Chapter 24

“Well guys…who is staying with him?” asked Dr. Shannon when he and Justin, Joey, Lance, Chris, and Jan had reached the doors leading to step-down ICU. He was referring to the fact that only two people would be allowed to stay with JC in his hospital room for the night.

“Give us a minute to decide,” said Joey.

“Tell you what…I’ll go check on him while you make your decision,” said Dr. Shannon. “When I get back I’ll start taking you in to see him for a few minutes.”

“That sounds good,” Justin said as he sat down in a nearby chair.

“Be back in about 10 minutes.” Dr. Shannon passed through the double doors, leaving the group to themselves in a waiting area. Jan sat down beside Justin and decided to stay out of the decision making process. She watched as the others shuffled their feet, becoming lost in their own thoughts. Jan knew that this would not be an easy choice to make for any of them.

“Well…what do you think?” asked Justin after several minutes of uneasy silence. “We need to be able to tell the doc something when he gets back.” There were a few more minutes of awkward silence until Lance spoke.

“I’d like to be able to stay, but I have an early morning meeting with my lawyers at Freelance,” he admitted in a voice that sounded tired. “After what happened the other night, I think I need to get some rest and that wouldn’t happen staying up here.”

“I agree with you Lance,” Joey said. “I don’t want to have to carry you again anytime soon.” Joey’s voice had a teasing tone to it, but his face spoke of worry.

Lance’s face turned pink with embarrassment, but he was still thankful that he had friends that took care of him when he had needed it.

“I’ll make this a little easier,” said Justin. “I’ll go home with Lance.”

“I guess that leaves just me and Chris deciding who’ll stay up here with Jan,” said Joey.

Jan stood up when her name was said. She didn’t want to prevent anyone of the guys from being able to stay by doing so herself. “Wait a minute guys. I can go home with Justin and Lance. That wouldn’t be a problem at all,” she said.

Before she could say any more, Chris volunteered to go home with Justin and Lance.

“Joey, you stay with Jan. I’ll go home with Baby J and Poofoo,” Chris said as he ducked a swing from Justin and blocked another coming from Lance in the opposite direction.

“Don’t call me that,” they said, almost in unison.

“Are you sure Chris?” asked Joey.

“Yeah…I haven’t had my turn to carry the albino yet,” Chris said with a chuckle, as he again had to duck another swing coming his way from Lance.

“I’m never going to live that down,” Lance said with a groan.

“Nope…we’re never going to let that happen,” Chris said with a giggle. The rest of the group joined Chris in laughing, causing Lance to sink even further into his chair from embarrassment.

With the decision finally made, the group quietly sat and waited for Dr. Shannon to return to the waiting area. When 10 minutes turned into 20, no one became concerned. The group felt sure that Dr. Shannon being a few minutes late was nothing to worry about. When 20 minutes turned into 30 minutes, some anxiety was beginning to surface, but not too much. But, when 30 minutes turned into 40 and 40 turned into an hour, anxiety had not only surfaced, it had a tight hold on each member of the group.

“What is taking so long,” said Justin as he nervously glanced at his watch.

“Don’t worry J,” Jan tried to reassure him. “I’m sure that Dr. Shannon probably just got sidetracked or something.”

“It’s the or something that I’m starting to worry about,” admitted Joey as he stood up and walked over to look out a nearby window.

“Jan’s right,” said Chris, trying to sound confident. “You know how busy Dr. Shannon can get sometimes.”

“I just hope that JC isn’t what’s keeping him busy,” said Joey.

Lance had reached the end of his short rope with Joey’s pessimistic statements. With each remark, he found himself once again kneeling on the floor in Dr. Shannon’s office, by JC’s side, holding his limp hand.

“Joey, would you just stop it,” Lance said, his tone of voice ugly and edgy. Lance did not see Joey flinch with the remark. He was looking down at the floor, but when he did raise his eyes, he saw that his remark had earned him glares from Chris and Justin and a look from Jan that caught him completely off guard. Jan tilted her head to the side and gave him a look that spoke of disappointment and hurt. That look caused Lance to drop his head, close his eyes, then, draw in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He ran his hands over his face before he stood up and walked across the floor to join Joey at the window. He stood at Joey’s side and watched as his friend quickly wiped away a tear. In shame, Lance put his arm around Joey’s shoulder. He felt Joey’s shoulders tense up at his touch, which made Lance feel even more shame for losing his temper for a second time that evening. Lance cleared his throat and shuffled his feet.

“I’m sorry Joey. I keep picturing JC on Dr. Shannon’s floor. I was really scared…I guess I still am. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.”

Joey slipped his arm around Lance’s waist and drew his friend closer to his side.

“That’s okay Lance. I guess I wasn’t thinking about what you went through tonight. I’ll be more careful with my words.”

“Aw…”said Chris. “Kodak moment.” His remark broke the tension and everyone laughed.

Joey and Lance turned around and gave Chris withering looks that earned even more laughter.

Moments later, as the laughter died down, the double doors opened and Dr. Shannon strode into the waiting room.

“Sorry it took so long,” he said as he sat down in an empty seat beside Justin.

“Was there something wrong with JC?” Justin asked anxiously.

Dr. Shannon looked at the worried faces surrounding him and quickly realized what everyone was thinking.

“Oh guys…I am so sorry about that,” he said in a reassuring manner. “I didn’t mean to make you wait and worry. JC is fine. We were dealing with another patient.”

Dr. Shannon’s explanation earned a collective sigh of relief from the entire group.

“Well, can we see him now?” Jan asked, knowing that the question was on the tip of everyone’s tongues.

“Yes. Who’s staying with JC tonight? 

