Chapter
14
By Julie
“Let
him go,” said Howie, as Kevin disappeared down the hall. “He needs some time alone.” Brian nodded and slumped back down in his
chair.
“Can
we go see Nicky now?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion. Howie nodded.
“You two go ahead, I need some coffee.”
“Ok,”
AJ replied solemnly and walked down the hall to Nick’s room. Brian followed behind him. AJ stopped at the door and punched in the
code. When the door opened, he and Brian
hurried in. They both walked up to
Nick’s bed and took seats on either side of him.
***
Ten
minutes later, AJ could not stand sitting there any longer. It was all getting to him too much. He hated seeing one of his best friends lying
there so still and lifelessly. He stood
up.
“I
need to get out of here,” he told Brian.
Brian nodded.
“Yeah,
me too,” he said. He stood up and wiped
the tears from his face. “I’ll see you
later, buddy,” he said to Nick, giving his hand a final squeeze before setting
it down on the bed. Then he and AJ left
the room. When they walked back out into
the waiting room, neither Howie, nor Kevin was there. “I hope Kev’s alright,” Brian said.
“I’m
sure he is,” said AJ.
“I
don’t know. He was pretty upset,” Brian
said.
“Yeah,
I know,” AJ replied. “Where do you think
he went?”
“I
have no clue,” Brian said. “Do you think
he left the hospital?”
“I
don’t know. Maybe he’s down in the
cafeteria with Howie,” AJ suggested.
“Ok,
let’s go look,” said Brian. They headed
for the elevator and took it down to the main floor, where the cafeteria was
located. They walked in and looked
around, finally spotting Howie sipping coffee at a table in the corner.
“Hey,
D. Have you seen Kev anywhere?” AJ
asked.
Howie
shook his head. “No,” he replied. “Hasn’t he come back yet?”
“No,”
Brian said sadly. “I’m kind of worried
about him. He looked really upset.”
“Come
on, Rok, let’s go look for him some more,” AJ said. “See you later, D.”
“Ok,
bye,” Howie said. Brian and AJ hurried
out of the cafeteria.
“Let’s
go down to the parking lot and see if he took the car anywhere,” suggested
AJ. “That way, we’ll know if he’s still
here at the hospital or not.”
“Ok,
good idea,” Brian replied. They went to
the parking lot, and sure enough, the blue Taurus was nowhere to be found. “Where do you think he went?” Brian asked,
his voice wavering with fear.
“Probably
home,” AJ said. “Let’s go there first
and check.”
“Ok,”
Brian said. “But how will we get home?”
“Taxi,”
AJ said with a grin. They walked to the
front of the hospital and hailed a taxi.
They climbed in and gave the driver their address. Then they headed for home, hoping that Kevin
would be there, safe and sound.
***
Meanwhile,
Kevin stood in the dining room, tears streaming down his face, a bottle of
Brian’s heart medication in his shaking hand.
“It’s all my fault,” he said out loud.
“I shouldn’t have yelled at him.
It’s all my fault. I can’t go on
living this way.” He opened the bottle
and started to shake out the pills into his hand. But suddenly, he stopped. A chill ran down his spine and the hairs on
his neck stood up. It was suddenly
freezing in the room. Kevin sensed
someone behind him. He quickly turned
around, but no one was there. He
shrugged and turned back to the bottle of pills. But when he looked up, he found himself face
to face with a man. It was not an
ordinary man. This man was see through,
like a… “Ghost,” Kevin thought, his eyes wide.
“A ghost!” Suddenly, the ghost
reached out and knocked the bottle out of Kevin’s hand, spilling the pills all
over the floor. Kevin gasped, and
stumbled back, suddenly dizzy. The room
spun wildly, and then, everything went black.
***
When
the taxi pulled up in front of their house, AJ dug into his wallet to pay the
driver, while Brian leaped out and hurried inside. He had a bad feeling inside. He hurried in the front door. “Kevin!” he called, but there was no
answer. He hurried into the dining room
and stopped dead in his tracks. His
cousin lay sprawled on the floor, a bottle of Brian’s pills scattered across
the floor next to him. “No!” Brian
screamed. “Kev!!” Crying hysterically, he knelt beside Kevin
and shook him roughly. Just then, AJ
entered the room and gasped at the scene that lay before him.
“Oh
my God!” he screamed. “Is he… is he?” He
could not get the words to come out.
Brian
said nothing, just continued shaking Kevin’s still form. Suddenly, he gasped and pulled back. Kevin slowly sat up and looked around,
confused. He saw Brian sitting next to
him, his whole body shaking, tears pouring down his cheeks. AJ stood next to Brian, his eyes wide with
fright.
“What’s
wrong?” Kevin asked them. AJ sighed with
relief.
“Oh,
God, Kev, are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m
fine,” Kevin replied. Suddenly, the
events of before came pouring back to him.
He looked at Brian. “I saw the
ghost,” he said.
Brian’s
blue eyes widened. “You did?” he asked.
Kevin
nodded. “I… I was going to take your
pills,” he said, sounding ashamed. “But
he knocked them out of my hand.”
“What?!”
AJ gasped. “Kev, you were going to
commit suicide?!?!”
Kevin
nodded slowly. “It’s all my fault,” he
said, beginning to cry. “Nicky’s dying,
and it’s because of me!”
AJ
knelt down and wrapped his arms around Kevin.
“Kevin, why do you think it’s your fault?” he asked gently. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“He
kept talking about a ghost, and I yelled at him. I thought he was the one who took Brian’s
meds, since I found them in his bedroom, but I think it was the ghost all
along. He was right, and I didn’t
believe him. I just kept yelling at
him. He must have been so upset that I
didn’t believe him, that he jumped off the balcony,” Kevin sobbed.
“Kevin,
maybe he didn’t jump off the balcony,” Brian put in, speaking for the first
time. “I mean, the railing was
broken. Maybe it broke while he was
leaning on it or something, and he fell.”
“You
think so?” Kevin asked, looking hopeful.
“I
don’t know. It’s possible,” Brian
said. “Kev, I really don’t think Nicky
would try to commit suicide. I mean, I
know he was upset, but you and him have been in fights a lot of times
before. He always gets over it
eventually.”
“Yeah,
I guess so. I still feel horrible
though. I mean, he’s dying, and the last
time I got to talk to him before it happened, I yelled at him,” Kevin said,
sounding miserable.
“Look
Kev, let’s get back to the hospital now.
You can go talk to him. They say
people in comas can hear you,” AJ said.
“Ok,”
Kevin said, wiping tears from his eyes.
They stood up and walked out the door to the car, ready to go back to
the hospital to be with their young friend.
***
