18. Wyatt

Chapter eighteen

Wyatt

S hoving my hands in my pockets, I stepped out of the fifth and final bar that existed within a two-block radius of our studio. I couldn't imagine Piper would have gone that far, but he'd never wandered off like this before. Addy had been sick with worry all day yesterday, and when he still hadn't shown up by this morning, Cain finally agreed that something weird was going on. He was busy putting out some sort of fire with his work, and Austin refused to let Addy out of his sight when she was this upset, so that left me to wander up and down the streets around our place. I checked alleys, behind dumpsters, inside alcoves, and every bar and bar bathroom I could find, but there was no sign of him anywhere. I didn't even have a picture of Piper to show the bartenders in case they'd seen him, or kicked him out recently.

This was beginning to feel fucking hopeless. Pushing on, I headed back, down the street I'd just come up, backtracking toward the studio again. I'd stop and grab some water, then head out in a new direction. I wasn't looking forward to facing Addy without any answers. The last time I'd popped in, she'd been calling hospitals and asking about walk-ins and John Doe's, and she'd been working herself up into a decent panic. I really didn't want to let her down again.

I stepped out of the way as a woman bustled down the sidewalk, heading right toward me with a stroller. A stroller . We'd need one of those. I chewed on my lip as I watched the woman push it into a nearby shop with a pile of stuffed animals in the window. Curiosity - and an unwillingness to deliver more bad news - bade me to follow her, and I entered the brightly colored shop. Everything was visually overwhelming and, for some reason, fluffy; from the blankets to the toys. Even the little clothes displayed seemed to be fluffy, or at the very least soft. I smirked when I saw a stuffed blue bunny, its eyes overly big for its head. Cain would hate that. Grabbing it off the shelf, I considered for a moment, and then grabbed a purple elephant from the same shelf.

This should bring a smile to Addy's face, and it would freak Cain out, which was a double win. I brought both the toys to the front, ignoring the double-take the girl behind the counter did when she saw me. "Um, is that, uh, everything?" she asked, gesturing at stuffed animals.

"Yeah, just these." I smiled, passing them over so she could scan them.

"You know, we do baby registries here," she told me, sticking the animals into a plastic bag.

"Sorry, what?" I frowned, fumbling to grab my wallet. Did we have to register the babies? I guess they'd have birth certificates, but didn't hospitals do that?

"Like, for gifts? Your partner can sign up and put all the stuff they'd like, and then your family can buy the right things," she explained, and I winced, taking the bag off the counter.

"I'll keep that in mind, thanks," I mumbled, leaving as quickly as I could. We didn't have anyone who'd want to buy us gifts. We were lucky we even had each other. Bag of fluffy treasures in my hand, I continued back toward the studio, keeping my eyes open for anything that could lead me to Piper's whereabouts.

I stopped at the next corner, waiting for the light to change and halt the flow of rush hour traffic currently pulsing through downtown. Even the sidewalks were crowded right now, and I bumped into more than one harried commuter racing to catch the train home. I barely dodged a boulder of a man who was huffing loudly as he hurried along, his briefcase catching me in the hip and practically knocking me off the curb.

"Asshole," I muttered, rubbing my hip as he continued on without so much as an apology. Something shiny caught my eye near my right foot, and I bent down, ignoring the flow of bodies around me, reaching for it. It was a little silver charm, with a thin leather strap attached, except the strap was broken, like it had been ripped off someone's wrist.

It was stupid, and next to impossible, but somehow I knew that this trinket belonged to Piper – one of the dozen or so he would wear every day. It was too much of a coincidence that I found this here, on a route he would've taken that afternoon. With Piper, I'd long ago realized that as improbable as it might be, most things weren't just a coincidence.

I stepped closer to the curb, getting out of the way of the other commuters as I pulled out my phone, shoving the bracelet into my pocket. Dialing quickly, I watched the traffic zip past, listening to the rings until Cain finally picked up. "Please tell me you've got something," he growled, and I could hear the strain in his voice.

"I'm not sure what I've got," I replied quickly, and he groaned. "Listen, though, I think I found one of his bracelet things," I explained, and Cain got quiet. "Near the corner of 14th and Weisling. It was next to the curb, and it looks broken, like it got ripped off." I rushed out, and I could hear his footsteps as he paced around whatever room he was in.

"Fuck… that's a start, I guess. But what the hell happened?" he muttered, mostly to himself. I stared out into traffic, waiting for him to speak again. "Listen, Wyatt, I think you should come home. I… I need to talk to you all about something," he suddenly announced.

"What? Seriously?" I frowned. "I just got a lead on this, and you want me to come home? Shouldn't I at least ask around the nearby shops?" I asked, turning to see what store I was in front of. Some kind of pawnshop. Well, Piper liked to ‘find' shit and sell it, so that wasn't too crazy of a thought. He might've been in there at some point.

"No, I think you should come home. I don't think it's safe right now, I think-" I looked down to see someone standing in front of me, staring right at me.

"Can I help you?" I frowned. I tried to see their face, but it was obscured by the hood of their jacket. They cocked their head to the side as if assessing me. Quicker than I could react, hands shot out and caught me in the chest, shoving me backward. I stepped back, forgetting I was on the curb, and my foot connected with air instead of pavement.

I heard Cain shouting out of my phone as my back hit the ground, and I rolled to my hands and knees, gasping as the wind was knocked out of me. The screech of tires had me flinching, and the last thing I saw was the headlights of an SUV.

Blessed is the Lord, cleanse the evil from this boy!

The Lord compels you, demon, leave this child!

You are wrong, boy; you are all wrong.

You should be in hell where you belong.

You shouldn't exist.

Sirens blared in the distance, and gravel dug into my cheek, making it hard to sleep. Why was I asleep? I groaned, and my face scraped against the pavement as I tried to roll over, but my body wasn't responding properly to my commands. My hand was caught on something, and I clenched my fist, feeling the plastic against my fingers. Right, the toys.

I have to get home. I shifted, and pain blazed through my left side, the worst pain I'd ever felt. My vision swam, and I heard people shouting, footsteps crunching as they approached me. "Get the gurney over here, now!"

I need to get back to Addy . My tongue refused to move, and I felt something tugging on the bag in my hand. I clenched it harder, refusing to let it go.

No, these are for the babies. You can't take them! "Nnnn-" I groaned, and someone was shining a light in my eyes. I immediately closed them, panicking. Where were my sunglasses?! I needed my glasses.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay. Don't try to move, okay? We need to make sure you don't have a spinal injury," someone told me, and something hard and plastic wrapped around my neck.

"Hhh-hhh-" I wheezed, trying to get the words out. My chest felt like there was a car on top of it, every breath in was too shallow, I needed more air.

"Do you know where you are?" a woman asked. I could feel her hovering over me, so I kept my eyes shut.

"Ggg-glasses," I slurred, and I heard voices talking overtop of me.

"Is he blind? His pupils are concerning, they didn't react to the light," someone was saying, and hands rolled me onto my back. Immediately my lungs seized up, and I gasped for air, the car on my chest doubling in weight, crushing me.

"I think he's got a collapsed lung. We need to get him on the bus and try to stabilize him now!" I clutched the bag in my hand, feeling dizzy as they lifted me into the air, rolling me across the road. Something plastic was tugged over my face, but no matter how hard I tried, the air wouldn't inflate my lungs.

This was it. I'd finally managed to get myself killed.