All Night Long
Starring:
Simon and Jeanette
Simon's least favorite time of the day was when the final bell had rung. That final ring from the electronic buzzer that seemed to elate so many others in the institution called public school, was to him a death knell for the learning that had taken place for the seven hours prior. But for some reason, he felt different today. He felt lighter, more full of energy, perhaps this was what the others felt when they were let out of school for the day. Nevertheless, his reason for exuberance wasn't for the fact that he could shut down his brain and indulge physical urges like skating, video games, or eating junk food. His high spirits came from the fact that he had finally plucked up his courage and asked to have a private word with her.
Jeanette had been surprised when Simon had asked to talk to her alone after school. They normally would have gone to the library or to one of their houses to study. Jeanette didn't particularly enjoy studying quite the way that Simon did. Her passions lay in the arts, or more specifically, writing. In fact, the only reason she ever consented to the after school study sessions was so that she could buy more time to admire the boy she knew in her heart she loved. And she was perhaps the one person in their school who could relate to him on a personal level. After all, they had been friends since grade school and had gone through so much together; it was unthinkable that in all that time she wouldn't become drawn to him for one reason or another. But she had to admit that for all the time she had known him, she had never known him to want to speak privately except for very good or bad news. She hoped that it was good news.
Simon was waiting for Jeanette when she rounded the corner of the courtyard. Though he hid the fact well, his eyes always seemed to light up when she came near. But today, if everything went well, there would never be a reason to hide his joy from her again. He put on a friendly smile and walked over to her to see that she was also smiling, though that could have been just her usual attitude. She was always so calm and nice to everyone. That was one of the reasons he had always watched her when they had studied after school.
"Hi Simon!" she greeted him cheerfully, her eyes sparkling in the afternoon sunlight.
"Hello Jeanette," he responded formally.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked bluntly, secretly hoping that it would be what she thought.
"Uh, you heard the announcement today in homeroom right?" he asked, leading into his actual question.
"The one about class elections?" she guessed.
"Ye-no," he answered, "The other one, the one about the dance next month."
"Sure I heard that. Who are you asking?" she questioned, turning the tables on him so he was forced to finally ask the question he had been trying to phrase for the last few minutes.
"Uhhh, I was actually hoping that you'd go with me…" He replied quietly, trailing off as he finished.
"What?" Jeanette asked, stunned and not daring to believe her ears.
"I was wondering if you'd go with me as my date." He choked out, well aware of just how red his face was becoming.
"Well, I don't know," she teased him, "I told my mom that I wouldn't go with anyone but my boyfriend."
"B-b-b-boyfriend?" he asked flustered, his skin now a lovely shade of crimson.
"Yeah, I was hoping that this one guy would ask me out, but it seems like he won't unless I make the first move." She said wistfully, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, not that he noticed.
Simon swallowed his pride as he realized that maybe she didn't like him like he liked her. So he decided to take the role of the supportive friend instead. After all, if he couldn't be happy with her, maybe he could be happy for her.
"Well, maybe you should ask him out, since he won't make the first move." He told her dejectedly.
"That's a great idea Si!" she answered excitedly, "Well then, will you go out with me?"
"Hunh!?" he replied stunned, and none too eloquently.
"I was talking about you silly!" she answered, as if it had been apparent to him from the beginning, "You're the guy I was talking about, so what do you say? Do you want to go out?"
Simon sat in stunned silence for a few seconds while he processed the whole of Jeanette's statement and finally his face broke out into the biggest smile he could muster and excitedly answered yes.
"Really?!" she exclaimed, she had had her doubts about what he thought of her for a little bit there, but they were now nonexistent.
"Of course I'll go out with you!" he told her again happily, this time taking her into his arms to hold her close. He had never been this ecstatic in his life.
Jeanette was at first taken a little aback by the sudden display of affection, but she soon relaxed and nuzzled into his chest as she realized that she was being held by her favorite person in the world. They just sat there for a few seconds just holding each other, as if they were the other's anchor to this world, when Jeanette gasped and wriggled out of Simon's embrace.
"What is it Jeanette?" he asked concernedly.
"I just realized that I told Britney and Ellie that I'd meet them out in the parking lot and we'd all drive home together in my car.
