Chapter Seven: Suspense

Days passed without word of Mac. Brodi was in horrible condition, he stayed locked up in his trailer, refusing to eat, talk, or come out. Kaori was upset as well, she had found out what happened to Mac after Brodi had finished the race. The rest of the SSX Tricky lineup thought it was just a freak accident, and when either Kaori or Brodi was asked about it, they stuck with that story.

The time was coming for them to move onto the next track, Snowdream, which was halfway across the world in Japan. Mac would be stuck in a hospital in Canada while the rest of the boarders moved on, that is if he was even alive, and Brodi was afraid he'd never see Mac again.

A week passed before any word of Mac came. He was located in Surrey Memorial Hospital, British Columbia. As soon as Brodi received word, he knew he had to drive there as quickly as possible. He needed to see Mac, he had to speak to him again, even if it was the last time, he needed it.

Naturally Kaori begged to come along, and Brodi couldn't refuse her. They informed Rahzell of where they were headed to and gained his approval before they hurriedly drove 2 hours to the hospital. Once they arrived, Brodi parked and ran with Kaori into the hospital to the front desk.

Trying to stay calm, Brodi spoke to the receptionist. "Hi… I need to see Mackenzie Fraser, can you tell me where his room is?" Brodi's voice was shaking and he looked down at his feet, not even knowing if Mac was alive, and if he was, he hoped that the receptionist would be nice and not require him to be family.

"Hmm, Fraser…" the receptionist flipped through her record book. "He's currently in critical condition, located in ICU. I'm sorry, but we can't allow you to see him yet. We expect he'll be out of ICU and into a normal room in a few days."

Brodi sighed in disappointment. "Well can you tell me how he's been? What happened when he got here?"

"Look, I'm a receptionist, I deal with people like you, not patients. I can fetch his doctor for you, though. That is, if he's not busy. I'll be back in a moment." The receptionist stood up lazily and strode off through a set of doors into another wing of the hospital. Brodi and Kaori walked away sadly and took their seats in two chairs across the lobby. They waited about 10 minutes before the receptionist returned, beside her a tall, dark-haired man.

"Hello, sir, ma'am… my name is Dr. Williams. I was told you need some information about a patient of mine?" said the doctor.

"Yes… Mackenzie Fraser. He arrived here about a week ago, can you tell me what's happening with him?"

"Ah, yes I know who you're talking about. He was in a horrible snowboarding accident; it's a shame to see such young kids in here with horrific injuries such as his… He broke his left arm in 4 places, severely dislocated his right shoulder, broke and fractured his left leg in 2 places, and fractured 5 ribs. His neck and back are fractured in 6 places. At first we thought he was going to be permanently paralyzed, but when he awoke, he was able to move his arms and legs just fine when he shot up in complete disorientation shouting because he didn't know where he was." Dr. Williams smiled in amusement. "Anyways, he needed surgery on his spine and left leg to repair the damage."

Brodi cringed.

"Well anyways, as soon as he was admitted, he was put on life support, the poor kid was inches from death. Only yesterday did we take him off life support and now he's in ICU."

"Do you know how long it will be before we're allowed to see him?" asked Kaori, not trusting the receptionist.

"We plan on moving him to a regular room later today, and you may see him then, though I can't guarantee he'll be conscious. He was in a coma until three days ago, and awoke for a brief time only to pass out again, though he's not in a coma now." Said the doctor in a reassuring voice.

"Alright, well Kaori and I are going to wait here, so could you please inform us when we're allowed to see him? We're desperate…"

"Yes, of course sir." Dr. Williams' pager beeped, and he looked down at it, apparently he was needed elsewhere. "Well, I need to be going now, you two have a nice day and I will see you later." He smiled politely and strode off, leaving Kaori and Brodi there in the lobby, a bit relieved, for now.