Jake Addams April 23th, 20XX

I stood to the side of the ambulance door and watched them unload the now unconscious Finn from the vehicle into the emergency room and I left my contact information and paid for the care in order to get them to hurry as much as possible and make sure he was okay. I considered getting a psychologist as well but was worried about what Cai, or whatever he was called would do to them and then me.

As I debated my options and the risk of doing so I was approached by a few policemen and reporters to give a statement about the robbery. At first, I answered normally to the routine questions such as why were we there and what happened during the robbery but soon their questions became more and more targeted and I began to grow suspicious.

As we talked two men burst into the room, one very warm looking man with worry painted over his face and another much cooler looking man who took care to open the door before the first guy slammed into it and closed it softly afterward.

“ I’m William Truman, you guys contacted me saying a Finley Hall was admitted here! How is he? Nikolas.”

Truman?

The other man, who was apparently Nikolas pulled out a wallet and flashed a fancy card toward the nurse who was trying to calm the man named William down,

“ Sir, he’s fine. It’s just malnutrition and overwork. Being in the middle of a robbery as this happened didn't help much either.”

She gestured to me, pointing out my existence to the two high profile guys that looked incredibly out of place in the general ward.

“ If not for his friend over there I fear things would be much worse.”

He turned towards me, having noticed me who was clearly not a hospital staff lightly cursed before calming down and saying,

“ Get him into a private ward immediately-”

He dug in his pocket trying to find something only to look at the Nikolas and held out a hand. A slightly disdainful look flashed on his stony face for half a second before it disappeared and he wordlessly pulled out his wallet and handed it over. He rifled through it in an unfamiliar manner that showed it was clearly not his wallet and handed over a shiny platinum card.

“He is a very relevant person of interest and it would be bad if any newspapers got a hold of him. Take the payment off here and bill it to the address in the business card I gave you.”

He then pushed Nikolas to follow her to sort out the details

As all this happened I couldn't help but note that although they were both very good looking people there was an undeniably large contrast between the two of them.

William was a tall and warm looking man who moved incredibly animatedly and used ten words when two would have done fine. He was only dressed in a pair of beige capris and a light grey sweater tied over a blue shirt at the waist. Meanwhile, the other guy, Nikolas, was dressed in a full suit and had a terse air of competence that surrounded him like a shield of armor. The contrast was heightened by his reluctance to use words and his stiff and cold appearance.

Yet one thing the two had in common was that they were both littered with brand named products all over their bodies from their watches to their shoes and the other was how obviously worried they were as they looked over Finley who was currently being relocated.

As Nikolas dealt with the nurse Will approached me with an outstretched arm and a friendly smile that did nothing to hide the wariness in his eyes.

“ You must be the kid who took care of Finn all the way to the hospital..and even during an armed robbery as well. you deserve to be commended! in fact-”

He brought out a checkbook and began to sloppily write a decent sized number on it.

“ I would like to thank you… what's your name?”

And who are you and why were you with Finley?

Was the unsaid but obvious half of that sentence. I extended my arm as well and completed the handshake,

“ I’m, Jake. Jake Addams. I'm a friend of Finn’s from school.”

He didn't show any surprise but swept a questioning gaze at my suit.

“ From school huh?”

I could only give an awkward laugh. It did seem rather unlikely with the way I was currently dressed.

“ Ah. The suit...is a long story. But can I ask how you know him?”

“ I’m Will. We know each other from work… and I also sort of count as a legal guardian.”

“...Work?”

Before he could answer we were interrupted by Nikolas who whispered something to Will who then turned to me.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“ You paid for the hospital bill? Weren't you only a high school student? While this isn't quite a private hospital it isn't exactly a cheap public one either. We are thankful of course but it does give way to some questions.”

I raised both hands at the sudden aggressive tone and quickly explained myself. I couldn't afford any more trouble today.

“ I recently took part in a competition and got a bit of prize money. It was just barely enough to cover the costs for the general ward.”

“ And you did this for a friend?”

“ Well, It’s not like I was going to leave him on the ground waiting for help and as far as I knew he was an orphan with no legal guardian of any sort,.”

He nodded in a sort of approval and backed off and sorted out all of the legal complications… or well Nikolas did all that while he walked over to where Finn laid passed out on the hospital cot.

We three stood in silence, watching over Finn until I finally decided to speak. I led him and Nikolas out to the other room out of Finn’s hearing range.

“ Hey, Mr. Truman? Mr. Lux.”

He frowned a bit at the form of address.

“ You can call me Will. I won’t be a Mr. Truman until I'm thirty or married.”

