You Go, I Go
Part 2
Kyung found Brian in the
small waiting room near Nick’s room, leaning forward, resting his head in his
hands.
“Hey, I got your page,
what’s going on?” Kyung asked as she took a seat across from him.
Brian sighed loudly and
raked a hand through his hair. “He had another seizure, when is this all going
to stop?”
Kyung managed to put a
reassuring hand on Brian’s shoulder. He looked at her face, his eyes were
red-rimmed from crying.
“He’s got the best docs in
the house working on him, I’m sure they are doing all that they can possible
for Nick right now,” Kyung prayed that her voice didn’t betray the uncertainity of the situation.
A doctor entered the room
and interrupted the conversation between Kyung and Brian.
“Hi, I’m Doctor Schueller. Are you the patient’s brother?”
“Yes I am,” Brian lied. In
his heart he didn’t feel as if he had lied, Nick was a brother to him, just not
the technicalities of being flesh and blood.
The doctor flipped open
Nick’s chart and quickly thumbed threw the growing stack of papers in it.
“We’re giving Nick some
meds in his IV to help in stopping the seizures from happening. The CT’s were
negative, which is good news. I suspect that the seizures are from the meds
that he apparently overdosed on,” Dr. Schueller
stated.
“How soon before you know
whether or not these meds are working?” Brian asked, almost afraid to find out
the answer.
“We should know within 24
hours. Nick has already had four seizures since he arrived here, so I would
suspect that if we are on the right track with him, this should stop seizures
entirely,” the doctor replied as he was scribbling something in Nick’s chart.
The doctor flipped the
chart closed. “Do you have any questions?”
“Will this be a lifetime
thing.... I mean the seizures, will this be something that can happen to him
the rest of his life?” Brian asked hesitantly.
“There is always going to
be that chance, only time will tell."
*~*~*~*~*
"How's Nick?"
Lizz asked as Kyung showed her face in the room.
"He's doing
alright," Kyung lied.
"I want to see
him," Lizz stated as she starting pulling the blankets off her body.
"Lizz, you need to
rest, besides Nick won't know if you're here right now anyway," Brian
suggested.
"Why wouldn't he? You
guys aren't telling me the truth about Nick. Tell me what's going on,
please!" Lizzed begged, looking at Brian and
Kyung's faces with pleading eyes.
Brian sighed heavily.
"They had to put Nick in a drug induced coma for a few days to see if they
can sort out what's causing the seizures."
Lizz put her hand to her
mouth. "Oh my god."
"He's okay, Lizz,
he's just sleeping so he's not hurting at all," Kyung tried to calm Lizz
down before she got upset.
"Please, let me see
Nick. Just this one time, okay and then I promise I'll stay in my bed and do
everything they tell me to."
Kyung agreed, but she knew
it was against her better judgement. Her best friend
was pretty stubborn and she knew that if she told Lizz no, she would do it by
herself and could possible get injured.
"Okay, but only for a
few minutes, okay?"
Lizz nodded.
Brian pushed the
wheelchair down the hall into the doorway of Nick's room. Lizz took in all of
the equipment that was surrounding Nick's bed, the sounds it made. As they
approached the bed, the first thing Lizz noticed as the tubing for the
respirator. She knew exactly how that felt.
She reached up and took
Nick's free hand and placed it in hers. It was cool to the touch. Looking at
Nick's face, tears came to Lizz's eyes. She felt
awful in not being able to prevent any of this. She felt responsible for it.
Kyung could see that Lizz
was becoming upset. She decided that this was a bad idea to have brought her
down here.
"Lizz, I think it
would be best that you go back and lay down now."
"But I'm not ready to
go yet," Lizz sniffed, silently cursing herself for letting her emotions
surface. "I'm fine."
"She's bleeding
again!" Brian pointed at the side of Lizz's
gown.
Lizz was starting to feel
light headed, but she didn't want to acknowledge her bleeding. She wanted to
stay with Nick.
"I'll be okay,"
Lizz snapped.
"We're going back,
NOW," Kyung replied, the urgency in her voice forced Lizz to tighten her
grip on Nick's hand.
As Kyung tried to pull the
wheelchair back, Lizz's grip on Nick's hand jerked
her forward out of the wheelchair onto Nick's bed.
*~*~*~*~*
I gasped as I tried to
keep from losing my balance. I was sort of half lying across the bed. I bit my
lip harshly to keep from crying out from the pain in my side.
“Damn it, I’m not going
anywhere.” I hissed. With that, I kind of pushed myslef
up so I was sitting on the side of the bed. My grip on Nick’s hand didn’t
lessen. I refused to acknowledge the worsening pain. It had been growing
steadily more agonizing since I had nearly passed out from trying to keep Nick
from falling out of the chair earlier. There was no way I was going to mention
it because that would have only gotten in the way. My main concern right now
was Nick. The light headedness wasn’t easing.
“Lizz! For goodness sake,
you’re bleeding. You need to go lay back down!” Kyung cried, the exasperation
and worry was clear in her voice.
“No! I’m fine really.” I
insisted stubbornly.
Kyung threw a helpless
look at Brian.
“No you aren’t. You are
bleeding and you are shaking so bad that I don’t know how you can even sit up.
You are going back to your room.” Brian told me as he came around to where I
was.
“Please.” I couldn’t help
it the fresh tears that started to fall. I was losing control of the situation.
I couldn’t leave. “I need to be here. I can’t leave him. Please don’t make me
leave. Please!” I cried brokenly. I was so afraid that if I left then something
would happen. If I stayed then I could protect him. Make sure he was okay.
“Shhhh, it’s going to be
okay. The best thing you can do for Nick is to get yourself better.” Brian
soothed as he wrapped his arms around me. I held on for dear life with one arm,
but refused to let go of Nick’s hand with my other.
“Lizzie, come on. We need
to get your stitches looked at. Maybe after you have gotten some rest, you can
come back.” Kyung said gently. Yet the urgency was still in her voice.
“No, I can’t.” I couldn’t
hold it in anymore. I had let a few tears fall now and then since I had gotten
here, but now I couldn’t stop the sobs that ripped through me. It was the
combination of the pain, the failed kindeys, the fact
that I could die, but most of all, seeing this happening to Nick. I had always
heard that you could talk to people in comas and that they would hear you. I
was so terrified of leaving. If I could just stay and talk to him. Tell him not
to give up. That I was here and that everything was going to be okay. But, I
was so scared. I couldn’t leave. “I need to stay. They can just stitch me up in
here or do whatever they need to do to me in here. I don’t care.” Even as I
said it, my vision started to get fuzzy on me. I fought it with every ounce of
my strength. I wasn’t going to give into it. I started to go limp in Brian’s
arms and I felt him tense.
“Lizz? Oh god...”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kyung stood just outside Lizz’s room next to Brian and watched her while she slept.
“I shouldn’t have let her out of bed. She had just got done getting her last
stitches fixed. I can’t believe she tore them again.” She said softly.
