Chapter two – sad times

Naomi faintly heard the shriek of the phone as she buried her head in a pillow. She moaned and finally gave into the constant ringing, whoever it was wasn’t going to give up. She stepped out of bed and stumbled over to the phone in the kitchen.

“Hello?”  She half mumbled into the small black cordless phone as she held it up to her ear. She was met by a weak struggle of an answer.

“Naomi?” He sobbed out. He could barely hold himself up, gripping the side of a chair for support as he stood in the middle of a hospital waiting room.

“Brian?” He had gotten Naomi’s full attention, now she was wide awake and worried sick of what might have happened; anxious for him to answer, she held her breathe.

“Leighanne’s in the hospital…she…there was an accident…a drunk driver just…” Was all Brian could stutter out before he started crying uncontrollably again. Naomi immediately started asking questions of where they were as she started changing. Once she got all the info. from a disheveled Brian she ran out the door and hailed a cab; she got to the hospital in about fifteen minutes.

“Brian?” She looked around the room, spotting him sitting in a chair with his head in his hands as he cried and Nick, Kevin, and one of Leighanne’s sisters sitting around him trying to comfort him. She walked over to them just as Brian raised his head from his hands. He saw her and stood up abruptly, everyone turned to look at Naomi as the two embraced in a hug. They had become very close friends in the short time that they had known each other and now were like family. They cried on each other’s shoulders as Leighanne’s Parents came walking down the hall, her mother crying hysterically. After getting Brian to calm down some he explained to her what happened.

“…And he got away with out a scratch. Nay, the only reason she was even out was cause we were hungry and had called for a pizza. I…I…achouo!” He sneezed loudly and sniffled. He had gotten a cold from playing golf in the rain the day before and now looked terrible, with the fact that he was a nervous wreck and had a fever to top it off. “The doctor told me she has a twenty percent chance.” He whispered as Naomi whipped his tears away. With this far away look in his eyes he picked up his cell phone and walked off into the hall. Naomi decided to give him some peace so she sat and talked with Nick until he came back…

                                                                        ***

“Yeah…just pray. I dunno what I’d do with out her mom. I can’t. I just…” Brian whipped a tear away with the back of his hand as he sat on the floor in the hall of the hospital getting some reassurance from his mother on the phone. He didn’t know what else to do. Leighanne was still asleep and he couldn’t go in to see her. Nick had gone home to get some sleep, and Nancy, Leighanne’s older sister had gone to a hotel, and there was really nothing anyone could do. Naomi stayed for Brian and he was grateful for that. He said goodbye to his mom and sat the phone down on the floor beside him in the empty halls. That sterile smell filled his nose, that smell that even though he had gotten so used to as a kid still made his stomach do flip-flops for the thought of just wanting to get out of there. He felt drained, and tired. He was sick, and hungry, and worried out of his mind. What would he do without her? He couldn’t go on living. A twenty percent chance. He just had to pray for her was what his mom had told him. “Keep hope.” He said aloud to himself. ‘If we had just called somewhere that delivered!’ he screamed at himself inside, beating himself up for letting her go. He would’ve gladly taken her place in that hospital bed. She had argued with him on who would go get the pizza, she knew he was sick, and he knew she hated to drive at night. He looked at his watch; it was now five ‘till midnight. An old song, ‘If I don’t have you’ kept playing in his mind. It was a song they had sung a long time ago, so long he could barely remember the lyrics but he hummed along with the song in his head anyway.

If I don’t have you,

To hold onto,

I can’t go on,

In this world alone,

Baby it’s true,

If you said goodbye,

Girl I would die,

I’m a star with no light,

A day with no night,

If I don’t have you.

 He diverted his mind to Naomi, sitting in the waiting room, probably worried sick herself; she and Leighanne had become like sisters. It had been two weeks since Brian was introduced to her, but in only two weeks he had become very attached to her. He had had a dream a few nights before about her, he couldn’t remember much of it as he sat on that hospital hall floor and tried to remember the dream. All he really knew about it, was that it was totally dark, he spun around but stopped when he saw a light, he walked towards it and giggled slightly at the ‘don’t go towards the light’ jokes he had always made at these moments, it wasn’t a scary atmosphere but rather sad, once he got closer to the light he could see that I was Naomi holding a flash light up and shinning it around like a spotlight with a goofy grin on her face. One hand in her pocket and the other holding the light she slowly stepped over things he couldn’t see and walked towards him. A smile grew on his face. He couldn’t remember anymore and his thoughts went racing back to the present and a solemn frown fell upon his face again. He heard footsteps and looked up to see Nay walked down the hall looking down at him. When she got to him she held her hand out and helped him to his feet. In silence they walked the halls for a while, almost drowning in their own thoughts.