Chapter 2

In shock of hearing his suspicions confirmed, Jack followed the patient visitor rep back to the ER. "We were waiting for someone to show up. Your..."

"Friend." Jack supplied.

"Friend was admitted several hours ago. We need you to sign some forms for us. We tried to inform the next-of-kin, but there isn't an answer at their phone number."

"If I can ask, who does he have down for next of kin?"

"A," the rep consulted his papers, "Cory Matthews. I take it you know him?"

"He's here. I mean, in this city. We're on vacation, so if Eric had Cory's apartment number, then there wouldn't be an answer. Where are the papers I need to sign?"

"Right here. These are consent to treatment forms, and this one is a release for surgery."

"Surgery?" Jack echoed.

"Yes. Mr Matthews has significant brain swelling, so the doctors need to operate in order to relieve the pressure."

"Swelling? I don't... what exactly happened?"

"Apparently, he congested some Vicodin with some alcohol. The ingredients in the Vicodin make it highly dangerous to mix it with any form of liquor."

Jack shut his eyes. "How did he get here?"

"He came in, saying that he didn't feel well. We admitted him and his condition deteriorated."

The rep got the papers and Jack quickly signed. "Can I see him?" he asked.

"For a moment. He's going into surgery right away." The rep took him back to a small curtained room. "We'll take you to the waiting room when he goes to the OR."

Jack stepped into the room. Eric was lying on the bed, looking for all intents and purposes like he was sleeping. A small tube was connected to his nose.

"Why does he have that?"

"Vicodin, in large doses, can affect your breathing."

Jack stared in disbelief at his best friend. He seemed almost peaceful lying there, although his skin was paler than Jack had ever seen it. His right arm, the one that was broken, lay across his chest as if he was warding off a blow.

"He's not comfortable," Jack whispered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," Jack said.

He wanted nothing more than for Eric to wake up and yell, "Fooled you!" Sure, Jack would be pissed, but it would be so much better than the reality of watching Eric take even breaths, never moving otherwise.

He stayed in Eric's room until they came and told Jack that they were moving him to the OR. He was escorted back out to the waiting room, where he went to a payphone and tried to dial the house. It took him three attempts before he could get his fingers to coordinate enough to punch the right numbers. Rachel answered.

"Hello?"

"Rach, it's me."

"Jack? Where are you?"

He covered the receiver and asked a passing orderly, "Excuse me, what's the name of this place?"

"Santa Paulo's."

He turned his attention back to the phone. "Santa Paulo's. It's a hospital, the one we went to before..."

Rachel drew in breath sharply. "Is... is Eric there?"

"Yeah. It's... it's pretty bad. He's about to go into surgery. You... can you tell Cory?"

"Yeah, don't worry about that. We'll be right there."

"See you soon." Jack hung up and sat down in the waiting room. He tried reading a magazine, but his thoughts were centred on Eric. He looked up as Rachel, Cory and Topanga came into the room. When they spotted him, they came running.

"What's happening?" Cory asked.

Jack explained tensely, ending with, "He's in surgery now."

"I need to call Mom and Dad." Cory went over to the bank of pay phones and Topanga followed.

Rachel came over to Jack and he automatically put his arms around her. The two of them didn't say anything, they just held on to each other, drawing comfort.

Shawn and Angela came in soon after, and they all sat there quietly, not wanting to talk about the reason they were there. Jack looked at his friends and family, taking in Cory's stunned expression, Shawn's worried one, and the tears of the girls.

The patient rep came up to the group. "Are you the family of Eric Matthews?"

"Yes," they answered together.

"Would you follow me?" They got up en masse and went into a private room. Once they were all in there and seated, the rep cleared his throat and began. "Mr Matthews is out of surgery now. At the moment, he is in the ICU. There was extensive swelling on the brain. I'm afraid we won't know the extent of the damage, if there is any, until he wakes up."

"When can we see him?" Cory and Jack asked together.