"Shit, now that you mention it, I said the same thing to Alvin and Theo, they might still be waiting." He agreed as they gathered up their stuff and hurried towards the front door to the school and out into the parking lot.
They were a little relieved to see that their respective siblings, as well as a third of the school was still milling around the parking lot. There were even a couple of morons revving their engines at some of the girls as they passed. But never mind them, Simon and Jeanette were only intent on getting to their friends on the other side of the lot and going home so they could share the good news.
Just before they passed the revving idiots, Simon stopped Jeanette and said, "Hey, let's keep this a secret for now okay? We'll tell them together at lunch tomorrow." He suggested, to which she happily agreed.
When Simon released his grip from her shoulder, she started to run across the lot to her sisters only to have the idiots in the car gun the engine. As the roar increased, Simon heard a snap come from under the wheels and saw the people on the hood jump off in surprise as the car lurched forward suddenly.
Simon knew in an instant that the car was out of control and heading towards Jeanette, so he reacted instinctively and knocked her bodily out of the way of the careening mass of metal and glass. His last conscious thought was seeing her safely out of the path of the vehicle and turning towards him with a surprised look on her face, then everything at once went black………………
Jeanette heard the roar of the engine as the perverts behind the wheel gunned the engine at her, then she heard a clear snap over the engine, like twisted metal splitting, and the next thing she knew, Simon had slammed into her and thrown her to the ground just as the car went flying towards her. She turned around to see Simon smiling at her and unbeknownst to him, the car flying towards him too fast to tell. She screamed in horror as she saw his limp form bounce off of the hood and crack the windshield as he flew over the car. He came down like a ragdoll on the other side as the vehicle finally braked and his now twisted form came to rest on the top of the trunk. A crowd quickly gathered as she stared in silent aghast at the body of Simon, the one person who made life fun for her. Gone…
"Someone call a fucking ambulance!" someone amidst the crowd cried out as they adjusted Simon so that he was facing up towards the now darkening sky.
"Is he dead?" a small freshman in the huddle asked softly, the words cutting through Jeanette like a knife.
"No, thank God, he's still breathing, but if he doesn't get help soon, he might not make it." The same person as before answered, reaching into his pocket to get his cell phone and make the 911 call.
He was alive! Those words suddenly brought life back to Jeanette as she ran towards her sisters and Simon's brothers to let them know what had happened. They were heading over anyway.
"What happened?" Alvin asked quickly, never one to miss out on an accident.
"Simon pushed me out of the way, then the car, the crash, he's hurt come on!" she told them hurriedly, not even making partial sense to herself. But the scene needed no explanation when the siblings saw their brother and friend in a heap on the trunk of the car. Now that she looked closer, she could faintly see his chest rising as he breathed slowly.
"Oh my God!" Alvin and Theodore exclaimed anxiously, both rushing over to their brothers side, their eyes already starting to tear up.
"Jeanette, tell us how this happened!" Britney ordered, looking into her younger sisters eyes intensely, trying her best not to cry.
"I was walking, and then Simon pushed me out of the way, and then the car just hit him and-and- I don't know what happened after that." Jeanette answered trying to make sense of the catastrophe.
Just then, the ambulance showed up and the EMT's jumped out and cleared a path through the crowd and somehow managed to lift Simon's limp form safely off of the trunk and onto a stretcher. When he was strapped in, one of the EMT's put an oxygen mask over his head and they secured his head before taking him into the bed of the ambulance. The driver came over to the crowd and asked if there were any family members in the crowd.
"Yeah, Theo and I are his brothers" Alvin said quietly, still in shock, his tears having stopped after the EMT's arrived. The driver asked them to come with them to the hospital, they needed to ask him some questions about Simon.
After Theo and Alvin climbed in and the ambulance took off, Jeanette looked at her sisters and knew without a doubt that they were as shaken by everything as much as she was.
"Let's go home and tell mom." Eleanor suggested numbly, turning around and heading for the car.
"I'll drive." Britney offered, following Ellie.
Jeanette said nothing as she headed after her sisters. Knowing that even if the officials asked her questions, she would never be able to answer them.
Jeanette sat on her bed with her cell phone on one side and the home phone on the other, waiting for a call and news of Simon's condition. She couldn't believe how suddenly the day had turned from great to horrific. She stared at the sheets and just thought for the longest time until, finally, at almost midnight, her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID, it was Theo.
