"Quick!"
"QUICK!"
"HE'S HAVING THAT FIT AGAIN"
Gregory walked passed the ICU and glanced awkwardly into the glass panes on the door. His best friend Wilson had just come down with a dangerous brain fever a few days ago.
He knew that the initial cause was when James went to that Molini club at L.A for an oncologist reunion from his university. The retired professor Tompkins suggested that they get together again to research the appearance of a new substance recently found in the N.Y hospitals a few weeks ago… His team from Boston had already had the privilege to have a small sample of the substance. It is not figured whether the substance is a virus or bacteria since it shows characteristics of both. He decided to get everyone together from the university so he can have two separate analysis of the substance. It is known to cause tumors in the body by trigger a reaction that sends message to the brain to replicate many of the same cells. It is not lethal since it doesn't always cause cancers but benign tumors most of the time but it has already been warned against because of its dangerous potential to cause cancer. Their meeting place had been at a local university on Friday nights. James stayed later to write up an analytical protocol of the substance and left at 10.00 pm. The next day he was rushed to hospital with fever of the brain. Which doctors are unfamiliar with a search for a specialist in the area is still active. Greg closed his eyes as if they were weary from the day that had barely begun.
It was 3 days already.
There was no progress.
He suggested examining James himself but the hospital would not allow him to do so as due to their relationship.
He felt so useless in all of this. What could he do?
What could he have done?
He always felt inferior to James in a sense, even though he was older than him. It was as if he could see everything outside the box. His find was more as ease with his dilemma's as he had to tangle all his thoughts into an intricate web before being able to solve them.
He simply couldn't live without James…
Not ever.
He felt a hand rest upon his shoulder and turned around to have his eyes meet with sky blue ones. It was Alison.
"It's not your fault, there's nothing anyone can do for him at the moment".
He let a gasped breath. "But I should be able to do something! I don't know how long he'll last like this… if there's nothing anyone can do I should be able to do something. AT LEAST I CAN DO SOMETHING…but I can't…not even for him". He collapsed into her arms sobbing, his tears streaked down his face in a stream as Alison wrapped her arms around him calmly comforting him.
"I told Cuddy you'd be taking a few days off, it will give you some time to recover. I know this has been hard on you since James is…..a close friend"
"How can I recover from anything knowing he's in there struggling for his life and having no known cure?"
"Look, James is gonna come out there in a few days as good as he'll ever be. I'm sure of that. Someone like him could never lose his battle with life in such a way…and not now", her eyes softened at the grim expression on his face.
"I have to pick up my cousin Judy from the airport in half an hour I better be on my way. But you know where I'll be if you need me right?"
His solemn face managed a sad crude smile as she turned around and walked towards the exit.
He decided to walk outside for some fresh air hoping to clear his mind and let it a least ease for a while. Ever since James was admitted to hospital he hadn't had a good night's sleep or a proper meal. He stepped outside feeling the coolness of a breeze brushing pas his face. The lawn was perfect. A perfect green of young shoots with not a wilted stalk in sight. Observing the elderly patients on wheelchairs being taken on their morning stroll by the nurses made him felt a little more at ease. The hospital was sometimes a peaceful place where ones pass onto the next world at ease and without pain at all. But it was also a place of torture, knowing you don't have much time. Or not knowing at all whether you'll see the light of another day as you lie on the stretcher bed.
He approached a bench near the pear trees and chrysanthemums and sat himself down just as his phone rang in his jacket pocket. He quickly fumbled around in the Leather pocket of his Jacket trying to grasp his phone. Suddenly he hesitated. What was the use?
Nothing really mattered to him now. He didn't want anything or need anything except to have his friend back to his normal state. But no one would be able to bring him that.
No one at all…
He shook those thoughts from his mind as he grasped his phone and took the call.
"Hello?"
"Good morning sir, a I speaking to Gregory House?"
"Yes I'm Greg"
"Good after noon, I was wondering if you would kindly pick up some clothes and possessions for James. Lisa has told me you two are good friends and we have tried to get in contact with Jame's wife but with no luck….so….."
"So you want me to raid his house and gather some belongings for him? Not that it'll make much difference. What he needs right now is to be diagnosed properly and to have a known cure and to treat him not a clean pair of underwear", He was quite surprised that he would become quite so snappy because of something like this. As usually he wouldn't.
So a long silence passed between them but finally the nurse spoke awkwardly and slowly again...
"ummm, so would you be able to do that for us sir?"
He felt sorry for her as he had released his anger and own turmoil on someone that didn't even have anything to do with what happened. She couldn't possibly understand what he felt.
"Im sorry about that….yes, I'd gladly do the favour"
"that's great. Would you be available to do so by tonight?"
"yes, I'll drop around at about 8.pm"
"Alright, well see you at 8 then Dr and I promise they are doing everything they can for your friend. It's just that everything is not enough….." he voice trailed off into silence and for a moment he felt that she had just touched the surface of his ever growing turmoil and pain.
He said goodbye to her and ended the call. Planning to go home and spend most of the rest of his day is sleep. The sacred sanctuary.
At around about 7:45 pm he awoke from his slumber. Not even in his dreams was he to have peace as a nightmare of Jame's death lingered at the back of his mind as he tuned on the shower tap letting the steaming hot drops of water hit his face.
He knew he was going to be a little later to the hospital than he would have hoped.
He locked the door and stepped into his car starting the ignition, then headed off to Jame's. He didn't have the key but a while ago James had shared with him the secret of where he kept a second key just incase he was locked out. As he arrived, he parked onto the side of a road and stepped out into the night. The sky was darkened already and stars have just started peeking from over the clouds. He looked around for a pot of geraniums and found them at the left corner of the porch. He lifted the pot and found the key and then opened the door and entered.
A deathly silence ran over him. It was as if the house was abandoned for centuries already. He scanned quickly across the room. A coffee cup half full sat on an old newspaper with a quarter of a bagel which was stale and starting to mould. He wasted no time and preceded into Jame's bedroom going through drawers gathering a few items of clothing. He ended up with 3 pair of pajamas and threw in a pair of slippers too just in case he was to awake and become well in the time of over a night. He knew it was impossible but just packing the slippers in comforted him and gave him some hope that he would awake and be well again he looked at all the items one more time before stuffing them into a brown duffle bag he had found in the room.
"CLASH"! "CLING"!
Greg suddenly bolted up from his position as he heard a sharp noise of what sounded like the breaking of a piece of china. Quickly looking around the room he grabbed an old tennis racquet poking out from the closet. It wasn't much but it was something to defend himself against a possible cannibal, burglar or just a blood thirsty murderer.
"Who's there?", he said in a shaky voice
"WHO'S THERE"! But quickly repeated it in a harsher tone.
There was no answer. He quickly ran into the living room ready to whack at anything he saw moving but there was no one there. He noticed the front door opened so someone was in here and the old coffee cup was in shards on the ground and the coffee splashed across the floor. He noticed that the drawers in the living room had been sorted through and some documents lay on the floor. He checked to see if anything was missing but nothing he could easily pick up had disappeared. His secret collection of emergency use coins and notes were still in their statue of liberty shaped bank so the person wasn't after money. It was almost as if he were…looking for something specific.
A rustle from the bushes outside ended his train of thought as he saw a shadow disappear into the shadows of the night.