“At least she didn’t tear
them as bad this time. You can’t blame yourself. You know she would have found
a way to get in there anyway, just like she tried to before and just like Nick
did.” Brian replied. He shook his head, thinking back to how mad he had been
when he and Kyung had returned from their coffee break. Kyung had been just as
angry. Nick had just been loaded onto the gurney and was being wheeled out of Lizz’s room when they had walked up. The look on Brian’s
face was one of horror as he ran over to see what had happened. Kyung rushed
into Lizz’s room to find her back in her bed, shaking
and white as a ghost. She was crying and looked scared out her mind. No one had
told her anything so she could only sit there and wonder. She tried to get up
and go find out for herself, but Kyung wouldn’t let her go anywhere. It had
been a very long hour.
Kyung sighed. “What are we
going to do?” At first seeing Lizz pass out in Nick’s room had scared her, but
her doctor said that it was probably either the pain, the physical toll on her
body, or the emotional. Now she was relieved that at least she wouldn’t be all
worked up about seeing Nick.
“I don’t know, I honestly
don’t know. I pray that something doesn’t happen to one of them because I don’t
think, at this point, that the other one could take it.” Brian said quietly.
*~*~*~*~*
Kyung couldn't help but
smile as she looked at Brian curled up in a chair in the corner of the waiting
room. A clattereing of silverware froma
cart out in the hallway woke Brian up from his sleep. Disoriented, Brian looked
around the room, his eyes half open.
"I was hoping at
least one of us would be sleeping, Brian," Kyung softly commented.
Yawning, Brian stretched
in his seat. "You should have tried to sleep too."
Kyung shook her head.
"I can't, there's too much on my mind."
"Mine too, but
there's no excuse for letting yourself wear down with worry. Any changes while
I was sleeping?"
"Some of Lizz's blood draws looked promising. They won't tell me
anything about Nick thought, they're keeping it strictly confidential, which is
good, but it's so frustrating when you want to find out what's happening with
him," Kyung replied quietly.
Brian nodded as he
listened to Kyung. She turned to look towards the door when Brian suddenly
stood up. She wasn't too certain, but she thought she recognized Nick's mother
standing in the doorway.
"Oh Brian, how is
he?" a tearful Jane Carter asked Brian as she wrapped her arms around him.
Brian's thoughts were
racing, trying to think of the best way to explain all that was happening with
Nick at the moment.
"He's resting right
now," Brian started out, he caught Kyung's face out of the corner of his
eye and had to look quickly away, knowing that the shocked look on her face was
from him not telling the Carter's everything right away.
"I need to see him,
what room did they say he was in?" Jane looked up at her husband while she
asked.
Bob Carter placed his hand
on her shoulder. "Calm down, honey, let's talk to Brian first and see
what's going on before you bolt into his room."
Bob turned his attention
back to Brian's. "Now, tell us what happened to Nick, from the
beginning."
Brian sighed and ran a
hand through his hair. This was going to be something that could very well tear
them up. He wanted to make sure he explained it to them as gently as possible.
"You know how Nick
can be sensitive about certain things---"
Bob cut him off.
"Brian just tell us, don't lead into this. We already know he either
accidentally overdosed or deliberately overdosed, we just want the truth."
"Nick tried to kill
himself yesterday. No one knows for sure exactly what he took but we do know
that some of the meds were mine mixed in with his. His heart stopped on him
twice and he's had a few seizures since he's been here."
Jane gasped when Brian
mentioned Nick's heart stopping.
"But he's okay now?
He's going to be alright?" Jane asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"They have him in a
drug induced coma to try and sort out why he's been having seizures," Brian
quietly stated.
"I need to see him,
take me to him," Jane demanded.
*~*~*~*~*~
I distinctly smelled my
mother's perfume. When I heard her voice, I wanted to call out to her. It's
funny what you can hear when you're in a coma. Good thing about it is that
hopefully I won't remember hearing her anguished cries. I had let her down. I
had let my parents and my best friend down. How could I live knowing that?
Jane cupped Nick's hand in
hers. She fussed with his blonde hair and didn't speak to him, just took in all
that was surrounding Nick, the machines, the tubes, the IV's.
"This won't hurt his
voice, will it?" Jane asked, gesturing towards the tube in Nick's mouth.
Brian shrugged and then
shook his head no. He wasn't certain what would or wouldn't harm Nick at this
point.
~*~*~*~*~
I felt someone messing
with my arm and awoke with a start.
“Shhh...It’s okay sweetie.
I just need to check your graft.” A nurse said softly. It wasn’t Della. Shifts
must have changed. This one’s name tag read Cynthia.
I started to look down at
the graft, but changed my mind. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see it. I knew there
was going to be a nasty looking knot thing that was the graft under my skin.
After asking if I need anything, Cynthia left me alone in my room. My thoughts
immediately returned to Nick. The last thing I remembered was being in his room
as Kyung and Brian tried to convince me to leave. What happened after that and
how I ended up in my room again was a mystery to me. I was not happy about it
though. I started to sit up so I could somehow get back to his room, but to my
shock, I couldn’t even move. I turned my head to the door, hoping that I could
get a nurses attention. This was freaking me out.
I tried as hard as I could
to sit up, but my body simply wouldn’t obey me. The pain in my side was sort of
a dull throbbing instead of that fiery sharp feeling.
“Damnit.” I muttered. Even
my voice sounded pitiful. I had to get to Nick.
“Lizz, what’s wrong?”
Kyung stood in my doorway.
“What the hell is wrong
with me? I can’t get up!” My frustration was growing.
“You pushed your body too
far. You need to rest for awhile. Between what you did to it by overdosing and
then tearing your stitches twice, you need to stay still. I shouldn’t have let
you out of bed the second time.” Kyung’s voice was tired.
“I need to see Nick.” I
said, dismissing what she said about resting.
Kyung shook her head. “Aboslutely not...”
I started to cut her off,
but she continued.
“Anyway, his parents are
here. Let them spend some time alone with him.”
“His parents?” I breathed.
That blew me away and sort of scared me. I knew that Nick was very adamant
about his parents not getting involved in the other times. The fact that they were
now just told me of the seriousness of the situation. “Is he still in the
coma?” I asked softly.
Kyung nodded.
“What about the other
guys?” I asked.
She shrugged. I could tell
there was something else on her mind.
“What is it?” I leveled a
gaze at her.
“More than just Nick’s
parents are going to be finding out.” She looked away.
I narrowed my eyes. “What
do you mean?” I asked slowly.
She sighed. “I didn’t want
to tell you this, but you are going to find out anyway. This whole thing has
turned into an even bigger mess. Someone here found a copy of you guys’ chat
and has already called the National Enquiror.”
I gasped.
“It gets worse. Other
major news stations know and there are reporters all over outside. Security is
keeping them from coming in, but there has been some close calls.”
This was unreal. “Oh my
god, everyone is going to find out. My parents, everyone at school. Shit! What
is this going to do to to the Backstreet Boys? To
Nick?!” I felt sick to my stomach.
“I don’t know. I wish I
knew what to say, but I don’t. Oh and I heard someone in the nurses station
mention that psych is sending someone up to talk to you.” Kyung frowned as she
said this.
“What?! Why?” I demanded.