"How is everything Theo?" she asked anxiously.
"Well," he responded tonelessly, "The good news is that he'll live, the bad news is that he's in a coma."
"What?!" she asked hysterically, "How the hell is he in a coma?!"
"The doctors said that the damage is mostly in his brain, he has a few broken bones, no spinal damage somehow, and he's in a deep coma." He answered robotically, clearly still in shock.
"How are Dave and Alvin doing?" she queried, trying to distract him from talking about Simon for at least a little bit.
"Dave is in there with the doctor and Alvin is right here. Do you want to talk to him?" he offered, regaining some emotion for at least a little bit.
"No, that's alright, I'll come visit tomorrow though. Are you going to sleep there tonight?" she responded.
"Yeah, Dave said we could stay here for the night. Well, Dave is staying the night, I just don't feel like moving."
"Well, I'll bring Brit and Ellie tomorrow with me so you guys can talk about whatever okay?" she said, at least trying to take charge.
"That sounds good. But Jeanette, a word of caution, he looks pretty bad right now, so just be prepared for what you'll see." He told her forbiddingly and hung up.
Jeanette didn't sleep at all that night. Instead, she lay staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks in the paint. Once or twice she would turn to look at the clock and see the numbers change. Finally, the alarm she had set for school went off. A lot of good it did, she had gotten the okay from Miss Miller, along with her sisters, to take the next few days off of classes in order to go and be with Simon. Although, the alarm did at least serve as a marker to show the passage of time, that was something.
She got out of bed, grabbed her towel off the back of the door and walked to the bathroom down the hall. She was surprised to see that the light was on and was about to knock when she heard muffled cries coming from inside. She decided in the end to go use the downstairs shower in her mom's room. As she passed the kitchen, she also saw a light on and peeked in to see Eleanor sitting, staring at the countertop. Miss Miller was also with her and was talking to her.
"You have to eat Ellie." She prompted gently, trying to get her to at least taste the food she had made for her.
"I'm not hungry mom. I'll eat when I'm hungry." Ellie replied.
"You'll waste away if you don't eat," Miss Miler warned her, "You didn't eat any dinner last night either."
"Well I wasn't hungry then either." Ellie retorted, sounding angrier.
"Fine, but at least promise me you'll eat something today." Miss Miller said, getting up from her seat at the counter.
Jeanette backed away from the kitchen and continued walking to the shower in her mom's room. As the warm water cascaded down her skin, tingling but at the same time, numbing her senses even more, she thought about everything that had happened in the last few days. Simon got hit and was in a coma. Her sisters' moods had changed in a matter of hours. The usually cool and collected Britney was now in the bathroom sobbing, something that she only ever did under extreme duress. And Ellie wasn't eating, one of her favorite things in the world to do; besides hang out with Theo and cook that is. She wondered what the guys were going through at that moment….
Dave had always worried about the boys. Sure they were famous, sure they were smart, but his biggest fear had always been that something would happen that they had no control of. His worst dream was now a reality and the victim of it all was his smartest son. The one everyone had always said would stay out of trouble, and he had gotten here by helping a friend. He honestly didn't know what to make of it all. That's when the doctor approached him…
"Mr. Seville?"
"Yes, that's me. Can I help you doctor? Is my son okay?" he asked anxiously.
"I'm afraid that the majority of damage is skeletal at the moment. His head, amazingly enough, is for the most part undamaged. But he is still unconscious and in a deep coma. We're still not sure even what grade it is. But for the time being, we've placed him on life support, he can breathe on his own which is unique, but he's not showing any response to any outside stimuli." The doctor summed up, most of the words flying over Dave's head.
"And all of this means what exactly?" he asked impatiently.
"It means that he'll be here with us for a while. Quite possibly even upwards to three months. But I should tell you, if he's under this for more than a month, there is a large chance that he will never recover." He answered bluntly, having seen tragedies like this many times before, he was immune to the horrors that Dave was experiencing.
"What should I do?" Dave asked, desperation in every syllable, "What do I tell my boys?"
"My advice is to visit regularly. If there was anyone special to him not in the family, bring them in as well and have them spend time with him. We're still not sure why, but for some reason, children are usually reactive to familiar and friendly faces. Maybe it will help. In the meantime, go home and get some rest. You won't help anyone if you're exhausted." The doctor chided, trying to at least lighten the mood. Though to no avail.
