Chapter
23
By Rachel
It had only
been about an hour and a half since they were reunited at the hospital, but to
Kevin, AJ, and Howie, it seemed like it had been days, and the waiting was
starting to take its toll on them. All three were restless and moody but
silent, just thinking about everything that happened the past few days.
To Howie and
AJ's sudden surprise, Kevin got up from the couch he was sitting on and walked
towards the large window that overlooked the hospital campus, and he started
beating on the window with his fists. "Damn snow," he muttered as he
watched the snow fall from the sky while he banged on the window.
"Kev?"
asked Howie as he approached his older brother cautiously.
"Can you
believe that this damn snow has caused this nightmare, Howie? I used to love
snow so much when I was in Kentucky, and I missed it when I moved to Florida,
but I never thought snow could be this deadly. You know, Bri and Nick may not
live to see their next birthdays, and..." started Kevin, but was stopped
mid-sentence when a loud sob escaped from deep within, causing both Howie and
AJ's hearts to constrict in pain and sympathy.
"Don't
think that way, Kev," said Howie, and he pulled Kevin into a larger
brotherly hug and allowed him to cry on his shoulder.
"They
made it this far, Kev; I don't think they are going to give up this fight too
easily," added AJ, while giving Kevin's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
"Gosh, I hope
you are right," stuttered Kevin as he wiped away the tears from his face.
"It was so horrible on that plane, you guys. Nicky was sick the whole time
and having seizures, and he had high fevers up to 106 degrees, and Brian was
throwing up blood and had internal bleeding, and I didn't know about it until
he passed out, and I found him and got the information from Nick. And Jason is
now dead," stated Kevin sadly.
All Howie and
AJ could do is nod and try to offer comfort to their older brother; they knew they
would all need the help and support of each other to make it through this
ordeal. All was again silent in the room as the three young occupants lapsed
into their own worlds, lost in their thoughts.
***
"Hey, you
guys," suddenly spoke up Kevin. "What happened to you when you left
to get us help? You mentioned earlier that you had a few minor problems."
Both Howie and AJ looked at each other and nodded. AJ sat back as he listened
to Howie retell the story of what happened after they had left the plane, about
the avalanche, and finding help from the college students on the ski slopes.
When Howie was done retelling the tale, Kevin looked at his younger brothers in
amazement and admiration, for they had risked their lives to save the lives of
their injured bandmates.
"Thank
you guys so much for going for help. If you hadn’t have, Nicky and Brian
probably would be gone by now," said Kevin as he embraced Howie and AJ in
a warm hug. "So are you guys okay, injury wise?" he asked when he
pulled away from the hug.
"Yeah, we
are fine, just bruised and cold, and AJ over here had frostbite, but they
treated him for it before you guys came," Howie informed Kevin.
"How
about yourself, Kev?" asked AJ, saying the first words he had said in
awhile.
"I'm
okay, I guess," said Kevin, immediately ignoring the looks Howie and AJ
gave each other when they heard that.
"So you
mean you haven't gotten checked out yet, Kev?"
"Yeah,"
Kevin said as he nodded his head in response.
"You
really should..." said Howie but was interrupted by a man of average
height in a white doctor's coat.
"Are you
here with Nickolas Carter and Brian Littrell?" asked the man with a slight
northern accent as he looked down at the charts in his hands.
"Yes,
sir, we are. Can you please tell us how they are?" said Kevin as he got up
from his seat, but immediately sat down when he felt the dizziness come over
him and looked up once it passed, relieved to find the doctor still looking at
his charts, not noticing Kevin's actions.
"Okay,
I'm Dr. Collins, and I was on duty when both Nickolas and Brian were brought
in," started the doctor. "What relation are you to the
patients?" he asked as he looked at the men in front of him from over the
tops of his glasses.
"I'm
Kevin Richardson, sir, and Brian is my younger cousin, and this is Howie
Dorough and AJ McLean, and they are bandmates of Brian and Nick," stated
Kevin as he pointed the Howie and AJ as he said their names.
"Nice to
meet you," said the doctor with a small smile. "It seems that
Nickolas and Brian were both brought here just in time. Brian was just rushed
down to surgery to try and stop his internal bleeding, and according to the
x-rays we took before he went down to surgery, he will have to have surgery
later on to repair his leg. CAT scans show that he has a concussion but should
be okay from that and also has broken ribs that will mend over time. And he
also needs a blood transfusion; he lost a lot of blood from the internal
bleeding and from vomiting up blood continuously. Would you gentlemen like to
be tested to see if your blood type is compatible with Brian's?" All men
in the room eagerly nodded their heads; they knew they would just about do
anything to save the life of a friend.
"And now
to Nickolas' condition. Nickolas is extremely sick as you probably already know
- he has what is called Double Pneumonia, and in the stage it is in, it now has
invaded his lungs, making it very difficult for him to breath properly, so we
put him on a respirator. He also has an extremely high fever. We are trying to
bring that down, and we are also worried he may have slight brain damage from
the high temperature. As you may know, body temperatures above 105 degrees may
cause brain damage, but we won't know the extent of the brain damage if there
is any until Nickolas wakes up. The fever he has is what also caused his
seizures. The seizures caused by extremely high body temperatures are called
Febrile seizures, and Nickolas had another one after he was brought in, but it
is now under control," finished the doctor.
Dr. Collins
sat silently in the small room waiting for the young men to say something after
that large amount of information he had given to them. "Are there any
questions?" spoke up Dr. Collins.
"May we
see them, Dr. Collins?" asked Howie with pleading brown eyes.
"Not
right now, Mr. Dorough. Brian is still in surgery, and Nickolas is being taken
care of in his ICU room. After Brian comes out of surgery, he and Nickolas will
share a room, but he isn't scheduled to come out of surgery for another hour or
two," informed the doctor. When silence greeted him for a few minutes he
quietly rose up from his seat and said, "If that is all, gentlemen, please
excuse me. If you need to ask me anything, please have a nurse page me. I will
be back here when Brian is out of surgery to inform you of his condition, and I
will tell a nurse to come shortly and administer the blood tests we need in
order to determine if any of your blood is compatible with Brian's," he
said as he walked towards the entrance way to the hallway outside and stopped
when he heard AJ quietly thank him and smiled to himself as he exited the room.
"Do you
know if anyone has informed our families, guys?" asked Howie suddenly.
Both AJ and Kevin looked at each other and shook their heads. "Maybe we
should contact them, I'm sure they are worried about us, and we need to get
Nicky and Brian's families here just in case," stated Howie gently.
AJ and Kevin
both nodded in agreement and watched as Howie got up from his seat and exited
the room to look for a hospital phone he could use instead of a pay phone
because he had no money with him after the crash.
Howie found a
receptionist's desk and the receptionist allowed him to use the phone once he
explained his situation and smiled at him as he thanked her. Howie picked up
the phone and positioned his fingers above the number pad and started to punch
in the numbers of the families he had committed to memory after seven years of
being in the group. "Here goes nothing," Howie thought to himself as
he prayed he had enough strength to break the devastating news to the families.
***