“Well Lizz, look at it.
You are a suicide risk now. You swallowed a bottle of a pretty strong drug. It
wasn’t someone like Tylenol. This looks like a serious attempt at your life.
Everyone is still amazed that you are even alive now. Your body is still really
screwed up. And I’m not even talking about your kidneys. The albuterol really
did a job on you. Not to mention that you are making it worse by not taking
care of yourself here. You have already torn your stitches twice.” Kyung’s
voice rose.
“Like you said, I’m
already all screwed up so I don’t care that much at this point. I am more
concerned with Nick right now. He’s in a freaking coma. He’s having seizures
and they don’t know why. His career might be ruined now. What if they can’t
bring him out of this coma? What if he doesn’t get better? What happens with
him is so much more important right now.” I fired all this out at Kyung and
didn’t even notice how red her face got.
“Bullshit! Why is your
life any less important, huh?!” She demanded angrily.
I just looked at her. “It
just is.”
“Whatever. I’ll be back. I
need some coffee.” She stormed out of the room.
Shit. I had pissed her off
good. I haven’t seen her this mad in...I don’t even know. I suddenly felt
really alone and really depressed. I felt tears come to my eyes and I blinked
them away. I was sick of crying. A few escaped anyway. I heard a soft knock at
my door and I turned away. “Go away whoever you are.” I muttered under my
breath.
The knocking persisted.
“Yeah?” I called out softly. I figured it was Kyung again so I was surprised it
wasn’t her that gazed at me from the doorway.
~*~*~*~*
Dr. Minnick was sweatting as he prepped Nick's IV line. They were in a tiny
sterile room. Nurse Barbara McKean, the doctor's assistant could detect his
obvious nervousness and apprehension as he worked on the patient.
"Where the hell is
the Neuroban? I need it now, dammit!"
Nurse McKean slapped the
syringe into the doctor's gloved palm. Her eyes met with his icy blue glare.
She knew he had messed up with this patient. She was waiting for the right time
to confront him.
Picking up Nick's chart,
the doctor wrote down orders. "I want this patient back to ICU with 24
hours total survelience."
"Yes doctor," a
nurse replied to his order.
Dr. Minnick slapped the
door open and took a deep breath of air once he left the room, he felt that the
patient's prognosis was off his shoulders, he was done with the Carter case, as
far as he was concerned. A hand on his arm stopped the doctor in mid-stride.
"You are planning on
talking to this boy's family, aren't you?" Nurse McKean spat out.
The doctor pulled his arm
from the nurse's grip. "What for? There's nothing to tell."
"Nothing to tell? My
god Peter, you messed up this time and you know it. Because of your error, he
has had a stroke. God only knows if the damage can be repaired. He could
possibly wake up not being able to move or to speak," the nurse spoke
harshly, barely above a whisper.
"There's no way you
can prove that and besides if you think you're going to the board with your suspecions, think again. Remember the Baby Boy Johnson
case? You were at fault in that one by your own mistakes, so you see, Nurse
McKean, I am not going down alone, I will take anyone I can with me."
Stunned, Barbara McKean
stood staring at the doctor for a moment, she started to turn and walk away
when he grabbed her by the arm.
"Let's go talk to the
family then, you're coming with me."
The nurse reluctantly
followed the doctor to the ICU waiting room. As she stood in the doorway, she
noticed the patient's parents and a young man in his early twenties sitting in
a chair holding his head in his hands. When the doctor entered the room he
looked up at them, his eyes were a piercing blue.
"Hi, Doctor Minnick.
I just finishing pushing the meds that should be bringing Nick around out of
his sedation. Everything looks good so far."
"Did they figure out
what's caused the seizures yet?" Brian asked.
"He never had anymore
since he went under the sedation, so we are hoping that the meds he is on now
will be the ones that hold them off. Unfortunately, he will need to be on the
anti-seizure meds for the rest of his life, but if it prevents the seizures,
it's good."
The doctor quickly shook
their hands and left the room.
~*~*~*~*~
I think I could safely say
that these past three days were some of the worst in my life. Today was the day
that Nick was supposed to be coming out of his coma. I was a wreck. In more
ways than one actually. Ever since Kyung had stormed out of my room three days
ago, things had seemed to go downhill. She wasn’t mad at me anymore of course,
but the battle I was fighting with myself was growing. I was supposed to stay
quiet, but that day I made things worse for myself again.
The knocking persisted.
“Yeah?” I called out softly. I figured it was Kyung again so I was surprised it
wasn’t her that gazed at me from the doorway.
A woman that appeared to
be in her mid thirties gave me a confident smile. “Hi. My name is
“Who are you?” I asked
shortly. I knew I was rude, but I wasn’t in the mood for visitors.
“I’m a reporter from
Channel 8.”
My jaw dropped. "How
did you get in here?!" I demanded.
"Oh, I have my
ways." She informed me smugly.
"I'm not telling you
anything so you might as well leave." I said coldly.
"Could you just
cooperate with a few questions. How do you know Nick Carter? Is it true that
you both tried to kill yourselves with some sort of suicide pact? Are there any
permanent results?" She started firing the questions at me.
"Get out before I
call security." I glared at her.
"Just answer a few
questions, then I will leave. There isn't a phone in here to call with
anyway." She made her voice sound sickeningly sweet.
"Then I will yell at
the top of my lungs." I snapped.
"Right." She
sneered.
This wasn’t right. There
was no way that this person was from Channel 8. "Fine, I'll strike a deal
with you. You tell me who you really are and how you got in here.
Then I will tell you
something." I spoke slowly.
"Okay. I don't work
at Channel 8. I am with the National Enquiror. And I
was let in by one of the nurses here." She stated.
"Why would one of the
nurses let you in?" I demanded.
"Because she is the
one who called and told us everything. And I am their best reporter and I am
used to getting what I want. So now you can tell me what I want to know."
She said haughtily.
I shook my head in
disbelief. "Bitch. Get out of here right now." I exploded. The
adrenaline was pumping now.
"I don't think so
sweetie. Answer my questions." Her tone went to straight nasty.
“Get out.” I repeated.
She only stared at me.
I reached over to my
bedside table and grabbed the nearest thing. That happened to be a small
pitcher of water. I held it up. “Get out of here right now before I soak your
ass.” I threatened.
She took a step toward me
and I threw the water on her, drenching her suit.
She gasped. “You
little...”
I didn’t know what she was
going to do next so I threw the empty pitcher at the wall as hard as I could.
It made a loud clatter.
“Alright kid, have it your
way, but it doesn’t change what is being printed in next week’s paper. I’ll
make sure to send you a copy. You both will be all over the front page.” With
that she turned around and flounced out of the room.
I shuddered at the memory
of that. As soon as she had left I lost my energy and collapsed against my
pillows, shaking like a leaf. The monitors above my head started beeping and I
felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. Within seconds, my nurse was in my room
trying to calm me down. When Kyung had returned, she was pretty mad.
