Dena Jackson: the strict and seemingly 'scary' head nurse overseeing the pediatric facility.
Dr. Adam McAndrew: a skilled surgeon working at the hospital and an ex-fiancé of Dr. Erin Grace.
Emma Chota: an intelligent but anorexic patient, who is also the girlfriend of Leo.
Charles "Charlie" Hutchison: a young comatose patient in the pediatrics ward who is also the narrator of the series.
Kara Souders: a cheerleader with an enlarged heart who is at the bottom of the transplant recipient list due to her drug abuse.
Brittany Dobler: a new naive but cheerful and ambitious nurse.
Leo Roth: an amputee and former osteosarcoma patient who is undergoing rehabilitation.
Jordi Palacios: a patient with Ewing sarcoma who is newly admitted to the pediatrics ward.
Dash Hosney: a patient with cystic fibrosis. The "player" and overall sassypants of the gang.
The first night was the scariest. I was in a big room by myself, listening to the sound of my own heartbeat through a monitor. There were big glass windows that made me feel like I was some kind of animal trapped at a zoo. The worst part out of all of this was the fact that there was a nurse coming in my room every hour to check up on me, and even when I pretended to be asleep, she still sat in the room with me. I entered the hospital on a Tuesday, and that following Monday I was already enrolled in the "school" that they had for all the kids, because even though some of them were dying, it was important that they were good friends with Shakespeare Jefferson.
It may sound crazy, but I actually felt comfortable in this room with these kids. Even though I have never spoken to them before, we were all there for the same reason: to hope to be saved and someday go back into the real world. We were all the same whether we realized it or not. As I looked across everyone in the room, I noticed a few people particularly. There was this very skinny, but beautiful, girl named Emma. She was very quiet, but very smart. Every time our teacher called on her, she always knew the answer or had something for educated to say. There was some kid Dash who was very sarcastic with pretty much everything that came out of his mouth. Kara was the rich, snobby type, probably the head cheerleader and the queen be(or used to be) at her old school. This kid named Leo(who I was assuming had cancer due to the fact that he was missing half of his leg and was bald). He was very handsome, and he even greeted me with a smile on my first day, but he was off limits. Then...there was Jordi.
Jordi and I sat next to one another, and he was very kind. He let me look off of his books until I got my own, and he even offered to help catch me up on all the work, and tutor me with any that I didn't understand. My God...was he beautiful. He had beautiful, tan skin that looked as if he had been kissed by the Caribbean sun. His eyes were a mix of brown and hazel, which made them very easy to get lost in. His brown gelled back hair looked as if it would be heaven to run my fingers through. I had to push back all these thoughts related to the school here in the hospital. I was going to visit Trent, and he didn't know I was in here.
"Hi, you know who I'm here to see." "Of course, he's ready and waiting for ya," The nurse said with a smile. "Go ahead on back!" As I headed back towards Trent's room, all I could think about in my head is how we got to this moment. How did both of us end up in the hospital at the same time?
"Dallas! I'm so glad to see you!" Trent said as soon as I walked into his room.
"So am I Trent. How are you holding up?"
" I'm doing a lot better. They actually have been talking about giving me less restriction and more free time to do whatever, so that's good. I was on lockdown for a while there."
"Yeah, I remember mom talking about it with Grandma and…" Trent cut me off.
"Why haven't you been coming to visit with Mom? She always says you're busy, but when I ask with what, she never has an answer." I didn't know how to reply to this.
" I have a lot going on right now Trent, but I'm here to see you and spend time with you, and talk to you about how you're doing. This isn't about me."
He looked disappointed. "Oh...okay. I understand." I couldn't stand to see him looking sad, so I had to leave.
On the elevator ride back down to my floor, my mind was reeling. I felt awful for lying to him, but if he knew that I tried committing suicide, he would blame himself and go off the wall, we all knew that. What else am I supposed to tell him besides I'm busy but still finding time for him? That made me sound like an awful person. I got off of the elevator and was headed to my room with my eyes glued on the floor, to walk into the greatest distraction.
"Hey." Jordi said with a smile. I smiled back at him. Thank you, God.