Chapter 9

It was almost 10 minutes after Dr. Shannon made his assessment that JC slowly became aware of his surroundings as he gradually began to regain consciousness. He felt something pressing on his face along with air blowing into his nose and mouth. He was aware of the smell of plastic so strong, that he could almost taste it. He could feel a slight pressure on his hands, as if they were being held by something, but he could not tell by what at that moment. JC could hear an irritating beeping noise coming from somewhere above his head. In his confused state, he believed it to be his alarm clock and began making an effort to reach out to turn it off. His movements were quickly followed by garbled voices that seemed to surround him from all sides. JC struggled to comprehend what the voices were saying, but the effort was tiring. He allowed himself to sink once again into the blackness that swirled about him.

“What happened to him Dr. Shannon?” asked Joey as he felt JC’s hand go limp in his grasp.

Dr. Shannon looked up at the monitor and saw that JC’s heart rate had again slowed down, indicating that he had once again slipped into unconsciousness. He pulled out his stethoscope and asked Joey to give up his position again. After placing the stethoscope on JC’s chest and listening for a few seconds, he stood up and spoke.

“It’s okay guys. Apparently, JC just wore himself out a little. He should be waking up shortly again. Just give him a little time, okay? I know you’re anxious to speak to him, but you’re going to have to be patient.”

Dr. Shannon reached over and patted Joey on the shoulder as Joey again picked up JC’s hand and waited. As the boys watched over JC, Dr. Shannon turned his attention to Justin. Lance released his hold on JC’s hand as he and Chris turned their attention to Justin also. Chris walked to the other side of Justin’s bed and absent-mindedly began stroking Justin’s hair as Dr. Shannon checked his blood pressure and heart sounds.

“How’s he doing?” asked Lance who stood further down the bed and had gently grasped Justin’s right knee.

“Everything sounds good. Like I said earlier, the sedation is going to keep him under for a while longer, but he needs that. His body needs time to recover from the shock that he went through. Once he does wake up, he’ll still have a ways to go before his body has fully recovered.”

The boys nodded their understanding before once again playing the waiting game with JC.

It was some time later when JC slowly became aware of the voices again. He began to recognize the persons behind the voices that were calling to him.

“Hey, he’s waking up.”

‘That was Joey’s voice,’ thought JC, as he turned his head slightly in the direction that it came from.

“Yeah, look at his eyelids. They’re starting to flutter.”

‘That was Lance’s excited voice.’ JC turned his head in that general direction and the movement was rewarded with a strong, but gentle grip of someone’s hands over his own hands. He knew that the hands belonged to Chris.

“Come on JC. You can do it. Time to wake up.”

JC slowly opened his eyes and blinked in an effort to focus them. The first face that his gaze fell upon was Joey, who was grinning widely at him.

“Hey,” he gently spoke, as he reached down and stroked the top of JC’s head that was not covered by bandages. “It’s great to have you back Jace.”

‘Where had he been?’ thought JC.

“Where…where,” JC croaked, the oxygen mask muffling his voice. JC reached for the mask but his hand was gently brought back down to his side and held by Joey.

“Leave it alone JC. You need it right now.”

JC nodded his head in understanding and again tried to speak, but he was quietly told not to.

“Sh. You’re in Mercy General Hospital.” The boys shifted their positions slightly so that Dr. Shannon could come into JC’s view.

“Doc?”

“Hi. It’s nice to see you awake.” The doctor saw confusion register across JC’s face and decided to fill in the young man on the last 6 hours.

“You probably don’t remember what happened around 3 o’clock this afternoon.”

The doctor watched JC’s facial expressions, as he seemed to be making the effort to recall any events that may have happened earlier in the day.

JC shook his head no and fear instantly registered across his face. His grip on Chris and Joey’s hands tightened as he realized that he had no memory of the day or the night before, for that matter.

“What’s the last thing that you remember JC?” asked the doctor.

“I remember getting to Justin’s house and playing a video game with Joey.”

“That was yesterday morning doc,” said Joey with a hint of concern in his voice.

“Now, remember boys, I did tell you that JC may or may not recall the day’s events or the events leading up to the accident.”

“There was an accident?” asked JC. “Did someone get hurt? Where’s Justin?” JC looked at the figures standing before him trying to make sure that he had not simply missed seeing Justin in his confusion.

Lance chuckled nervously before speaking. “JC, do you know where you are? Look around you man.”

JC did look around him and noted that it appeared that he was in some sort of hospital room.

“Justin?”

Joey and Lance stepped aside, allowing JC to look to his left at the hospital bed beside him. His eyes opened wider as he recognized the figure lying in the bed. The heart monitor began to quicken its pace and JC’s eyes began to flutter as darkness began to overtake him once again. Vaguely, JC could hear Dr. Shannon telling him to take deep breaths and to relax before he heard nothing.

“JC? What happened doc?” Chris asked as he felt JC’s hand go limp in his grip.

“It looks like he’s fainted. Give him a few minutes and he should come around pretty soon,” Dr. Shannon said as he motioned to Joey for him to move over so that he could have better access to JC.

The doctor checked JC’s pupils and pulse, before he pulled his stethoscope from around his neck and to listen to JC’s heart and lung sounds.

“Everything sounds just fine guys. He just had a bit of a scare seeing Justin over there.”

“Speaking of Justin, when do you think he’ll start waking up?” asked Lance as he made his way to the other side of Justin’s bed and picked up the unconscious young man’s left hand.

“I’ve already ordered that sedation be suspended so it’s just a matter of time. Maybe an hour or two more and we should start seeing signs of waking up.”

