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.