Can this be the end of the transmission
of sending you a message
since you went missing?
Can this be the end of the transmission
of sending you a message
since you've been missing…
Signmark, "The Letter"
Cody had been staring into Zack's face for three hours, punctuated by a bathroom break and another short conversation with his parents about guilt.
It had been pretty much the same as the first one: don't feel guilty. Which didn't stop him from feeling that way, but made him a tiny bit more okay with it.
He had immediately gone back to watching Zack when it was over. He got as close to Zack as possible without leaving his post in the recliner, but he didn't dare to touch him. He wondered if touching Zack would bring back some modicum of the connection the two had grown accustomed to over past few weeks.
The connection that seemingly no longer existed now.
At the same time, Cody wasn't sure if he wanted the connection back. What if Zack was in a lot of pain? It wouldn't do any good for Cody to feel that pain, too.
Cody was alone in the room. Suddenly, the door opened, and a nurse carrying a stack of something walked into the room. When she saw only Cody, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Where are his parents? You're not technically supposed to be in here alone," she said.
"Um, my mom went to talk to someone about parking fees, and my dad went to go find something to eat," he replied quietly, his voice a bit distant. "And rest assured that I'm not some little kid who would be stupid enough to mess with the machines keeping my brother alive," he added, his voice dripping with a bit of newfound venom.
"Well... okay," she said, slightly taken aback at the unexpected second half of the Cody's reply. She continued with her original purpose for coming into the room. "I have some stuff from the clothing room. It's most of the things that were taken out of his car, as well as the clothes he was wearing before the accident. It would've been here earlier, but the interns kept sending the request for it to Escort Service, which doesn't do runs to that room. I'm going to leave them here, all right?" She smiled, attempting to bring some cheer into the room. Cody did not return the gesture.
"Yeah, fine. Whatever," he said emotionlessly.
The nurse sat the pile of things onto the chair Carey had earlier been sitting in. "Have a nice day," she said, obviously obligated to say the phrase, but at the same time with a tone that reeked of sincerity. Without another word, she exited the room.
Cody ceased his unreciprocated staring contest with his brother and stood up from the recliner. He walked over to the things the nurse had left and took them up into his hands.
He took a look at Zack's clothes, the things on the bottom, first, lifting the three other objects on top off of the pile. He felt the rough denim of his brother's jeans against his fingers as he looked over the shirt his brother had been wearing. It was a purple pinstripe button-up shirt, and it had been one of Zack's favorites. Now, however, it was as good as ruined. There was a large rip in the left sleeve, and there were noticeable blood stains. Cody grimaced and put the clothes down, not wanting to know if Zack's pants had suffered a similar fate. He shifted his attention to the three things he had taken off the pile. One was Zack's cell phone, which had been used to call Cody those two long days ago. Cody pushed it aside, not really seeing anything special in the small, rectangular object.
The second was Zack's magic eight ball. What was that doing there? He picked it up and examined it. The entire ball was rather scuffed up, much more than when he had seen it last, and it looked like there was a dent in the side. Zack said he was going to put this in the glove compartment, Cody thought, but if it's this scuffed up, it couldn't have been in the glove compartment. What could Zack have been doing with it? Cody thought hard about all the possible things Zack could've been asking it. Drawing a blank, he sat the magic eight ball back down, his face freezing as his eyes landed on the third object.
It was a CD jewel case. There was a large crack across the front, as if it had been stepped on. Or hit by a car, Cody thought. And inside was a single CD.
It was the only one that wasn't entirely metal.
Cody had made the CD himself as a gift for Zack's 17th birthday. He could still remember the track listing as clear as day.
Don't Forget. No Plan B. Crimson Grim. World of Chances. Cover Your Eyes. Collapsing. On Wings of Integrity. The Letter. Desperate Times, Desperate Measures.
Never Alone.
Cody continued staring at the damaged CD case, his mouth dropped wide open. His lower lip quivered as tears sprang to his eyes. None of the tears fell down his face, and Cody wiped his eyes before any could.
He let out a breath.
Continuing to hold the CD, Cody left the room. He walked past the nurses' bay and out of the ICU. He walked into the Family Reflection Room. He opened his mouth and uttered a single sentence.
"London, I need you to do me a favor."
London had been gone three hours. Cody had used the time to stare at Zack some more. He had been asked to eat more than once, but he refused. His parents had tried to shift his attention to other activities, but he wouldn't budge. All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door.
Carey got up and opened the door, revealing London holding a large box.
"London, you're not allowed in here," Carey said.
