The Cats. pt 4.
I finally woke up. Pain everywhere. I couldn't open my eyes, but someone was there. My right side felt like it had exploded. My leg was crushed. I knew it was, near the knee, on top of my shin. I knew I was in deep. And I wasn't even sure if I was awake. Was I dead? Can dead people feel pain? Was I hanging on by a thread? Did they know if I was going to make it? Did I know if I was going to make it? My clouded head filled with more thoughts as I attepmted again to open my eyes and look around. I cursed trucks and then wheels and Ford. I mean the man, not the line of vehicles. I could have just gotten up and killed someone. If I could have gotten up.
Finally, my mind grew less hazy but I felt really drowsy. Something snapped into my head. "You can make it. And if a nurse asked, I'm your brother."
I was half asleep in one of those awful chairs again. I couldn't go to sleep completely thanks to all the images my dad had left me to think about.
"He's awake! He's awake!" Jan exploded into the waiting room.
Cassie walked out of Guido's room with a little background music of "56 bottles of beer on the wall! 56 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 55 bottles of beer on the wall!"
"Who's awake?" I asked, opening one eye.
"Isacc. He's awake! Cassie, he wants to talk to you."
Cass nodded nervously and followed Jan.
I followed her.
When we were inside, I stood against a wall. Isacc was hooked up to about 10 machines. I felt so bad for him. I'd never seen him before or met him when he was heathly -- healthier -- but now, he was so smal and thin. At a touch, he looked like he'd fall apart. His body looked like a 12-year-olds, but his face showed years he'd never know. His eyes were the only thing that made him look real. And when he saw Cassie, they shown brighter.
"Cassie," he said, weakly, attempting a smile.
Cassie was crying. I wanted to comfort her, but I knew he needed to do it. "Oh, my God, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, Isacc."
"Cassie, you have nothing to be sorry about," he paused, his face paling slightly, but forcing himself to go on. "If it was your fault, why would I have asked you in here? There's nothing in the world that you've done wrong. I've never been healthy, and I never will, but I just wanted to help you and your friends so much that I.. I..."
"Risked your own life? Isacc I should have left. There was nothing for me there. Sitting on the curb and thinking was not smart and letting you come out of that house and take me somewhere in your condition was not any smarter. I could have easily gotten back and nothing would have happened to you."
"But Cassie, if I hadn't have offered, you could have gotten back and been shot. There was nothing that was going to keep me from helping you, cancer or no cancer."
Cancer. I didn't know he had cancer.
"But --"
"There's no buts in this conversation. As far as I know, this is alright. I'm alright, you're alright. Alright?" he was joking around with her, trying to make her smile now. He moved his eyebrows a bit -- I guess that's about all he could do -- and grinned at her. "Everything's just fine."
"Ok, everyone, let's go. He needs his rest," the nurse shooed us out. "Go on. Come back later. You've worn him out."
I hugged Cassie. "Everything's ok, see?"
"Yeah," she replied, staring at the door. "I guess. I just hope he really is ok."
When my dad walked in, I knew Paul was in it bad. But I wasn't feeling emotion right because I was so hyped up on pain medication. "Hiya Pops," I said and laughed.
"Is he alright?" Dad asked Jenni, my nurse.
"Oh, he'll be fine. He's just not used to the pain medication he's on."
"How long will it take until he's normal again?"
She grinned and winked at me. "I don't think he was ever normal in the first place."
I attempted to wink back, but ended up blinking really hard.
Dad rubbed his eyes.
"Don't worry, sir, he'll probably be alright by tomorrow. Maybe earlier."
"Thank you."
"Sure. And if you need me again, push the nurse button on his bed."
"Thank you again."
"Sure."
"How are you feeling, Marco?"
"Like a big, pink, fuzzy bunny!" I yelled.
He looked at me funny.
"Bunny, bunny, bunny," I mumbled. Then I threw up, all over the floor opposite the side my dad was on. I continued this for about 5 minutes.
"Marco, are you alright?"
"Eww... that smells..."
"Marco..."
I shook my head, trying to remove all the fuzziness. "Dad, is Paul gonna be alright?" I struggled to stay sane.
"I hope so. They don't know. I wish I could tell you he's going to get up and walk out of here. But the doctors said that if this keeps up, they'll have to call it a coma."
"A coma? When can I see him, Dad? This is my fault..."
"Your fault?"
"Sort of. I mea, we were driving down an alley and I was making a turn and he just ran out in front and I hit him..."
"Marco," Dad looked grim. "Why weren't you paying closer attention to the road?"
"I was! He was in my blind spot. Cassie was leaning over to change the song back and he was behind her head."
He sighed and rubbed my head.
I was now totally bored. Once again, I pulled myself out of bed. No one was going to stop me this time. I pulled my sleeves over my hands and headed out my door.