"Well thank you doctor, I'll go tell the boys, and the girls when they get here." Dave said, walking off.
"Uh, mister Seville," the doctor called, stopping Dave in his tracks, "I know it's still early on in the diagnosis, but might I suggest you start preparing yourself and the others for any eventuality."
"What do you mean by that?" Dave asked, now thoroughly annoyed.
"Well, in many cases of a coma, the end result is the same, the cessation of life support." He said ominously.
"Pulling the plug?!" Dave said angrily, "Are you trying to say that I may have to stop the one thing keeping my son alive?!"
"I know it's hard to think about, but might I suggest that you at least consider it if there's no improvement after a couple months?" the doctor replied calmly, quite used to family reactions after he brought up that unsavory truth.
"And what, exactly, makes you think that he won't recover after a couple months?" he asked, trying to contain the rage that he needed to release at someone.
"Because, with all comas, there is certain brain damage, and after a couple months, the ones that are vital for continuation of life are usually dead and unrecoverable."
"Fine," Dave said, defeated, though by what, no one could say, "But give me a month to think about it."
"The time is totally up to you, take the time to talk it out with the rest of your family and come to your own decision. I'm just here to let you know the facts." The doctor told him as he turned around and started to walk down the hall to another patient.
Dave had thought that his world was shattered, but he had been wrong. Even with Simon in a coma, there had at least been the hope that he would eventually recover, but now his world wasn't just shattered, it was gone completely. How would he tell this to the boys? They were already hurt by all this, how would they handle the fact that they might have to pull the plug on their own brother? No, he wouldn't put that burden on them yet. He would at least save whatever illusions they had about the situation. He could at least give them that small blessing.
He walked back into the waiting room and asked the nurse if he could go visit his son in his room. She told him the room number and even pointed out the general direction before going back to the paperwork on hand. He walked over to Alvin and Theo, who had both wandered into the waiting room just moments ago and sat there staring at the floor.
"Come on guys, let's go see Simon." he said, trying to smile.
Alvin and Theo perked up a little as they walked towards their brother's room. They even started to act a little bit like themselves; Alvin joking a little bit and pushing Theo forward, Theo laughing a little bit and hurrying up.
When they arrived at the room, Dave was surprised to see that Simon just looked like he was sleeping. If it weren't for the tubes sticking out of his arms and the breathing mask, he wouldn't know that anything was wrong at all. He guessed the fact that he looked so good cheered his brothers up because they ran over and started talking to him, expecting him to respond. When Alvin mentioned that Jeanette was alright, Simon's finger twitched slightly, but that must have just been a reflex. They stayed in there with him until the girls arrived and stood in the doorway, shock apparent on their faces as they looked at Simon's unconscious form.
"David?" Miss Miller called from behind the girls, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure Miss Miller." Dave answered, getting up and walking out of the room.
When the adults were out of the room, Eleanor called Theo over and whispered something in his ear. His eyes opened wide for a second. He stared at Jeanette for a second in awe and as Ellie continued to whisper in his ear, he pulled away and asked Britney and Alvin if they wanted to come with Ellie and him as they went to get something to eat. Alvin looked confused, but Britney took the hint and dragged him out the door with Ellie and Theo right behind them. Theo even went to the trouble of closing the door behind him so that Jeanette could have a moment alone with Simon.
"Hey Si, how are you doing?" she asked lamely. Silence was the only response.
"Well, I have to say, you look pretty good for having been hit by a car." She tried to joke, silence again.
"Okay Simon, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but we need you to pull out of this. Please, please be alright. You saved my life and I can't even thank you." She said, kneeling beside his bed and starting to tear up a little as she realized the shear hopelessness of her situation. Her boyfriend had pushed her out of the way of harm and was in turn in a coma.
She put her head on his chest and wept openly over his fate. She hugged him as if by embracing him she could restore him to health. What she failed to notice throughout the whole proceedings; was that whenever she spoke, his hand moved subtly. And when she started to pull away and compose herself, his hand had crept from his side to enclose hers and was gently squeezing it. She didn't have to be a doctor to know that this was good news. She called in the rest of the group from the hall, where they had been waiting, and showed them what had happened. Dave went off to get the doctor and the rest of the family stood there talking about what it meant.
