Chapter
12
Half an hour
later, Dr. Mitchell came back into the waiting room.
"AJ's
just woken up, and he would like to see you two," he informed them.
"Great!"
Howie said, looking forward to seeing his best friend.
Dr. Mitchell
led them down to AJ's room, and then left them alone to spend time with their
friend. Howie walked in first. He felt his heart flip-flop as he saw that AJ
was lying flat on his back, strapped to a backboard, and still in a neck brace.
Howie came up to his bed and bent over him. AJ's eyes were closed.
"AJ?"
Howie whispered. AJ's eyes fluttered open.
"Hey
D," he said, smiling up at Howie. "You okay?" Howie smiled and
choked back tears. AJ could be paralyzed for life, and he was worried about Howie.
"I'm
fine," he said. "I just got banged around a little. Kevin here
managed to stay in the bathroom the whole time."
"Kevin?"
AJ asked. Kevin came over to the other side of his bed so AJ could see him.
"Hey
Bone," Kevin said.
"What's
up, Train? How's everybody else doing?" AJ asked. Howie and Kevin
exchanged glances.
"Well,
Brian and Angel are gonna be fine eventually. Poor little Ang fell out of the
window. She got a little glass in her stomach, but she's gonna be okay. She just
got out of surgery a few hours ago, but we haven't been able to see her yet.
And Bri got a fence post shoved through him. The doctor said he was really
lucky, 'cause it missed his heart and spinal cord. It went through one of his
lungs and broke a few ribs though. But she said it would eventually heal,"
Kevin explained. AJ looked horrified.
"What
about Nick?" he asked.
"Nick's
not doing so good," Howie said. "He had a head injury and is in a
coma now." Howie didn't want to tell him everything else the doctor had
told them about Nick's condition. He didn't want AJ to get any more upset than
he was already.
Kevin and
Howie stayed with AJ for a little while longer, but AJ grew tired, and so they
left.
***
