Chapter 38: Chapter 38

"Where is my girlfriend?" I demanded, towering over the petite nurse. She shook her head, flipping through the pages on her clipboard.

"Sir, I told you, you may not see her right now. Now please, go sit down." The nurse said sternly. She looked up, narrowing her eyes at me.

"This is bullshit," I mumbled. The nurse glared at me, she obviously did not approve of my swearing. Gage looked in my direction, from across the hall. He motioned for me to come sit next to him, I waved him off and stood next to the exit doors.

Gage and I had just arrived. The hospital was jam packed with patients; it's a full house tonight. The nurse had told me that I'm not allowed to see Kaelyn because she's falling in and out of consciousness. They don't want me in there because they think I'll make her go into shock or something. They obviously don't understand anything.

I just want to see if my girl is okay. She has to be okay. She's going to be okay.

I kept reassuring myself that she is going to be fine, but honestly I don't know if she is going to be. The doctors haven't told me the cause of the accident or what exactly happened. All they told me was an old couple found her car, smashed into a tree. They told me that they had to remove shards of glass from her body. They told me that she has a purple and black bruise on the right side of her forehead. They told me that they have no idea what caused the accident. They told me everything except if she's going to be alright.

Someone patted my shoulder. I turned around, locking eyes with Gage. He gave me a soft smile and said, "She's going to be fine."

"How do you know that? She can't even stay awake for two minutes," tears began forming in the corners of my eyes, "Gage, what if I did this? What if this happened after I called her? What if this happened because I called her and distracted her?"

"Shane, this isn't your fault. She'll be fine."

"You don't know that," my voice cracked.

"Shane, shut up. When have I ever been wrong?" Gage lightly chuckled. I kept a straight face. Gage sighed, running his hands through his dyed black hair. "I've never seen you like this. You must really love her, huh."

"I... I honestly do. I love her with every bone in my body." I smiled through my tears. He nodded, patting me on the back.

"Hey um, the nurse said only immediate family can visit her, right?" Gage randomly brought up. I nodded my head. "Did anyone think to call Michael, I mean, he is her brother after all."

My eyes widened.

"I-I um... I don't think so. If they had he would already be here." My throat was dry. What's Michael going to do if he figures out his sister was in a car wreck? His parents died in a car accident... this is not good.

"Dude, you need to call him." Gage put his hands on my shoulders. "Like, now!"

"Alright, alright. Give me a second." My hands were shaking as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I quickly glanced through my contacts, searching for Kaelyn's home phone number. I took a deep breath the second the line was picked up.

"Hello?" Michael's voice was calm, he almost sounded relaxed.

"Yes, um, Michael... Kaelyn's been in a car wreck. She's at the hospital and-" I couldn't finish my sentence because the line went dead. He hung up on me. He hung up...

I angrily shoved my phone back into my pocket. How could he hang up? Did he think I was lying or something? Gage stood up, shaking his head.

"I'm going to go to the cafeteria and grab some coffee, do you want anything? You're not looking the best right now."

"Gage I don't need you to tell me if I'm looking the best at the moment! My goddamn girlfriend is in one of those hospital beds and I'm not allowed to go see her! I don't care about looks right now!" I screamed at him. For a second he looked taken aback, but he quickly changed his expression. His face now looked like it would if he had no emotions.

"Alright... I um- I'll be back in a few minutes." He was mumbling curses under his breath as he stalked away. I sat down on one of the uncomfortable benches in the hallway. Nurses were running stretchers back and forth, pushing IVs down the hallway and checking on patients. Putting my head in my hands, I closed my eyes.

***

"That's my baby sister in there! Let me see her!" A familiar voice startled me. I looked up, meeting the eyes of an angry Michael. He was arguing with the same nurse I had quarreled with. Michael's face was red with anger and the skin around his eyes was dark and puffy. The nurse shook her head, looking back down at her keyboard. "You don't understand..." his voice trailed off.

"Sir, please sit down. Your sister is being attended to at the moment. You may see her in five minutes."

"I need to see her. Now."

"Sit down," The nurse instructed through clenched teeth. Michael glared at her for a minute before taking a seat right next to me. I glanced at him, his hands were shaking and he was mumbling 'don't take her too' under his breath.

"Michael, I know I'm not exactly your most favourite person in the world..." his head snapped up, all his attention was on me. "But, she's going to be fine. Trust me. She just has cuts and bruises, nothing permanent." It had taken me a while to believe it myself, I can't imagine how long it will take him.

"Are you sure? I-I... she's the only one I have left. I mean- we all know our grandma isn't going to live forever and after she's gone Kaelyn and I will be the only two to our name." He wiped a tear out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm sure."

The two of us sat in silence for ten minutes, waiting for the nurse to come back. She eventually did, but was only seeking immediate family members. Michael gave me a sad smile. I motioned with my hands for him to go see her, smiling a little. My eyes followed Michael, who was walking down the hall to room 563.

I sat on the uncomfortable bench for fifteen more minutes waiting for Gage to return. I'm starting to think he's not coming back for a while. That little prick. I was so nervous that I was completely unaware that my foot was tapping rapidly on the cold, bleach white tile floor.

I could hear someone walking towards me. Half expecting it to be Gage I looked up. It wasn't who I thought it was going to be.

"Ryder," I clenched my teeth. Out of instinct I balled my hands into fists.

"Hey Shane. I heard that Kaelyn's here. I thought that I'd stop by, just to see if she's okay." He smirked. I stood up, standing close enough to stab him and not get caught, and I would stab him, if I had the knife. You see, I figured out not too long ago that it was Ryder that staged the whole "Get Ali into my bed and send Kaelyn a note" plot. I haven't gotten a chance to hurt him, yet.

"What do you really want, Coleman." I spat.

"Kaelyn to be my girlfriend," He simply answered.

"Don't you already have Ali filling that position," I snickered.

"I did. Apparently she didn't want to get together with me?" He said that conceitedly, as if he's every girl's dream guy. "But I know Kaelyn would like to fill the position of being my girlfriend. I mean, she did it for six months."

"She's not interested."

Ryder didn't answer. He just rolled his eyes. I was about to tackle him to the ground, not giving a damn that we have an audience, and punch him until he doesn't even look like himself anymore. I would've done it too, if Michael hadn't called my name.

I glanced down the hallway at him, he smiled and nodded at me.

"Shane, I'm a little jealous. Your name was the first word to come out of her mouth," Michael said as I walked by him. The corners of my mouth curled up.

She is going to be fine.