"You guys told them what I told you right?" Jeanette asked her sisters.
"Yeah, we both told them that you had asked Simon out right before the accident." Eleanor said, a little bit of emotion returning to her voice.
"What I want to know is," Alvin started, "How come he's responding to you and no one else?"
"I wish I knew Alvin." Jeanette said, almost apologetically.
The doctor came in a few seconds later in a hurry and moved the kids out of the way so that he could examine Simon. He lifted his eyelids and shined a light in them, he checked the monitors and confirmed that there had been a spike in brain activity that was staying constant, but also confirmed that Simon was still deeply unconscious.
"I know this is going to sound weird, but I would like this young lady to visit with Simon at least once a day." he eventually said, much to everyone's surprise.
"How come doc?" Alvin asked, a touch of his usual pride showing itself in his voice.
"Because, despite the fact that you are his brothers, there are recorded cases where there will be a response brought on only by a specific person. We still don't know why, but it's usually a special connection that sparks it. And I personally believe that if she visits regularly, it may be the push he needs to wake up from this." The doctor summarized.
"I think that's a great idea doctor." Dave agreed, looking hopefully at Jeanette.
"I'll give you my car to get here form school." Miss Miller offered.
"I'll be here then." Jeanette stated uncharacteristically confidently, "every day after school and every weekend." She promised.
"Well I'm glad to hear that. Now I hate to do this, but visiting hours are now over. So if you are not an immediate family member, I'll need you to leave for the night." The doctor said, shooing the girls out the door and telling the boys that they were welcome to stay the night if they wished.
"Jeanette slipped under her mom's arm and rushed over to Simon one last time, "I'll be back tomorrow." She whispered, putting her hand on his warm cheek and stroking it once before turning to leave.
Simon had no earthly idea where the hell he was. The last thing he remembered was being in the parking lot of the school, Jeanette had just asked him out and they were walking back to their siblings when…what?
He looked around where he was and was amazed to see that he was outside of the school in the grass. The parking lot was deserted and the grass was a sickly shade of yellow. Strange, he could have sworn that it had been green this afternoon. He was sure that he could figure out what was nagging at him if it weren't for the headache he found himself suddenly suffering from. Hadn't the others been waiting for him to leave this afternoon? One look around the empty lot and he knew immediately that whatever reason there was, his siblings had left. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shadow flicker across a window in the front of the building. He picked himself up off the ground and walked towards the front of the building.
Simon was surprised to find that the front doors were open, and not only that, but the lights were on as well. he didn't know what time it was because he had lost his watch, but he was certain that it was almost eight judging by the dusky afternoon light. Had the custodians forgotten to lock up? Oh well, right now, he wanted to find the person he had seen earlier and ask them some questions. Outside had been too quiet and he had an uneasy feeling that something bad had happened, he just wasn't sure what. He started out down the hall looking down each of the cross halls to see if there was anyone else there besides himself.
He got to about the center of the building when he saw the shape of a girl about his age down the hall off to his right. She stopped, stared at him, and started to walk away. He chased after her down the hall and followed her into the dead end of the science corridor. He called out to her but she didn't respond at all when he tried. Instead, she walked into one of the classrooms and closed the door behind her. He knew the classroom had no exit so he was confident that he had finally cornered her and could get some answers when he opened the door. Inside the room was nothing but dusty desks that looked like they had been caught in a fire and a whisper coming from the air saying, "Follow me…"
It had been two weeks since the doctor told Jeanette to visit daily and the only improvement that was discernible was that his brain activity increased when she started to talk to him. The doctor was beginning to reconsider it as just a reflex. Not only that, but since there had been no further improvements in his brain activity, the doctor said that she had done all she could do to improve his state and that continuing the daily visits would yield no further results.
But Jeanette wouldn't stop visiting, even while her friends were becoming more and more alien. Alvin, the jokester, had started to just shut down and his grades were reflecting it. Theo, who had become more and more confident over the years, was regressing to the point that he would cry at the slightest thing. Even her sisters had changed. Ellie wouldn't eat unless you made her and had lost almost twelve pounds in two weeks. And then there was Britney, she had always been so relaxed around others and able to make friends with anybody, but lately, she just seemed to be angry at the world and ready to pick a fight. Jeanette herself was beginning to feel the strain of the whole situation and though she would never admit it to anyone else, she needed to keep seeing Simon for her to keep hope alive.
