Live And Let Die
Chapter 11
By: Makena
Benji drove to the hospital, doing 65 on a 55 Limit until Joel convinced him that he didn't want to get into a car accident while they were driving to the hospital.
They reached the hospital and Benji ran to the emergency room to find Paul. "Paul..." Benji breathed at the front desk. "Where's Paul?"
"Mr. Thomas?"
Benji turned around to see a doctor, holding a clip board and placing a pen back into his pocket on the white coat he was wearing.
"He came in here with two other people - he's getting stitches in that room over there..."
"What about the little boy," Benji pleaded. "Where is he? And the girl. I need to see them."
"I was only accounting for Mr. Thomas," the doctor told him.
"Fuck," Benji muttered, but walked to the room the doctor had pointed out, Billy and Joel following closely behind. Benji pushed the door open without knocking, surprising both the nurse inside and Paul, who was sitting on a tall bed/table and receiving stitches to an insanely large gash above his left eye. His arm was in a sling, and his wrist was wrapped in a cast, and there were bruises all along his body.
"Jesus," Joel muttered from behind Benji.
"Paul," Benji breathed. "Where are they? Where are Gavin and Makena?"
"I don't know," Paul replied, seeming to be completely unaware that some one was sewing his gash back together. "I'm so fucking sorry, Benji. I pulled out - it was a green light... Benji, it hit the side Gavin and Makena were sitting on."
All hope Benji had of either Gavin or Makena being alive and okay was completely gone. Seeing the condition Paul was in and knowing his side hadn't even been impacted - Benji didn't know what to think.
"Are - are they alive?" Benji questioned. "Just tell me if they're alive."
"I don't know, Benji," Paul replied. "Ow. I already told you that I don't know..."
"Excuse me," some one said at the door. "Are you Paul's friends?" Everyone turned around to see another doctor, dressed in the same white, medical clothing as the first doctor had been dressed in.
"Where is my son?" Benji demanded.
"The little boy that came in with your friend?" the doctor inquired.
"Yeah," Benji said. "Gavin - where is he? Is he okay? What about Makena - I need to see them."
The doctor cleared his throat slightly and sighed. "Maybe we should talk out here..."
Benji's stomach lurched. He followed the doctor out into the hall, where Billy and Joel stood behind at a safe distance, just able to hear the conversation between Benji and the doctor.
"Where are they?" Benji inquired again. "Are they okay?"
"Mr..."
"Benji. Madden."
"Mr. Madden, Makena came in here severely injured," the doctor began. "There was some internal bleeding we were able to stop. She's got a broken leg - it's broken in two different places - and a fractured collar bone."
"But she's okay?" Benji asked anxiously.
"She's in a coma at the moment," the doctor said. "We don't know when - assuming she does - will wake up."
"Fuck," Benji muttered. "What about Gavin? He's okay, right?"
The doctor paused and looked down at his clipboard, trying to avoid giving Benji news on his son.
"Right?" Benji asked again.
"Benjamin, you son - " he paused. "There were some glass chard's and some metal that lodged itself into your son's lungs."
"But... you got it out," Benji said. "You got it out and he's okay."
"Benjamin, when the glass was lodged into his lungs, it caused the lungs to fill with blood."
"Wait... what are you saying?"
"I'm sorry," the doctor said. "But your son has died."
"Oh my god," Joel whispered from behind Benji.
"No," Benji said, stunned at the news. "No... you're wrong. I mean - are you sure? He can't be dead... no..." He broke down and began to cry at his last no. He collapsed to his knees, trying desperately not to cry. Not there - not then.
"I'll go tell Paul," Billy told Joel. Joel agreed and walked up to his brother.
"I'm very sorry, Mr. Madden," the doctor said. "We did everything we could."
Benji shook his head, sobbing into his hands. "It's not fair," he sobbed. "He was only six."
"Benji..." Joel said, walking up to his brother. The doctor sighed, said something, and walked away, leaving Benji and Joel to themselves.
"Let's go to the waiting room," Joel tried. "Maybe they'll let you see Makena in a little while..."
Benji shook his head. "I... I need a drink."
Joel sighed and picked his brother up off the floor. "No, Benji," he said. "You don't need anything."
"Fuck you, Joel," Benji scoffed. "I need a fucking drink."
"It's been almost two years, Benji," Joel pleaded, unaware of Benji's previous drinking before Gavin came.
"I just lost my fucking son, Joel," Benji said through clenched teeth, tears streaming down his face. "I think I deserve a fucking drink."
Joel weighted the options in his mind; Benji hadn't had a drink for almost two years (by his count), but he had just lost his son.
"Benji," Joel began. "I know - losing Gavin is... it's horrible. But if you drink, I'm afraid you're going to do something to yourself again."
"God fucking damn it, Joel," Benji raged, making most action in the E.R. cease. "I want, I need - I DESERVE - a fucking drink. Did you just lose a son? Did you?! Is the one girl you've never stopped thinking about laying somewhere, half dead while some fucking machine helps her live? Is any of this happening to you?! Is it?!"
Joel blinked a couple of times. He didn't know what to say, what to think. True, he hadn't lost a son, and true, the girl he loved wasn't laying on some hospital bed, possibly dying. Finally he sighed and checked his wallet.
"What do you want?" he asked Benji quietly.
"Whatever the fuck gets me drunk," Benji replied. "And fast."
Joel nodded and tucked his wallet back into the back pocket of his green dickies before turning away to find a liquor store.
------
Billy slipped back into the room Paul was still sitting in. He was no longer receiving stitches, but was waiting to be excused.
"I have a concussion," Paul told Billy as he entered the room. "A dislocated shoulder, a broken wrist and a big fucking gash in my forehead." He paused when he saw the sad look on Billy's face. "What happened? What's wrong?" Billy looked down at the ground and sighed before looking back up at Paul.
"Gavin - Gavin's dead," he began.
"Jesus," Paul muttered. "... fuck, dude. I - oh, shit. It's all my fault." He paused. "Fuck. How's Makena?"
"She's in a coma," Billy replied. "They don't - they don't know about her yet."
"Fuck," Paul muttered. "Just - fuck." He paused. "I don't know what I'm gonna do if she doesn't wake up."
Billy frowned. "Why?"
"It's my fucking fault," Paul said. "I didn't see the fucking car - I should have looked. Oh god..." He paused, wiping a tear that had come lose with his left hand. "If she dies - don't you realize, Billy? If she dies, that'll be two people I've taken from him."
Billy shook his head. "No, Paul," he said. "It was no one's fault. The roads were icy - nobody could have seen that coming. Not even you."
Paul sighed. He didn't know if Billy was right, but he still could only blame himself.