“ I didn't want to say this to the doctor and it seemed out of place to tell the police but...Has...Has Finn ever suddenly began to act like a different person around you? like he was suddenly super volatile and maybe even...violent?”

Will ditched the petulant look he carried and donned a very serious expression. He leveled his eyesight with mine and began to speak slowly and carefully.

“ Look, I’m sure to you the kid is just a fellow classmate, and it seems like he wants to keep you thinking that so I won't go into detail. But I will tell you that that kid in there is a pretty high profile person and anything you say about him even in private can escalate to the point of you being sued out of house and home for slander. I'm his lawyer and guardian so I can understand why you would come to me but I would like it to stay at just me. okay?”

Nikolas coughed at Wills exclusion of him and said.

“ I'm not Mr. Hall’s guardian but I am most definitely no less close to him than Truman. What Truman means is that whatever you hear or see about Mr.Hall that you think is concerning should be specifically kept between the three of us.”

I gulped on a dry throat which made my throat burn but still nodded. Honestly, this wasn't something I could keep to myself, even if I had been threatened to as it would mean I was leaving Finley to eventually become a threat to himself if things escalated.

And I didn't pick just anyone to tell this too. Considering they could take the role of Finley's legal guardian and had all of his health cards and knew some information that I doubted even Finley did. I was sure that they were the right people.

“ If you are sure that what you have to say is worth me hearing then I’ll ask you not to leave anything out. What was it?”

Feeling the pressure but also feeling responsible to my friend I began to talk in a serious but lowered tone, as to prevent others from hearing what I was saying.

“ After Finn passed out I negotiated with the robbers to let me take him to the backroom to at least get him into a stable position that wasn't on the floor. But he suddenly got up and started talking about being trapped in Finn’s head with another guy, named Cai. he was just really hysterical and brash”

Nikolas suddenly cut in with a question in his usual cold tone.

“ Did this..new person try to hurt you?”

I turned to him with an expression of shock, wondering how he’d known and immediately jumped to conclusions.

“ Has it happened to you as well?”

Nikolas shook his head and motioned towards my shirt that had been unbuttoned.

“ no, you just loosened your shirt a lot more than most people would in this situation, your hands also flit around your collarbone a lot, putting this together with what you just said it's pretty clear that you were hurt, probably strangled by someone you were close to.” *

He spoke with confidence that showed he had experience with this sort of thing, which really makes me wonder about who these two people Finn was apparently so close to were.

However, since it had been brought up I couldn't just wave it off and went into detail. I told them all that had happened save for the discoloration of his eyes and hair. It wasn't like they would believe me anyway,

Will nodded slowly as he listened and then launched into a question, all traces of the warm flippant guy from earlier.

“ Did this new personality say anything to imply that Finley knew about them?”

“ He did mention a few rules and ranted about Finn being mad at him for breaking them.”

“ Anything else?”

“No. He was apparently dragged back in by the other guy and fell unconscious again”

The two stayed silent as they absorbed all I said and after some thought Will finally said,

“ Well look into it, for all we know Finn might have been sleep-walking.. Wouldn't be the first time it happened. For now, let's just keep an eye out on him”

Even he seemed unconvinced by his own words, but I assumed it would be difficult to accept that someone you knew could be suffering from such a serious mental disorder and actually knew about it.

In contrast to his willingness to wait it out and hope for the best Nikolas cut him off as ruthlessly as a knife.

“ Absolutely not, this could be schizophrenia or any one of those mental diseases that could cause him and those around him great danger if not dealt with properly. We need to get him help, ignoring it isn't going to fix anything.”

Will grimaced,

“ As nice as that would be if word got out that he was seeing a therapist some people wouldn't let that go. Jake”

He suddenly called me and handed me a business card, obviously meaning to finish this conversation elsewhere.

“We'll find a solution to this but in the meantime, we'll need you to keep an eye on him. if anything pops up, give me a call right away before you call an ambulance or the police.”

After he made sure I nodded in confirmation he walked out with his phone in hand, leaving only myself and Nikolas in the room. He sat there for a moment, clearly unhappy and in deep thought but after a while he stood up as well and turned to me, speaking in a cold and vaguely dire voice,

“ I shouldn't have to say this but..you have no intention of mentioning today’s occurrences to anyone correct?”

I hurriedly shook my head and he nodded with condescending approval that would have been very displeasing if it didn't suit his character type so much.

“ And of course that includes Finley…. he seems to have this goal of making a friend that doesn't know what he does for a living.”

“..I actually don't know what he does for a living.”

“ And If you want to keep him as your friend it will stay that way.”