Suddenly, she had an idea. She called Dave's phone and waited until he picked up.
"Hey Jeanette, I was just heading over to the hospital to check on Simon and ask the doctors a few questions. Are you just leaving?" he asked, desperate for some news.
"Uh, yeah actually," she said uneasily, how was she supposed to tell his dad that the doctor had pretty much admitted that he was, in essence, a vegetable, "Yeah, I just got done visiting him. the doctor said to let you know that they're running some tests. Oh! And he had a spike in brain activity!" she said hoping he would buy the fake excitement.
"That's great! Maybe I won't have to have that talk with the doctor after all." He said relieved, before realizing that he had said a little too much.
"What talk?" Jeanette asked suspiciously.
"Uh, it's nothing important, just something that me and the doctor discussed when Simon was put in the hospital," he said trying to play it all off as nothing, but Jeanette's instincts had given her a funny feeling.
"Dave, is there something I should know about Simon?" she asked, her mind flashing back to what the doctor had said about further visits being useless as far as making further headway.
"Jeanette," Dave said, his voice cracking a little, "The doctor told me weeks ago that if Simon hadn't woken up within a month that it was likely that he never would. He called me last night to prepare to pull the plug. I had hoped that I would never have to actually do it and I didn't want to burden any of you kids with the thought." He admitted, the words pouring from his mouth as he broke down on the other end of the phone.
"Dave…" Jeanette said sadly, she knew why he hadn't told them, but she couldn't accept the fact that he wouldn't wake up either, "Give it another day, I think that I can help him."
"How?" Dave asked distraught, the hopelessness clear in his voice, "Jeanette, you're the only one he's responded to, if you know something that will help him, please tell the doctors. I don't know what I'll do if I lose Simon."
"I don't know why, but I have a feeling that he'll wake up soon." Jeanette admitted, though she couldn't say what possessed her to claim that he would wake up soon.
"I trust you Jeanette." Dave said sadly, "You always have his best interests at heart, do what you think will help." he said and was about to hand up when she asked him a question.
"How are Alvin and Theo doing?"
"Alvin's just been spending all his time in his room listening to music, and Theo is crying over the littlest thing. Just yesterday, he spilled a glass of iced tea and started to cry his eyes out while he mopped it up. I don't know how much longer they can last without a definite result from Simon." he replied sadly. Then he asked, "How about things at your house? Your mom hasn't told me much."
Jeanette sighed and told him how Britney had been starting fights at school and Eleanor hasn't been eating much of anything except what we make her eat. In all, Eleanor had eaten about two full meals that entire week.
"Well, hopefully we'll all be back to normal soon." He said wistfully, "Goodbye Jeanette."
"Bye Dave." She answered as she hung up the phone and walked over to the car.
The entire time she drove to her house, she tried to come up with something that the doctor's had missed that could help. Even a slight improvement would at least delay pulling the plug. She just needed something. But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't come up with anything at all. This couldn't be happening. She was one of the smartest kids in school, there had to be a way. When she arrived home, she had a niggling idea in the back of her head that was stubbornly trying to keep out of sight.
She walked up to her room and shut the door behind her while she went and turned on the CD player to random. While she continued to think about the problem at hand, she couldn't help but notice that the song that came on was the one that Simon had once told her was his favorite. Then of course, since it was a Christmas party, their siblings had noticed that they were under the mistletoe and had cajoled them into kissing. Jeanette would never forget the sensation of his lips on hers and she drifted off to sleep to the last remnants of a happy thought and the song, "She Drives Me Crazy" playing softly in the background.
Jeanette woke up the next morning feeling at peace with the world for the first time in the better part of a month. Then she realized that today was the day that Dave had told her they were going to pull the plug. She sprang out of bed and tore downstairs praying that her family was still home. As she drew closer to the living room, she heard crying and saw her sisters hugging their mom. Miss Miller waved her over and pulled her into a vice like hug.
"Oh Jeanette, I'm so sorry, Dave just called and told us that they're going to pull the plug." She said through her tears.
"What?! NO! They can't! They said they'd wait!" Jeanette replied hysterically. She had to get to the hospital, she had to stop them. She tried to push away from her mom's hold and make a break for the car.