Kyung was working now so
she was on another floor. They were going to start my first dialysis treatment
today and I had to admit I was nervous. Kyung tried to switch her shift around
so she could be with me, but was unable. I didn’t want to be alone. My doctor
explained to me that they had actually done the procedure when I was in my
first surgery. So technically this was the second one, but since I wasn’t awake
for that one, I counted this as my first.
I wasn’t due for another
hour so I decided I was going to go see Nick. I was watched like a hawk for the
past three days so I couldn’t go see him, but now everything seemed quiet so I
could get away with it. Besides I wanted to be there when he woke up. The hard
part was getting there. I knew that my chances of staying were better if I got
caught when I was already in his room.
The wheelchair was still
in my room and I snickered at that. With my history, you’d think they would be
smart enough to keep it out of reach. Getting to the chair was going to be a
task though. I don’t know what was wrong with me because I didn’t seem to be
feeling much better. I wasn’t regaining my strength like I figured I would. I
knew I was stubborn enough to make it to the chair though. I turned off my IV
machine and clamped the line. It was too much of a hassle to maneuver that and
the wheelchair and I knew that they would hook me back up to it as soon as I
was discovered anyway. Next came the leeds that I was
attached to. I flipped the switch on silent just like I had done before and
then pulled them off. I was a little more hesitant to take off my oxygen, but
it was a sacrifice I had to make.
Finally, very carefully I
slid into the wheelchair. My legs felt like rubber and I didn’t want to use
them more than I had to. I didn’t need another fall.
Time was running short
before I was discovered so I wheeled myself to the doorway. I was already
feeling lightheaded and short of breath, but I was getting used to that. I
wasn’t going to let whatever was wrong with me get in my way. The hall was
empty so I headed toward Nick’s room.
The door was slightly ajar
so I pushed it open a little more. The door swung open, but now I hesitated.
Several pairs of eyes turned in my direction.
~*~*~*~*~
Brian looked up to see
Lizz sitting in a wheelchair in the doorway. She was very pale, but had a
determined look on her face. “Lizz, what are you doing out of bed?
You look awful!” Brian explaimed as he headed towards her.
“Gee thanks Bri, you look
like crap yourself.” Lizz retorted. “How is he? I want to see him.” She tried
to peer around Brian, who was standing in front of her.
“He’s still asleep.” Brian
replied. Then he remembered that Lizz had never met Nick’s parents. “Jane, Bob,
this is Nick’s online friend, Lizz. Remember I told you about her earlier?”
Jane nodded and held out
her hand for Lizz to take. “Nice to meet you.” She said.
Lizz shook her hand and
flushed. She thought of how silly she must have looked being so pale and having
bright red cheeks. She turned back to Brian. “Will you push me over to him?”
Brian nodded and angled
Lizz at the side of the bed. Lizz looked carefully at him and her eyes widened.
She had expected him to look like he was sleeping peacefully, but instead he
didn’t look all that peacful. His eyes were partway
open showing a sliver of his blue eyes. Lizz looked at Brian uncertainly.
“He’s been like that for
awhile. I guess it is part of coming out of the coma.” Brian tried to reassure
her. Unfortuntately his voice didn’t sound as
confident as he would have liked.
~*~*~*~*~
I opened my eyes and
slowly tried to become aware of my surrounding. Machines were stacked next my
bed...not good. I tried to remember what happened to me that landed me in this
place. I had an itch on my nose and was going to scratch it when I realized that
something was terribly wrong. I told my right hand to scratch it, but it
refused to budge.
"Naaaa."
Okay, now I was really starting to panic here. That did not sound like me. I
attempted to clear my throat and try it again, a simple word, nurse, 'come on
Nick, you can do it.' "Naaaa."
'Okay, it must be cause I
was out of it or something, just give it time,' I was desperately trying to
reassure myself and avoid the panic that was filling my mind.
A woman appeared in my
view, her nameplate had a picture of her face and the Name Allison written on
it.
"Glad to see you're
awake, we've been waiting for you, Nick."
This girl seemed overly
cheerful, I decided. I know at least my command of frowning seemed to work
because she picked up on that one instantly.
"I know, it takes
time, just relax, you've been in that coma for a few days now," Allison
said as she patted my shoulder.
My mind searched trying to
figure out why I was in a coma. Was I in an accident? I was growing more and
more confused.
I was still trying to
adjust myself to the weirdness of the situation when a group of people all
wearing white lab coats came into the room. One of them said that they were
from the neurology team and needed to evaluate my progress.
*~*~*~*~*
Brian paced nervously in
the small private waiting room next to ICU.
"Brian, please, sit
down, you're making me nervous," Jane said as she patted the seat next to
hers.
Brian reluctantly sat down
and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his
hands. He could feel Jane rubbing his back.
"They said someone
would be in to see us in a few minutes, what is taking them so long?"
Brian asked out loud, a frustrated tone in his voice.
Before Jane could answer
Brian's question, a man in a long white labcoat
entered the room.
"Doctor Signet,
neurology," the doctor sighed as he sat in the chair opposite of Brian and
the Carter's. He flipped open what appeared to be Nick's chart. "I've just
finished evaluating Nick and I'm afraid that the prognosis at this point does
not look very good." The doctor sighed again as he quickly shuffled
through some papers in the chart. "It appears that he has suffered a
stroke from the last seizure he endured before he was placed into the coma.
Jane gasped and held onto
her husband's hand tighter. Brian's mouth dropped open.
"Wha... what's the
prognosis, what's been affected?" Brian stammered, afraid to know.
"Right now the
paralysis appears to have affected his speech and his extremeties
are weak."
"But it will get
better, right?" Brian asked.
"Only time will
tell," the doctor stated as he closed the chart up. He shook their hands
and excused himself saying that they could go see Nick if they wanted to.
*~*~*~*~*~
I sat in my bed and
sulked. I wasn’t in Nick’s room for more than five minutes when I got busted. I
was pretty pissed, but I wasn’t going to cause a scene.
Especially with his
parents in there. I felt a little better when Brian told me that they had to
clear everyone out so the neurologists could check Nick out. Maybe they would
figure out what was going on. My nurse was not very happy with me for getting
out of bed. Apparantly my stats were not so good. Go
figure, I felt pretty lousy. So I layed there and
sulked and worried.
“Hey Lizz! I can’t stay,
but I need to tell you something.” Kyung came in and stood by the side of my
bed. She looked at me closely. “You look terrible.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks.
Between you and Brian...” I trailed off.
“Um, there was a message
for you on the answering machine. It was your mom...” She began.
My hopes lifted. As much
as I was worried about how she would react, I needed her to be here.
“You were right about your
mom and dad going to
I forced a smile. “It’s
all good. My mom would freak if she knew anyway. It would be better if I was in
better shape when she knew.” I couldn’t ignore that little voice in the back of
my mind that said “if I got better.”
She nodded uncertainly.
“Well you should still call them. Do you know any of your relative’s numbers?”
“Nope, not a clue.” I
sighed.
“I’m sorry, sweetie.” She
squeezed my shoulder.
I gave her a tight smile.
“I start my first dialysis in about 20 minutes.”
“I know. I wish I could be
here.” It was obvious she felt bad. She tried to switch shifts, but it didn’t
pan out.
