Hate Every Beautiful Day
Chapter 26
By: Makena
Joel had fallen asleep across the rows of chairs in the waiting room. He didn't have a way home, but he figured he could walk if nothing else. He woke up just in time to see the doctor step inside.
"Mr. Combs?" he asked, looking at Joel. Joel nodded and stood up, waiting to hear the news. "I'm Dr. Jones. You must be... Joel?"
"Yeah."
"You checked your brother in?" he asked. Joel nodded again.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Where's your mother?"
"Work," Joel sighed, slapping his forehead. "I forgot to call her."
"Well, I'll give you an update on your brother, although I'm technically supposed to wait for the parents or legal guardians to show up." Joel nodded and nervously wiped his hands on his jeans.
"Now, we found about half a bottle worth of aspirin in your brother's system," Dr. Jones began. "And a large amount of alcohol. We'd like to keep him for a while to monitor him, but your brother is doing fine right now."
"Okay," Joel said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That's... that's good."
"Mmm," Dr. Jones said absently, removing a pen from his pocket and flipping through the sheets of paper he had clipped to his clipboard. "Now, could you give us any indication that this could have been a suicide attempt?"
Joel had to think about it for a second. "Well..." he began, a little unsure if he should be telling this doctor about his brother's suicidal tendencies. "He sort of threatened to kill himself yesterday," he said slowly. "He got this girl pregnant and it's just this whole mess, cause its not his girlfriend and... stuff."He sighed.
"That would be a cause for suicide," the doctor said, writing it down. "Anything else?"
"Well, yeah," Joel said. "Dr. Jones, my brother did not try to kill himself. He's... he's a heavy drinker, and he didn't know what he was doing when he took the aspirin. Please... you have to believe this wasn't a suicide attempt."
"You may think it wasn't a suicide attempt," Dr. Jones said. "But we still have to talk to your brother about it."
"Can I see him now?" Joel asked. The doctor nodded and sighed.
"Would you like us to call your mother for you?"
Joel nodded as the doctor gave him Benji's room number. Joel got into the elevator and rode up to the next floor and found Benji's room. The door was open, and he peaked inside to see Benji. He was awake and sitting up, poking the hospital food he had been given.
Joel sighed and stepped into the room. Benji looked up and sighed, returning to the poking and prodding of his somewhat inedible dinner.
"You'd think they would have better food," Benji said. "Considering this is a hospital."
Joel managed to get a laugh out as Benji tried his desert instead. "The doctor thinks you tried to commit suicide," Joel said. Benji shrugged and gave up on the whole idea of eating at all.
"I don't care." He paused and looked up at Joel. "I didn't, you know. I don't even really remember why I came in here."
"You O.D.ed on aspirin," Joel told him. Benji nodded.
"I guess I could see how that seems suicidal." He paused again. "Do you think I tried to kill myself?" Joel shook his head.
"Oh? Even with my threat the other day?" Joel nodded and walked closer to his brother.
"I know you're not that dumb."
-----
Benji spent the night in the hospital and woke up with his mother, Josh and Sarah all there.
"What the hell..." he muttered. "Don't you have anything better to be doing?" His mother had tears in her eyes and she knelt leaned over to put her hand on Benji's.
"They told me you tried to kill yourself," she told him.
"I didn't try to kill myself," Benji scoffed. "If I was going to kill myself, I would make sure I did it the first time."
"Comforting," Josh said sarcastically from the chair by the corner.
"Isn't it, though?" Benji retorted. Joel entered the room with a can of coke and a Snickers bar. He stopped when he saw his mother and tried to hide them in his hoodie. Benji raised an eyebrow at him.
"I'm hungry..." Joel explained.
"Seriously, don't you have school? Or work? Or something?"
"Oh, honey," his mother began.
"I'm fine here by myself, mom. Or... Joel can stay. You should go to work." She nodded and kissed Benji's forehead before taking Sarah out of the room. Josh slowly got up and looked his brother over for a minute before sighing.
"I..." he paused and sighed. "Never mind. See you later."
Benji and Joel watched him walk through the door and shrugged. "So... we're both skipping school?" Joel questioned. Benji shrugged.
"I guess overdosing has its advantages."
Joel laughed a little, hoping it had been a joke. They flipped the TV on and watched whatever looked slightly interesting and played cards.
"I'm bored," Joel said at around noon. He yawned and turned the TV on again.
"Ohh, a hospital boring? Who would have though?"
Joel laughed. Benji looked out side his door to watch some of the action out side when he noticed a head shoot back from the door frame. He sighed.
"Sneaky," he said sarcastically, loud enough for the person to hear. "I know you're out there, Makena."
