Chapter Eight
Derek's Point of View
When Derek got back to the room, Nora was talking to Casey and George was watching them. Derek walked up and stood behind George.
"You are totally sitting in my bed, Dad." He said, smiling a little.
George grinned, "Well, it's Nora's bed tonight. Like I promised, you won't have to sleep here anymore."
Derek nodded, "Awesome." He looked at Nora, "And be warned, a nurse comes in at 1:00 and 5:00 AM. Worst. Times. Ever." He smiled slightly.
Nora nodded, not really paying attention. She went back to whispering at Casey. George got up, "Alright Derek, let's get you home." Derek nodded, grateful.
((A week later))
Derek groaned as yet another person asked him how Casey was. He just ignored this one. He didn't know them. All week people had been asking and asking. Couldn't he get any peace? He was tired of telling people, "There's been no change," mostly because he hated hearing it. Emily came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Goddammit! Casey's.." He started to say as he turned around, "Oh, it's you. Sorry."
"It's alright. I know how you feel. People haven't been leaving me alone about her either. People are just concerned. Aren't you?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, I mean, no. I…yes. Of course I'm concerned, but I have a life outside of my step-sister in the hospital, you know." Derek said, fumbling over his words.
Emily nodded sympathetically but the class bell rang and she went off in the direction of her next class. Derek looked at his watch. It was 1:00. He had English next, a class he used to have with Casey. Still have with Casey. He told himself firmly. She'd be back and she'd be complaining about how he hadn't been collecting her homework. He went to his locker to grab his English book and saw his leather jacket. He picked that up instead and walked straight out the doors and into the parking lot. It'd been three days since he'd seen Case last. He was due for a visit. He tried to tell himself that it would be better than English class, but he knew that it wouldn't.
He got to his car and fought with himself over whether to leave school or not. He started the car and decided that since he already expended the effort to do that, he might as well go. He drove to the hospital. He was fighting with himself all the way up to the third floor. He walked up to the front desk in the lobby, "Casey MacDonald." He said before he could stop himself. She hit a button on the desk and the doors to the ICU unlocked and Derek strolled through. Why am I here? He asked himself as he started towards room 315. He took a deep breath before walking in. Her hair had grown some more, but it would take months maybe even years for her to grow it back as long as she had it. It used to reach past the middle of her back and now it looked like his face after he hadn't shaved for a few days.
The chair had moved from the side of the bed by the door to the other side of her bed. It was near all the monitors. Maybe the beeping helped his dad and Nora sleep at night? They were still taking turns spending the night in the hospital, but Casey was still not showing any signs of improving.
He walked around her bed and sat in the chair. He leaned his arm and head on the railing and stared at her. She looked awful. Still. He sighed deeply. "Goddammit, Casey, why did you have to go and get hurt like this? Why couldn't you just stay home or..or come to my game or something? None of this would have happened." He put his head in his hands and glanced towards the monitors. He didn't know how to read them, but he wished that they would tell him something. That she was getting better.
Then he noticed the EEG. Amidst all the sorta flat lines were a few jumps. Jesus, it happened again! Derek thought to himself. He decided to try something. He stared at the EEG and said "Casey? Casey can you hear me?" Even though he was expecting it, he still smiled when the EEG showed jumping lines. He grabbed her hand and pleaded, "Come on Case. I know you're in there. Please wake up." He glanced back at the EEG. It was jumping wildly. He dropped her hand, a little scared, and the jumping stopped.
He didn't touch her again, but spent another half an hour talking to her about nothing special.
"People have been non-stop asking about you. I swear, they're almost as annoying as you are….It's been hard taking tests without you sitting in front of me. I don't have anyone to cheat off of….We have to read this stupid Shakespeare play in English, you'd probably like it though. It's Hamlet. Truthfully, it's pretty boring, but you'd probably spend all week talking about how wonderful it is. At least everyone dies in the end…You know the hockey game you missed? I scored the only goal, the whole game. It was so awesome. You should have been there. I'm still pissed you weren't."
He went on like that until 2:30 when he had to drive home. He got home by 2:45 and never told anyone about his visit with Casey. Every day since then he drove to see her at 1:00 and spent an hour tell her about his day. He kept the EEG at healthy spikes, and he figured no one was the wiser until dinner one night.