“Don’t worry about it.
I’ll be fine.” My voice wasn’t as convincing as I would have liked.
She leaned down and gave
me a hug. “You’ll be alright, I know you will. I’m going to swing by and talk
to Brian and see what I can find out. I’ll try to get some info back to you
okay?”
I nodded, not trusting my
voice at the present. She left and I don’t think I had ever felt so alone in my
life. That is the thing I hated most about being in the hospital. How lonely it
was. I wished more than anything that my parents were here, but they didn’t
even know what was going on. Kyung had told me that a few of our friends had
called, but I didn’t know how to handle visitors yet. The situation was too
delicate. Kyung had been great. All her spare time between class and work was
spent with me. Brian had also spent some time in here too. It was those silent
moments. The past few nights when I couldn’t sleep. And more than ever, now. I
wanted to be the strong person that everyone always told me that I was, but I
didn’t feel strong right now. I didn’t want to be alone through this dialyisis thing. I fought the tears that were trying to
push through.
~*~*~*~*~
Barbara McKean struggled
for the third time to get the right combination on her locker. Her hands were
shaking so bad that she kept hitting the wrong numbers. She took a deep breath
and exhaled slowly. The image of Nick Carter’s face kept going through her
mind. It was wrong. What Dr. Minnick had done was wrong. What he was doing now
was beyond comprehension.
Nurse McKean was faced
with the biggest moral dilemma she could imagine. She couldn’t let Dr. Minnick
get away with this, but how could she expose him without taking the fall
herself? She couldn’t afford to lose this job. One little mistake she made as
an intern could now destroy her career. On on the
other hand, her ethics couldn’t let her stay quiet. Dr. Minnick was well known
and respected. Personally, she didn’t like him. He was ill-tempered and had a
miserable bedside manner, but he was a good doctor. Until now.
Her heart broke at the
memory of the reactions of this poor kid’s parents. And that young man that was
with them. It was his eyes that she couldn’t forget. She had to do something
about this, but she didn’t know what.
~*~*~*~*~
Kyung spotted Brian in the
hall, leaning against the wall next to Nick's room, his head bowed. He appeared
to be visibly shaken, his face ashen.
"Brian, what's
wrong?" Kyung asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
Brian stood there for the
longest time, not speaking, just slowly shaking his head back and forth.
Finally after several minutes had passed, he looked at her, his eyes bloodshot
and tired.
"I've always been
able to fix things for Nick, always. This time I can't. I don't understand
it," Brian mumbled.
"Fix what? What's
wrong?" Kyung asked, searching his face for some type of clue. "He's
still not having seizures, is he?"
"They think the last
seizure he had before they put him under caused some problems," Brian
began. His eyes were tearing up and he stopped speaking because his voice was
failing him.
Kyung waited for Brian to
regain his composure.
"They're saying he
had a stroke---"
"Oh god," Kyung
gasped, putting her hand to her mouth.
"Lizz? How is she
doing?" Brian asked, worried about her welfare.
"She is starting
dialysis right now. Naturally, she's scared to death," Kyung replied.
Overwhelmed with
everything that was happening with Nick and Lizz, Brian's legs started to
buckle. Kyung was able to catch him before he fell down to the floor.
~*~*~*~*~
I never got nervous about
anything, but I sure as hell was now. Several people in scrubs had just let
themselves into my room and were hooking up what I guessed was the dialysis
machine. I wished more than anything that someone was in here with me. The techs,
or whatever they were called, were very efficient. They wasted no time in
setting everything up and getting this started. I wanted to find a way to stall
them. I thought about saying I had to go to the bathroom, but my nurse made
sure I went before the crew got here. She also had me weighed. That had
something to do with the dialysis. Making sure that they exchanged the right
amount of blood or something. I wasn’t too clear on all this yet.
“Okay
“Oh my god.” I whispered.
It was huge! I had never had a needle that big get put into me and I had had a
lot of needles stuck in my in my life. And it was going in my neck? I wanted to
throw up. Instead I started coughing uncontrollably. I do that when I get
nervous, upset, or anxious. Now it was all of the above.
“Are you alright?” Another
asked me watched me carefully.
I nodded and after a few
minutes, the coughing subsided. “I’m ready.” I said hoarsely. Actually I
wasn’t, but I didn’t have much choice.
“Wait, can’t I have some
lidocaine or something?” My voice hit a frantic note as she moved towards me.
“I‘m sorry honey. With your
compromised health, it would be dangerous to numb your neck that much.” The
first one said apologetically. I saw that her name was Lenora.
“What about versed to
knock me out?” I pleaded. I did not want to feel that thing.
“That would have to be
ordered from the pharmacy and we have to get this started. We do have a spray
though. It will be able to take some of the sting out.” She suggested.
“Okay.” That was a relief.
She had me lay back and relax. Riiiight, relax...The
other techs were fiddling with the machine. Man, I wanted someone here with me.
She sprayed the stuff on my neck and waited. It was cold and almost immediately
I started to go numb. She waited for about three minutes.
“Ready?” Lenora asked
gently. I nodded and she counted to three. I didn’t feel the needle actually go
in, but then once it was in, I felt her threading it. I sucked in my breath
sharply and felt tears come to my eyes. It hurt.
“Hold still okay?” Lenora
told me.
I clenched the sheets
tightly in my hands and prayed that it would be over soon. After another minute
she was done and began to secure it with tape. I let out a shaky breath and
shut my eyes. “That was not cool.” I whispered.
“You did great though,
honey.” I could hear a smile in her voice. “At the other end of the catheter
are two tubes. One is for the outflow and the other is for the inflow. This
will take about 4-6 hours and you might experience some side-effects. Espeically considering your lung condition and your,
um...overdose. Call your nurse if you feel anything.” She informed me.
“‘K” I whispered. She
patted my knee and everyone left. I didn’t want to move so I just layed there as still as possible.
“We’ll be back in a little
bit to check on you.” And then I was alone.
~*~*~*~*~
Terri rushed up to Monica.
“I have been looking for you all day!”
Monica nodded absently.
She wasn’t very pleased with Terri right now. She had found out about Terri
calling the National Enquiror several days ago and
was livid. How could Terri do that?! For all the years of being best friends,
Monica had never seen this side of Monica.
“Have you seen the mob
outside?! It’s huge!” Exclaimed Terri, excitedly.
“Yeah, I saw them.” Monica
mumbled. She started to move past her to grab a few charts that needed tending.
“I just gave a couple
interviews. It’ll be on tonight’s news. Think of the exposure this is giving
me!” Terri was grinning gleefully.
Monica stared at her in
disbelief. “Haven’t you thought that maybe they might want a little privacy
here? When people start getting wind of what you did you could get fired!”
“No I wouldn’t. Freedom of
speech. Besides Brian, or whatever his name is, shouldn’t have gone off on me
like that. I mean geez! You should have heard the way he was talking to me!”
Monica exploded. “Damnit
Terri, do you blame him? Honestly? You are telling the whole world that his
best friend is suicidal! Come on!”
“The people have a right
to know.” Terri said hotly.