”Jan and Joey,” answered Lance.

“Good,” said Dr. Shannon, looking directly at Lance. “You need to go home and get some rest. After hearing about the other night, I don’t want you as a patient too.” Dr. Shannon’s face was etched with concern at the possibility of any more of the boys needing treatment. He just wasn’t up to handling anything like that at all.

“The three of you can go in,” Dr. Shannon said as he pointed at Lance, Chris, and Justin. “I can only give you about 10 minutes.”

“Okay,” Chris said as he stood up, ready to leave.

“Let me explain something first,” Dr. Shannon said as he put his hand on Chris’s shoulder.

“JC might be aware that there is someone in the room, but he won’t be able to respond to you yet due to the drugs that we administered downstairs in the emergency room.”

“Okay…” Chris said, as the others joined him and Dr. Shannon.

“I’m not finished. I want you to know that he is on oxygen and we have him hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor.”

Dr. Shannon watched as faces suddenly became somber to the fact that they seemed to be stepping back in time to JC’s first visit to the hospital after his near drowning.

“Ready?” he asked quietly.

He received nods and quickly led the group through the double doors into the step down ICU area.

Soft beeping and the hissing of oxygen were the sounds that greeted Chris, Lance and Justin when they followed Dr. Shannon into JC’s room. The light glowing softly over JC’s head illuminated his pale features, making the dark circles under his eyes appear to be black. The oxygen mask that he was wearing, seemed to make JC’s angled features even more prominent than normal.

Lance and Chris followed Dr. Shannon over to JC’s bed, but no one seemed to notice that Justin hung back.

“Is he okay?” asked Lance as he walked to the other side of JC’s bed. He tentatively reached up and began to gently stroke JC’s hair.

“Yes. He’ll be pretty much out of it until at least early morning.”

“I thought he was showing signs of waking up,” Chris said as he carefully picked up JC’s left hand.

“He is, but the only signs that he has shown to that effect is that his blood pressure is finally beginning to climb to within normal ranges as is his pulse rate. They had been fairly low up until about an hour ago.”

“Oh. When can he leave?”

“Just as soon as he is alert and can get around the room well, Lance.”

Dr. Shannon looked behind him and noticed that Justin had not moved from the doorway and appeared to be trembling.

“What’s wrong Justin?” the doctor asked as he stepped over to the young man’s side.

Lance and Chris looked over at Justin and saw that he appeared as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Lance made his way past Dr. Shannon, over to Justin and put his hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong J?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

“I don’t think I can…” was Justin’s whispered reply as he began to step back away from Lance and the others.

“Come on J. It’ll be okay,” Chris said in a reassuring voice as he and Dr. Shannon watched Lance attempt to guide Justin into the room.

Justin took one more look at JC’s unconscious form on the bed in front of him and began to shudder.

“I can’t do this…I need to get out of here. I’m sorry…I’m sorry,” he said in a tortured whisper before turning quickly and running out of the room.

“I’ll get him,” said Lance. “You guys stay here,” he added as he took off after his distraught friend.

He had not run very far when he saw Joey running ahead of him after Justin’s rapidly retreating figure. He was glad for the help.

As he ran past Jan, Lance said, “Go stay with Chris.”

Jan watched the pair chase after her nephew and she wanted to join them, but she knew that Joey and Lance would take good care of Justin. She quickly ran through the double doors and joined Chris and Dr. Shannon in JC’s room.

“Did they catch him?” asked Chris.

Jan shook her head no, knowing that if she spoke, she would more than likely lose what little control she had over her emotions. All she could think of was when Joey had run off almost a year ago. He was missing for almost an hour and before being discovered by JC and Lance unconscious with a concussion and broken leg. She shuddered at the memory and looked at Chris and Dr. Shannon, knowing that they were probably remembering the same thing.

“Do you think I need to go help?” asked Dr. Shannon. He was feeling torn at that minute, wanting to help both JC and Justin desperately.

“No doc. They’ll be okay,” Chris said, trying to sound confident, knowing that his voice was betraying how he truly felt about the situation.

“Where did he go?” Joey breathlessly asked Lance. They were standing in a large, open area that acted as the hub of several hallways that led in 4 different directions.

“I have no idea,” said Lance as he tried to catch his breath, all the while looking up and down the hallways around them.

Seconds later, Joey heard something. “Wait…did you hear a door open?” asked Joey. He looked down three of the hallways and at the very end of the last one, there seemed to be a corner with a lit sign hanging from the ceiling that read “stairs” with an arrow directing the way.

“Down there,” Joey pointed before he took off running down the hallway with Lance not too far behind him.

After they had rounded the corner, they stopped at a heavy, metal stairwell door.

“Sh…do you hear that?” whispered Lance.

Joey nodded his head yes before slowly opening the door.

The sounds of sobbing echoed throughout the stairwell, making it confusing to know exactly where their source was. Joey held the door open while Lance stood next to the rail, trying to pinpoint where the sounds were coming from. He looked up and saw nothing, but when he looked down, he spied a head of blond curls about two floors down.

Lance pointed down and held up two fingers.  

”I tell the others we found him,” mouthed Joey as he back out of the door and gently allowed it to close silently behind him.

Lance closed his eyes and whispered a prayer asking God for wisdom in knowing what to do and say before quietly walking down the stairs toward Justin, who didn’t seem to hear him coming until he sat down beside him.

Without saying a word, Lance put his arms around Justin and pulled him close. Instead of pulling away, Justin buried his head into Lance’s chest and continued to sob. The pair sat on the cold, concrete steps…one expressing his fears and sadness through tears. The other knowing that once again, he needed to remain strong for his friends.

Twenty-Five