Chapter
35
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Nick was telling
the doctor in front of him, “If I say they can’t come in, then they can’t,
right?”
The doctor nodded, “But Mr. Carter
your family has been waiting outside for a very long time for you to wake up.
They are very worried...”
“Yeah, well they can worry outside,”
Nick muttered folding his thin arms over his chest, “Hey, when can I get out of
here?”
“We’ll discuss that later Mr. Carter,
for right now I really want you to reconsider letting your family in to see
you.”
“We’ll discuss it later, hold on? Just
how long are you people planning to keep me here? And what’s in this thing?”
Nick fingered the IV tube coming from his left arm. He shook the cord
upsetting the bag hanging above him, its contents sloshed.
“Your vitamins Mr. Carter, it seems
you haven’t been ingesting enough.”
Nick rolled his eyes, “I am 20 years
old, you can’t tell me how to eat anymore than THEY can.”
“They know what’s best for you Mr.
Carter as you apparently do not.”
“What are you babbling about, I know
what’s best for me!” Nick was fuming. He ran his hands through his
stringy hair and laid back on his pillows with a sigh. He felt drained and
washed out, “What do I have to sign to get out of here.”
“Mr. Carter that’s out of the question
right now. You couldn’t stand on your own if you tried. We’ll just have
to wait a few days until you gain your strength back along with a few more
pounds.”
Nick cringed at the word “pounds.”
“Now do you still not want me to...”
“Let them in and I will scream,” Nick
said through barred teeth. He gripped the rails of the bed until his
knuckled gleamed white with strain.
The doctor shook his head sadly,
“Ok... but if you change your mind...”
“I won’t!” Nick growled.
Stupid doctor. He surveyed the
sterile white room he was in. How nice they had gotten him one all to himself.
Celebrity status, no doubt. He sighed.. He supposed he had been too hard
when it came to visitors... maybe he should have let his brothers and sisters
in. After all, it was only... Bob and Jane, he didn’t want to see. But
then, he didn’t want anyone to see him like this. God he was
pitiful. He was glad there was no mirror he could see his reflection
in... He looked like shit and he knew it. But hell what did he care
anymore? His thoughts changed dramatically from fretting over
appearances to total apathy of his situation. Didn’t he decide a few
hours ago that it all was just too much to bare? Didn’t he give up?
He remembered now.. And when you give up, who cares about your appearance?
He should call the doctor back and tell him to let them in, let them all
in... he kept them out because of appearance but if he no longer cared... but
then he also didn’t care enough to call the doctor.. Oh well. He sat in
perfect silence, eyes traveling down the white blankets of the hospital bed
tracing his thin form. He then began to play with his IV cord again.
This thing was good for him right? He tugged at it lightly, wincing
at the pain of the needle being pulled from his skin. He had to get rid
of the thing, but it hurt too much to pull it out, and what if he ruptured
something in the process... he might bleed all over the floor... He paused as
he contemplated the idea. He smiled slightly and began tugging on the
cord again, wincing each time at the pain.
He heard a knock at his door and
stopped what he was doing, dammit, didn’t he say no visitors. The door opened
slightly and a nurse slipped in, “Hello Mr. Carter, nice to see you awake.” She
ventured to his bed side and calmly began to prep a needle.
“Hey, I got a needle already, why do I
need another one?”
“Just taking some more blood Mr.
Carter,” the nurse said dutifully taking Nick’s arm and prepping a spot on it
with alcohol.
Nick groaned and let out a hiss as he
was stuck with the needle, “Hey, how long do you think the doctor will try
keep me here?”
The nurse frowned at Nick’s sallow
appearance, “A few days at the least, but honey you don’t look good. You
may want to stay a little longer than that or at least until we can get a good
15 to 20 pounds on you,” she giggled at that, “That could take a month.”
A month! Alarms went off in Nick’s
head, a month of being stuck in this... this place, this
hell! Hell...no.... He thought slowly. He sat patiently
waiting for the nurse to finish up and leave, and once she did, he began
his plot to get himself out of the mess everyone important to him in his life
had gotten him into.
“He won’t see us?” Brian asked in a
small voice. He collapsed on the chair behind him and wrung his hands
together at the same time AJ began to pace, “Why not?”
The doctor shrugged, “He’s not ready
for visitors.”
“He’ll never be ready for us,” Kevin
muttered, “but I’ll be damned if we sit out here. Does he have total control
of who goes in and out of there?”
The doctor nodded, “Yes, I’m afraid
that he does. The only people that are allowed in are doctors and nurses.”
“You can make an exception though, in
our case... Nicky needs us, regardless if he knows it, or admits it or
not. He needs us with him,” Howie was saying trying to get the doctor in his
favor. He had a way of swaying people to his side.
“It’s against our rules...”
“Doctor, Nick Carter is like my blood
ok. I’ve known him since he was twelve, and whenever he has had a problem I
have been there helping him through it. This.... that...” he pointed in the
direction of Nick’s room, “is a problem, and I have no intention of changing my
perfect past now because of you standing in my way. Now, if you’ll excuse me,
I’m going to pay Mr. Carter a visit,” Howard Dorough very proudly raised his
chin and stepped past the doctor. Without looking back he proceeded on to
Nick’s room.
“Well,” the doctor said, ”Well....” he
was speechless.
“That’s ‘Howie’ do it,” Brian joked
lightly, getting a groan from the others for the bad joke.
“Lets go,” Kevin said standing up to
follow Howie’s bold lead, the others rallying behind him, leaving a very
stunned doctor in their dust.
***