Makena slowly stepped in front of the doorway and into the room. She was wearing a black hoodie, knee high socks and a red plaid skirt, and her hair was up like it had been the night of the Homecoming dance.
"Seriously, does no one have anything better to do with their day?" Benji asked no one in particular. Joel looked up at Makena as she walked in.
"I heard about your... thing..." Makena said softly, straightening her skirt out. Benji sighed. Joel watched the two before Makena turned around to look at him.
"Can I talk to him for a minute?" she asked. Joel nodded and got up.
"I was getting hungry, anyway," he said, searching his pockets for some money. He disappeared and Makena turned back to Benji.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, taking a hold of his hand. "For this. For everything I ever did to you."
"You didn't do anything to me," Benji said. "If anything, I did something to you."
"I did, though," she said. "I... I'm sorry. For everything." Benji nodded and Makena wiped a tear that had escaped her eye away. "Anyway," she said with a large sigh. "I came by to tell you good bye."
"Bye?" Benji repeated. "Where are you going?"
"I told my dad," Makena said, struggling to get the words out without crying. "And he's shipping me off to live with my mom in Iowa. I'm leaving this weekend."
"Oh..." Benji said. "What about Aaron? Does he know?"
Makena nodded and looked down at the white sheets on Benji's bed.
"I told him yesterday after football practice. He's... he's really hurt, but he's not mad at you. He wanted to stay with me and help, but I couldn't... I couldn't do that to him."
"What about you?" Benji asked. "How are you going to support a kid?"
Makena sighed and shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe my mom can help me a little."
"I'll help," Benji insisted. "I'll... I'll send you money every month and..."
"No," Makena said. "Please... don't. I know you don't have a lot to begin with. I don't want to bring you down with me."
"I'm already down," Benji said sadly. "Just let me help. Please?"
Makena let out a broken sigh and looked up at Benji, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Good bye, Benji," she said. She closed her eyes and kissed him sweetly on the lips. "I'll miss you."
She slowly let go of Benji's hand as she walked away, looking back at him only once. Benji let her go, not knowing of any other way he could keep her there.
Joel returned only moments later, holding a couple cans of pop and watching Makena walk down the some what busy halls.
"Where's she going?" he asked Benji.
"She's leaving," Benji replied, staring at the end of his bed. "I don't think I'll ever see her again."
--- Monday came around, and Benji almost expected to see Makena at school, laughing and telling him everything had been a joke. But it wasn't some stupid joke. She was missing in Ancient World History, and she wasn't sitting with her normal group of friends at lunch.
'How can they be the Magnificent Seven with just six people?' he thought to himself as he watched them eat without her. He sighed and continued to eat his lunch when some one sat down next to him. He looked up to see Aaron and sighed.
"Shit..." he cursed through a mouth full of hamburger. He tried to get up, but Aaron held him down.
"I just want to talk to you," Aaron said. Benji cocked an eyebrow at him. He settled back in his seat, but slid back a little so Aaron couldn't hit him. Neither of them said anything for a while as Benji swallowed his food.
"Look, man," Benji began. "I'm sorry. I'm really, REALLY sorry. I didn't think... I mean... sorry."
Aaron sighed. "She meant a lot to me, Benji," Aaron said. "It's not... your fault..."
Benji let out a laugh. "Okay," he said. "If that's what you want to believe."
"I probably should have yelled at her that night, anyway," he said. "It's sort of my fault." He paused. "I just wanted to tell you I'm not... pissed at you or anything."
He sighed and nodded. Without another word, he got up and left Benji by himself again. Except, only minuets after Aaron left, Nicole sat down next to him on his right, and Shannon on his left.
"So, we heard what happened," Nicole said.
"Do you hate me?" Benji asked.
"Yes," Shannon replied. Nicole reached across Benji and punched her. "What?" Shannon asked. "I was kidding!"
"Anyway, we're kind of sad about it too," Nicole said. "And I mean, there used to be seven, but now there's six, so there's an empty seat at our table."
"I noticed," Benji said. Nicole and Shannon looked at each other and laughed.
"You're a good hint-dropper, Nicole," she laughed sarcastically. "What she meant was, would you like to be our seventh and sit with us?"
"I... suppose..." Benji hesitated. "Does this mean we all have to be friends?"
"Yes," Shannon said.
"Oh." Benji sighed and shrugged, picking his tray up and following the two back to their table. "So... seventh, huah? Like... 007 or just seventh."
"Whatever you'd like to take it as, Mr. Bond," Nicole said.
"So what's with you and death?" Shannon asked, only half serious.
"You know what?" Benji asked, putting his chair down at the table. "I don't know."
They laughed as he sat down and joined them at their table and talked to them and laughed with them. He wasn't alone anymore.
The End