Chapter
17
By the next
day, Kevin and Howie arrived at the hospital early in the morning, just as
usual. They went up to Brian and Nick's ICU room first. Brian was awake when
they got there and was much more alert than the day before. He was still on a
respirator and therefore, unable to talk, but he seemed eager to communicate
with them. Howie ran down to the nurses station and asked for a notepad and a
pen. He brought them back to Brian's room, as Kevin raised part of Brian's bed
so that he was in a sitting position.
"Here,
Bri," Howie said, offering Brian the paper and pen. "See if you can
write." Brian took the pen and notepad eagerly and scribbled something down.
Then he handed it to Howie. Howie squinted at it. Brian's handwriting was shaky
looking, but he could read it. It read "What happened?".
Howie cleared
his throat. "We were all in an accident. Our tour bus crashed," he
began. "Do you remember that?" Brian shook his head, wide-eyed.
"Well,
Bobby had an aneurysm go off in his brain. He died instantly, and the bus
swerved and crashed into a tree. You got thrown through one of the windows into
a chain-link fence. Some how, a fence post got jammed right through your right
lung." Brian's eyes widened even more in fear. "Your doctor said
you're gonna be fine though," Howie assured him, seeing his fear. "It
could have been a lot worse. Luckily, it missed your heart and your spinal
cord. You had surgery a couple of days ago to get the pole out and repair your
lung. It got punctured, and that's why you're having trouble breathing. Dr.
Jackson said it will eventually heal though." Brian looked shocked.
Suddenly, he grabbed the notepad again and wrote something else. "How is
everybody else?" it read. Kevin took this one.
"Well,
that's Nick right over there," he said, pointing to the bed at the other
end of the room. Brian turned his head and stared at the lifeless figure in the
bed next to him. He hadn't even really noticed him before. Even if he had,
Brian wasn't sure he would have recognized his best friend. Nick lay still in
the bed. His skin was completely colorless, except for his face, which was
swollen and bruised. The rest of his head was bandaged, hiding his blonde hair.
He was surrounded by many tubes and wires, connecting him to machines. Brian
felt tears rise in his eyes as he stared Nick. He blinked them back and wrote
another note. "Is he going to be ok?" this one said.
"He's in
a coma right now," Kevin said. "He has a head injury, and the doctors
really aren't sure right now if he'll be okay. Brian fought back tears and
wrote down, "What about everyone else?"
"AJ's
down in another room. He went through the windshield. He had some damage to his
spinal cord, and he might be permanently paralyzed." Brian looked
devastated. "Angel went through a window too. Her stomach got cut up
pretty bad by the glass, but she had surgery, and her doctor said she'll be
okay with time. She and AJ are both conscious, and we've visited them both.
They've been worried about you." Brian offered a half smile, as if telling
them that he was alright.
***
