Chapter
25
The next day,
Howie woke up early in the morning. He looked around his hotel room, groggily,
trying to remember where he was. Then it all came back to him, and he felt sick
to his stomach, for he realized today was the day that they were going to pull
the plug on Nick. When he looked over at Kevin's bed, he saw that Kevin was not
there. Howie got up and looked around. Then he heard a sound coming from the
bathroom. He tiptoed to the bathroom door and pressed his ear against it. He
recognized the muffled sound as Kevin's crying. He wanted to go in and comfort
Kevin, but he figured Kevin wanted to be alone right then, so he went to get
dressed instead.
***
Dr. Mitchell
would be coming to Nick's room at 4:00 that afternoon. The whole morning,
everyone took turns saying good-bye to Nick. Nick's whole family was there, as
well as many other relatives.
A nurse came
down to Brian's room at 2:30 to take him to see Nick one last time. When he got
to the ICU floor, Angel was just coming out of Nick's room. She was walking
now, but still wheeling an IV pole beside her. She looked up sadly at Brian,
her eyes red and puffy, her cheeks swollen and tearstained.
Brian said
nothing to her, just offered her a grim smile. She offered one back and made
her way back to her mother as Brian was wheeled into the room. Once the nurse
left the room, Brian took Nick's hand again.
"Well, I
guess this is it, buddy," Brian said, sniffing back tears. He couldn't
think of much to say, but painfully realized that once Nick was gone, there
would be a million things that he wanted to tell him, but would never be able
to. But what Brian couldn't express through words, he could through song. And
that's what he did.
"Although
we've come to the end of the road," he began, singing a song that they
used to sing as a group, many years ago. His voice was a little rusty, since he
hadn't sang for weeks, but it still sounded beautiful.
As Brian
continued the song, his voice grew louder, more emotional. Outside in the hall,
Howie and Kevin exchanged glances. They both looked at AJ, who was sitting in a
wheelchair beside them. He still didn't have much movement, but his doctor had
allowed him to be put in a wheelchair to come say good-bye to Nick. None of
them had to say anything, they just knew what to do. Howie took hold of AJ's
wheelchair and pushed him quietly into Nick's room, Kevin following. Brian was
singing his heart out, his eyes closed, not even noticing their entrance.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open as he heard their voices forming the beautiful
chords of the song. His eyes filled with tears, but he kept singing. They all
sang from the depths of their souls until the song was finished. Then, they
said nothing, just looked at each other, tears brimming in their eyes.
***
