Chapter 2 - The Woman Outside the Door
Nurse Olivia Hayes had entered the hallway intending only to deliver medication, but the quiet conversation inside Room 214 stopped her in her tracks. She never believed in eavesdropping, yet Ethan's trembling voice and Daniel's solemn promise held her there. By the time she realized tears had begun slipping down her own cheeks, she had already recorded several minutes—not out of curiosity, but because something told her the truth inside that room might soon matter.
She lowered the phone, took a steadying breath, and knocked softly before entering.
Ethan quickly wiped his eyes.
"Hi, Miss Olivia."
She smiled warmly, pretending not to notice the emotion hanging in the air.
"I brought your evening medicine."
Buddy stood, sniffed her hand, then settled again beside the bed.
Olivia checked Ethan's temperature while Daniel quietly stepped aside.
"You've been a good patient today," she said.
"I had an important visitor," Ethan replied proudly.
Daniel looked embarrassed.
"I'm just volunteering."
"No," Ethan answered with surprising certainty. "You're Buddy's future."
The words settled over the room like a promise written in stone.
Olivia finished adjusting Ethan's IV before glancing toward the hallway.
"Has your family been here today?"
Ethan hesitated.
"My mom went home to shower."
"And..."
He looked away.
"My stepdad said hospitals smell weird."
Daniel exchanged a silent glance with Olivia.
Neither needed to say what both were thinking.
Minutes later, Ethan drifted into a light sleep with Buddy still guarding the bedside.
Outside the room, Olivia finally showed Daniel the recording.
"I don't usually do this," she admitted. "But if anyone ever questions what that child wants... I think this matters."
Daniel listened without speaking.
When the recording ended, he asked one quiet question.
"What do you know about his stepfather?"
Olivia looked down the empty hallway before answering.
"More than I'd like."
She explained that Ethan often became anxious whenever the man visited. Buddy would grow tense. Ethan's mother apologized constantly, but never explained the bruises she occasionally hid beneath long sleeves.
"There have been concerns," Olivia whispered. "Nothing anyone could prove."
Daniel felt his firefighter instincts returning.
Some emergencies weren't fires.
Some were families slowly burning from the inside.
He looked back toward Room 214.
"I made him a promise."
Olivia nodded.
"Then keep your eyes open."
Neither of them realized that at the far end of the corridor, a tall man wearing a leather jacket had just stepped off the elevator.
His expression carried neither grief nor concern.
May you like
Only impatience.
And when he noticed Buddy lying beside Ethan's bed, his jaw tightened with unmistakable hatred.
