Chapter Ten
OH man. Blaine was losing it. Calling Flynn David. Telling him to stay out of room 204 like there was something there. If there was, though, why wouldn’t Blaine want them all to go check the room out? Come to think of it, Blaine had been really insistent that they stay off the second floor altogether. Which was weird because on their initial walk-through, Blaine had taken him up there—all that funny echoing of his laughter and voice had filled the hallway and the stairwell. Then Blaine had directed the guys to set up the stop-motion cameras on the second floor. Why would he have done that if he didn’t want them in that room?
Flynn had done some looking shit up on his phone while he was in the waiting room too. The bug he’d taken out of Blaine—and fuck, that was still the grossest thing ever—looked like a maggot. The thing was, flies didn’t lay their eggs in live flesh, and they didn’t lay just a single one. Considering the bite mark had looked human, it was almost as if someone dead had bitten Blaine and transferred the single maggot to Blaine’s body that way.
Just thinking about it made him want to throw up a little, so Flynn shook the thoughts from his head and gave Blaine a reassuring smile. “David won’t go into room 204. I promise.” There. He wouldn’t be breaking the promise if they went back to the hospital and wound up checking out room 204—which he was kind of thinking they ought to. The thing was, would Blaine ask him who the hell David was?
“Good. Good. There’s nothing but death there. Nothing but death for us.”
Flynn didn’t know if this was something new or how Blaine always was. It almost felt like Blaine was transmitting something from the other side. He was going to have to ask the guys if anything like this had ever happened with Blaine before. Speaking of the guys, Flynn figured he could ask them what was up with room 204. Had they found anything in their research pertaining to it?
He patted Blaine’s good shoulder, then texted the guys. any research on rm 204? need intel
Will answered first. u mean hspital? Ask B
Flynn rolled his eyes. He totally would if he didn’t think all he’d get as an answer was more of that blind panic.
cant. documentation? Surely they had files for everything, and that would contain anything they’d found out about the hospital.
Just in case, he turned back to Blaine and asked carefully, “So… room 204. What’s the story there?”
“Story?” Blaine blinked at him. “What story?”
“Yeah. You know, the research. What did it tell you about room 204?” Flynn kept his voice even, not wanting to get Blaine all worked up again. Besides, he didn’t think he’d get any info if he got Blaine all het up.
“There’s something upstairs. Something sad.”
“Oh yeah? Somebody died?” That would make sense—it was a hospital after all. People died there all the time.
“I don’t know. They don’t talk to me. You can’t go up there. It’s dangerous.”
“Who doesn’t talk to you, babe?” He stroked Blaine’s belly. “You need to talk to me. You need to tell me who doesn’t talk to you and why it’s dangerous in room 204.”
“You can’t go up there. Never ever. That’s where you die.”
Flynn gasped. “Where I die? Are you prescient too?” Nobody had told him Blaine could tell the future.
“You already did, David. You did, and it’s all my fault.”
Oh man. David again. Who did Blaine think he was? Who did Blaine think he was?
“Hey. Can you tell me your name?” He asked the question suddenly, hoping to shock Blaine a little.
“Christian.” The name fell from Blaine’s lips as he dozed off.
Jesus Christ.
Fuckadoodle doo.
And holy shit.
Blaine thought he was someone called Christian and that Flynn was David. What the hell? Was it because of the bug? Had it done something to Blaine’s brain? Or was this possession? There had been something odd with Blaine back at the ER in the hospital the other day, like someone else was talking through him.
Flynn’s fingers were trembling as he sent another text out. really need 2 know re rm204 & anyone called Christian or David
This time Jason answered. utalkingbout the suicide gay guys?
Whoa. What? suicide gay guys????????
yeah. Long story. Tell you l8r
He hit Contacts on his phone and called Jason.
“I need to know now,” he told Jason. “I need the whole story.”
“Why? It’s ancient. It’s like from the eighties, man.”
“Because something weird is happening with Blaine, and I need to know the whole story right now. Just tell me, okay?” Flynn touched Blaine’s arm, needing the connection.
“Blaine? What’s wrong with him? Do you guys need help?”
“We’re at the hospital. He’s fine. Sedated. Bite gone wrong. I need to know about the suicide gay guys. Were they Christian and David?”
“Bite? You bit him?”
He slapped his forehead.
“Bug bite! Jesus, Jason. Just tell me already.”
“Jeez. Okay! There was a dude with brain cancer, and his lover, David, wanted to stay with him, but the family sucked rocks and wouldn’t let him. The Christian guy begged and begged, and finally a sister or an aunt or someone smuggled him in, but it was too late. The guy died like minutes before, and the David dude shot himself right there in the room or something. Creepy shit. Romeo and Juliet-y, but not.”
“Shit, that’s awful. It was room 204 that it happened in, wasn’t it? You guys ever get any hits off the room before?” Was Blaine possessed by Christian’s ghost? Was that what was going on here?
“Uh. Maybe? I mean, I don’t really know. We tend to film downstairs ’cause it’s safer.”
“Okay. Cool. Cool. Hey, did you see anything bite Blaine while we were out at the hospital?”
“Like what? Is that why he freaked so bad?”
“I guess. I don’t know. But something laid an egg in there, and it hatched into this ugly… well, it was gross, and now he’s being pumped full of antibiotics and shit.” He didn’t want to make more of the whole thing than it was, but frankly between the bug and Blaine calling him David and saying his own name was Christian and there being a suicide gay couple… well, he was more than a little freaked.
“Ew. Do you need me to come up? I’m at work, but I’ll take off. Darnell’s off today, I think.”
The offer made him smile. They were a solid group, good guys. Great friends.
“Nah, his folks are here, and they just gave him the really good drugs, and he’s sleeping. The doc is supposed to send him home after taking a look at it. I’ll send you a text when they spring him and you could come over and have some beers.”
“Sure. I’ll let all the guys know. We’ll bring pizza.”
“Sounds great. Thanks, man. I’ll let Blaine know when he wakes up. He’ll be pleased.”
“Sure. Keep me posted.” The line went dead, and Flynn sat there, mind spinning.
What the hell was going on? What the everloving fuck? Seriously.
Flynn was worried. Big-time. He just hoped that when Blaine woke up, he knew he was Blaine.