3 Days later
Alex sat in his hospital bed he was still tethered he had escaped to the roof again when the untied him the day after the first time. He was just staring out the window to the city outside. The doctors had decided that if Alex survived once his kidneys shut down, they would loan the equipment so he could go home.
"Nat?" Alex said as he turned away from the window.
"Yeah Alex?" Nat said from the seat he was sitting in.
"You know when I said I saw mom?" Alex said.
"Yeah"
"Do you know what she said to me?"
"Some of it,"
"She told me she had waited 15 years and could wait a few more… do you think she's wrong?"
"Alex that was just your concince telling you what you want to hear," Nat said.
"It was real Nat." Alex answered back.
"Whatever you say Alex," Nat said.
Alex turned away and sat back on his bed.
"Do you think I'm going to die, Nat?" Alex asked staring at his feet.
"We all die at some stage Alex" Nat answered back in denial.
"But right now, is it going to kill me?" Alex asked frustrated.
"I don't know what do you want me to say?" Nat answered back.
"I don't know…" Alex finally said.
Alex just fidgeted with the clip on his finger. He was feeling depressed.
"I wish Juanita would come around," Alex said sadly.
"I know Alex, she's just confused. She's angry at you, angry at me, angry at herself, scared for you, sorry for you." Nat said, he wondered how many more of these conversations they would have together.
"What are you guy's doing in here?" A familiar voice asked from the door.
"Waiting," Nat said without looking up.
"Dieing," Alex said staring at his feet.
"Dieing?" the man repeated, walking in and sitting down.
"Yeah, Alex needs a kidney and we can't get one." Nat said looking up and seeing who it was.
"I know the feeling," George Lopez said sadly. "But I thought you guys would have plenty of people fawning to give you their kidneys,"
"I don't want them know," Alex said looking up.
"Why not, people can't help if you don't tell them." George Lopez said.
"Because then they will want to know why I need one," Alex said sadly.
They had kept the story from the media, the press knew Alex had been rushed to hospital, but they didn't know why. It was one of the best kept secrets around.
"Which is?" George asked curiously.
Alex just looked at Nat and then at his feet.
"Alex wrecked his kidneys when he tried to kill himself" Nat said sombrely.
"What! Why?" George Lopez said shocked, he had known them since they were young and couldn't fathom this.
"I wanted to ease the pain." Alex said quietly.
George Lopez just looked at Alex with a look of incomprehension.
"I saw mom, and she told me to come back" Alex said now fidgeting with the cuff on the tether.
George Lopez just nodded his head, he understood what Alex was getting at.
"I don't want to die!" Alex said getting teary eyed after about three minutes awkward silence. He hated counting down.
George Lopez looked like he was having a moral dilemma.
"How long have you got?" he asked, realizing how sterile it sounded.
"Any day now, they said two weeks, but I'm not sure." Nat said heavily.
"Was it like this for you?" Alex asked lying back down and staring absently at the ceiling.
"I think you have it worse. I had my wife give me one of hers." He said, "Couldn't Nat do it?"
Nat just looked at Alex and shook his head.
"We're are different blood types," Nat said.
"How stupid is that, we have the same mom and the same dad, but not the same stinking blood!" Alex said frustrated.
George Lopez just nodded, he couldn't think of anything to say.
George Lopez left after about an hour or so.