A pair of hand landed on my shoulders. I knew it was nurse. "And what are you doing?" he hissed in my ear.
"Taking a midnight stroll -- wait! The sun's not supposed to be up.... Oh! That's a mural. Nevermind."
He laughed and pretended to strangle me. Then I knew whose hands they were. Phillip's hands were around my neck. Polly's older brother, Phillip Hanson.
"Don't make me flip you."
"Please don't," he said, releasing me with a grin as he walked in front of me. "Heading to the cafeteria. Care to come?"
"Nah."
"Your loss."
I shrugged and walked off to find Jake.
I found him with Cassie leaning on him, asleep. "Is she ok?"
"She's just worried about Isacc."
"Oh, I see. Is he doin' that bad?"
"I guess. What's wrong with him anyway?"
"Osterosarcoma."
"What's that?"
"A bone marrow cancer."
I looked around for Jessie awhile. In case you don't know, Jes is a huge, muscular guy about 6'4''. He can put his fist through almost anything he wants. That's what worried me. Not that Jess would do anything like that -- but he could, if he so desired. I found him peacefully talking on the phone.
"Sorry to bother you," he said into the receiver. "You sure?" he nodded to himself. "It's Isacc. (pause) Very funny. (pause) No, I don't want your advice or anything. (pause) I just needed someone to talk to. (pause) We had an argument. (pause) Shut up. (pause) No, I wouldn't. Sorry. (pause) Ok. (pause) I don't know."
It went on like that for a while. I really just wanted to know who he was talking to.
"Whatcha lookin' at?" Logan asked, leaning over me to peer at Jess.
"Nothing, dork-off."
He moved closer to listen more carefully to what Jesse was saying. The beginnings of a beard scratched my cheek.
"Cut it out!" I hissed.
He grinned as Jesse hung up the phone.
I tried to look as natural as possible as Jesse came our way. When he walked by, he said calmly, "It was Flame, if you must know."
"How does he do that?" Polly asked to someone, hopefully not me, I wasn't sure what she was talking about. I was just aimlessly wandering the hospital, feeling sorry for myself and hoping my mom didn't decide to make a guest appearance. I'd already been chewed out by Greg and was not looking forward to seeing my mom and having it happen again. Anyway, I was just walking along and I stepped outside to get out of the stagnant, hospital air and was nearly run over. Well, actually, I was. My foot was over run by a wheel chair. "Oh shit!" I yelled, jumping up and down on my other foot. The guy in the chair turned and looked at me, startled, blinking and staring. I stamped my foot and tried to get the blood running again. He wasn't that heavy -- only heavy enough to make it hurt a little and then go to sleep.
"Sorry. I do that all the time."
Whoa, hello, deja vu? He sounded a lot like... Guido? Double take. Looked like Guido too. Dark hair, blue eyes, sturdy build... older brother?
"Uhhhh..."
"Are you ok?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Are you retarded?"
"Uhhhh..."
"Hey, Blondie, come on. This is not funny. I'm sorry, alright?"
That was irritating.
"Don't call me Blondie."
"Are you alright... Blondie?"
"I'll be fine as soon as I kick you."
He laughed, wheeling out of the way of people going inside.
"I'm serious!"
"Ok, you do that," he replied, sarcastic but not bitter. He grinned and popped a wheelie, rolling around on the back wheels.
"When you fall, I'm going to laugh."
"You're welcome to," he dropped back to all four wheels. "So, seriously, is your foot ok?"
I just glared at him. Oh, he was irritating. "I can't feel my toes."
"But your foot's not broken?"
"No..."
"Ok. Later," he turned and headed inside adding "Blondie" as he passed through the door frame.
I fumed.
Finally, I was in the loop. Not that the loop was fun, mind you. I was just all freaked out now. I don't know much about cancers on account that I didn't know anyone who was infected with that sort of thing. Maybe I was just another person who felt sorry for them but knew they couldn't do anything except just donate blood and hope that some miracle drug would come along.
Then I had an idea. Maybe it was the way that Cassie looked or the way the word "Ostersarcoma" fell off Guido's lips. Maybe it was just I was curious. I don't know but as soon as I could, with Cassie off searching for Rachel and Guido escorted back to his room, I headed back to where I had been.
Then nurses had long since left and all that was left was the beeping machines, the bed, the window, the chair and the tiny body. He was asleep and his breathing was all out of wack. I closed the door gently hoping no one had noticed that I had entered but at the click, his eyes just flew open and he stared at me. "Jake, right?"
I hadn't even known his name or anything about me and he knew my name. "Yeah, that's right."
"Oh, cool," he shifted positions as best he could, attempting to sit up but with no such luck, dropped back and sighed. Obviously he was tired of his place in the world -- being the sick kid everyone felt sorry for and wanted to help. I can tell you I would be the same way. "Cass talks about you every time I see her."
