first foot again and then the other before answering. “Right now it means that her brain is