"You're joking, right?" Kirby asked, a nervous laugh escaping him.
Ray knew his dad never joked. Especially with something as serious as this.
"What exactly did the nurses say? Did you check the Intensive Care Unit?" Ray asked, trying to rationalize the situation.
Darrick's eyes darkened.
"If you want to be certain, check for her yourself."
He clenched his fists. He didn't want to doubt his father, but he needed to know for himself.
How did she go missing out of nowhere? How the hell did that happen?
He dashed off before he could sort everything out in his head. Kirby was at his heels.
Just one night, so much chaos.
Was this happening to any other seventeen year old kid in the world, he wondered.
The nurses they passed barely stirred - they looked too exhausted to care if a dinosaur stormed the building just then.
From the look of things, any patient could be kidnapped.
At the entrance of the unit, there was a freshly pasted list at the door. Sarah's name wasn't there.
"What do we do? Is this a dream?" Kirby said.
The despair in his voice matched Ray's.
"If it's a dream, whose is it?"
Kirby's mouth twisted. "Definitely not mine. In my dreams, Sarah and I would be riding unicorns instead of being in hospitals suffering kidnappings."
Ray turned the knob and went in. The lighting of the hallway was dim. The walls were freshly painted and the whole place reeked of antiseptic.
There were several doors lining the hall. Few were open, most were not. They went from room to room tirelessly, barging in on people who seemed much closer to death than life. Each room had its own repulsive odour - drugs, rotting flesh…
No Sarah. But, there was an empty room at the end of the hall. The bedsheets were rumpled - which means it was freshly evacuated.
The lights above weren't dim, stinging their eyes with its brightness.
Kirby turned to leave the room but Ray held him back.
"Wait. I think I see something." Ray said.
There was a piece of paper poking out beneath the pillow. He leaned forward to receive it, as cautious as an electrician dealing with live wire would be. It was tucked neatly under the pillow, folded four times.
"What does it say?" Kirby asked as he leaned forward to peek at the content of the note.
"A shard for a life. Make your choice." He read aloud.
"What the…"
Ray crumpled the paper in his fingers and tossed it on the floor.
"I thought telling him what I knew would be enough! The other Sarah has it!"
His hands flew to his face. No tears, he kept saying to himself.
Kirby sank into the bed.
"No time to hate yourself, Ray. I told you that piece of glass was bad news from the very beginning."
"You're not helping!"
His voice made the windows and door rattle.
Kirby stepped back, colouring instantly.
Ray never yelled.
"I'm… I'm sorry." He started saying.
Kirby's mouth just hung open, his eyes wide.
"We'll find her." Was all Kirby could say after a session of awkward silence.
Both of them left the room, quietly fuming at themselves and everyone around them.
They didn't look at each other, neither did they speak to each other.
Kirby kept trying to initiate a conversation but stopped every time at the sight of Ray's squared shoulders.
Darrick was sitting in the waiting room outside. He stood up immediately.
"Did you find her?" He asked, his eyes bright with faint hope.
Ray shook his head.
As if sensing his impending breakdown, his dad pulled him in for a hug. He tried to resist, but found that he needed it.
Kirby stood aside as Ray stayed in his father's embrace for minutes.
Few people moved about the dimly lit room.
"This is all my fault." Ray muttered to himself.
His dad smoothed his hair before pulling him away.
"We'll figure it somehow. Let's just go home for now."
Kirby nodded. "And… please inform Mrs. Tolen."
Darrick nodded. The ride back to the city was quiet. Kirby was dropped off at his place while they headed to their own house a few blocks away.
As his dad killed the engine, a man passed along the road behind them. Something flashed brightly as the streetlight flashed on his arm.
Ray inched closer but the man was quickly disappearing into the distance.
Threads of dawn were animating the dark and dreary sky.
"C'mon." His dad beckoned.
They slipped into the dark house.
"I don't know how she'd take the news, Ray. If she left with Sarah, which Sarah is in the hospital?"
He rubbed his brow.
"The real one."
"How do you know?"
"I just do."
His dad's brows arched.
"I didn't see any grey marks on her hands."
Darrick glanced around as if checking if someone was eavesdropping.
"What grey marks?"
Ray shrugged slowly.
"I don't know."
Something made him glance down at his dad's sleeve.
Darrick followed the direction of his gaze.
"Get some sleep." He patted Ray's back. "I'll call her now."
Just as Ray took a step towards the dining table, Darrick's phone rang.
He turned around, running a hand through his damp hair.
"Who is it, dad?"
"Sarah's mom."
Ray blinked.
Had she figured it out already.
Both of them moved to the dining table and sat down before Darrick answered the call. The phone was set on speaker.
"Darrick? Oh, thank God! I was almost afraid something happened to you as well when you didn't pick my call." Her voice was rushed and teary, as if she'd been crying.
"Are you okay, Mrs. Tolen?"
A brief pause.
"Ray? Is that you? Thank God you're safe."
He and his dad exchanged glances.
"I don't know what happened to Sarah… one minute she was by my side… and the next…" She burst into sobs.
Darrick rubbed his eyes.
"Calm down. Tell us what happened… slowly."
They heard her sniffle loudly.
"She vanished into nothing beside me."
Ray felt his heartbeat spiral.
"And she left a mirror shard behind."
Darrick's fingers twitched slightly.
"She's gone!"