Victor boarded the elevator within the Rosewood Private Hospital solemnly. He pushed the button to the 7th floor where they kept patients in special care and waited. His thoughts rested only on one thing.

  Aya Brown, no, Aya Sinclair.

  His missing niece, now found through the help of his brilliant but sleep deprived worker. He chuckled and ran a hand over his face from the stress of the past month. Moon Valley was a financial success, a hit game surpassing even his wildest expectations.

  But to Victor his true victory was the Yvlena Protocol, finding Aya had been his greatest wish and now it would come true.

  The elevator dinged as it stopped, allowing Victor to step out into the barren halls. This floor was known as the graveyard, a term he had only come to know due to eavesdropping on the nurses.

  He found it apt, each room housed an unresponsive or comatose patient. Some borderline vegetables.

  But the families persisted, hoping one day a miracle would happen. He was the same.

  His hospital shoes echoed on the floor as he approached room 276, he scanned his card into the door and waited a moment for it to slide open. He stepped into the doorway, where he was sprayed by a sterilizing solution.

  All so he could not contaminate the patient within.

  Victor took a seat near the comatose patient he had come to see. Glancing over at the tubes and machines, he gave a heavy sigh and reached for the patient’s hand through gloves provided by the hospital.

  “David,” Victor said squeezing the still hand through the gloves. “I’ve found your daughter. I found Aya.”

  Despite his best efforts, Victor could no longer keep the tears at bay. He wept softly, holding his brother’s hand. If only the sound of good news could wake him up.

  ----------

  “How do you know my name?” Aya asked, narrowing her eyes in confusion. The blonde man rubbed his eyebags and yawned.

  “It’s a long story, I’ll start with an introduction. My name is Fred Barkley and I work for your uncle.” he said.

  “You work for my what?” Aya said, it was as if her heart had stopped beating from the shock of the news.

  “Just what the hell is going on here?!” Renard asked from behind the counter. The older man rubbed his balding head as he struggled to understand his old acquaintance's connection to his newest customer.

  “My question exactly, if you’re trying to extort money, she’s as broke as I am.” Nisha chimed in from where she sat also watching Fred with suspicion. Things wouldn’t be allowed to escalate with Renard here.

  If need be they could gang up on the scrawny fella and beat him down.

  “It’s a long story Renard.” Fred said, only to be stopped by Aya who held his arm in a vice grip. He turned his attention back to the young lady who was now biting her lip in what he was sure was burning curiosity.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Aya asked. This could have just been another one of Lydia and Fido’s ploys to keep her trapped while they continued to blackmail her only living relative.

  “In Moon Valley, you play an elf, Yvlena. It was a character your mother, Anastasia Brown had written for you.” Fred said.

  Aya’s eyes widened. How could he know?

  “I worked with your mother, and I now work with your uncle. This is pretty sensitive information and I’m already running late for a meeting. Give me your phone.”

  Aya hastily handed him the clunky old model phone she was using, Fred typed in a phone number and pressed the dial button.

  ----------

  Victor was deep in meditation when his phone vibrated in his pocket, he frowned wondering who could be calling at such a time. He had told his workers that Fridays were a special time for him to be alone with his thoughts.

  ‘This better be some kind of emergency.’

  He pulled out his phone to find an unknown number flashing across the screen, people rarely ever called his personal line so this had to be pretty damn important.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Just talk to him, say something.” Fred was on the other end of the line urging someone to speak.

  Victor waited patiently, his heart drummed in his chest. Fred couldn’t have...could he? Victor leaned forward, hand over his mouth as if his breathing would disrupt the courage the other person on the line was gathering.

  “U-Uncle?” A woman’s voice said on the other side of the phone.

  “Aya? A-Aya is that you? It’s me! It’s your uncle Victor.” He blurted out.

  “No way!” Aya replied, he could hear the tears in her voice as she spoke. “No way? How? How did Fred find me? Where are you?”

  “I’m at the Rosewood Hospital with...your father.” Victor said sadly. “As for how Fred found you I’m waiting for him to get back to the office and tell me himself. Hopefully with you in tow.”

  “My father? I can’t believe it, I have a family. Why didn’t you ever look for me?”

  “We’ve been looking for you!” Fred’s indignant voice came over the phone. “Do you know how many sleepless nights I’ve had working on your case?”

  “I tried but I was being blackmailed and I just couldn’t remember your name. Your mother changed it as soon as you were born and I…”

  The phone call ended abruptly, Victor pulled the phone away from his ear in surprise. Axen was known for having pretty bad connection issues but there should have at least been some breaks first.

  ----------

  “Nooooo!” Aya yelled as her phone gave her its final warning before shutting off. She must have forgotten to charge it last night and now it had doomed her.

  “I get it, shitty phone. Happens to the best of us.” Nisha said patting Aya on the back.

  “It’s alright, it’s not like you’ve lost him.” Fred said in response to the girl’s dramatics. Aya had fallen to her knees wailing at the end of the call. Her tears, renewed, streamed down her face as she yelled.

  “Do you not know how to charge a phone?” Nisha asked in genuine concern.

  “I do, I just didn’t expect it to shut off during the most important moment of my life!” Aya said.

  “It’s not the end of the world.” Fred said, he took out an old receipt and wrote down a phone number. He handed it to Aya who stared at it in confusion. “Your uncle’s phone number.”

  “Thank you.” Aya said.

  Fred frowned as discomfort began rearing its head. He waved her off.

  “We’ve been searching for you for ages, I hope you’re able to rekindle your relationship with him. Now I’ve really got to go. If I don’t catch the last train to Evangels I’ll really be stranded here.”

  “Evangels?”

  “That’s where your uncle lives.”