Lydia

The taxi comes to a stop in front of a large colourful building.

I pay the driver and get off the car. As he drives away, I look up at the sky.

"It's going to rain," I say to myself. Dark clouds are coming this way and the weather seems to be getting more colder. Shoot, I didn't bring an umbrella with me. I then look at the pastel-coloured building and start walking towards it. The big 'Nicholson children's hospital' signboard glows in white, blue and pink light in the dark of the night. People and kids are walking in and out of the building. Walking up the stairs, I enter through the frosted glass double door.

The inside looks more bright with cartoon characters on the walls and colourful furniture. The lobby isn't as crowded as I thought and the receptionists seem to be busy with people. Kids are running around and playing. One's on a wheelchair. There's a family with gift bags in the waiting area. Doctors and nurses pass by. Good. I won't be noticed.

According to the information Richard gave me, he's supposed to be in room 206. This is my first time here so I may be a little lost. I keep walking from the lobby into the hallway with many rooms. Voices can be heard from inside. I need to find the elevator that'll lead me to the 2nd floor.

I find the elevator along with a curved staircase after coming out of the hallway and into this huge hall with a giant dazzling crystal chandelier at the ceiling. The hall leads into multiple hallways. People can be seen coming in and going out from many rooms in the hallways.

"Can I help you?" I hear a woman call out to me from behind. I turn around and come face-to-face with a nurse who has her hair in a bun and holding a notepad.

"Sorry?" I say. Well, so much for going unnoticed.

"Well, I saw you just now and it seemed like you were lost." She says.

"Oh, no, I'm not lost. I was just...looking at that chandelier. It's really catches my eye every time I come here." I lie as at look at the chandelier again.

She smiles and looks at it too "Yes, I know what you mean. Whenever I pass this hall, I can't help but glance at it too."

I need to brush her off quickly. As I begin to walk away, she starts talking again which makes me stop.

"So, who are you here for?" She asks.

"It's...my little cousin. His parents couldn't come today so they sent me." I say as I proceed to walk towards the elevator.

"Ahhh, I see." She says and starts following me. Ugh, please don't tell me she's going to use the elevator too!

I press the button and wait. The doors open revealing the empty elevator. We both walk in together.

My frustration increases as the nurse presses the 2nd-floor button.

I press the 3rd-floor button.

"He's on the third floor huh? Your cousin?" She says trying awkwardly to have small talk.

"Yeah, he is. Ugh...I think my stomach's starting to ache" I wince and place a hand over my stomach. Pretending to be in pain. Please let there be bathrooms on the 2nd floor.

"Oh. If it's urgent, use the bathrooms on the 2nd floor. They're more closer." She says and looks down at her notepad.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." I say.

The elevator stops on the 2nd floor. As soon as the doors open, revealing a lobby like area with pale green and white walls, I rush out and run towards a hallway. I don't know where the bathrooms are so I'll just hide away from that nurse. The people around me seem surprised to see me run but don't think much of it and ignores. This IS a children's hospital. I take a peek at the elevator from the hallway.

I see the nurse come out while looking at her notepad and goes into the left hallway. I keep watching as she stops in front of a room and enters it.

Thank goodness!

After that, I quickly begin my search for room 206. Finally finding it few rooms away, I enter the room through the white metal door with '206' written on it in lime-green.

The inside of the room is really adorable and fun looking. Colourful walls with cartoon characters, toys, bright furniture etc. There's medical equipment right next to the hospital bed.

After locking the room door, I walk over to the bed and look at the person on it. Liam, I think that's his name. This is my first time seeing him in the flesh. He's a little 5-year-old boy, with freckles and brown hair, sleeping soundly under the blanket. There's an IV tube attached to his right hand. The IV drip and stand are next to his bed.

I sigh and sit down on a nearby blue sofa. I think I could spare a little time.

"Do they blame you for being stuck here?" I ask him, even though I know he's sleeping.

"Life's really unfair isn't it." I say as I unzip my bag.

