Again, my thanks to the reviewers. I hope those that are reading it without reviewing are enjoying it as well.
Chapter 6
Flashes of bright light intensified the headache pounding behind Don Eppes' eyes. Voices floated around him in a foggy cloud; he could decipher the different voices, but he couldn't seem to connect them with his present situation. They were muffled, distant, and strangely disembodied.
"Come on, Donnie," It was his father's grief choked voice that urged Don to follow him. To where, Don didn't know. His father walked on without him, and no matter how fast Don ran, he couldn't catch up to him. He could hear his father's footsteps, and he could tell he was exhausted just by the exaggerated shuffling when he didn't pick his feet entirely up.
"Hey, don't worry. We're all here, and we miss you." Megan's soft drawl reached out to Don, but again he couldn't find her. He tried to call out to her, but she never seemed to hear. He could feel her though. She eminated a warmth, that his father was lacking.
"Time to catch the bad guy, Come on, Don." David's and Colby's voices intermingled and Don couldn't grasp which was which. Didn't seem to matter, because they couldn't be found either.
Voices he recognized, and voices he didn't recognize filtered in and out of his mind, but one voice was conspicuously absent. The one voice he needed to hear more than any other, but he knew that voice was lost forever. Shame, guilt, despair, and anger overwhelmed Don's senses. He had failed to protect his brother, and now Charlie was lost...gone to Heaven with their mother. Time had raced the clock, but to Don, the last 24 hours drifted in an unending fog. He couldn't remember anything past his brother's life draining away before his very eyes.
"It's time, Donnie," His father stood in front of him looking as if he aged 10 years in the last day and a half. Don noticed his father in a black suit; he could see a large hole over his heart. His father had patched it with red silk. Glancing down, he recognized the black suit he wore for his mother's funeral. How he hated that suit. Tonight, after his father went to bed, Don would sneak off and burn the blasted thing. Maybe he would steal his father's and Charlie's black suits and burn those as well. Hell, he could always sneak into the neighbors' houses and throw their funeral garb into the flames, too! He couldn't burn Charlie's dark blue suit; no that wouldn't work at all...Charlie was wearing it, and it was off-limits, but he could destroy everything else that reminded him of his little brother.
"Come on," Alan gently tried to lead Don toward the grave site.
"No...NO!" Don struggled against the inevitable. "It can't be time!" He felt himself being pushed forward. He was following a line of people behind a wooden coffin, and he could hear the cantor chanting psalms and Eyl Malei Rahamim. His breath caught in his throat and threatened to suffocated him. Everything began to close around him when he noticed movement behind a nearby gravestone. He stumbled across the uneven ground; as he drew near the figure, he realized it was his younger brother. He began to shake and his heart beat wildly.
"CHARLIE...CHARLIE!"
"Calm down, Don! Calm down...stop it!" Alan Eppes attempted to pull his oldest son back toward the grave site, but he fought his father.
"Dad, look...it's Charlie! He's over here!" Don's voice was filled with hope. He felt himself being dragged toward the folding chairs set up next to the grave. "No...We can't do this! He's not dead!" Alan shoved his son into a nearby chair, and then he sat down heavily into the one on the right. In a matter of minutes, he was sobbing into his hands. Being free of his dad's grip, Don headed in the direction of his brother.
Looking back, Don noticed everyone was staring ahead with vacant unseeing eyes. He also noticed instead of one coffin, there now sat two. He tried to call out, but no one heard him.
"They can't see us." Charlie appeared beside his older brother. His voice was laced with anger and sadness. "What the hell are you doing, Don?" Charlie whirled his brother around. He was dressed in the same outfit he wore when he was shot.
"I was looking for you." Don tried to grab his brother's shoulder, but strangely, he felt himself being pulled away.
"You can't be with me, now, Don. Some things I have to face alone." Despair hung in every word, and Charlie's shoulders slumped. "You need to go back. We can't leave dad alone." Suddenly, Charlie doubled over in pain. Don tried to help him, but he waved him away, "go, Don!"
"Go where, Charlie? I don't know where I am!" the cemetery disappeared, and Don found himself in a dark corridor. The door on the far end, opened revealing bright white light. Charlie was standing outside it wearing a pristine white suit.
"This way," He waved to his brother. "Trust me." Charlie added when Don hesitated.
"What about you?" Don stopped beside his brother. Trying to not recoil at the bloody site.
"This isn't my door. It belongs to you." He pushed his brother inside. "Embrace the pain...follow it. It will take you where you need to be." With that, Charlie shut the door and was gone.
Intense pain surrounded Don, but he could hear his dad through the thick fog. He could feel his dad...he could see his dad! Emerging on the other Side, Don blinked back heavy tears of pain, exhaustion, confusion, and guilt.
"Easy, just a sip." Alan held a straw up to his son's parched lips. The liquid was soothing to Don's dry throat.
"I'm sorry, dad." Don whispered after drinking the water.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Donnie." Alan was thankful his son was awake.
"I failed Charlie. I couldn't save him...you have to hate me!"
Before Alan could respond, a nurse followed by Dr. Starnes and a second doctor entered the room.
"Agent Eppes, nice to see you awake." Dr. Starnes moved over and raised the head of Don's bed. "Just in time for an update on your brother, too."
