(continued....)

A jolt skitters across my skin. Hesitation is lost on me as I whip around to face down a man with a gleaming BFPD badge pinned to the upper left side of his uniform. Canyons deepen around his furrowed brows as he drinks in the scent I assume is clinging from the fabric of my clothes.

"Are you drunk?" he asks, running a hand over his buzzed scalp.

I ignore the question. "Tony. You have to let me go with him."

Tony's eyes follow my pointed finger to the ambulance that's about to leave. "Wait, you know the guy?"

Taps came from the sidewalk below from my foot hammering the concrete below, umbrageous roots crawling over me as the doors to the ambulance shut. "Yes. Please, you gotta help me."

"Aden," he starts, rubbing at the stubble running along his jawline, "you're not family. He'll be taken to the nearest hospital, and you can see him the—"

"He doesn't have any family!" I snap, becoming overwhelmingly surly. "And hospitals scare the living fuck out of him!"

My capricious outburst has him staring at me with a stunned expression. Then, he sighs just as the ambulance begins moving. He looks at the scene and then back at me. "I'll make an exception this time because of everything I owe your father. But you can't just use my badge for your own reasons. Especially after everything we went through."

I wince at his words, knowing what he'd meant. There were many things I wasn't proud of. Hurting him in high school was undoubtedly one of them.

"You should know better by now," he murmurs, a lack of resentment in his light brown eyes.

"I'm sorry," I apologize, my chest clenching under the weight of the past.

Tony only watches with empathy lighting his expression. "There's nothing to apologize for," he says, directing me to his cruiser. "I'm assuming he's the one you always talked about."

I can only nod, my concentration not entirely in the moment. Smoldering embers were pulsing within the darkness of the remaining ashes from the fire. A momentary flash of splotchy red skin and a chest struggling to receive oxygen kept my attention.

"Alright, Aden. Let's go," Tony says with a dejected sigh.

Guilt rolls from my aching chest to the pit of my stomach below. But it doesn't stop me from quickly entering the flat cruiser, the door sealing itself behind me. An automatic seat belt coils around my chest while another one slithers over my lap before locking into place. A brief reminder of my hatred for newer vehicles.

Night seems to turn to technicolor day as bright neon colors shout their existence into glass windows and buildings that reflect their color until it all but destroys the quiet darkness beyond. Usually, I liked driving through the city at this time, soaking in the painted cityscape of vibrancy and life. Now, I'm only tense.

"Was it arson?" I ask, my foot rapping against the floor of the car.

"Hmm?" Tony seems to have been snapped out of thought as the question registers in his head. "Oh, uh, no. It seems the poor guy was living in a shed. The owners had good intentions but never actually had the electrical wiring checked," he explains. "Their butler was coming back with food when he noticed the guy was trapped inside. Burnt the shit out of himself trying to get him out of there."

Every scenario that could have happened flashes through my mind. I look away to hide my face from the pudgy officer, but Tony's already noticed my worried expression.

"Listen, I know how much you care about him; trust me, I remember." He tries hard but fails at hiding the discomfort in his voice. "But he'll be fine. He has some nasty burns and mild smoke inhalation, but nothing fatal, okay?" His words become stern, not necessarily sympathetic. But that's just the way Tony is. He showed his compassion by rationale, proving that your problem wasn't as egregious as you thought it was through factual evidence. "We'll be there soon, and I'm sure you can snap your fingers to ensure he's well taken care of."

Tony's last statement is nothing more than a joke. I know that, but I can't help the knee-jerk reaction turning me surly. Retaliation dances on my tongue, urging me to spit hostilities. Maybe the hospital in the distance was owned by my parents. Perhaps, in a different life, that would have made any kind of difference. But, this wasn't a different life. This was the one where those same parents surreptitiously sent Logan away. A life where they were three hours away because I couldn't stand being in any kind of proximity to my mother. Where being a Kellington meant literally nothing when it came to the single fuck up in the family.

Nerves mirror the hum of neon lights, shivering beneath skin barely containing them as the looming hospital comes into sight. It towers so far into the sky that it seems lost to the clouds lingering overhead while the city's light is reflected in the windows of floors below. The curved shape bends as if obeying the will of the cramped city, other buildings pressing up against it in this entropic endeavor to stand out but only being cast in the shadows of the monolithic beast that rises above them.

Kellington Medical Center takes residence near the top of the building casting an eerie green glow against the fog lingering there. Perhaps to others, these simple letters don't seem sinister or ghostly. But to me, they pull at an unpleasantness that has me contemplating my hasty retreat. Of course, that won't happen. Not without Logan safely following me out.

