| Chapter 1 He screeched his car in the parking lot at the first spot he saw. He slammed the door shut and ran inside to the emergency room doors. He went quickly to the booth in front of the room. “May I help you?” asked the nurse, not looking up from her paper work. “I was called about an Angela Ramos.” The nurse looked up quickly. “One moment sir, I’ll get the doctor.” “Wait, can’t I just…” The nurse got up before she even let Joey finish. “Damn!” Seconds later, a doctor walked in the room. “Are you here for Angela Ramos?” “Yes I am.” “I’m Dr. Hanlon, I was the doctor on duty when Angela was brought in.” “What the hell happened?” “Please sit for a moment, Mr. Fatone,” he led Joey to a seat. “First may I ask, what is your relation to Miss Ramos?” “She’s my girlfriend.” “Does she have any family we can contact?” “Not really… wait a minute, what happened with Angela?” “Mr. Fatone…” Dr. Hanlon looked gravely at Joey. “I’m afraid that Angela was in a serious accident tonight. The paramedics responded to a 911 call that a car was turned over on a side street. It was Angela’s.” Joey looked with tears in his eyes at the doctor. “But she’s OK right? I mean, she must have been thrown from the car or something?” Dr. Hanlon still had the same grave look. “Angela was in her car, with the seatbelt holding her firmly inside. The only details that I got from the paramedics is that the emergency personnel on staff had to use the Jaws of Life to free her.” He then took a deep breath. “Angela is in a very grave condition now. She was brought in with severe internal bleeding and severe lacerations. She actually went into cardiac arrest, and we had to resuscitate her twice. We stabilized her about 20 minutes ago. 5 ribs were crushed; she has a severe head injury and internal bleeding. Her left leg and her right arm have been broken, and there are several lacerations and bruises all over her face and body.” “Can I see her?” Joey was in a state of shock. Dr. Hanlon knew what state Joey was in, and tried to explain the situation. “She’s getting prepped now, where her arm and leg is being set, then she’ll be moved to ICU. I hate to say this, but she has lapsed into a coma. It’s going to be touch and go for the next 48 hours… she’s in critical condition.” Joey tried to take all of this in, word by word. “Can I see her?” he repeated. “I’ll take you to the ICU in about half an hour.” “Is there any place I can make some phone calls?” “Sure, right this way. You can use the conference room.” Dr. Hanlon led Joey to the conference room and sat him down. “I’ll be back when Angela is settled in her room.” Joey reached for the phone. He dialed a number and someone answered. “Hello?” “JC?” “Joe, what’s wrong man?” “It’s Angela… she… she’s in the hospital.” “What?!” What happened?” “Car accident…” Joey was breathing heavily and tried his best not to throw a fit right there in the room. “Which hospital?” “Southwest.” “I’ll be right there. Don’t move.” “OK.” “Bye.” ~*~ JC ran through the emergency room doors and saw Joey sitting there in the seat, leaning forward with his face in his hands. He went over to Joey and touched his shoulder. “Joe?” Joey looked up and saw JC. He stood up and gave Joey a hug. JC broke from Joey. “You OK?” Joey shook his head as he took a seat. “The doctor said they’re bringing her to the room now.” JC sat down next to him. “What happened?” “They said her car flipped over when she turned down the street. It’s… real bad. They said they had to give her CPR twice.” Joey’s tears flowed from his eyes. “Damn man,” JC put his hand on Joey’s shoulder. A nurse came up to them. “Excuse me Mr. Fatone. Dr Hanlon said Ms. Ramos’ room is ready. Fifth floor, the elevator is down the hall.” “Thank you,” JC said as the nurse walked away. “Want me to come with you?” “Yeah, I’d like that,” Joey wiped his tears away as he stood up and walked with JC down the hall. ~*~ JC and Joey walked down to the hall and opened the door marked “ICU.” Dr. Hanlon waited by the desk where some nurses were standing by. “Dr. Hanlon, this is my friend JC,” Joey looked on as JC and Dr. Hanlon shook hands. “Angela is all ready in her room. But I don’t want you to be scared of all the machines. She’s on a respirator, hooked up to a lot of tubes, and she’s extremely bruised on the face and arms. I just want you to be prepared, OK?” Joey nodded. “OK.” “Let me take you there,” Dr. Hanlon stood aside as Joey walked past him. “You want me to come in with you?” JC asked. “No, I need to do this by myself.” Dr. Hanlon led Joey to the room at the end of the hall and Joey walked inside. He gasped at what he saw. Angela was lying in the bed, her head was wrapped in gauze. Her face was completely black and blue, with cuts across her cheek and her lip was split open while a tube was taped to her mouth. Her left arm was in a cast and the other was bandaged up with several tubes wrapped around it. Her leg was raised in traction with a cast on it. The sound of all of the machines was almost deafening. Joey fought back the tears as he saw her in the bed, looking so small and fragile against all of the machines. He closed his eyes, secretly hoping that he would wake up from the nightmare he was facing. He opened them up again, still seeing the same gruesome scene in front of him. “Mr. Fatone,” Dr. Hanlon put his hand on his shoulder. “Joey.” “Joey, why don’t you have a seat? Most people in comas can still hear voices.” “Really?” Dr. Hanlon nodded and pulled out a chair for him to sit. “Just talk to her as if you were having a conversation.” Joey still stood back, trying to gather strength. “Would you like for me to get your friend?” “In a few minutes,” Joey said as Dr. Hanlon nodded and walked out of the room. Joey slowly walked up to Angela’s bed and sat down. He carefully wove his hands through the tubes and lightly put his hand on top of hers. “Hey you. I’m here, just want to let you know that. I got here as soon as they called, probably running a couple of red lights on the way, so if this ruins my driving record, I’m giving you the tickets to pay for.” Joey let out a silent laugh and tried to look for any reaction… nothing. “Listen to me, you can’t leave me. You know all of the plans I have for us. I don’t want them ruined. I love you too much. So, wake up out of this thing so we can go home. If you do, I’ll buy you that brand new Expedition you wanted. Please baby, wake up!” He then began to sob, his shoulders shaking. “Joe?” JC walked inside. “Damnit! Why did this happen!” Joey still looked at Angela. “Don’t know man, I don’t know,” JC shook his head. “You gonna stay here?” Joey nodded. “Alright, I’m gonna head to your house and get some clothes for you. Any requests?” “Yeah, get my little stereo from my room, and look in the CD case to the left. There’s some of Angela’s favorite’s in there.” “Will do,” JC gave Joey a hug. “You want me to call anyone? The others?” “Nah, I’ll call them in the morning. Thanks man.” “Anytime.” JC left the room as Joey still tried talking to Angela through the night. ~*~ The next morning He groggily walked to his kitchen, found his pack of cigarettes and lit one up. He headed to the refrigerator after feeding his dogs, turning on the television as he walked past it. He was shifting through his food as he heard the morning news from the television. “And in other news, there was a severe car accident on Manor Street in downtown Orlando last night. There was one victim in the car, and she has been identified as 22-year-old Angela Ramos…” His head shot up from the refrigerator and ran to the television set. “… who is also the girlfriend of Joey Fatone, from the native group *N Sync. She has been listed in critical condition at Southwest Hospital.” He ran to find the phone and dialed a number. “Hello?” “D?” “What’s wrong?” “It’s all my fault.” “What the hell are you talking about?” “Angela… didn’t you watch the news?” “It’s 8:00 in the morning man… why, what happened?” “She’s been in an accident.” Chapter 2 Contents Prologue |