Chapter 1

 

The next morning, Nick flipped through the TV channels in his hospital room, bored and unable to sit still.  After being in the hospital for endless weeks, he was finally going home, that afternoon. 

 

His second liver transplant had gone smoothly, without any rejection, as the first one, and he was doing good.  He was still weak and got tired easily, but he felt 100% better than he had before his transplant. 

 

He longed to thank his donor’s family for the new life they had given him.  Unfortunately, he didn’t know who the donor was, and no one was at liberty to tell him.  It was Brian, AJ, Howie, and Kevin who had told him what they had found out, that his donor was a twenty year old guy from Orlando.   He had also found out from them who his first donor had been.  Nate, Dr. Fergeson’s son.

 

He had never been too fond of Dr. Fergeson before his first transplant, but now, he was so filled with gratitude towards her, that his previous disliking of her had faded.  He was grateful not just for the gift of her son’s liver, but for her skill in doing not just one, but two transplant operations on him, one that had proved successful. 

 

Nick was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of an MTV news brief coming up on the TV screen.  He glanced up at it, somewhat eager to find out what had been happening in the music world while he had been imprisoned in the hospital.

 

“This is Serena Altschul, with an MTV News Brief.  At a press conference yesterday afternoon, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, and Chris Kirkpatrick, the remaining members of the pop group, ‘N Sync, announced that the group will be splitting up.  Due to the recent death of their fifth member, Justin Timberlake, the group has decided they will not be able to continue making music, and therefore, will be breaking up.”

 

Nick’s mouth dropped open in shock.  Justin Timberlake was dead?  When had this happened?  

 

As he got over the initial shock of hearing the news that the rest of the world had heard weeks before, he was filled with bittersweet emotions.  Of course, it didn’t make him too upset to hear that ‘N Sync, a group he happened to despise, was breaking up.  But, even though Justin had been the member he had liked least, the fact that he was dead made Nick feel almost sorry.   He suddenly regretted saying all the things he had said about Justin in the past.  He didn’t disagree with what he had said in the past about his “arch-rival”, but he did feel bad about being to unkind, now that the target of his disses was dead. 

 

Nick shut off the TV and flopped back against his pillows, some of his happiness over getting released from the hospital vanishing.

 

***

 

Later that afternoon, Nick’s mother, Jane, stepped into his room, followed by a nurse, who was standing behind a wheelchair. 

 

“Ready to go, hun?” she asked, smiling widely at him.

 

Nick returned her smile and eagerly climbed off the bed, dressed and ready to go. 

 

“Climb in,” the nurse said, wheeling the wheelchair over to his side.

 

Nick rolled his eyes.  “I have to be in this thing even to leave the hospital?” he asked in disbelief.

 

The nurse nodded, chuckling.  “I know it sounds stupid, but it’s a hospital rule.  All patients have to ride, even if they are leaving.”

 

Nick just shook his head, too happy to argue with her.  He climbed into the wheelchair and set his bag of belongings on his lap.  Then the nurse wheeled him out of his room and towards the exit of the hospital.

 

Once he was finally out to the parking deck, the nurse let him out of the chair, and Jane led him to her car.  They both climbed in, and she drove out of the parking deck.  As the car made it outside onto the highway, Nick blinked in the bright sunlight, feeling like a hermit who had stepped out into daylight for the first time in ages.

 

***

 

 

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