Angry Night
Kevin
and I walked hand in hand in silence back to ICU. We had almost reached
the nurse’s desk when I thought I heard something. I stopped and strained
to hear.
“What?”
Kevin asked.
“Do
you hear anything?” I asked.
“I
do,” he said softly. “Coming from there.”
He
pointed in the general direction of Brian’s room.
“Oh
God what if Bri is in trouble?!” I gulped and ran into his room.
“Anita?”
an extremely faint, almost inaudible voice called from Brian’s bed. His
lips barely moved as he said my name.
“Brian?!”
I gasped, not believing it.
“Yeah?”
he whispered.
“AHHH!!!
OH MY GOD!!” I shrieked. “KEVIN!!”
“What’s
wrong?” he asked appearing by my side.
“Nothing!!!”
I said still screaming. “Brian’s awake!!”
I
ran around the room shrieking like a banshee. This was so great!
“Would
someone tell her to be quiet?” Brian asked weakly.
“Oh
god thank you!” Kevin said clasping his hands in prayer.
“Sorry
Bri,” I stopped and attempted to catch my breath.
“Lisa,
I gotta get Lisa,” I said and sprinted out of the room.
“ELYSSA!”
I yelled down the hall.
I
couldn’t remember the last time I had been so excited.
“He’s
awake!!” I screamed at her once I had reached the desk.
Her
eyes went wide and her hands froze over the keyboard.
“Are
you serious?” she asked.
“Yes,”
I stated pumping a fist into the air.
Elyssa
ran over to me and grabbed my arms. We jumped up and down like two giddy
teenagers. She shrieked and screamed tears flowing down her face.
“Well
go on,” I said pushing her towards the room.
“Right!”
she said dashing into Brian’s room.
She
stopped in the doorway and looked at him. Laying there and for the first
time with his eyes open. She covered her mouth with her hand and shut
here eyes tight. She seemed to shake a little. I grabbed onto her
fearing that she was going to faint. But she opened her eyes and
straightened herself.
“I’m
okay,” she said and moved over to Brian.
“I can’t believe this,” she said shaking her head. “I was so sure
that I was going to lose you.”
I
ushered everyone else out of the room so they could have a little
privacy. I would have left too, but I had to make sure Brian wasn’t about
to slip back into a coma. Brian tried to say something, but it just came
out as a muffled croak.
“You
don’t have to say anything,” Elyssa said smiling like an idiot. “Just
having you awake is good enough. I love you.”
She
kissed him lightly on the forehead.
“Is
he going to be okay Anita?” she asked me as I checked all Bri’s vitals.
“You
know what? I think he will be. Everything seems stable. It
appears that Mr. doctor man was wrong.”
“Thank
God he was!” she exclaimed still giddy.
I
walked over to her and gave her a hug.
“Congrats
Elyssa. I’m so happy it turned out this way, for the both of you.”
“Oh
Anita I didn’t even think. I mean it should have for you and A.J. too,”
she said flustered.
But
I just laughed.
“I’m
okay Elyssa. I really am. Just do me one favor. Appreciate
every moment you two have together.”
“That
I can do,” she smiled and looked back at Brian.
He
looked royally confused about our whole conversation. A lot had happened
since that day in the woods. A lot we were going to have to tell him no
matter how painful it would be. He was going to figure out real fast that
A.J. was not with us.
“I’ll
go get the guys so they can come see him,” I said exiting the room.
Nick
was still clicking away at one of the computers and Kevin and Howie were
sitting down and for once smiling.
“You
can go see him now. He can’t really talk much, but it looks like he’s
going to be okay.”
Nick
and Howie shot up and headed to Brian’s room. But Kevin held back.
“Aren’t
you going?” I asked sitting down beside him.
“Yeah,”
he replied. “I will.
“Hey
look!” I cried interrupting him.
I
ran over to one of the little windows in the waiting room. The storm
actually appeared to be calming down a bit. The winds were still howling
and rain was still coming down but it wasn’t quite as bad as it had been
before. The storm was passing.
“It’s
getting better,” I said.
“So
it is,” he commented. “You know I’ve been thinking about all of
this. I mean we’ve all been through so much, but we’re all still
here. It’s like it was this huge test and all of us have finally passed.
It blows my mind to think all of it happened in one month. One month and
all of our lives have changed irreversibly. Nothing will ever be the same
again.”
“But
you know what Kevin? Like you said it all happened in one month.
And though many things have changed. It’s all over. It’s all
finally over.”
I
leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips.
***