"Things happen to us and we don't even know why or did we deserve it." After taking out the lunchbox and opening it, I take out the tiny bottle of poison along with the syringe.

"It really is a shame to die so young. But...on the bright side I'm saving you from all the wicked in this world, kiddo." I say as I fill up the syringe with the poison.

Suddenly he moves which causes me to flinch. Oh no, was I too loud?

He frowns and slowly opens his eyes. He blankly stares at me for a moment as I hold onto the syringe and place the bottle of poison back into the lunchbox, then groans and sits upon his bed.

"Am I going to get a shot again? I already got one" he says in a sweet voice and shows me his hand with the IV tube attached.

Phew! He doesn't suspect me. This really would have been easier if he was asleep. Why the heck was I even blabbering!?

"No, sweetie, I'm just going to put this in the IV drip." I smile as I stand up.

"Wait...your not a nurse, are you?" He asks looking at me with big curious eyes. Well, I'm not dressed as a nurse AND I'm a high school student so it's highly obvious.

"No actually...I'm your cousin." I blurt out without thinking.

"My cousin?...but I've never seen you before. What's your name? " He says as he smiles and takes out two toy cars from under his pillow.

"It's Lydia and Well, we lived very far away and were very busy so we couldn't come. But now we're here! I remember seeing you when you were just a baby." I say nicely as I go towards the IV drip with the syringe.

"Cool! Did you bring me anything?" He exclaims and looks at me with sparkling eyes.

Don't make this hard for me...

"What?" I say in confusion.

"You brought me a toy, didn't you. Yay! Where is it!?" He says and looks around the room.

"Hey, I didn't-" I begin to say when he looks back at me with an innocent face.

"I mean...yeah, it's...at home." I end up saying. I look towards the IV drip. Hmm, it's half full. I just gotta insert the needle and empty the poison into it. Easy pesy.

"Really! Oooh, I can't wait to go home! " He exclaims and starts playing with his toy cars.

As I grab hold of the drip, he starts talking again.

" Hey, but if you're not the nurse. Then what are you doing with that?"

I smile and look at him "Well the nurse was busy so she asked me to do it in her place."

He nods in acknowledgement and proceeds to play.

As I start to insert the needle, he interrupts me yet again.

"I know! You wanna see my drawings?" He says excitedly and reaches for some papers on the side table.

He tries hard to reach for them but fails. I sigh and look towards the door. Well, no one came till now so I guess it's fine. I'll Consider it as a dying wish.

"Here" I place the syringe on the table. gather up the papers and give them to him.

"Thanks!" He takes it and searches for a particular one to show.

Why am I seriously wasting time like this? I need to poison this kid and be out of here quickly. But...I guess killing a child isn't exactly easy. His innocent face is making it hard for me. Really shouldn't have talked while he was sleeping.

"This one! It's my masterpiece! I call it...." he thinks for a second as he holds out a stickman drawing of him and his family.

" The Liam family special!" He exclaims and laughs which makes me smile a little.

"Oh, and this one is of me eating a GIANT chocolate ice cream on the moon with a big ladle and there's my house on the purple star." He says as he shows another crayon drawing devoid of logic.

"How creative," I say.

"And this is the last one. It's me with muscles and cape and flying through the air!" He says with a bright smile. He then looks at the drawing and his smile vanishes slowly.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Did something happen?

"Nothing it's just... I'm told that I'm a very weak boy and kids at school make fun of me since my name means the opposite. I wanna become strong so I can stop coming here." He says as he folds the drawings and throws them on the side table.

He then looks at me and smiles again "But you know what! My Doctor said that I'm really getting better now! I'm gonna go home day after tomorrow all big and strong. Your gonna be home too right?"

I look at him. His sparkling eyes and little smiling face. So oblivious to what's going to happen to him. So hopeful for a tomorrow that may never come.

I get up and grab the syringe. I need to do this quickly before this feeling inside me that keeps growing totally consumes my heart. Stick to the plan Lydia!

