A few minutes later that day, Roland was riding in the car with Steven’s father, Mr. Noonan, as they both progressed their way to the hospital to see Avery and make sure she was ok, continuing the conversation they began at their home earlier.

[i]“So I’m guessing Steven went to school today, right?”[/i] questioned Roland, remembering that even with all the bizarre events happening, it still was a school day, and he missed all his classes as well.

[i]“Well,”[/i] began Mr. Noonan as he drove the family vehicle to their destination, [i]“He argued me about staying home because I told him not to wake you up, but I made him go anyway. He wasn’t very happy with me when he left.”[/i]

Hearing about the small disagreement that Steven and his father had earlier made Roland smile and laugh a little bit, then gave his opinion on the situation. [i]“Steven makes a fuss over anything and everything, that’s for sure.”[/i]

[i]“That he does,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan, agreeing with Roland and laughing with him.

Looking out of the passenger side of the window where he was sitting, Roland glimpsed at the street while they were riding, then coming to a red light giving them the intent to stop. The conversation that they were having seemed to make a very short ride for the both of them, but Roland still wondered how long it would be before they get to the hospital.

[i]“Are we almost there?”[/i] asked Roland.

Once the green light had appeared, the vehicle continued on the road as Mr. Noonan answered the boy’s question. [i]“Let me get to this turn up here and then you’ll know in a minute.”[/i]

A minute later, making a complete stop due to a stop sign, then seeing the coast was clear of any other car in the way, Mr. Noonan proceeded with making a left turn with the vehicle, showing right in front of them the hospital from the windshield view. As they got closer, they also noticed the parking lot being full of news trucks and reporters from the local news stations around town, assuming the fact that they were trying to grab information on what they could about Avery.

As they pulled up to the parking lot, Roland looked to see nothing but a bunch of camera crews standing in the middle of the place, trying to find a way inside the hospital. [i]“Gee,”[/i] said Roland, amused at the scenery, [i]“All of them are here for Avery?”[/i]

[i]“Looks that way, doesn’t it,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan, finally finding an empty parking space and place the vehicle into the spot he found. After doing so, he shut the engine off and got out of the car, speaking to Roland about the current event going on outside the hospital. [i]“Sure is a mess out here, isn’t it?”[/i] said Mr. Noonan.

[i]“I’ll say,”[/i] replied Roland, getting out of the car as well and closing the car door behind him, [i]“But how are we going to get inside with all of them piling at the entrance like they are?”[/i]

[i]“I’ll figure something out,”[/i] said Mr. Noonan as he and Roland began to walk towards the hospital to head inside, [i]“Hopefully.”[/i]

Once they got to the entrance, it was very hard to see due to the fact that it was piled up with news reporters trying to get in, but Mr. Noonan began to push some of them aside, Roland following behind him, as he made it to the doorway, seeing the police guarding it from the inside to prevent any of them getting through. Once both of them made contact with the doorway, they stood there to see if the police would let them through, trying to avoid getting toppled by news reporters and camera crews as well.