“No they don’t! That is
their personal business. Not ours or anyone elses!
What has gotten into you?” Monica glared at her.
“Please, Mon, don’t tell
me that this doesn’s excite you just a little bit. It
doesn’t get any juicier than this. Nick Carter tried to kill himself and in the
process took some other girl down with him. He, more than anyone should have
the perfect life, and yet he does this? Why? And who is this other chick? How
does she play into it? Why would she do such an insane thing?” Her eyes were
glowing.
Monica felt like she was
going to be ill. “You must think this is some sort of game. Do you realize that
these are people’s lives? Neither one of them are looking too good at the
moment. How can you be so sick?! It’s like I don’t even know you!”
“Oh relax, sheesh.” Terri
waved her hand as if dismissing Monica’s anger.
“Look...” Monica started
icily. But she was cut of by a doctor that was running by.
“Monica, I need you. A
young male just collapsed.” He called.
~*~*~*~*~
Brian woke up finding
himself laying on a stretcher in the emergency room. He started to sit up but
was immediately pushed back down by a surgical gloved hand.
“Lay back down, okay?”
Brian looked up at the
voice and saw that it was Kyung. He felt a little relief, but then winced as he
felt a needle plunge into a vein in his arm. He noticed also that they had an
IV going.
“I don’t have time for
this, I’m okay,” Brian protested.
“You collapsed in the hall
way, Brian, that’s not normal,” Kyung reminded.
“Let them check you over
and then decide, okay? I’m sure they will do what’s best for you,” Kyung
stated. “I’ll stay with you while they take you down for the CT.”
“CT? I said I’m fine, why
do they insist on doing so many things?” Brian asked, his voice sounded
agitated.
“Like I said before, you
collapsed, they just want to make sure everything is alright. Just humor them,
okay?”
Brian was upset at the
thought of being dragged through the emergency room, but deep down he knew that
Kyung was right. He already made his mind up that he collapsed because of all
that was happening, but he would just wait until the doctors decided that’t what they would diagnose.
~*~*~*~
Lizz drew herself to the
conclusion that dialysis sucked. There were no other two ways about it. The topical
anesthetic that was applied to numb her neck was wearing off and she felt more
aware of the needles. She mentally reprimanded herself for drinking the
albuterol that pushed her kidneys to the limit. But still, she knew deep down
that should would do it again if the situation was there.
She lazily surfed throught the channels looking for something to watch. Lizz
stopped on Mtv. She figured music could soothe her
nerves and maybe wear her down so she could rest.
They were having the top
10 countdown on TRL and, as usual, someone from n’sync
was sucking up to Carson Daly. Lizz laughed when she remembered her online
buddy Chrissy always said that n’sync
lived in a dumpster behind the studios.
The One video was shown
and Lizz suddenly found herself thinking about how Nick was doing but the next
thought that popped into her head was the fact that Kyung had not returned from
checking back with Brian. She immediately started thinking the worst scenarios
and looked for the nurse call button.
Caroline, her dialysis
nurse came immediately into the room. “Something wrong, sweetie?”
“Kyung was suppose to come
back and I haven’t seen her. You know her, right?” Lizz asked with a hopeful
tone in her voice.
“Sorry, I don’t,” Caroline
apologized.
“Dammit,
I need to page her or something, this is crazy,” Lizz stated as she squirmed in
her bed.
“Calm down Lizz, don’t get
yourself worked up now. What’s the number?” Caroline asked.
Lizz gave Caroline the
pager number. She wrote it down and promised that she would page Kyung when she
got back to the nurse’s station.
~*~*~*~*~
Terri followed Monica to
the ER and saw them working on Brian Littrell. She faded back into a doorway
when the gurney was pushed past her. Once she knew that Monica was busy with
Brian, Terri decided to wander up to Nick Carter’s room and see what was going
on with him. She knew the National Enquirer could use more updated information
and she definately was going to get it. They told her
if she could provide photos, it would push up the payment she would get by
thousands depending on the quality of the picture.
Grabbing her cleaning
cart, Terri slowly pushed it down the ICU hall way. There was no mistaking
which room was Nick Carter’s. There was a security guard assigned outside the room.
She nonchalantly breezed up to the door with her cart and showed the guard her
identification tag.
~*~*~*~*~
I was starting to feel
slightly nauseated now. I had a relatively tough stomach so I tried my best to
ignore it. TRL was over so I flipped the channel. I never watched TV anymore so
I didn’t know what was on. I couldn’t keep my mind on that anyway. The churning
feeling in my stomach got worse only it wasn’t just nausea. It was also a
clenching, twisting feeling. This was different. I started to feel agitated.
What the hell? My whole body got tense like there was something wrong. It was
something kin to a sixth sense. I knew something was wrong. And I knew what it
was concerned with.
The machines started to
make some beeping noises. It was the heart monitor. My heart was racing and I
could only attribute it to what was happening so suddenly. I knew a racing
heart could be a side effect to the dialysis, but this felt different somehow.
It was starting to scare me.
Not five seconds are the
beeps started going off, Caroline rushed in. “Sweetie, what is it?” She asked.
I was starting to shake
now. “What the hell?” I whispered.
“Relax, take a deep
breath.” She instructed.
“This isn’t from the
dialysis. It’s different.” I gasped urgently. It was starting to sink in what
was happening to me, but I couldn’t tell her. She would think I was nuts. Hell,
I was beginning to question it myself.
“Lizz, you need to calm
down.” She said gently, but sternly.
I shook my head. “What is
going on with Nick? I need to know.” I couldn’t stop shaking. I was so tense,
my muscles began to ache. My breathing became erratic almost. I needed to know.
“Sweetie, now isn’t the
time.” She said carefully as she adjusted my oxygen flow.
“Where is Kyung?” I was
beginning to grow desperate. There was an urgency in my feelings and it was
beginning to take me over.
“She, uh, is tied up with
a patient.” Caroline looked uncomfortable.
I needed Kyung. I was on
the verge of losing it. I had never been in such a state as this in my life. I
knew what was making me do this, but I didn’t know how or why it hit so
suddenly. Something was wrong. “What is happening with Nick? I know something
is wrong. He is upset about something and I have to know what it is!” My eyes darted
wildly.
She looked shocked. It was
almost like she couldn’t fathom my behavior. All I knew was that the tension in
my body was getting stronger and the desperation was spinning me out of
control. I felt like I was beginning to unravel and I tried to fight the
overwhelming panic. There was a battle going on inside me. But it wasn’t my
battle. I was feeling Nick’s.
*~*~*~*
I was expecting to see my
nurse named Allison come into the room when I heard the door opening. I wasn't suprised to see a girl from housekeeping come in with her
cart. I decided I needed to try and see if I could move my right hand yet.
"Hi, how are you
today?"
I couldn't answer this
girl if I wanted to. Hell, I couldn't smile either. I know I must have looked
like a total idiot, staring blankly at her, but there was nothing I could do,
period.
"Oh my god, you can't
talk, can you?"
This was exactly what I
was trying to avoid. I wanted to get this girl out of my room but I knew I
couldn't order her out.