"They're going to wait until we're all there to say goodbye." Miss Miller said, naively believing that this would calm her down.
She struggled for another few minutes then finally went limp in her mother's arms. She would just have to accept the fact that there was nothing that she could do. When they all finally calmed down to the point that Miss Miller let go of them, she walked in a daze up to her room to put on her nicest clothes for Simon.
When everyone had gotten dressed and Miss Miller had calmed down, they piled into the car and took off for the hospital as fast as she could. They arrived at the parking lot to see the boys standing outside their car looking like their world had ended. Jeanette could relate but she wasn't about to mention it. She may have been suffering, but they were losing their brother.
"Hello girls," David greeted hollowly, "are you ready to say good bye?"
"Yes, I think they are." Miss Miller answered for them, guiding them into the entrance of the building.
The boys picked themselves up off the side of the car robotically and walked inside after them. The doctor was waiting for them at the front desk and shook Dave's hand grimly as he walked them to the room Simon was in. They closed the door behind them to give them some privacy.
Simon was startled to find the room empty. He had sworn that the girl had run in here just moments ago. But as he looked around, the only thing he saw was the dusty furniture and hearing only the echo saying "follow me…" He didn't know why, he should have been scared of a strange voice form nowhere, but for some reason, the voice seemed familiar, relaxing even. So he decided to look around the room once more and was surprised to see that there was a door where there should not have been. Not only that, but it seemed oddly out of place among the dust. It had a shiny lacquer and seemed to shine, as if it had in fact just been put in the wall.
He pushed the door open and was startled to see a long hallway unfold before him. It had an old timey feel to it and was lavishly decorated with paintings and the floor itself had gold inlay in the marble. He turned around to see if the school was still there but the only thing that was there was a wall of black stone. With only one way forward, he started to walk slowly at first, inspecting the paintings as he passed.
There were no doors to distract him so he quickly realized that the scenes in the paintings were in fact moments from his own life. Among them were such moments as when he had been forced into the lead role in the school play and had actually done it well. there was him and his siblings performing in front of a crowd at their first public concert. And then there were more recent ones as well.
He soon came upon a painting of him standing in the courtyard with Jeanette just that afternoon, they were holding each other and he was surprised to see that her expression was as happy, if not more so, that they had finally confessed their feelings for each other. It was right next to this picture in fact, that he noticed the first door in the entire hall. And standing right in the middle of the doorway was none other than the girl he had been chasing after.
"Well?" she asked expectantly, as if he had just been asked a question, "Are you going to go back?"
"Uh, there's no door back there." He said stupidly.
"That's not what I meant," she replied kindly, "I mean, are you going to go back up there."
"Up there?" he asked, still confused.
"Obviously you are still a little disoriented, not surprising, you've been here for a little over a month now."
"What do you mean? I just woke up outside a couple minutes ago. Where am I?" he questioned angrily, this girl was acting like she knew something he didn't about himself and he hated it.
"Actually, you're in the space in between the physical plane and the spiritual one. a limbo of sorts." She answered calmly before continuing, "You are at a point in your life that you can choose to continue through the path of your life and ultimately end up in whichever plane you belong in, I believe mortals call them Heaven and Hell? Or you can choose to leave and forget all about this place, in exchange for continuing on in the physical plane you call Earth." She explained coolly, waiting for his response.
Simon stared at her dumbstruck for a second or two while he composed his thoughts.
"Are you telling me that I'm not alive or dead?" he asked, stunned.
"Yes." The girl responded smiling.
"And I can either choose to die and go where I will, or I can go back alive?" he continued.
"That would be correct, you're actually lucky, most people don't get this choice." She said smirking a little as if he had won a prize or something.
"So what happens if I walk through the door behind you?"
"That leads back to your corporeal body and whatever condition it's in. Also, if you walk through it you lose all your memories of this place." She assured him.
"And if I keep going down the hall, will I see other doors?"
"No, you'll just walk into whatever astral plane you belong in. kind of like a drop and run." She said trying to joke.
"Can you tell me something before I choose?" he begged.
"Depends on what you want to know." The girl replied ominously.
"Can you just tell me what happened that brought me here?"
"That's easy. You pushed your girlfriend out of the way of a car and took the hit for her."
"And she's okay?" he asked uneasily.
