Chapter
8
By
Julie
Kevin,
Howie, and AJ sat in the waiting room of the ER at the local hospital they had
taken Brian to. They had explained the situation to the doctor that had seen
Brian, Dr. McNally and he said he wanted to check him out. Now they were
waiting for the doctor to finish and come out to talk to them.
A
few minutes later, Dr. McNally appeared in the waiting room. “Hello,
gentlemen,” he said in a heavy Scottish accent. “Brian seems to be doing fine.
He is conscious and alert. However, we would like to keep him in the hospital
until this evening for observation, just to make sure he is okay.”
“Okay,”
Kevin said. “Do you know what happened? How he almost drowned?”
“He
told me that he was swimming and felt dizzy. He must have passed out in the
water,” Dr. McNally said.
“Is
it because of his heart meds?” asked AJ. They had explained to Dr. McNally when
Brian was brought in that he had missed his morning dose of his heart
medication.
“No,
missing one dose won’t hurt him. He said he missed breakfast this morning. That
might be why he passed out,” the doctor replied.
“Oh,”
AJ said, sighing with relief. The thought that it could be Brian’s heart acting
up had worried them all.
“Can
we go see him?” asked Howie.
“Yes,
you may. Come this way, I’ll lead you,” Dr. McNally said. He led them down the
hall to Brian’s private room.
“Hey
guys,” Brian said when he saw his three friends. He looked tired and a little
pale, but otherwise fine. The four of them talked for awhile, until Dr. McNally
wanted to run some tests on Brian to make sure all the water was out of his
lungs and that he was okay. The guys decided to go to the cafeteria for some
late lunch.
***
That
evening, after spending most of the day moping in his room, Nick went outside
to sit on the balcony in the back, overlooking the pool. He gazed up at the
stars, tears falling from his eyes. His life had just gotten worse, and it was
all that ghost’s fault. Now Brian was in the hospital, and Kevin thought he was
trying to kill his own best friend. Nick knew the ghost had to have put Brian’s
medicine in Nick’s room.
“Why
are you doing this to me?” Nick shouted out loud. He had seen the ghost once
earlier, after the guys had left, but it had just faded away. He hadn’t seen it
since.
But
suddenly, he sensed something behind him, and the hairs on the back of his neck
stood straight up. He turned around to see the ghost right behind him. Nick
screamed loudly and backed away, towards the railing of the balcony. The ghost
inched towards him. Nick stepped back some more.
Suddenly,
he realized that the ghost had him cornered. He shrieked, terrified, as the
ghost stepped closer and reached out his hand towards Nick. Nick pushed his
back up against the railing, trying to stay as far away from the ghost as
possible. But suddenly, Nick heard the sound of wood cracking, and with horror,
felt the railing give away. Nick let out a blood-curling scream as he plunged
to the ground below.
***
Meanwhile,
Kevin was driving home, Brian sitting next to him in the front, and Howie and
AJ in back. Once Dr. McNally had gotten back the results of Brian’s tests, he
had declared him to be perfectly healthy and discharged him.
Kevin
eased the car into the driveway and turned off the ignition. The four of them
hopped out of the car and went inside. Brian immediately headed for the
kitchen. They had given him some lunch in the hospital, but it was bland and
tasteless, and Brian had eaten no more than a few bites. Now he was starving.
He made himself a sandwich, and Kevin sat down at the table with him. AJ went
to get into the Jacuzzi, and Howie wandered upstairs to Nick’s room. He had
seen the hurt in Nick’s eyes when Kevin had snapped at him before and wanted to
know if he was okay. But when he reached Nick’s room, he found it empty.
"That’s
funny", thought Howie. "I don’t remember seeing him downstairs. Where
is he?" Howie checked all of the other rooms upstairs, but didn’t find
Nick. Then he went back downstairs to search. Still no Nick. “Hey, AJ, have you
seen Nick?” he asked AJ, who was sitting in the living room. AJ shook his head.
“Nope,” he replied. Howie shrugged and wandered over to the patio doors. He
flipped on the outside light and stepped out.
Suddenly,
AJ heard a scream of horror. He leapt up and raced outside, Brian and Kevin on
his heels. AJ gasped when he saw what was outside. Howie stood on the patio,
staring down at the body of Nick, sprawled out on the ground, blood all around
his body. Howie was shaking and crying. Brian and Kevin also began to sob. They
were all frozen in grief. But AJ took charge. He ran back inside and grabbed
his cell phone, since the phone lines in the house weren’t installed yet. He
punched in the numbers 911 and explained what had happened. Then he hung up and
waited for the paramedics to arrive, hoping it wasn’t too late to save his
friend.
***