As Terri pulled the camera
out of her pocket, she thought she saw Nick's eyes flash with anger. She
ignored it and started firing off picture after picture of Nick laying helpless
in a hospital bed.
The monitors on the side
of Nick's bed started beeping as his heart rate soared and his oxygen levels
plummeted. Nick started hyperventilating which caused Terri to panic. She
quickly shoved the camera into her pocket and started to reach for the nurse
call button when Nurse Allison Harding rushed into the room.
Allison was surveying the
situation when another nurse raced in. Allison barked out some type of
medication that was to be given to Nick STAT and the nurse quickly turned and
left the room, re-entering in a few moments with a syringe.
Terri watched off to the
side of the room as the nurse quickly swabbed Nick's IV line and injected the
medication into the IV. Within seconds, the heart rate evened out and the
monitors stopped their repetitive beeping. Nick's whole body went limp as he
drifted back off to sleep.
After Allison checked the
lines going from Nick's body to the machines, she turned and faced Terri.
"Tell me, what
exactly happened in here?" Allison asked, her eyes searching Terri's face
for a clue.
"I don't know, all I
was doing was cleaning and all of a sudden his machines started going
crazy," Terri lied to the nurse.
Back at the nurse's
station, Allison pulled Nick's chart and opened it to the nurse's note page. In
it she described what went on with Nick and then next to it wrote the words
"panic attack."
*~*~*~*
Brian was putting his
pants on while he was still wearing the blue hospital gown.
"You know that you're
doing this against doctor's advisement," Dr. Knapp stated as Brian
continued to get dressed.
"Yeah, I know and I
already signed the papers, okay? I honestly don't have time to lay around in a
hospital bed. It was just flukey that I fainted in
the hall, but trust me, I don't intend on faiting
again, okay? I appreciate all you've done for me, but I'm needed with my friend
now," Brian replied.
"Mister Littrell,
you're suffering from exhaustion and you need to rest," Dr. Knapp pressed.
Brian waived the doctor
off. "I'm sorry, but I honestly don't have time to be exhausted. Nick
needs me. Thank you for your help," Brian half apologized as he walked out
of the room, leaving the doctor standing in the center, holding Brian's chart.
Once outside in the hall,
Brian fell against the wall as a wave of dizziness hit him. He glanced right
and left before he straightened up and started walking down the hall towards
the elevators that would take him up to ICU.
~*~*~*~*~
“Lizz, please, you need to
calm down. What’s wrong? Lizz!” Caroline cried in frustration.
I couldn’t even think
straight. I was so scared. More than I ever have been in my life. Over and over
I just murmered, “God, please help Nick. Help him.” I
didn’t know why this was happening, I only knew that it was somehow connected
to Nick.
I didn’t even notice the
other people that had rushed into my room. I didn’t notice one of them put
something into my IV. Everything stared to grow hazy and I fought it. I felt
like, whatever this was, I had to hold onto it. Keep praying. That option was
taken out of my hands as the medicine started to take effect and I lost
consciousness.
~*~*~*~*~
Relieved that no one had
seen him hit the wall, Brian continued carefully towards Nick’s room. He knew
that Kyung was also frustrated that he had decided not to let the doctors keep
him in bed and even run more tests if necessary. It didn’t matter though. He
was needed by Nick and that was where he planned on being.
Once in the elevator
another wave hit him and he leaned heavily against the wall. He felt emtpy inside. Like someone had drained him completely of
all energy. His eyes were heavy, yet he knew that he wouldn’t sleep. He had
barely eaten anything since this had started and had gotten even less sleep. He
probably hadn’t even had fifteen hours in the past 5 days. And even those hours
were disturbed and even nightmare filled. When he reached for the button for
his floor he noticed that he was shaking slightly so he shoved his hands into
his pockets.
He decided to stop in the
restroom to splash some cold water on his face. That seemd
to help. When he came out, he saw Kyung step out of one of the elevators. She
looked concerned.
“Kyung?” He called.
She stopped and walked
over to him. “I just got a page from this floor and it has Lizz’s
code in it. I’m sure everything is okay, she is probably feeling sort of crappy
from the dialysis.”
“I was on my way to see
Nick.” Brian stated as he shifted his face away from her. He had a feeling she
was going to say something. He was right.
“Brian, you look horrible.
You need to rest!” She admonished.
He repeated what he had
told Dr. Knapp. “I don’t have time to rest. I need to be there for Nick.”
Kyung groaned. “Honestly,
you are acting like Lizz and Nick do. You are supposed to be more level-headed
than that. What good are you going to be to him if you get sick because that is
the direction that you are headed.” She pointed out.
He gave her a wan smile.
“I’m fine.” Then another wave of dizziness hit him and he started to sway.
“Fine, right!” Kyung
exclaimed, rolling her eyes. She steadied him and led him to a bench. “Stay
there and I will be right back. You aren’t moving until you eat something.”
With that she went to the
small kitchen to find something for him, trusting he would stay there. She
didn’t even know if he would be able to even stand up.
~*~*~*~*~
Caroline, Lizz’s dialysis nurse, was visibly shaken by what she had
read. Lizz’s other nurse had made a note in her chart
that Lizz had just had a panic attack. Like Lizz had requested, Caroline
checked on Nick. His chart read that he had just experienced a panic attack
also. How could that have happened? It must be some sort of mistake, she
thought. She recognized the initials underneath as Allison’s and called her
over.
“What is it?” Allison
asked.
“Patient in 13 just had a
panic attack?” Caroline asked carefully.
Allison hesitated. “Yes,
why do you ask?”
Caroline merely pointed to
the two charts laying side by side.
“Patient in 15 just did
also?” Allison’s voice was skeptical.
Caroline nodded. “She had
to be sedated. Al, look at this. That is Nick Carter. This girl is the one who
drank whatever she did in order to stop him from trying to kill himself.
Explain this to me.” She said as she pointed in turn to each chart. “They both
had them at the same time. How is that possible? How is that a coincidence?”
She demanded.
“I, uh, don’t know.”
Allison said uneasily. “That is really weird.”
“It gets weirder. When she
started to panic, her focus was on Nick. She kept saying that something was
wrong. It came totally out of the blue. She hasn’t talked to him or anything.”
The two women continued to
talk about it, not realizing that someone was listening to every word of their
conversation. Terri vowed that later she would make photo copies of the part in
their charts that mentioned that happening. She was dumbfounded by it, but it
excited her because she figured that would bring in even more money. For now
she would try to get a few pictures of this other girl. She was a little hesitant
at first because of what had happened to Nick, but this other chick was out
cold so she could get away with it.
She pushed her cart down
the hall and tried to act nonchaulant as she went
inside. The room was dark with the blinds drawn and no lights on. Only what
shone in through the curtain. All the machines beeped steadily now, unlike
Nick’s had. The girl looked peaceful and it seemed odd that she would after
what she just went through according to the nurses. Terri decided she would
like some of whatever was given to the girl.
She whipped out her camera
and began snapping away. When the button wouldn’t push she realized that the
roll was full and she needed to get more film. Satisfied that she hadn’t been disconvered, she emptied the camera and dropped the roll
into her pocket. She had a delivery to make.
