Chapter 3: Waiting

"What's wrong with our daughter?" Mr. Randall asked angrily. The loudness of the busy floor wasn't helping his temper at all, plus the doctors were avoiding him.

"Sir, we can't be certain yet. We still have a lot of tests to do on her blood, and she is scheduled for a CAT scan in a few minutes. Give us a few hours to determine exactly what happened. We will get to you as soon as we can." And the doctors hurried off before he could say anything.

Mr. Randall hugged his wife close to him. "Robbie, Ray, thank you for bringing her in so quickly, but you don't need to be here."

Ray looked at him with disbelief. You think I would leave, now? "We're staying, Lily is important to us and we will stay here as long as we can." Robbie nodded to The Randall's and, with Ray, went off to the waiting room.

Travis ran through the fourth floor searching for Lily's room, which he found empty. He entered it, desperate to find her. He heard a knock at the door and snapped his head up.

"Sir, you can't be in there. There is a waiting room at the end of the hall." A nurse pointed him.

"Where is she?" He asked her, not caring about what he couldn't do.

"Not here, your friends are in the waiting room. If you have trouble finding it and stray off, you will be asked to leave the hospital." She said sternly to Travis, who was still preoccupied with looking around for Lily.

He went to the end of the hall where he found Ray, Robbie, and Lily's parents. "Hey guys, any news?" He took a seat.

"Only, 'we can't be certain yet'", Ray said in unbelief, "Aren't these the people who are supposed to know these things?" Ray shook his head, leaned back, and stared up at the baseball game on the mounted television.

"What happened at RFR?" Robbie asked, quietly. There weren't any strangers in the room, but it was safe to whisper.

"Your topic is great, the phone rang nonstop," Travis said, "But I told them all to try again tomorrow."

They all looked up at the baseball game, anxious but bored. No one knew what was going on in the game, but tried to entertain him or herself with staring at the set. Ray tapped his foot continuously, but eventually just stood up and said, "Anyone for the cafeteria?"

"Always thinking about food," Robbie said, standing up to join him.

"I'll come with you," Travis said to Ray, following them out of the room.

They walked down the busy hall to the elevators. A loud beep sounded from a nurse's desk, who went running pass when the elevators doors opened. The guys entered the elevator and took it down to the first floor, which wasn't any quieter than the fourth.

Upon leaving the elevator, Travis spotted a pretty little gift shop. "I'll be right there guys." Travis said, and walked off into the shop.

The store was small, but the aisles were full of knick-knacks and other pretty things. The back of the store was full of flowers, of all different colors. Travis headed towards the white lilies and picked out a bouquet of them for Lily. Also, he saw a shiny butterfly necklace on the third aisle. Butterflilies, he thought, and laughed at himself. He paid for them and left in search of Ray and Robbie.