Chapter 14

Shawn spent the next few hours writing down all the important things he needed to inform his dad about. Next, he sat down to write letters to his loved ones incase he didn't make it. Satisfied with what he wrote, he sealed the envelopes and prepared himself to deliver them. "Dad, give me your keys."

"What? Are you crazy? What if you have a vision? You'll crash and kill yourself."

"I need to do something important."

"Fine. I'll drive you."

Henry proceeded to drive Shawn to several places including the police station, Gus's apartment, and the post office. Every location Henry drove to Shawn continued to carry a large manila envelope.

"Okay. I'm done," he informed Henry.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"What's in the envelope?"

"Nothing."

"Let me see."

"No."

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing dad. Just take me home."

"Fine. You're acting strange."

"Don't I always?"

For the next several minutes, Henry and Shawn drove in silence. After awhile, he noticed Shawn put his head against the window. Henry worried about Shawn's recent behavior. He wanted to see what was in the envelope. He pulled into the driveway still oblivious to the complete silence of the entire drive home. Henry proceeded to get out of the car, but noticed the lack of Shawn's movement. "Let's go kiddo," he said as he tapped his shoulder. Nothing happened. "Shawn?"

Feeling apprehensive like he had in the past few weeks, he ran to the passenger's side of his truck. He saw Shawn slumped against the window with his eyes closed. Henry opened the door and caught Shawn in his arms before he could fall to the ground. "Shawn," he screamed awkwardly trying to put him back into the car. When he was sure that Shawn was secure, he took his pulse: weak and thready. Henry speculated that his son might be in shock. "Shawn, Shawn. Damnit." Henry knew that Shawn's brain had finally overloaded. He shut the door and went to the driver's side. "We're going to the hospital," Henry announced to an unconscious Shawn.

Dr. Tito emerged from behind the dreaded restricted personnel doors to meet a solemn Henry and Gus. Without delay, he approached them. "I'm afraid what we feared has happened."

"Really?" Henry mockingly replied.

"I didn't believe that it would happen this fast."

"Is he in a coma?" Gus asked.

"Yes, but he's still showing brain waves just at a slower level."

"So…" Henry continued.

"We can sit and wait to see what happens," Dr. Tito said.

"What happens? He's going to die. That's what's going to happen," Henry grumbled.

"Maybe we can run some tests…" Dr. Tito continued.

"No more tests. They didn't help before. Please just leave us alone and come back when you have something to help Shawn."

Dr. Tito slowly walked out of the room truly feeling sorry for Mr. Henry Spencer and his friend, Gus. By all means, Shawn should have never survived the initial crash. Now, he was just prolonging the inevitable.

"Damnit," Henry said once again.

"He'll wake up. He did once, he'll do it again," Gus said.

"His brain is fried. I don't think he's getting up," Henry remarked.

"That so weird. It's like he knew that he was going to die. He gave me that envelope minutes before this happened," Gus said.

"Envelope?"

"Yeah, this," he reached into his coat pocket and pulled it out. "He acted strange and told me not to open it unless something happened to him. I told him to stop worrying and he said he had to go."

"Have you opened it yet?" Henry asked.

"No, I haven't. It doesn't feel right yet. Did he give you one?"

"No. He was just holding that envelope. It's still in the car. I think that we have done everything we can for the night. Let's go home Gus."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," Gus sadly said as he walked down the hallway.

Henry waited a few minutes before leaving. He said good-night to Shawn who looked like he was peacefully sleeping. Getting into his truck, he noticed the manila envelope out of the corner of his eye lying on the floor. He reached for it and opened it up. Inside remained one white envelope. On the outside in Shawn's writing read "Dad." In smaller font on the bottom edge, he wrote "Only open if I'm gone. I mean it dad." Henry smiled. Even in death, Shawn could find humor. He started to open the envelope, but stopped. Shawn wasn't dead yet. He shouldn't violate his son's wishes. However, Henry was curious and figured that one day his curiosity would kill him. He continued to open up the envelope. Shawn dated the top and wrote "Dear Dad. I know that we always haven't gotten along, but I'm glad that I came back to Santa Barbara. I know that you disapproved of what I did, but I hope you still were proud of me."

At this, Henry threw down the letter. He couldn't read it anymore. He wondered how his life got so complicated.