[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter 18

"Rok," AJ said as he opened the door to Nicks hospital room.

"Hey AJ," he answered when he looked up at AJ.

"No one else got here yet?" AJ asked.

"No, you were the first one that I called. Howie and Kevin are on there way though. They should be here soon," Brian explained.

"Why'd you wait so long to call us?"

"What do you mean?" Brian asked.

"I mean you've been here awhile. I can tell that much by just lookin at ya man. Also, you told me this happened as you were leaving the clinic. Why didn't you call all of us then?"

"I don't know. I didn't call you guys when we left the clinic because I was so worried about Nick that I wasn't thinking. When we got here though, I don't know, I guess I was scared."

"You still should have called sooner," AJ replied as he turned his attention over to Nick, "How long has he been like that?"

"A while."

"What have the doctors said?"

"He's in a coma. They aren't sure if he's going to wake up from it. We just have to wait and see what happens."

"How long do we just wait?" AJ asked.

"As long as it takes. The doctor said he could be like this for years."

"Damn," AJ said under his breath, "well, what can we do to help while we're waiting?"

"The nurse said talk to him. She said that it does help. Besides, it's not like there's anything else that we can do."

"What do we talk about?"

"Anything. She said try to keep things how they were when he was awake."

"Maybe we should get Kevin to yell at him or something. That might piss him off enough that he wakes up," AJ joked. Brian let a small smile appear on his lips, but it disspeared quickly.

"I just can't get over this," Brian confessed, "this wasn't supposed to happen. He was changing, things were going to be better ya know?"

"They will get better. Nick isn't gonna die, I can feel it. I'm going to tell you something that someone told me when I was in rehab," AJ said sitting next to Brian, "things are only as bad as you make them out to be. You just have to find the good in every situation and work with that."

"Yeah well, how is there any good in Nick being in a coma?"

"When he wakes up, this could act like a wake up call. I mean this time he almost died and I'm sure he's going to be aware of that and he's not stupid enough to do this to himself again. Things are going to be good."

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

"He will alright?" AJ assured him, "things are going to be alright, you've just got to believe."

"It's hard to believe when your best friend's in a coma and the doctors are telling you that they don't know if he's going to pull through," Brian explained.

"Brian I'm trying to make this as tolerable as I can but you aren't helping any," AJ answered, "look, if we are going to get through this, we are going to have to stick together and believe in Nick."

"It's tough."

"Yo, you think I don't know that?" AJ asked, "shit, I know what you're talkin about and I'm sure when Kev and D get here, they will too but we just gotta help Nick out by believein alright?"

"Yeah, I'll try," he answered. He sighed and glanced over at Nick.

"I guess that's better than nothing," he answered. AJ stood up and walked over to Nicks bed, "hey man, you'd better wake up soon cause I think you're startin' to give Rok wrinkels." Brian laughed at AJ's comment.

"Shut up," Brian replied.

"Just hang in there alright man. Things will get better." Just as AJ finished his sentence, Kevin walked in.

"So did anything happen?" he asked.

"Nothing," Brian answered.

"It's going to take time ya know," Kevin replied as he shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to last that long," Brian told his cousin.

"You will, don't worry. You have us to look after you. You're going to be just fine, don't worry about it," Kevin answered.

"I don't know about that."

"It'll be alright, trust me," Kevin replied, "so, what happened to Nick?"

"I told you, there was some stuff in the pills that Nick took. Whatever it was made him sick enough to fall into a coma. It happened as I was leaving after I dropped off his stuff," Brain explained again.

"Guys?" Howie said as he opened the door to the hospital room.

"Yeah, come in D," AJ answered when he heard Howie's voice.

"What happened? Brian just told me that he was at the hospital because Nick was in a coma," Howie explained.

"There was something in the pills that he took last night. Whatever it was really did a lot of damage," AJ answered.

"I can see that. Is Nick going to be alright though?"

"The doctors don't know," Brian answered, "they said each case was different and it depended on the person."

"Well as stubborn as Nicky is, I don't think he's going to let that happen to him. He's probably gonna be awake any time now,"
Howie said hoping to lighten the moment.

"If only that were true," Brian said sadly.

"Come on Rok. Don't bring all of us done," AJ warned, "we need to stay strong for Nick alright?"

"Oh, hello gentalman," Nicks nurse said when she walked into the room.

"Mrs. Waring, this is my cousin Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough, and the crazy looking guy with the tattoo's is AJ McLean, but don't worry, he's harmless," Brian introduced, grinning at AJ when he finished his statement.

"Nice meeting you guys," she replied, "well, I'm here to check on Nicks condition to see if there have been any kind of changes. It should only take a moment."

"Is there anything seriously wrong with him?" AJ asked. The nurse looked up from Nick and towards AJ.

"You mean other than the fact that he's in a coma?" she replied.

"I guess that was a stupid question," AJ replied, "I'm just kinda worried about him ya know?" he said ignoring the light snickers that were coming from the others.

"It's alright. I assume you've never been in this situation before," she commented as she continued to look over Nick.

"Yeah," AJ nodded.

"Well, a coma is when the patient falls into a deep state of unconsciousness and cannot be awaken by stimuli which include loud noises and bright lights. A coma is usually brought on by some sort of trama to the brain. Either physical or chemical. Nick had a chemical trama. Nick was lucky though. Patients in his postion, with both drugs and alcohol in his system usually go into a coma because the flow of blood to the brain has completely stopped or has slowed down significantly."

"He didn't have any alcohol in his system," AJ said, "there was no way that he could have gotten it. Me and Howie got rid of all alcohol in the house."

"Well when we ran tests there were still traces of alcohol in his system. It could have been there for awhile. Nevertheless, it's there and Nick is very lucky to be alive."

"How could there still be traces in his system though?" Kevin asked.

"Had he recently consumed a lot of alcohol at one time?"

"Yeah," Kevin answered reluctantly.

"That's probably it. It was still there from that time. We were looking for it so the little that might have been in his system showed."

"Alright thank you," AJ answered. She smiled and nodded and then left them alone in the hospital room.