Silence is Suicide.

Chapter Twenty.

"Emerson..." an eerie, distorted voice dragged out my name. "Emerson... don't give up, Emerson. You're getting closer... one step closer..."

"Who are you?" I called out.

"Don't give up. Wake up... wake up! Get up and go. Open your eyes!" the voice ordered me to do.

In an instant, my eyes fluttered open. I was in a sterile smelling room. I looked around, starting to realize I was in a hospital with an IV in my arm and bandages all over my broken body.

"Well, hello there, fella." an older male nurse forced a smile at me, "You took a nasty blow to the back of your head, but we knew you'd be just fine."

I rolled my eyes at him and noticed my whiteboard on the table next to me. It had writing all over it. I reached for it and finally grabbed it.

"When you wake up, tell the doc to get me. -Jeremy."

I erased what Jeremy had written and wrote, "I would like to see Jeremy. Can you get him?"

The nurse read my message with a crinkled brow. "Sure!" he forced out and went to retrieve my friend.

I looked up at the ceiling. Pain flowed through my body, I ached all over. What happened? How long have I been passed out?

"Bro!" I heard Jeremy say. I looked over to him and forced a smile. He was obviously happy to see me conscious.

"Oh my, you took a hard hit. I was really worried."

I nodded and held my heavy head.

"Can you remember anything, bro?"

I grabbed my board, "Everything before you jumped out the window..." I wrote.

"Oh wow, that's nothing. First, the door fell on you. Then a broken bottle hit your head; you have a gash on the back of your head. Let's see, then I called the cops and they busted in your house shortly after. Then they took your parents away in cuffs. They resuscitate you until you were breathing again. I thought you were a goner..." He sadly looked up at me.

The nurse walked back in the room to check the IV and to make sure I was "okay."

Jeremy continued his story after the brief interruption. "They cops told me if I didn't call them when I did, you might not have made it..." he looked down and exhaled,"But if it weren't for me, you wouldn'tve been in that situation..."

I erased what I had written before. "Jeremy, if it weren't for you, they probably would've found me and killed me sooner. I ran away from them and YOU saved me."

Jeremy smiled a little. "Maybe you're right..." He sighed, "If it makes you feel any better, I had a shitty mom as well..."

I gave him a questionable look. I wanted to hear what he had to say.

"I take it you want to know, huh?" he smiled slightly.

I nodded, yes please.

"Well, long story short, my ma cheated on my Pops when I was just four. Of course, I didn't know what 'divorce' meant until my ma left and never came back. I haven't seen her since. My Pops never dated after her. She killed him..."

The nurse interrupted Jeremy and I again. "Excuse me, but this young man needs to rest."

Jeremy lightly patted my back, "Sleep well, bro."

The nurse pulled up my file on the computer. Jeremy was making small talk and peering over the nurse's shoulder.

"Karen Pamot...?" Jeremy pondered for a minute. "That's... my mother's maiden name too..." he said slowly, his eyes growing wide. "That means..." He looked at me with a gaping mouth, then a huge smile formed on his face.

That means there is a possibility Jeremy Brooks is my half brother. Or simply, there was another 'Karen Pamot' in the world.