Chapter
23
The sight of the small figure lying in the bed shocked the guys. This
didn’t look like the Brian they knew and loved. They had to looked twice even
three times at the man in the bed to make sure they was in the right room.
The lifeless man in the bed was extremely pale with a few spots of
color on his cheeks from the high fever that invaded his weak body, his sandy
blond hair was matted down on his forehead, his eyelids were closed and didn’t
allow anyone to see the eyes which were usually so bright blue and full of
life, and the face that usually held a friendly and bright smile for everyone
was expressionless.
But as horrible as his appearance looked, the thing that scared the
guys the most were the machines. Brian was hooked up to many machines including
a heart monitor and life support machine and he also had a breathing tube down
his throat to help his breathing. With every breath he took, they could faintly
hear the rattling type sound from within his lungs caused by the pneumonia is
his body.
Howie and A.J. quietly stood beside the bed taking in every detail,
they just couldn’t bring themselves to believe that this was their fellow
bandmate; he was just too lifeless. Kevin walked unsteadily up to his cousin’s
bedside, carefully grasping the part of his hand that wasn’t covered in wires
and IV’s.
"Oh Bri I’m so sorry this happened to you. If it hadn’t been for
me you wouldn’t be in this horrible place. I know you hate hospitals so much,
Bri and now you are in one. If you are angry with me when you wake up, I
wouldn’t blame you. Because of my stupidity you are lying here. Please forgive
me Br...Bri" pleaded Kevin as he erupted into body shaking sobs and he
buried his head into his cousin’s chest.
Howie made his way toward Kevin to comfort him as A.J. stayed still.
"Train, it is ok. Calm down. I don’t understand why you are blaming
yourself you did nothing wrong. And even if you did, Bri would forgive you, he
loves you man" said Howie in hopes of calming Kevin, but was shocked to
hear Kevin’s sobs grow louder as he started chanting "I’m sorry Bri,
please forgive me. Please!"
The sound of someone bumping into a table caused the guys attention to
travel to the front of the room to see Nick slowly backing up towards the door
with hopes of no one seeing him. He almost made it out the door but was quickly
pulled back by his shirt.
"Just where in the hell do you think you going?" asked an
angry tear-filled voice. Nick slowly turned his head around to meet the hard
green gaze of Kevin.
"I just need to get out of here Kev. Can’t you understand that? Is
it that hard to understand" stated Nick hatefully.
Before Nick knew what happened his head was slammed forcefully against
the wall. "Don’t you have any respect?" screamed Kevin. "My
cousin who is your best friend is lying in this damn hospital bed dying and all
you can think about is your damn self! Bri would give his life for you and you
are just acting like a stupid coward and running away from him just because you
can't face reality like the rest of us. I’m actually thankful that he isn’t
conscious to see you act this way!" screamed Kevin.
"Yeah Kev but it isn’t my
fault he is here now is it?" asked Nick hatefully with tears running down
his face. He hated the cruel truth of Kevin’s word and he knew that by saying
this it would get Kevin back for saying those mean things to him. As those
words hit Kevin’s ears, his grip on Nick loosened and he fell to the floor
sobbing and screaming for forgiveness.
Howie and A.J. quickly rushed up to Kevin and A.J. who was unable to
hold in his anger yelled, "Look what you did dumbass!! I can’t believe
you!" In response to A.J.’s comments Nick took one last look at his best
friend lying in the bed and quickly turned around and walked out the door,
never looking back.
He made his way outside and found a payphone located outside the hospital.
He picked up the phone book that was provided and quickly looked up the number
for a cab company.
With shaky fingers, Nick dialed the number and gave the person who
answered his location then he patiently waited for the cab to arrive. The cab
arrived five minutes later and Nick silently got into the cab and told the
drive where to tackle him.
When he got to his location he
paid the cab driver and made his way inside walking towards a desk as he
whipped out his credit card.
When he arrived at his destination he approached the lady at the desk,
"Ma’am? Can I please have a one way ticket for the next plane that leaves
for Los Angeles, California?"