~*~*~*~
As Barbara McKean walked
down the long hallway past the cafeteria and to the main lobby, thoughts were
still running through her mind about that kid’s parents and that one boy again.
As much as she tried to push the thoughts out of her mind, they kept
re-entering, haunting her, hounding her, not letting up almost as if it were
insisting that she do something.
She knew that Nick Carter
was a high profile patient in the hospital. She knew how important he must be
when she pulled into the employee parking lot when she reported for her
“I have to do something,
but I need my job,” Barabara sighed as she walked
past the gift shop. The newspaper rack made her stop. Staring back at her was a
tabloid with a picture of this poor kid laying in bed and split next to it was
a picture of a young girl, also laying in a hospital bed, unconscious. Barbara
grabbed a copy of the paper and slammed a five dollar bill on the counter with
the paper.
“Hey Barb, bad day or
something?” Bruce, the volunteer clerk in the shop asked.
“You could say that,”
Barbara mumbled.
“I didn’t think you were
the National Enquiror type of a person,” Bruce
chuckled as he rang up her purchase.
“I’m not,” Nurse McKean
snapped back.
Bruce leaned back away
from her as if she had taken a swing at him. “Whoa, you are a little testy
today.”
The nurse grabbed the
paper and the change and spun around on her heels and stormed off out of the
shop. Once she got into the elevator, she could feel her heart pounding as if
it would leap out of her chest. She thumbed through the magazine until she
reached the Nick Carter article.
When the elevator stopped,
she quickly folded the paper under her arm and exited the car. She went
directly to the nurses lounge on that floor and took a seat off in the corner
near a lamp and started reading the article:
BAD DAY IN
In aparent
suicide attempt, Nick Carter overdosed on the tour bus while they were enroute to their next stop in the midwest.
Carter was online with a fan and spelled out his intentions to her. Things went
from bad to worse when the fan followed Carter’s actions and drank a bottle of
some type of asthma medication that caused her heart to speed up and nearly
explode.
This did not end with a
death, rather this has unfolded into a battle for their lives! Nick Carter has
suffered brain damage and it looks now that he will never be onstage ever again
as this has left him without the ability to speak or move! The girl has
permanent kidney damage and will require a transplant to save her life!
We are following this soap
opera saga and will continue to provide updates and photos as we received them
from our reliable source inside the hospital in
Nurse McKean’s
hands shook with the rage that was filling her body. She needed to get a hold
of herself and calm down, but she couldn’t. The mere thought that Dr. Minnick
would be walking away from this scott free upset her.
Her dilemma was clear: expose Dr. Minnick’s error and lose her job because of
the incident that happened 20 years ago or ignore it ever happened and watch
this kid’s life be ripped from him.
~*~*~*~*~
All through that night
Kyung had kept a vigil at Lizz’s bed. Brian had done
the same with Nick, much to Kyung’s frustration. She had managed to get him to
eat a few crackers yesterday after he had nearly passed out again. He was just
so damned stubborn. Once, at about
She was relieved to see Brian was curled up in
the corner of the chair, asleep. Unfortunately that didn’t even last an hour
because he came to see how Lizz was about 45 minutes after that. He didn’t go
back to sleep.
Kyung sighed and rubbed
her eyes. It was only a little after
She had returned from the
kitchen to find Brian leaning forward, his head in his hands. She frowned, used
to seeing him in that position. After giving him the graham crackers they both
walked over to the nurses station.
Caroline immediately
rushed up to them. Kyung was disturbed by the look on her face. She almost
looked scared.
“Kyung right?” She asked.
Kyung nodded.
“Has Lizz had a history of
panic attacks that you know of?” She asked.
Kyung shook her head
slowly. “No, never.” Where was this going?
Caroline shifted her
attention to Brian. “Has Nick?”
Brian shifted
uncomfortably. That was too personal of information to be giving out to some
random nurse. “Why, do you ask?”
“Please, it is very
important!” Caroline stressed.
Both Kyung and Brian could
see hear the urgency in this nurse’s voice and they glanced at each other.
Finally Brian nodded slightly.
“But Lizz never has? Are
you sure of this? Could she be prone to one?” Caroline persisted.
“No, of course not. I
would know, she’s my best friend. What is going on?” Kyung demanded.
Caroline leaned forward.
“Nick just had one.”
Upon hearing that, Brian
shut his eyes. That was the last thing that Nick needed. What had brought this
on? He then felt a pang of guilt. If he had been there...
Caroline continued. “At
the same time, apparently, Lizz also experienced one.”
Kyung’s mouth fell open.
“Lizz did?! Why?!” She exclaimed.
“We don’t know, but it had
something to do with Nick. She was very insistent that something was wrong with
him. She kept repeating that, and getting more and more upset. Her monitors
started to go haywire and she had to be sedated. There was no way that she
could have known that Nick was having a panic attack at the very same time.
There aren’t phones in the rooms and she, of course, couldn’t go anywhere
hooked up to the dialysis. Not to mention that Nick can’t even speak. There was
no way that she could have known!” Caroline stated in awe.
Brian looked like he might
faint again and Kyung could only stare at the nurse in shock. This was unfathomable.
Lizz had never in her life had anything like that happen to her. She couldn’t
imagine how this was possible.
“Wait, I’ll show you.”
Caroline went to go get the two charts. She brought them back and laid them on
the counter. When she opened them, however, those pages were missing. “What on
earth?!”
She whirled around.
“Allison! What happened to the notes that were just written about the panic
attacks?”
Allison looked up from her
charting and gave a puzzled look. “What do you mean?”
“The pages aren’t in
here!” Caroline exclaimed. “Who would have taken them?”
Allison began to rummage
around the desk. “I don’t know. The only people that were even in here were
you, Marissa, but she was not even over here, and a girl from housekeeping.”
Kyung and Brian exchanged
nervous glances. That didn’t sound good.
“I’m sure they will turn
up.” Caroline assured them.
Kyung sighed again as her
thoughts returned to the present. Lizz had remained knocked out all night.
Whatever they had given her was obviously pretty strong. Nick had woken up once, but he got agitated
and had to be sedated again. Everyone was still puzzled over the whole
situation, but at least one of the nurses had found the missing chart papers.
They were actually back in the chart where they should have been in the first
place. Kyung wasn’t sure why, but that unnerved her. As did Lizz having a panic
attack and why it seemed to be connected to Nick’s. It frustrated Kyung because
she liked to have concrete answers to things. This was something that she
couldn’t figure out.
There was a knock at the
door and a second later Brian let himself in. The look on his face was ashen
and his eyes were red.
“What is it?!” Kyung
exclaimed, alarmed.
Wordlessly he handed her a
copy of the National Enquiror and sank into the
nearest chair. She looked at the cover and gasped. “Oh shit.” She whispered.
She flipped to the page of the article and her eyes scanned the page, along
with the disturbing pictures. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Oh God, Kyung. It’s out.”
Brian choked back a sob.
At that point Lizz started
to come to.
***
