Chapter 10

It had been several hours since JC had finally awoken and found out of his near brush with death. Dr. Shannon finally had to prescribe a sedative to calm him down when he was unable to regain control of his emotions after almost an hour of sobbing. He now was sleeping fitfully, tossing and turning about in his hospital bed as his friends sat close by, watching him and praying that he would somehow recover from this ordeal. As Joey, Chris and Lance watched JC, they heard a slight moan coming from Justin’s bed. The three quickly jumped up and moved to his bedside.

Chris made his way quickly to Justin’s left side so that he could still see JC, as did Lance who griped Justin’s left knee. Joey stood on the opposite side of the bed and was holding Justin’s right hand. Joey slowly began stroking Justin’s hand with his thumb as he quietly spoke to him.

“Hey J. The doc says that you and JC are going to be just fine. You need to wake up now and give us that electric smile of yours, okay?”

Justin’s eyelids began to flutter as he moaned slightly in an effort to find the source of the voice.

“We’re here J. Me, Chris, and Lance are here with you and JC. You’re going to be just fine. Open your eyes for me, okay?”

It was several more minutes before Justin’s eyes slowly opened. He blinked several times at the bright lights above him and looked around the room in total confusion. His gaze finally landed on Joey who was now also stroking his head as he spoke to him.

“Hey, man. Glad you made it back.” Joey smiled broadly down on the youngest member of the group.

‘Where had he been,’ Justin thought. ‘Where was he now, for that matter?’

“It’s good to see you awake Justin,” said Chris as he picked up Justin’s left hand, gripping it lightly as he carefully avoided the IV port attached right below his wrist.

Justin felt pressure on his left knee and looked down in that general direction to see Lance standing there, smiling at him.

Justin struggled to clear his throat.

“Here, drink some of this,” said Joey as he quickly grabbed a cup of water from the nearby table and held the cup to Justin’s lips as Chris helped Justin to raise his head up. After a few sips of water, Justin was finally able to find his voice.

“What…what happened?” he asked as Chris lowered his head back down to the pillow.

“Why don’t we wait just a minute to tell you,” said Joey. “Chris, why don’t you go get Dr. Shannon?”

“Sure…be back in a minute J.” Lance quickly made his way to Justin’s side to replace Chris’ empty spot. He picked up Justin’s hand and began stroking his arm.

Justin nodded his head at Lance and slowly closed his eyes.

“Looks like he’s going back to sleep,” said Lance quietly.

“Yeah…must have worn him out a little. I hope Dr. Shannon gets here soon,” said Joey.

“Speaking of getting here soon, when is Jan supposed to be here?” asked Lance.

Justin stirred at the mention of his aunt’s name.

“Jan…Jan…is she here?” asked Justin as he again opened his eyes.

“She isn’t here yet J. She’ll be here soon,” said Joey in an effort to reassure Justin.

Justin seemed to accept his answer and closed his eyes once again.

“What time is it Lance?” whispered Joey.

Lance showed Joey his watch. It read almost 11:00.

“I think Chris said that she’d be here somewhere around midnight if there weren’t any delays,” whispered Lance.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing her man. She always seems to make everything right, you know what I mean?” said Joey, remembering how Jan helped him deal with his nightmares almost a year ago. Jan had been a real Godsend in his eyes…in everyone’s eyes for that matter. She had helped them all on one occasion or another.

“Did you notice that he didn’t even ask about JC?” whispered Joey.

“Yeah…I bet he just doesn’t remember this afternoon…kinda like JC didn’t really remember what happened,” said Lance in a quiet voice, tinged with doubt.

“I hope you’re right man…I hope he doesn’t react the same way as JC.”

Lance nodded his agreement and glanced over Joey’s shoulder at the still sleeping form of JC. When he had told JC what had happened to him, JC had completely fallen apart. JC’s reaction had taken a small piece out of Lance’s heart. He could not bear knowing that he had caused JC to lose control of his emotions. He felt guilt over that…terrible guilt…hopefully, he would not have to be the one to explain things to Justin too. That might just be the proverbial final straw added to the camels back for him and he knew that he couldn’t fall apart yet. He needed to be the strong one for the group…they were depending upon him…he was not going to let them down.

The door opening and closing before him interrupted Lance’s thoughts. Dr. Shannon and Chris quickly made their way to Justin’s bedside.