It was true, Cassie and Isacc were obviously pretty close on account that they had known each other nearly as long as Polly had known Marco.
"Don't talk much?"
I blinked back to reality after just fitting pieces of the puzzle I had left behind so long together. Why hadn't Cassie ever told me he was sick? "Sometimes..."
"That's alright. But I mean, if it's the way I look or something... I know I'm not appealing to the eye."
He even took hits on the way he looked. That I couldn't do. "No, no, it's not that."
Finally he struggled and sat up, offering a hand connected to an IV. He just kinda looked at it a minute and when it stopped swinging, looked at me. I took his hand carefully and shook it twice in a nervous kind of way. "I'm Isacc, in case you don't know, the discustining sick 19-year-old."
Jake was gone when I came back so I checked Marco's room. Marco wasn't there but there was a man cleaning up... umm... a mess. "Wasn't there someone in here?" I asked, worried I had the wrong room.
"Oh, yeah, he's around here somewhere. His father and a nurse took him to the intensive care units."
"What? Why?"
"Visiting someone, I think they said," he looked up at me, he was massive. Dark eyes, black hair, deep, rich African-American skin, taught around his body on account that his muscles were huge. Funny thing is, I knew I'd seen him somewhere. "You alright?" he asked, putting down his mop and walking over to me, as I noticed the slight accent I'd heard only once before. Nigerian accent. Just couldn't remember his name.
"Cassie? Are you alright?"
I nearly squeeked when he said my name. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."
Slowly a smile curled the ends of his lips. "You don't remember me, do you?"
"Well, I do. I just forgot your name."
"Erath. Asaph Erath."
Click, hello. "Oh, yeah. Sorry..."
"Not necassary," he went back to cleaning and finished quicker than I thought he would. "So," he turned back to me, placing the mop on a janitorial cart, "what are you here for?"
"Oh... a few things. My friends and I were in a--"
Another man walked up and said a few things I couldn't understand, on account that they were Spainish, to Erath. He nodded. "You owe me one, Pablo."
The the man -- Pablo -- walked off with the janitorial cart.
"You don't work here?"
"No, no way, this place gives me the creeps but I had to pay back a favor. Anyway, what were you doing here again?"
"Well, my friends and I were in a gang--"
"Wait, wait, wait, you were in a gang?"
"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We were in an alley, hit Marco's cousin with Jake's truck and then the Crows came up and wanted Paul -- that's Marco's cousin -- because he ran away from the Crows and then they stayed but I went to get help and then I found Guido and he and I went to the alley and there were more than he could handle and they shot him in the hand and I went for Polly and we came back and there was this big fight and now we're all here because Marco was shot in the foot, Tobias in the back, Paul's in a coma and... and..."
"Slow down, I can't keep up with you."
"That's the whole story."
He considered it, sighed and said, "That is not a good thing."
"Oh, oh, yeah, and when I went back for Polly, she wasn't home so Jesse had to go get her and then Isacc--"
"If Isacc comes into the story, I know he's here. No more needs to be said."
"Thanks... spares me a lot of breath."
He smiled. "Is Jesse here?"
"Yeah, somewhere. This is a big place."
"True that. Anyway, if you need anything Cass, just tell me, alright? I'm gonna go search for the J-man."
"Ok, nice talking to you...."
He winked and walked off, actually, it was more him lumbering off.
~Jake~
Finally, we knew each other a little better. I mean, we knew enough about each other that we could have a half-way decent conversation.
"You seriously don't remember that?"
"No. I mean, I'm not a huge sports guy."
"Come on, it was a total upset!"
He laughed, coughed and closed his eyes.
"Are you alright? 'Cause I cam go get a nur--"
"No, no. I'm fine, I'm fine," his eyes re-opened. "Forget about it. Go on. A total upset? When was this?"
"A couple years ago today."
"Geez," his eyes started doing this little thing and when you see it, you know that person's thinking. "No, couldn't have known. I was here then. I'm always in here about this time. Force of habit."
I grinned. Then dropped it. "Sorry, I didn't mean--"
"Stop appologizing. I swear. You are the hardest guy to keep smiling. I was joking. Joooooking, Jake."
"Alright, alright."
"Hey, guys. I've been looking for you."
"Cassie. Darn, party's over."
She laughed, I attempted a smile.
"Is it always this none-smiling?"
"No," Cassie poked me. "Jake, come on."
I shook my head.
"I get it. Can't laugh at me because I'm sick. That is so..." he sighed. "Nevermind."
"No, Isacc, I think you're right," Cass looked at me, right in the eye. "Is it because he's sick?"
"Is what because he's sick?"
"Jake, I'm serious."
"So am I."
It had all gone so smoothly. I'd never thought it'd be that easy. And someone else had donated -- don't know who though.
TBC. As soon as Brynn writes more, you will see it!!!!!