"Yes, physically anyway, though she has been through a lot recently with you being in a coma and all; in fact, all of your family as well as hers has taken a pretty big hit." She continued.
"Well then I guess I'll go through the door behind you." He said confidently.
"Very well, but be warned, what you arrive back in is your body. Whatever condition its in is up to you to fix." She cautioned.
"I'll work through it. By the way, what's your name, not that I'll remember it." He said as he started towards the door, the girl moving aside to let him pass.
"I've been called many things through the eons, but I prefer Azrael."
Simon gulped, "Like the angel of death?" he asked nervously.
"Yep, also the angel of comfort, so take comfort in this Simon, you made the right choice." And with that, she shoved him through the doorway and he found himself tumbling down what felt like a pit towards a fast growing pin point of light.
The others had all said their individual goodbyes to their friend and brother. The only one that had yet to say anything was Jeanette, who walked forward last and stood by Simon's head as he breathed softly, as if merely sleeping.
"Simon, you were always there for me," she said leaning her hand over the edge of the bed and stroking his cheek, "And just when it seemed like everything was going to go great, this all happened to you. You saved me; I should be the one lying there right now. I only hope that this will repay some of the debt I owe you." She said as she leaned her head over the rails and brought his head up to hers to kiss him one last time.
As their lips met, Jeanette felt him grow warmer under her and she soon felt him returning the kiss, "Jeanette…" he mumbled.
Her eyes as well as the eyes of everyone in the room bugged out as Simon opened his eyes and looked directly into hers.
"SIMON!" his family yelled in joy and shock before rushing over to hold him close. Jeanette backed away and let them have their family moment. Though her own sisters were soon on the outside of the group hug and Miss Miller joined in right after them.
When the happy mob finally thinned out so that he could breathe, Simon looked at Jeanette, "What was all that for?" he asked, confused about where he was.
"Simon, do you remember anything at all?" Jeanette asked walking forward hesitantly.
"I remember that we agreed to go out and there was something about me pushing you down on the ground. Is that why I'm here?" he asked, "Did you punch me for something?"
Alvin let out a loud laugh for the first time in a long time, "You idiot!" he howled, "You were hit by a car and we all thought you wouldn't come out of that coma! Do you have any idea how worried we've been about you?!"
"Uh, you say I got hit by a car?" Simon asked perplexed, "So what day is it?"
"It's Sunday silly." Theo said sweetly, ecstatic to have his older brother back.
"So I get hit by a car and I'm out cold for what, three days?" Simon remarked.
"Actually, you got hit last month." Britney said helpfully, beaming at him.
"I was in a coma for a month!?" Simon said exasperated before turning to Jeanette, "So that's what that kiss was for? You were saying goodbye?"
"Unfortunately, yes." She admitted ashamed.
"Come here," he said softly, when she reached the edge of the bed, he pulled her close and gave her a kiss deeper than the one from before, and this one had the spark of life behind it.
When the others saw what was happening, they decided that it was a good time to go tell the doctors about the near miraculous recovery.
Simon broke away from the kiss for a second to tell her something, "I am not going to leave you that easily. If I have any say in the matter, I'll be around as long as you want me to be." He promised.
"I'll hold you to that." She giggled as she pushed in for another kiss before the doctor's barged in and began to check Simon out.
EPILOGUE
Simon was discharged from the hospital two days later with nothing to show for his ordeal save a scar across his chest, pins in his ribcage where he had broken the bones, and a renewed sense of love and hope for his family and most especially Jeanette.
Simon and Jeanette graduated High School the next year as valedictorians and went on to college where they studied at separate school in order to get their respective degrees. Simon majored in Science and second majored in Teaching. Jeanette got her degree in English Literature. Alvin and Britney went on tour as a duet act and were later married in Vegas when they were 24. They are still together. Eleanor went on to host a cooking show currently ranked number one on Cable TV. Theodore went on to win Silver in the Shot-put/Hammer-throw event in the Olympics. He later returned to the United States to marry Eleanor and they both happily retired early at the age of 26. They are currently expecting twins and are looking forward to parenthood.
As for Simon and Jeanette, they were engaged and later married after completing college. At their reception, Simon made a toast that brought up a curious quote, "True love lasts through the good and the bad. It shines all day, and all night long."
I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Sincerely,
Thomas Campbell (musicalreader)