“I hear that your youngest group member has finally shown some signs of waking up,” said Dr. Shannon with a wide grin on his face.

“Yeah…he woke up and asked a few questions then fell back asleep,” said Lance as he continued to gaze down at Justin’s sleeping form.

“Well, Joey you know the routine,” said Dr. Shannon, indicating that Joey needed to make room for him so that he could check Justin’s condition as he had done several times when the doctor had checked on JC.

“Sure doc.” Joey moved back, allowing the doctor to come closer to Justin.

“Justin? Justin? I need for you to open your eyes son.”

“Hmmm?” was his tired reply.

Dr. Shannon gently placed his right hand on the far side of Justin’s face, turning his head in his direction. He gave Justin’s cheek a few gentle but firm pats in an effort to rouse the sleeping young man. Justin made an effort to move away from the doctor’s hands but the hands remained insistent on his waking up.

“Justin…Justin…wake up.”

“Come on J. The doc needs to talk to you,” said Joey as he squeezed Justin’s knee firmly. Lance gripped Justin’s hand a little tighter in his effort to awaken Justin and voiced his encouragement to him.

“Wake up J…come on man…open those baby blues.”

Chris remained silent and began rubbing Justin’s other leg in his own effort to awaken his young friend.

Justin’s eyelids fluttered shortly before he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked several times in an effort to focus his vision as his gaze traveled about his bed in an attempt to see who was talking to him. His gaze finally fell on Dr. Shannon’s face and a small grin played across his features.

“Fancy meeting you here doc,” Justin whispered. The group audibly sighed upon hearing Justin’s tired voice.

“Pretty funny how I never get to see you or the others when you’re healthy,” kidded Dr. Shannon as he removed his hand from Justin’s face.

“How are you doing son?”

“Been better…been worse. What happened?”

“Let me check you out first and then I’ll let Lance explain it to you,” said Dr. Shannon as he pulled his stethoscope and B/P cuff from his coat pocket. The doctor did not see the anguished look on Lance’s face as he realized that he was once again going to be the bearer of bad news. He inwardly groaned and closed his eyes in frustration. Chris noted Lance’s change in demeanor and placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder. Lance opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Chris.

“Okay?” mouthed Chris with concern written on his face.

Lance nodded his head and gave a false smile to reassure his friend before looking back down at Justin. Chris left his hand on Lance’s shoulder a moment longer before giving the shoulder a pat and then dropping his hand back to his side.

Meanwhile, Dr. Shannon made a quick job of checking Justin’s vitals.

“Everything looks fine Justin. Lance is going to let you know why you’re here, okay.” With that said, Dr. Shannon made his way to the foot of Justin’s bed as Joey made his way back up to Justin’s right side. In that split second of movement, Justin was able to get a glance at the sleeping individual in the bed next to his. His eyes grew wide as he took in the sight of JC sleeping in a sitting position with an IV in one arm and wearing an oxygen mask. He also noticed the heart monitor on the shelf above JC’s head bed.

“That’s where that beeping sound was coming from,” he whispered. Suddenly, the afternoon’s events descended upon Justin as if propelled by a freight train. His face screwed up in fear as his eyes traveled from JC over to the faces surrounding him.

“It was all my fault…it was all my fault…he tried to do it…I knew he couldn’t…I dared him anyway…” Justin’s voice carried so much anguish and sorrow that it cut deeply into the hearts of his friends. Dr. Shannon watched as the 3 older men enveloped the youngest in their arms. Everyone, including the doctor himself was shedding tears at that moment…everyone, except for Lance. Inwardly, Dr. Shannon groaned…’Lance…Lance…how long will you be able to hold it together son?’ thought Dr. Shannon as he quietly turned his back to the group and looked upon JC still sleeping peacefully…oblivious to the turmoil around him. Dr. Shannon reached over and carefully brushed a few stray strands of hair off the young man’s forehead.

“Please let Jan get here soon,” whispered the doctor. “She’s performed miracles before…she’s going to need to do it again.”

Looking back at the four young men before him, Dr. Shannon shook his head and heaved a small sigh.

“I’ll be back in a little while,” said Dr. Shannon to no one in particular as he turned toward the door and made his way out into the quiet hallway.

Eleven