"I just wanted to bring Cody this," London replied, looking down at the box in her arms. She walked swiftly into the room before she could be denied again and plopped the box down at Cody's feet.
"I got the things you asked for," she said, "and I brought your mail from the ship."
"Thanks," Cody said.
"No problem," London replied, a soft smile appearing on the girl's face. She took a sad, longing look at Zack before she silently left the room.
Cody picked up one of the two letters on top of the box. It had a green and blue stripe across the top with Tipton insignia, signifying it had come from the ship itself. It had no return address, so Cody couldn't readily discern who it was from. He turned it over and pulled up the thin tape sealing the contents inside. He pulled out a tri-folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and was greeted with a letter handwritten on the ship's stationery.
Dear Cody,
This is your homeroom teacher, Ms. Tutweiller. The other teachers and I have been told about your situation, and I have also been told that you will be leaving the ship when it docks in Boston. I want to first say that I am very sorry about what happened, and I sincerely hope and pray that Zack will pull through this and that you will both be back here very soon. After a discussion with your other teachers and Mr. Moseby , we have decided that neither you nor Zack need to make up anything you miss for any of your classes, and all of the assignments for the time you are not here will be marked as "exempt" in the gradebook. This includes all onshore experiences that may be assigned as well (though for a place like Boston, your hometown, I doubt you really needed them much anyway!).
I have also been told by your roommate, Woody, about what happened to your final project and about what you did to it upon hearing about your brother. I've discussed the issue with the other final project evaluator, Mr. Auckepenny, and we've decided that you will not be required to turn in a final project. If you choose to turn one in, it will be graded with attention given to the extenuating circumstances. If you opt to not turn one in, since we cannot exempt the final project from your grade, it will be an average of your social studies, science, and English grades, with weight given to science and English, since your original declared topic was a scientific one and all projects required a extensive written report (a report that we would still like to receive from you, if possible). If you turn in your report, it will be factored into your English grade. Since you have extremely high grades in all of these classes, if you do not turn in a project, your final project grade will still be more than satisfactory for your graduation from high school and possibly even for your eligibility for the valedictorian distinction.
We have not decided what, if anything, we will do regarding Zack's final project. Once we have come to a conclusion about a plan of action for his project, a letter will be sent to either you or him through the ship's mail system, which will require someone to come on board to pick it up. I have enclosed a list of the ship's ports of call and what days it is expected to be at each one so that if you will need to come on board, you will know where the ship is.
In closing, I again want to wish a swift recovery to your brother and send a get well message from all of the teachers to him. If you have any questions about what was covered in this letter or anything else, you can contact me in any of the ways listed on my syllabus, and I will be sure to get back to you as quickly as possible. In addition, you can call Mr. Auckepenny at his listed phone number or you may email him at adauckepenny at the Seven Seas High web address. You may also contact Mr. Moseby through his phone number or the email address marionmoseby at the SS Tipton website. He can also be called if you need to know exactly where the ship is at a given time. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ms. Emma Tutweiller
Social Studies Teacher, Seven Seas High
Cody sighed in relief, glad that he at least had that weight off of his back. He refolded the letter and put it back in the envelope which he placed back on top of the box London had given him. He turned to look at his brother once again before he heard the sound of his father clearing his throat. Cody continued to look at his brother.
"Cody," Kurt said. Cody looked up at his father.
"It's 8:01."
Cody nodded, a grim expression on his face. He stood up, taking one long last look at Zack, then he picked up the box and left the room.
And I'm wishing
And I'm wishing
your heart listens
your heart listens
And I'm wishing
And I'm wishing
your heart listens
your heart listens
Signmark, "The Letter"
A/N: Well, another chapter done! (BTW, I had a great time at Jimmy Fallon. It was AWESOME!) I was actually expecting something different (more between Zack and Cody) to happen in this chapter, which was why I named it "The Letter." But hey, there's still a letter in the chapter anyway. :P And if you haven't heard "The Letter" by Signmark, go listen to it now! If you want to know the full information of any of the songs I put in the tracklisting for Zack's CD, PM me.
Also, bonus points to anyone who can figure out what's in the box.
One more thing: I probably won't be writing a new chapter for a little bit as I'm taking part in the Strange Love Collection, which is this group of oneshot stories based on a random pairing that is assigned to the writer. If you want to know more about it or participate, information about it is in one of the Suite Life fanfiction forums.
Lastly, review. I'm a little sad because I haven't (yet!) received any reviews for chapter 9. Tell me what you thought of my story, what and how you think I could improve, and what you think is going to happen next. I can't wait to hear from you!