Chapter 23

The sight of the small figure lying in the bed shocked the guys. This didn’t look like the Brian they knew and loved. They had to looked twice even three times at the man in the bed to make sure they was in the right room. The lifeless man in the bed was extremely pale with a few spots of color on his cheeks from the high fever that invaded his weak body, his sandy blond hair was matted down on his forehead, his eyelids were closed and didn’t allow anyone to see the eyes which were usually so bright blue and full of life, and the face that usually held a friendly and bright smile for everyone was expressionless. But as horrible as his appearance looked, the thing that scared the guys the most were the machines. Brian was hooked up to many machines including a heart monitor and life support machine and he also had a breathing tube down his throat to help his breathing. With every breath he took, they could faintly hear the rattling type sound from within his lungs caused by the pneumonia is his body.

Howie and A.J. quietly stood beside the bed taking in every detail, they just couldn’t bring themselves to believe that this was their fellow bandmate; he was just too lifeless.

Kevin walked unsteadily up to his cousin’s bedside, carefully grasping the part of his hand that wasn’t covered in wires and IV’s. “Oh Bri I’m so sorry this happened to you. If it hadn’t been for me you wouldn’t be in this horrible place. I know you hate hospitals so much, Bri and now you are in one. If you are angry with me when you wake up, I wouldn’t blame you. Because of my stupidity you are lying here. Please forgive me Br...Bri” pleaded Kevin as he erupted into body shaking sobs and he buried his head into his cousin’s chest.

Howie made his way toward Kevin to comfort him as A.J. stayed still. “Train, it is ok. Calm down. I don’t understand why you are blaming yourself you did nothing wrong. And even if you did, Bri would forgive you, he loves you man” said Howie in hopes of calming Kevin, but was shocked to hear Kevin’s sobs grow louder as he started chanting “I’m sorry Bri, please forgive me. Please!”

The sound of someone bumping into a table caused the guys attention to travel to the front of the room to see Nick slowly backing up towards the door with hopes of no one seeing him. He almost made it out the door but was quickly pulled back by his shirt.

“Just where in the hell do you think you going?” asked an angry tearfilled voice. Nick slowly turned his head around to meet the hard green gaze of Kevin.

“I just need to get out of here Kev. Can’t you understand that? Is it that hard to understand” stated Nick hatefully. Before Nick knew what happened his head was slammed forcefully against the wall.

“Don’t you have any respect?” screamed Kevin. “My cousin who is your best friend is lying in this damn hospital bed dying and all you can think about is your damn self! Bri would give his life for you and you are just acting like a stupid coward and running away from him just because you can't face reality like the rest of us. I’m actually thankful that he isn’t conscious to see you act this way!” screamed Kevin.

“Yeah Kev but it isn’t my fault he is here now is it?” asked Nick hatefully with tears running down his face. He hated the cruel truth of Kevin’s word and he knew that by saying this it would get Kevin back for saying those mean things to him. As those words hit Kevin’s ears, his grip on Nick loosened and he fell to the floor sobbing and screaming for forgiveness.

Howie and A.J. quickly rushed up to Kevin and A.J. who was unable to hold in his anger yelled, “Look what you did dumbass!! I can’t believe you!”

In response to A.J.’s comments Nick took one last look at his best friend lying in the bed and quickly turned around and walked out the door, never looking back. He made his way outside and found a payphone located outside the hospital. He picked up the phone book that was provided and quickly looked up the number for a cab company. With shakey fingers, Nick dialed the number and gave the person who answered his location then he patiently waited for the cab to arrive.

The cab arrived five minutes later and Nick silently got into the cab and told the drive where to take him. When he got to his location he paid the cab driver and made his way inside walking towards a desk as he whipped out his credit card. When he arrived at his destination he approached the lady at the desk, “Ma’am? Can I please have a one way ticket for the next plane that leaves for Los Angeles, California?”

Chapter 24