"We can allow you to see him for five minutes each, two people at a time. We ask that you don't make a lot of noise. There are a lot of ill people here who are disturbed very easily. Who would like to go first?"

"Cory, you should go," Shawn stated.

Everyone agreed on that, so Cory and Topanga went first, followed by Shawn and Angela. When it was Jack and Rachel's turn, she gripped his hand so hard that Jack thought there might be imprints left on his skin.

Eric was lying on another hospital bed. His head was bandaged, and he was still on the ventilator. His skin color was worse than before. Rachel immediately started sobbing when she saw him, and Jack almost wanted to shut his eyes until he woke up from this nightmare.

After their five minutes were up, they went back to the waiting room to talk to their friends.

"We're heading home. We called Mom and Dad, but the machine answered, so we need to keep trying," Cory said. His eyes were slightly puffy, and he looked like death warmed over.

"We're going to head off with them. There's no sense in staying here if we can't see him," Shawn added.

"Well, I'm staying," Jack declared, surprising himself as he spoke the words. Everyone looked surprised, but didn't try to talk him out of it.

"Well, call if you need anything," Rachel said, before walking out with her friends.

Jack turned and went up to the ICU nurses' station. "Do you know when I could visit Eric Matthews again?"

"You can visit every top of the hour for five minutes," the nurse informed him. "Will you be staying here?"

"Yes."

"Hold on." She got up from the desk and went into a little room. She came out holding a blanket and pillow. "The waiting room down the hall is dark. A lot of the patients here have family from out of town, and their family members can't afford hotels. Just go in there and make yourself comfortable. There's an announcement when visiting is allowed."

"Thank you," Jack said sincerely.

"You're welcome."

He went into the room she had pointed to. The room was indeed dimly lit, and people were asleep all around him. He found a big recliner and curled up in it. The exhausting events of the day caught up with him, and he was soon asleep. Jack started to wake when he heard general movement around him. As the cobwebs cleared, he realized that it was time to see Eric. He went into the room, noting that Eric's color was starting to improve.

"Hey buddy," Jack said a little awkwardly, "I'm right down the hall. So... when you wake up, I'll be here." He touched Eric's hand briefly and left the room. The whole night passed the same way. Despite the darkened room, Jack couldn't really sleep because of all the people and the hourly interruptions. Morning was there before he knew it, and with it came his friends.

"Any change?" Shawn asked.

"No. His color's better, though. And he seems to be resting more peacefully."

"Well, do you want to run home and grab something to eat? We'll stay here," Topanga offered.

"A shower sounds like a good idea," Jack admitted. "I'll be right back, okay? And call if..."

"We will! Now go!" Rachel pushed him gently out the door.

Jack walked out of the hospital, squinting a little at the sun. The walk home didn't take long, and he was looking forward to washing the hospital smell off of his skin. He went up to the room that he and Shawn were sharing, and grabbed his shower kit. As he opened it, a single piece of paper fluttered out. He recognized Eric's messy scrawl. Intrigued, he started reading.

"Dear Jack,

I really don't know what to say. I mean, obviously if you're reading this, I'm not there. Okay, I'm beating around the bush here. Have you ever had something inside of you for so long that it hurts to breathe? And all you do is think about that pain? That's the way I've felt for a long time now. I know you don't know what I'm talking about. I promise that I'll get to the point soon. Anyway, even though we're best friends, you don't know me at all. That's my fault. I realized that today when I saw you with Rachel. I can't even describe how badly that hurt. If someone had come along and stabbed me, it couldn't have hurt anymore. That's my fault too. I let myself have a little hope, that just maybe, you might see that I loved you. But I realized today that that's never going to happen. I'm tired of trying, Jack. Maybe there was another way, but I can't see it right now. Tell Cory that all of my stuff is his, except for my rubber duckie. That's Josh's. Tell everyone else how much I treasured them, and that I never meant to hurt them, but I hurt too much to stay and tell them myself. I've gotta go now. Just staying in this house makes the pain worse. Don't be mad, because I can't stand the thought of you being mad at me.

Love always,

Eric"

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