I swallow the bile lingering at the back of my throat as Tony brings his cruiser to a gentle stop. Imprisoned by two straps, unwilling to release their hold until the vehicle is secured in park, I feel my incessant disdain for the newer models whip my aggravation into overdrive. As soon as I feel the absence of their pressure, I'm out the door and sprinting towards the emergency room doors. Tony yells at me from the car, but I barely hear him over the deafening roar of my panic.

"I'm here to see a young male, black hair, black eyes. Umm, about 5'6". Burn victim. Couldn't have arrived more than ten, fifteen minutes ago. His name is Logan." Words spill incoherently from my mouth so fast and so sudden that the registrar blinks at me in confusion.

"Uh, do you have a name for the patient, sir?" she finally asks, adjusting her square glasses.

"Logan."

She pauses and looks back up at me expectantly. "Okay, and the last name?"

I'm growing cantankerous with every delaying question. "The only last name he's ever had was Kellington. But that was over a decade ago, and I don't think he still uses it."

Her brows furrow in confusion. "Sir, I would have known if a Kellington had been checked in here."

"Well, apparently you don't know when one's standing right in front of you," I snap.

Eyes widen in surprise as recognition settles over her. I can't help the elation at her immediate fall of face. She doesn't get to say anything, though, as Tony materializes beside me flashing his badge.

"Blue Fields PD, Tony Agular. I'm looking for a young male, Caucasian, brought in at 1:19 AM. Ambulance number Alpha 309." He speaks calmly, giving me a sideways stink eye as the registrar rapidly enters the information provided.

"Y-Yes, officer Agular. The patient is in room 103," she says with a relieved sigh. Her eyes flicker once more to me before she presses a yellow button on the wall of her little office.

"Thank you, ma'am," Tony replies with a smile and empathetic eyes before walking through the slowly opening doors. "Come on. But walk this time, will you? You're in a hospital, for Christ's sake."

I shoot a glare at him as we move at an annoyingly slow pace down corridors and past several rooms. The number 103 finally came into view. Not caring that Tony is still with me, I pick up my pace and speed into the room.

Whirring breaths fill the room from the oxygen mask feeding him what his lungs struggle to obtain through their own failing strength. Bandages leave a small fraction of his pale skin uncovered, bulging in areas where I can only assume the burns are the worst. One particularly large bulge rests upon his left shoulder. It must have been facing the flames to have been that bad.

"I told you to walk," Tony grumbles, entering the room. He comes to a halt right at my side. "A Kellington? There has to be a story to this. He doesn't share semblance to, like, any of you."

"He used to be a Kellington," I correct with a soft, feeble voice.

"Used to? How does that work?" Tony asks, understandably confused. "Is that how you and him, like...." 

He shifts uncomfortably at the unspoken words. It's fine. Wasn't like I ever explained the intricacies of my relationship with Logan to him. 

I gently pick up Logan's reddened hand. "My parents adopted him after his went to prison for trying to drown him. When he became…." I pause, my voice on the brink of breaking while I try thinking of a better way to phrase it. "…too much to handle on top of me and my siblings, my mother sent him to an orphanage. She thought it would be best for him. That he'd find a better home." My stomach churns as the lie rolls off my tongue, leaving a sandpaper trail in its wake.

"Too much? Your parents are loaded, aren't they?" Tony asks skeptically.

I can't answer that question without devolving into a storm of wrath. Instead, I simply shake my head. "I recently reconnected with him. He's….important to me. Very important to me." My thumb gently caresses his tiny hand. Beneath the heat of the burns, the familiarity of his cooler skin brings a sorrowful smile to my face. 

"I know he is, Aden," Tony replies softly with the sound of his hands nervously rubbing together. I'm ninety percent sure he hadn't meant for me to hear that, so I pretend I didn't.

"You're sure it wasn't arson?"

I don't even have to look to know Tony is rolling his eyes. "Just like every other fire, it'll be thoroughly investigated," he replies with a monotone voice that fails to cover the small breaks of his voice. "If anything comes up, I'll let you know, but I really don't think it was. Everything points to an electrical fire, Aden."

I nod absentmindedly before turning to look him in the eye. "Thank you, Tony. I….I really do appreciate everything you've done for me this evening."

"Mhmm."

Silence settles in the room. After several moments have gone by, with neither of us saying anything, Tony shifts awkwardly. "I'm gonna head out now. I'm sure you can handle the rest." He doesn't wait for a reply as he leaves the room.

Unspoken words at his departure leave a hole in my heart. I try to ignore it and nod to myself in the silent stillness of the hospital room. "Yeah….I'll handle the rest."