“How can we prevent the same thing from happening to him that just happened to JC?” asked Joey who had not yet released his hold on JC’s hand.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t guys. With what I’ve heard about today’s accident, JC’s reaction did not surprise me in the least. You just need to give him time, that’s all.”

Several minutes later, a groan was heard from JC as he fought his way back to consciousness.

Dr. Shannon quickly made it back to JC’s side urging him to take deep breaths.

“JC? JC? I want you to take some deep breaths son. Take some deep breaths and relax. Justin is okay. He just gave the paramedics a bit of a scare this afternoon when he passed out on them. He’s okay.”

JC kept his eyes closed but began speaking.

“Passed out? Why? What happened?” he mumbled.

“I’m going to let one of the boys explain what happened this afternoon.”

“Something happened?” JC asked in confusion as he opened his eyes and looked from one face to the next.

Dr. Shannon looked at the three pairs of eyes staring at him in anguish. He mouthed ‘side affect of concussion’ and he nodded at Lance to explain things to JC. Joey saw that the doctor wanted Lance to explain the day’s events and he made room for Lance. He placed JC’s hand that he had been holding into Lance’s hands, then moved down JC’s side and laid his hand on the young man’s leg.

Lance noticed that JC’s eyes were beginning to droop and he gave his hand a slight squeeze in order to regain his attention.

“Hey Jace. There was an accident at the pool today.” 

”Someone got hurt?” JC searched Lance’s face with half opened eyes for any clue to the answer of his question.

“Yeah. You got hurt.” Lance was unsure of how to inform JC of what had happened. Joey could sense his hesitation and he placed hand on Lance’s shoulder giving him encouragement.

“How?”

“Do you remember our diving contest this afternoon?”

“Kinda, I think. I remember dishes and Justin. Where’s Justin?”

“He’s asleep in the bed next to yours.” Lance inwardly groaned at the half-truth that he just stated. He hated not telling the entire truth to JC, but he did not want to go through another fainting episode for fear that he just might join JC.

JC seemed to accept his answer, apparently not remembering what had taken place not 10 minutes earlier. Lance continued with his explanation, giving JC little opportunity to faint again.

“You and Justin made a bet. If you made a dive, Justin would do dishes for 3 days. If you didn’t make the dive, you would be doing dishes for 3 days.”

“Let me guess, I’m doing the dishes?” JC asked with a wan smile.

The group chuckled with relief that JC had seemed to retain his sense of humor through the whole mess.

“Yeah. You tried to do a back flip off the 5 foot diving board and you hit your head on the board.” Lance stopped and looked at Dr. Shannon with eyes that asked the question, ‘how much do I need to tell him?’ Dr. Shannon nodded his head to indicate that Lance should go ahead and tell him everything. JC saw the exchange of looks.

“Was it bad?”

He looked at each of his friends and could tell that he probably wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear. Lance had paled visibly and shakily took a deep breath. Joey’s eyes brimmed with tears, which he quickly wiped away with a swipe of his hand. Chris looked down at his hands and his thumb rubbed against the top of JC’s hand at a faster pace. He could not tell what Dr. Shannon was thinking, because his face remained neutral, but his eyes did look sad for an instant before taking on a more professional look.

Lance took another deep breath before continuing.

“When you hit your head JC, you were knocked unconscious. Joey and Chris jumped in after you. Joey pulled you off the bottom of the pool. You weren’t breathing when he got you to the surface.”

“I had drowned?” JC asked the doctor, his face registering shock and disbelief.

Dr. Shannon shook his head yes.

“Joey and I started CPR on you while Chris and Justin ran inside to call 911. It took about 5 minutes of us doing CPR before you started breathing on your own and by then, the paramedics had made it to the house.”

JC could think of anything to say. He was flabbergasted at the thought that he had drowned and his friends had revived him.

“I drowned?” he repeated in disbelief. He searched the faces of his friends standing around him. His eyes began brimming with tears as the realization of his close brush with death hit him like a ton of bricks. JC began to openly sob as fear of his near death and relief of his rescue overwhelmed him. Chris pulled JC toward him and carefully held his friend’s shaking body against his chest, as he softly spoke words of comfort to him, his own tears silently streaming down his face.

“Sh…sh…it’s okay…it’s okay…you’re safe now. It’s okay to be scared Jace…it’s okay.” Chris continued these words, as if they were a mantra, repeatedly.

Dr. Shannon fought his own tears as he quietly turned his back to the pair and watched as Joey walked away from the group and made his way to one of the windows in the room. He had grown quiet attached to this fine group of young men. He knew from experience that they would get through this trial with each other’s help. Dr. Shannon noticed Joey’s shoulders shuddering with his own silent sobs knowing that he was probably reliving the horrible fear that he must have felt as he and Lance struggled to revive JC. Lance quickly made his way to Joey’s side and enveloped him in a bear hug in an effort to comfort Joey and himself. Lance felt the shudders that wracked Joey’s body as he held him in his arms, but he could not bring himself to shed any tears. He was beyond that point for now. He was quite fearful of how he would react when those tears would finally come, but for the time being, he concentrated on helping Joey. He would take care of himself later. Dr. Shannon noticed that Lance was the only one in the group that seemed to holding up well under the circumstances and that worried him. He wondered what it was going to take to make Lance break down.

Dr. Shannon secretly hoped that his fear for Lance’s emotional well being would be unfounded, but in all his years of practice, he had not been wrong yet and he knew that Lance’s fall was going to be a mighty one. Only time would tell how bad the break down would be.

Ten