~Part Two~


“Bip...bip...bip...bip”

Hamilton’s head was spinning when he finally woke up from his restless sleep. He could hear the mechanical bips and whirs coming from the repetitive hospital equipment, as tubes from an oxygen tank assisted his lungs.

“Hamilton?  I think he’s waking up...Hamilton, come on honey.  Come on honey, wake up.” Hamilton’s mom had been waiting in the emergency room since just after three that morning, ever since the hastened procession of ambulances had brought him, along with three others, to the ICU a few hours earlier.

The fire had taken about half of the school before the firemen were able to extinguish the ferocious blazes. One third of the boys had been forced to spend the rest of the night in the lower girls’ dorms, while the girls doubled up with each other on the upper floor. There had already been one casualty, and the others had all suffered from serious smoke inhalation, lucky they had gotten out as quickly as they did.

“Mom?” Hamilton’s voice cracked when he spoke and his eyes were still slightly burning when he peeled them open. The room was a blurred contrast of white and his mom was sitting on the left side of his bed, squeezing his hand lightly.

“Yeah honey, it’s me. How are you feeling?”

Hamilton looked over at his mom. Her cheeks were flushed and the whites of her eyes had turned a pale pink from her tears. He forced a little smile on his face. “Like a huge boulder fell on my chest.” Hamilton began coughing a little and closed his eyes, wincing and tilting his head back.

“Sweetie, are you alright?!” His mom leaned in, a worried expression evident in her eyes.

Hamilton’s coughing finally subsided. “Yeah, I’m fine mom...What happened?” he asked, opening his eyes and looking back over at her, the events of the previous evening still a bit blurry.

His mom turned to a short, older looking woman in the room that had been setting out various objects on the table to his right. “Could you give us a moment, please?”

“Certainly.” she smiled at mother and son, then left them to talk.

His mother sighed before she began, “Well, after you ran out of the house your father came and woke me up and we headed over to the school. When we arrived Scout told us that you had rushed inside because Jake hadn’t come out yet. So he followed you over and told one of the firemen where you were headed...” His mom dropped her tired head and the tears slowly came back.

She looked up at him again, cheeks wet with frustration.  “How could you do something so stupid, Hamilton?!  Worry your father and I like that..?”

“Mom, I’m s...”

“And Jake...Jacqueline, whatever!!! Were you ever going to tell us about her?!”

Hamilton’s face dropped. “Oh no, I completely forgot! Where is she? Is she okay?”

His mom stared at him for a moment, upset that he didn’t seem to have heard a word she had just said to him. She quietly stood up and turned her back towards him, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly before speaking again. “Hamilton...your father and I have always put a lot of trust in you...and up until this year you have always been honest with us...I don’t understand anymore.”

His mother slowly walked towards the door, looking back at him for a brief moment. He just stammered, unable to sort everything out. Then, with a painful look of sorrow, she left.

* * *

Hamilton brought his palms up to his head and rubbed at his worn eyes. He must have fallen asleep after his mother left that morning. The events of the last 12 hours were racing through his head, one by one, as he began studying them under his minds microscope.

“Ham...Ham...Hey Hamilton!”

Scout and Will had come to see how their two friends were, letting themselves in and finding Hamilton completely lost in thought.

“How many times do we have to go over this? X-ray vision just won’t work unless your standing on your head.”

“Funny.” Hamilton said to Scout, who simply smiled at him and strolled over to the bed.

“Hey man.” Will followed Scout over to where Hamilton was laying down, “You look like crap!”

“Again, funny.”

“Alright, alright.” Scout cut in. “We were on our way to Friendly’s for some breakfast and thought we’d stop by to see if you wanted anything.”

“That is if it’s aloud.” Will piped in, not wanting to get Hamilton in trouble with the doctors.

“Um...no thanks man, I’m really not that hungry.” Hamilton stared down at the sling on his right arm and rubbed his shoulder, remembering when he dislocated it ramming into Jake’s door. “Hey, can you guys do me a big favor?” he asked still not looking up.

“Uh, yeah...sure.” Will answered a little confused. “What is it?”

* * *

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.” Will said, dragging a wheel chair into the room.

“Yeah, well I’m just glad they put me on a portable oxygen tank this morning.”

“Okay, so how exactly are we pulling this off?” Scout asked.

“Simple, Will sneaks me out of my room, down the hall, and into Jake’s room, while you stay here and cover for me.”

“Okay...and you can’t go by yourself because...” Scout questioned sarcastically.

“Because a patient, stumbling down the hall, carrying an oxygen tank might look just a little suspicious you idiot.”

Will just rolled his eyes at the two. “Well let’s get going then.”

Will poked his head out of the door and looked around, making sure no one was watching. His head went back inside the room as Hamilton’s two feet were forced out, along with the rest of his body, propelled by two large and two small wheels on a metal frame. The two boys strolled down the hall as casually as possible, making their way towards Jake’s room.

Hamilton had asked every nurse that came into his room that morning how Jacqueline was doing and none of them could give him a straight answer. Now he was going to find out...and he was scared.

As they rounded the corner anxiety hit him hard and he was sent into a coughing fit, merely waving Will to continue. They finally reached the room and Hamilton put up a hand. “You guys go get breakfast...I need to see her alone.” They gave each other a small hands hug and then Will left.

Hamilton pushed the door to Jake’s room open and wheeled himself in, the sights and smells of the previous evening rushing back to him like lost souls. He wheeled along the straight pattern of tile, slowly making his way towards the bed.

There were wide tubes running from a machine to Jacqueline’s mouth, pumping clean oxygen into her lungs. Although sheets covered her legs, he could still envision the black charcoal burns eating at the tissue. The air in the room was stuffy and lingering as if waiting for death to come.

He finally made his way to her bedside and stopped just short of the sheets. Her arms had been bandaged and her pink hands rested at her sides. Hamilton reached out and gently caressed her fingers with his thumb, afraid of touching anything else for fear it would do further damage.

“I’m so sorry Jake...so very, very sorry.” His voice came in a whisper as a single tear slid down his cheek, “So sorry.”

Hamilton’s head fell to his arm as he stared into the emptiness, minutes rolling by. Suddenly he could feel a slight shaking coming from the bed and he looked up to see Jacqueline’s body going through what appeared to be a seizure.

“Nurse...Nurse!!!”

Hamilton started pounding repeatedly on the call button to the side of the bed. He could hear the heart monitor slowing in the background.

“Bip..bip...bip....bip.....biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...”