Chapter 71 Marcus, Please Find Me
Chapter 71 Marcus, Please Find Me
The entire afternoon was spent organizing the herbs. By the time Celeste had finished, she checked the time on her phone and realized it was already 8 PM. She hadn’t even noticed the time pass while she was in the warehouse. Stretching her neck, she prepared to head home and respond to Marcus’s invitation.
But when she reached the door, she found it locked from the outside, and she couldn’t open it.
Celeste raised her hand and knocked. “Is anyone out there? Can you open the door for me?”
There was no response. The hallway was utterly silent. With no one to help, Celeste pulled out her phone to call for assistance. But as soon as she tried to make the call, the screen displayed “No Signal.” Her brows furrowed in frustration. Celeste thought, ‘I need to figure out a way to get myself out of this.
She walked over to the door and examined the lock: She searched the warehouse for something to help her unlock it, but after a thorough search, she couldn’t find a tool that would work.
Celeste thought, ‘Looks like I will be stuck in this warehouse tonight.‘
With a sigh, Celeste moved around the warehouse, desperately searching for a signal on her phone.
In the nearby morgue, two doctors had just wheeled in a recently deceased body. Noticing the morgue’s cooling system wasn’t sufficient, they turned the air conditioning to its highest setting. In the process, they also inadvertently triggered the warehouse’s cooling system.
A gust of cold air blew from the vents, causing Celeste to shiver uncontrollably.
“What the hell is this?” she muttered.
Celeste thought, ‘Who turned on the air conditioning? Could it be Isolde? Is she locking me in here on purpose, setting me up to freeze to death with the cold air? She is unbelievably cruel. I can’t even put my feelings into words right now.
“Isolde, I know you’re out there! Open the door now, or once I get out of here, I swear I won’t let you off the hook!”
‘Isolde!” Celeste shouted as she hurried to the door, banging her fists against it. The chill in the warehouse grew more intense, and in her thin clothes, she continued desperately searching for a signal on her phone.
*****
After cooking the steak, Marcus sat at home, glancing at his watch while waiting for Celeste to return.
But despite waiting from 7 PM until almost 9 PM, Celeste still hadn’t returned, and his expression darkened with frustration.
Marcus thought, ‘Has she stood me up? Or is she just working late?‘
He grabbed his phone and dialed her number, but it kept ringing with no answer.
Marcus thought, ‘Something doesn’t feel right. Is she in trouble? What could possibly happen to her at the hospital?‘
Marcus quickly called Wesley, and as soon as the call was answered, he got straight to the point.
“Has the intern who came to the hospital today already finished for the day?”
Wesley glanced at the time before replying, “Yes, Marcus. The interns finish around five, just like the regular doctors. Is there something you need?”
Marcus frowned. “It’s nothing, but are you certain all the interns have clocked out?”
Wesley reassured him, “Yes, I’m sure. The interns don’t work overtime. What’s the matter, Marcus? Is there an issue?”
Marcus muttered a brief “nothing” before ending the call. He redialed Celeste’s number, but the line remained unanswered.
Marcus thought, ‘I haven’t been able to reach her since the afternoon. Could something have happened to her at the hospital that no one noticed?‘
With that thought, Marcus grabbed his car keys and rushed to the hospital to check on her.
On his way to the hospital, Marcus was involved in a car accident, causing a delay. By the time he arrived, it was already 10. 30 PM.
Two and a half hours had passed since Celeste had been exposed to the cold, and the 0°F temperature had left her wholly frozen. She tried to move, but her limbs were numb. After a few steps, she collapsed heavily onto the floor.
“It’s so cold…” she whispered, staring at her phone, still showing no signal. A sense of hopelessness washed over her.
Celeste thought, ‘If I don’t get out of here soon, I’m going to die.‘
Celeste leaned against the wall, her body shaking as she struggled to stand. She searched the medicine cabinet, desperately looking for something to warm her up. Once she found it, she quickly chewed and swallowed the medicine.
1/2
Chapter 71 Marcus, Please Find Me
“Ugh… cough, cough…” she gasped, swallowing one pill after another.
Soon, a warmth began to spread through her body, but the cold still clung to her, seeping deep into her bones. It felt as though her very organs were freezing.
Shaking, Celeste reached the door and curled into a ball, knocking weakly.
“Open the door.”
“Is anyone there? Please, someone, help me…”
“It’s so cold…”
“It’s unbearable…”
Celeste felt as if she were caught between fire and ice–her body was burning with heat, yet the cold still seeped deep into her bones. The medicine had begun to cloud her mind, and her thoughts were growing hazy.
“Feels so hot… feels so cold…”
“Feels so miserable.”
After Marcus arrived at the hospital, he went straight to the nurse’s station and asked, “Is there an intern named Celeste here today? Has she finished for the day?”
The nurse, recognizing Marcus, quickly responded, “Marcus, all interns clocked out at 5 pm.”
“Show me the surveillance footage.”
Marcus thought, ‘I can’t shake the feeling that Celeste is still here. I won’t believe it until I see the footage of her leaving. Following Marcus’s instructions, the nurse brought up all the surveillance footage from the hospital for him to review. “Here you go, Marcus,” she said, handing over the monitor.
Marcus first watched the footage from the morning Celeste arrived at the hospital. Afterward, he shifted to the 5 PM video showing all the interns gathered together. He thought, ‘Where is Celeste? She wasn’t with the group of interns since this morning.‘
As Marcus thought deeply, his phone suddenly rang from his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was a call from Celeste. He quickly answered.
“Where are you?” he asked urgently.
Celeste lay on the ground, staring at one signal bar on her phone. Her voice trembled as she replied, “I’m at the hospital… in the parking…”
With a sharp click, Celeste’s signal cut out, and Marcus’s phone call was abruptly disconnected.
Celeste lay on the ground, her breath coming in ragged exhalations. In that moment, her mask fell from her face.
“Marcus…” she whispered weakly, her voice barely a breath.
“Please, you have to find me.”
Marcus, unable to reach Celeste on the phone, felt a growing sense of unease. Looking at the nurse before him, he asked, ” Where in this hospital has no signal?”
“The morgue, on the basement level,” the nurse replied.
Marcus thought, ‘Did Celeste just mention the morgue? Is she trying to tell me she’s in there?‘
A sense of dread gripped him, and Marcus immediately instructed the nurse to follow him to the morgue to rescue Celeste. When they arrived on the basement level, Marcus rushed into the morgue.
As soon as he entered, the cold hit him like a slap. “It’s freezing,” he muttered.
“Celeste! Are you here?” he called out, his voice echoing through the cold room.
There was no response.
Marcus switched on the light, motioning for the nurse to help him search for Celeste.
“Celeste…”
Marcus searched through the dozens of bodies in the morgue, but there was no sign of her. He thought, ‘She’s not here.‘
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