I can sense his confused stare at the back of my head as I hold the drip and about to insert the syringe. It's so simple. Just insert the needle, push the plunger, take it out and then done. Why can't I do it!? The syringe just stays in my hand a few centimetres away from the drip.

"Are you ok?" He asks.

I sigh heavily. I give up.

"Liam, you wanna know why I came here?" I say as I take out the bottle of poison and inject the needle in it, putting back the poison.

"Why?" He asks.

"You see, your family had to go somewhere important for...reasons. So they asked me to take care of you for the time being." Placing the syringe and the poison back in the lunchbox, I look around for a cupboard and find it.

"Really? But...they had to come and get me the day after tomorrow." He says sadly.

"It's ok kiddo, we're gonna have so much fun. I've got...like a ton of toys for you at home. Sounds fun, yeah? We're going right now" I walk over to the cupboard and open it. Yes! Found the clothes! Taking a shirt and pants out, I bring them to him.

"Really? We're going now!?" He says getting excited.

"Yes, so hurry up and get changed into these." I say as I come over to him and carefully remove the IV tube from his hand.

I then help him get off the bed. He cheerfully grabs his clothes and runs towards the bathroom to get changed.

"Need any help?" I call out.

"No thanks, I can do it" he yells back from inside.

This may have been the craziest idea ever. Richard is gonna go ballistic when he finds out about this. There's still time. I could still kill him. It's not too late.

"All done!" He says and comes out of the bathroom. He goes towards the big mirror and looks at himself.

....Forget it. I simply can't find the willpower to do it. There's also another reason. A very tiny bit of him, very tiny, reminds me of Judy.

"Do you have a cap, Liam?" I ask him as I look through the cupboard.

"Yeah, I think I wore it when I came here," he says deep in thought.

I find a blue denim cap and place it on his head.

He looks at the clock at points at it " Look! It's almost time for my check-up. So we have to wait till it's done"

Oh no...

"No, Liam, actually the doctor cancelled the check-up and said I can take you home." I smile forcefully.

He looks at me blankly and then narrows his eyes in suspicion.

"Ok, let's go then!" He exclaims and walks towards the door.

"Ah! Wait!" I hold him back from the door. Opening it a little, I look out.

Good. the coast is clear.

"What are you doing?" He asks.

"Hey, wanna play a game? It's called spies escape" I ask him.

"Cool. How do we play it?" He asks excitedly.

"We pretend that we're spies and our mission is to escape the building and reach home without being suspicious. And no talking. Or doing anything else. Just walk out casually, ok?"

"Ok" he gives me a thumbs up.

I carry him up. I'm sure it'll be faster if I carry him.

I take a deep breath and push open the door. Walking out casually, I make my way to the elevator. I'm about to press the button when I notice the elevator coming up from the first floor.

"It's better if we take the stairs," I say and quickly run to the staircase nearby. As I make my way down, Liam stares up at the chandelier.

After finally reaching the first floor, I walk towards the hallway leading to the lobby.

Liam suddenly gasps "I forgot to say goodbye to my doctor! Can we go back?" He whispers in my ear.

"No. He already left. Now shush." I whisper back to him.

We made it to the lobby. I'm thankful for the crowd, it'll be easier to get out now.

"Excuse me!" A woman shouts out to me.

I freeze. Did I got find out? Did they notice me Kidnapping a patient?

"Is the game over now?" Liam whispers again.

"Shhh"

I turn around, looking normal "Yes?"

"Do you know where the elevator is? It's my first time here." The woman says awkwardly.

Phew! " Down that hallway, near the staircase." I say to her.

"Thank you, dear," she says and leaves.

I proceed on walking out of the building and finally make it out through the doors.

"We won?" He asks.

"Almost. We need to get home." I say as I look up at the sky. Dark clouds all around. It'll rain soon. We need to get home quick.

"Taxi!" I call out as I see some people get out of one.

When the people are gone, I open the back door. After me and Liam get inside, I close the door.

We'll need to stop a distance away from the hotel.