[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
His eyes fluttered open, everything coming in as a blur to him at first. He looked around the dark room he was in, why couldn’t he remember anything? He looked down at his wrist and noticed that there were wires hooked up to him, IV’s to be exact. The scenario of him going through heart surgery played through his head, but there was no possible way of that happening. He already had heart surgery 7 years ago, he wasn’t reliving the past, nor was he dreaming. He was in the hospital for a different reason, but why?

He tried to move his right hand, but he noticed that someone else’s hand was on top of his. He looked down to his side and seen a blonde woman resting her head by his side, he hand on top of his. He tried once more to move it, seeing if he could wake the young woman up, and he succeeded.

The young woman opened her eyes, staring at the blank wall. She could’ve sworn that she felt something; more like someone move her hand. She slowly rose her head and had turned to look, seeing her husband’s eyes open and alert.

“Oh my God…” she cried out, tears spewing from her fatigued eyes. “Brian…” was all that she could say as she grabbed his hand and held it to her face.

Brian continued to stare at her, his face slightly taking on a puzzled look. Why was she crying? Brian had thought to himself. She looked up once more and had continued to hold his hand, feeling that if she let go, she would lose him for good this time.

“Baby… Bri babe, can you talk? Can you say something?”

Brian continued to stare at her, wondering what to say and why he couldn’t respond so quickly to her question. “What happened?” was all that came out, and his eyes widened. His voice was so low, almost taking the octave of AJ’s low and raspy voice, but deeper and scratchier.

Leighanne hesitated for a while, she wasn’t sure if she should tell him now or wait till later. She didn’t know how he would react and if he would be strong enough to receive such devastating information. Brian just stared at her, waiting for her response. “Tell me…” he whispered, moving his hand so that he now held her hand, and he gave it a gentle squeeze.

Leighanne busted into tears once again, she didn’t have the heart to tell him, but he needed to know. “You guys were involved in a serious bus accident. The tire of your guys’ bus popped and the driver lost control of the vehicle. When the paramedics and police arrived at the scene, they discovered that the accident caused your guys bus to be severed in half… you were the only one located near the front of the bus, where there was little to no damage done. Unfortunately, the rest of the fellas weren’t so lucky. They were all located in the back when the bus crashed.”

This caught Brian’s attention. He wasn’t expecting to hear this. He sat up a little straighter in his bed, regretting it as the pain hit him seconds later. “Are they alright?”

Leighanne just stared at him through glassy eyes, staying silent. No… this can’t be happening. Brian thought. “I… I don’t know much. Howie, Kevin, AJ and Nick are okay… Aaron… isn’t… he isn’t…”

She began to stutter. Brian’s eyes widened, what was she trying to say? Why couldn’t she get it out? “Aaron… what about Aaron? What happened to him?”

Before Leighanne could say anything, someone had opened the door and had peered in through the crack. Both Leighanne and Brian turned to see his father, Harold standing by the door. As soon as he opened the door the rest of the way, his mother Jackie and his brother Harold also stood there, with little Baylee in Harold’s arms.

“My baby…” Jackie had whispered as she began to make her way towards Brian’s bed. She cupped his face and had planted a kiss on his forehead, staying there for a while. “I was sooo afraid that you weren’t gonna come back to us.” she had whispered into his ear.

Brian closed his eyes, realizing how close he was to losing his life, again. He had to stop putting his family into this predicament, where he basically put them on edge because his life was on a balance.

Both his father and brother stood behind Jackie, watching silently. Little Baylee began to bob up and down in Harold’s arms, antsy to get down. “Hold it little buddy… I can’t let you down here, there’s too much dangerous stuff around.” Harold said as he hiked him up with one arm. “Did you say hi to daddy?”

“Hi daddy!” Baylee wailed, waving his hand by opening it and closing it.

Brian smiled, his eyes getting watery. “C’mere little man…”

Harold had walked forward to place Baylee down onto the hospital bed. As soon as he had set him down, Baylee began to crawl towards Brian, and both Leighanne and Jackie had to move the wires of the IV so Baylee wouldn’t pull it out of Brian’s arm by accident. “Daddy… do you have an owie?” Baylee had asked him, pointing to his bandaged head.

Brian had felt his wrapped, bandaged head for the first time. “Yeah… daddy got beat up pretty good… but not to worry, daddy will be up and outta here in no time!”

Baylee crawled up a little further and had planted a wet kiss on Brian’s cheek. “I love you daddy…”

Brian closed his eyes as a single tear seeped out. “I love you too kiddo…”

Jackie had scooped little Baylee into her arms. “Well, we better get going… there’s only so much people that can be in one room at the same time. Leighanne, you should go home and get some rest…”

Leighanne had looked up, “No, it’s alright Jackie… I’ll be fine, Brian and I have a few things to talk about.”

Brian looked over at Leighanne, clueless by what she meant by that. He turned and had looked back towards his mother who had his son in her arms. “We’ll be back tonight sweetie…” Jackie said as she leaned down to kiss Brian once more on the forehead. Little Baylee kissed him at the same time to. “Bye daddy!”

Brian waved to him, “Bye Baylee… be good for grandma!”

His father was next in line, and he just stood there, glancing him over. He leaned down and had gently embraced him in a hug. “Glad your back sonny…” he whispered before he rose and had walked back to where his wife stood with his grandson.

