The hospital waiting room was quiet. Nobody
moved, they barely breathed. All they could do was sit there and think. Why did
this have to happen to Brian? He hadn’t hurt anybody. All he was guilty of was
being different. And he had just had the courage to come forth and tell people.
That would teach him twice to be so open.
That was if he survived this.
But Brian would survive. He had to. He couldn’t
die and leave them all alone, leave them hoping that he could be with them just
one more day.
And most of he couldn’t die without patching
things up with Nick. He couldn’t die and have Nick still hate him. Things
couldn’t end that way. It wouldn’t be right.
The three men hated their own thoughts but were
too unsure of their own voices to speak to each other and confirm their own
fears. But they couldn’t sit in the silence forever. Finally Howie was able to
speak.
“Where do you think Nick went?”
Kevin snorted angrily. “Who cares.” He growled.
“That little fool was too stubborn to realize that Brian was still his friend
no matter what. He doesn’t deserve to have our thoughts and concerns!”
AJ sighed. He was mad at Nick too, but he also
thought Nick had a reason for disappearing. Something that he had said or
something that had happened pushed him one way or the other. He either hated
Brian even more or he was starting to open his eyes. But something wasn’t right
with him before that gunshot had gone off. Something was changing in him. AJ
had heard it in his voice. But he didn’t have the strength to call him and find
out what exactly Nick was thinking.
“What if what me and Howie said changed his
mind?” AJ asked. “What if he ran because he was to shocked to stay and see what
had happened?”
“Why would he have run?!” Kevin’s voice began
to raise. “If he had cared he would have stuck around to find out what happened
to his best friend. Instead he disappears and we don’t hear anything
from him! He probably ran back to his room and cursed that he didn’t think of
pulling the gun first!”
“Kevin!” Howie gasped in shock. “You can’t say
that. Nick may have hurt Brian emotionally, but he would never hurt him
physically. We all know that.”
“NOBODY KNOWS THAT!!” Kevin screamed jumping
up.
“Mr. Littrell?” Came a quiet voice from the
door.
The three of them turned around to see a female
doctor standing sheepishly in the doorway. Kevin ran up to her and grabbed her
by the shoulders.
“How’s my cousin?” He asked quickly. “Can we go
see him now? Is he going to be okay?”
“Please sir, sit down.” She pointed to the
empty chair behind him. “Let me explain things.” She waited until Kevin had
taken his seat to continue. “Mr. Littrell was in poor shape when he was brought
in. He had lots of internal bleeding and was beaten very badly. He also had a
bullet wound to the chest taken at point blank range. It passed through his
entire body.”
“S-so is he okay?” AJ asked quietly.
The doctor looked at him with sad blue eyes. AJ
was shocked how much they reminded him of Brian’s eyes the night he told them.
The night his world had gone spinning out of control.
“He was very weak when he was brought into
surgery, but immediate operation was his only chance at any survival.” She told
them. “I’m afraid we lost Brian on the operating table.”
Kevin dropped to his knees and began sobbing.
It was scary to see the father figure crumble like that. But Howie and AJ were
soon right behind him. Tears ran down their pale cheeks as they blamed
everything they could think of. But nothing helped and nothing would bring
Brian back. He was gone forever because some people couldn’t accept the fact
that he was different.