Chapter
54
Harold sat back in his seat, holding securely onto his now sleeping wife’s
hand. After telling her husband about the dream, Jackie fell back into a
fitful and restless sleep as Harold sat wide awake hoping the plane would land
soon. By the look he seen in his nephew’s eyes just seconds earlier,
Harold could tell Kevin was questioning why his aunt was so shaken when she had
woken up. Harold just shook his head, hoping his nephew understood the meaning
behind it; that he would explain later. He sighed in relief when the
pilot announced that they would be landing in approximately ten minutes.
Even though the details of his wife’s dream restored hoped within
Harold’s heart that his son would make it, he felt deep inside that the doctor’s
prediction of his son’s death would come to reality, and in truth it scared him
more than anyone could imagine. And he knew he had to be strong for everyone;
especially for his wife and son even though he felt like he was falling apart
inside.
***
Nick sat in his wheelchair holding tightly onto
his best friend’s hand, hoping that showing Brian that he was there for him
would bring him out of the coma. He watched anxiously as Dr. Adele was
checking Brian’s vital signs from the other side of Brian. His hope
diminished as the doctor looked at one of the monitors by Brian’s bedside and
he tightened his grip around the lifeless hand he held. “What’s wrong?”
he heard himself ask in a scared voice he hardly recognized.
Dr. Adele didn’t answer and reached to Brian’s side and hit the button to call
the nurse into the room. Seconds later a nurse entered the room and approached
the doctor’s side wondering what she could do to help. “Please take Nick
to the waiting room” was all the doctor said as he once again checked the
machine by Brian’s bed.
Nick felt the panic within him rise as the nurse unlocked the brakes on his
wheelchair and started to push him out of the room and down the hallway where
his two other band mates were. He wanted to scream out and asked what was
happening but he found he was too scared to get his voice to work. A
minute later, the nurse entered the waiting room and pushed Nick’s wheelchair
over to where Howie and AJ were sitting. They both noticed the scared
look on Nick’s face and asked the nurse what had happened and received a shrug
in reply as she excused herself and quickly exited the room. The two sat
down in defeat as they receive no answer that explained their questions from
Nick and just sat back waiting impatiently for the doctor to tell them any
news; whether it was good or bad.
***
Kevin placed the sunglasses over his eyes and stepped aside to allow his
brother to exit the plane in front of him. He stayed behind and looked
back at his aunt and uncle. He watched with a sad smile on his face as
his uncle gave his aunt a hug and held her hand firmly as she reached up and
got her bag from the upper storage area and reached inside. Kevin
immediately recognized what she got out of her bag. It was a single
flower that came from one of the flower arrangements from the funeral that
Jackie had picked before leaving the cemetery. Kevin gave his aunt and
uncle a slight smile as the walked by, now it was time to go back to the
hospital and they all hoped for good news.
***
Dr. Adele looked closely at the monitor that stood
by Brian’s bed. By the brain waves that showed on the monitor, it looked
like he possibly may be coming out of the coma and all Dr. Adele could do is
wait.
As he sat and watched Brian for any signs of waking
up, the doctor began to think about what all had happened since the tragedy
days ago. He knew that if he was put in the same situation, it was a good
chance he wouldn’t make it through. He admired the Littrell and Backstreet
family for their strong courage and hopeful attitudes. When life hit them
with bad events, they all fought back and it was something to admire.
His attention was brought out of his thoughts as
he heard a slight increase in the beat of the heart monitor and he quickly
looked towards his patients. He gasped; Brian was finally awake.