His brother, Harold, was the last. He just stared at him, kind of the same way his father had stared at him, and he began to shake his head. “What do you prefer, a handshake or a kiss?”

Brian chuckled and shook his head, grabbing his older brother and pulling him in for a hug. They stayed like that for a while, before Harold pulled away. Brian laid there, watching as his whole family, except his wife, filed out of his room. As soon as the door closed, Brian turned back to look at Leighanne, who smiled at him in return. Now, what were they talking about before?

“Do you at least know the status of them?” was all that came out of Brian’s mouth.

Leighanne looked up, her face paling. She knew he was going to ask about them again, she just didn’t know if he was ready and able to handle what he was about to hear. “Well…” she took a deep breath in. “First off, you and the others have been unconscious for more than a week or so… as far as I know, you were the first out of the bunch to wake up. You sustained less threatening injuries… you suffered from a concussion, which caused you to fall into a coma. What would explain the concussion is the nasty gash you suffered on your forehead, it took 12 stitches to close the laceration. Both Howie and Nick also sustained non-life threatening injuries, but their injuries were more severe than yours. Howie suffered from a deep cut on his forehead as well, that took 15 stitches to close, he also suffered a slight chip in his skull, which luckily didn’t cause any sort of brain damage. Nick, on the other hand, suffered a broken nose, cracked ribs, and he also had a gash on his head that needed to be stitched close. They are both still unconscious, but are said to awake any day now and are expected to make a full recovery.”

Brian remained silent, allowing the news to sink in. He noticed that she didn’t mention anything about Kevin, AJ and Aaron. He gave himself time to compose himself before he asked her to continue. “What about AJ, Aaron and Kevin?”

Leighanne remained quiet, slightly shaking her head. “I… I’m not sure if I should tell you this now…”

Brian interrupted her by grabbing her hand and tightening his grasp on it. “No… please baby, tell me… I need to know now!”

Leighanne began to cry once more, how could he put her into this situation, why did she have to be the bearer of bad news? “Both AJ and Kevin took the brute of the accident… sustaining injuries that placed them both in ICU. They are both in critical condition, due to the fact that they were both in the back during the crash. Kevin had fractured the upper part of his left leg, broke three ribs, his head was banged up pretty good… he had to go into surgery to drain the liquid in his head so it wouldn’t swell around the brain. AJ… broke his ribs, he had a gash on the back of his head that needed to be stapled shut, he dislocated his left shoulder, one of his broken ribs punctured his lung, and the shin of his right leg was shattered. Luckily, there were able to stop the bleeding eternally in AJ… but both he and Kevin lost a large amount of blood, the doctors can’t guarantee anything. I’m so sorry Brian…”

Brian had given her an shocked look, she was talking as if they were going to lose Kevin and AJ, and there was no way in hell that was going to happen. She didn’t mention anything about Aaron, and he had forgotten to get back to him. “What about Aaron?”

Leighanne glanced away quickly, he wasn’t handling the news about Kevin and AJ too well, how on earth could she tell him about Aaron? “Listen baby… you need to rest, we’ll talk more later, but you need to get all the rest you can get, okay?”

“No…” was all Brian muttered. He stared at her, shaking his head. He knew what she was going to say, well, not going to say, but what she had to tell him. She was procrastinating in telling him about Aaron, which meant something bad had happened. “He’s… gone, isn’t he? He… he can’t be gone, please baby… tell me he’s alright… tell me he’s okay…”

Leighanne cried even harder, the hardest she’s ever cried since she found out about the accident. “I’m sooo sorry sweetie… I… I can’t…”

“Just tell me!” Brian snapped, a pleading look plagued his eyes.

“Aaron… he…” she began to shake her head. “He didn’t make it baby… I am so, so sorry…”

Brian closed his eyes, not believing what he was hearing. Aaron couldn’t be dead… it was just some sick joke his wife was playing on him, in fact, some sick joke they were all playing on him. Any time now, Kevin, Howie and AJ will walk through the door laughing, and both Nick and Aaron will pop out of somewhere, confessing their prank. He looked over at his wife, envisioning her laughing, but it didn’t come, everything was the same. No one came through the door, no one popped out of anywhere, and Leighanne was still crying hysterically.

Brian took the hand an IV was stuck in and he covered his eyes as tears seeped out. Leighanne reached over and had touched his arm, but he jerked away. “Get out…”

Leighanne quickly drew her hand back, taken by surprise by his behavior. She understood that he was mad, she couldn’t imagine how Nick will feel when he finds out, but why was he pushing her away? “Just leave me alone… please…” he mumbled, his hand still covering his eyes.

Hesitantly, Leighanne rose from her seat, staring down upon him. She made a bad choice by telling him, and now it was all her fault that he was turning away from him. She reached out to touch him again, but she withdrew. He needed time… if only she knew how much time he needed exactly.

She walked over towards the door, turning to glance once more at her husband. She opened the door and had walked out slowly. As soon as she closed the door, she had rested against it, wiping her tearstained cheeks, then covering her eyes which was drowning in her salty water. Meanwhile, Brian had continued to silently cry to himself, wishing that he could wake from this god-awful nightmare.