"How do you update dead?" Don seethed between clenched teeth. His head was throbbing painfully, but he ignored the pain. Afterall, he deserved it.
"I assure you, your brother is alive and holding his own." Dr. Starnes checked Don's pupils as she spoke. "First things first, How bad is your head hurting?"
"It's fine."
"Uh huh. Well, you don't have a concussion, but I'd say you are anything but fine." She put away her penlight and turned to the nurse. "Bring me a # 3, please." The nurse nodded before leaving the room.
"Dr, what about Charlie?" Alan suppressed a sigh when the nurse returned and placed two plastic cups on the table. She left without a word.
Dr. Starnes waved at her colleague. "This is Dr. Weisz; she was Charlie's surgeon."
She was a petite woman with dark red hair pulled into a low ponytail. Her green eyes spoke of a deep intelligence, and Alan found comfort in them. He stepped forward and offered her his hand.
"Please, how's my son?"
"Charlie is in recovery." Dr. Weisz's voice was soft but strong. "His left lung was collapsed, and he suffered a tension pneumothorax which means his heart and some blood vessels were pushed out of place by the air invading the left pleural space. We were able to repair the damage in time, and his lung is reinflating nicely."
"Don?" Dr. Starnes called to her patient. "Now that you know your brother is still with us, you need your rest. I've got some Tylenol 3, that I want you to take. It will help with your pain and make it easier to sleep." She handed Don the two cups the nurse had left. He swallowed the pills, but his face remained troubled.
"He's not dead?" the news had yet to cement in Don's mind. "Charlie is really alive?"
"Yes, Agent Eppes, your brother is alive, and I hear, he has you to thank." Dr. Weisz stepped over to the bed.
"Me? I'm the reason he was shot!" Don's agitation had not yet been weakened by the medicine.
"You helped stop the bleeding. Charlie would have bled out if it hadn't been for your quick actions."
Don's eyelids began to droop, but he fought back. "It should have been me. He saved my life." He shook his head, but stopped when it increased the pounding. "I need to get to the office." He looked over at Megan who had been hiding in the shadows of a corner. "We need to catch these guys!" His eyelids were fluttering at that point, and his speech was slowing down.
"Sleep first." Dr. Starnes adjusted the bed. "I'll be by to check on you in the morning. We'll talk about releasing you then." The two doctors turned to leave the room. Alan followed them out leaving Megan with Don.
Alan closed the door behind himself. "Can I see Charlie?"
Dr. Weisz checked her watch before responding. "He'll be in recovery for another hour, and then he will be moved to ICU. You can see him then, but only for a few minutes."
"ICU? Is he still in danger? What aren't you telling me?" Alan's voice barely concealed his concern.
"Mr. Eppes, please understand , Charlie suffered a severe injury. We've repaired the damage, but it could still prove too much for his system. We will moniter him closely for the next 24-48 hours. When I'm fairly certain his lung won't collapse again, I'll feel more confident with moving him to a regular room. Until then, we wait."
"How likely is his lung to collapse again?"
"It happens in roughly 50 percent of these types of injuries. We've put in a chest tube to help drain the pleural space, and Charlie is in a drug induced coma to keep his movement limited and to allow his body a chance to heal. Mr. Eppes, we are doing everything we can to ensure your son lives." She paused to squeeze Alan's shoulder. "I'll come get you when we move him."
"Thank-you," Alan whispered. The doctors smiled at him before walking away. He walked back into Don's room.
"Are you okay?" Megan ushered him to one of the chairs. "What else did Dr. Weisz say?"
Alan glanced at Don; seeing his oldest son was sleeping, he spoke softly, "You knew she was hiding something?"
"I am a profiler, Mr. Eppes." Megan couldn't keep the smile from her lips.
"And a good one, I see." He briefly returned her smile. "Charlie still has a long way to go before he's considered safe." Alan sighed and looked at Don again. "Megan, can you tell me what happened? I need to know how to help Don."
Megan squeezed Alan's shoulder, and then she scooted the other chair next to his. "From what Amita told me, Charlie and Don were outside the math building, when the shots were fired. Charlie pushed Don out of the way."
"No wonder he blames himself." a deep shudder ran through Alan's shoulders. "If Charlie doesn't...if he...I don't know how Don will ever recover."
"Don't underestimate your sons, Mr. Eppes, they are two of the stubbornest men I know." Megan's smile widened. "They won't let each other down, and they won't let you down either."
Alan patted Megan's hand. "Thanks."
"No problem."
Once again, the two found themselves playing the waiting game. It wasn't long before Megan succumbed to her exhaustion. Alan unable to sleep paced the room. He kept his attention on the clock, and when an hour passed, he began to worry that something had happened to Charlie. When the minutes ticked off another hour, he knew something had happened. He was about to go in search of answers when the door opened.
"Did his lung collapse?" Alan blurted out at the sight of Dr. Weisz walking into the room.
"No, but he was experiencing trouble breathing, so I intubated. It happens in comatose patients; they sometimes require the assistance of a respirator. I believe that is the case with Charlie."
"Can I see him?"
"Yes, for a few minutes at least." Dr. Weisz gestured for him to follow. They walked the corridors and rode the elevator in silence, but outside of the door to ICU, she stopped Alan. "Let me go in first; I'll be right back." She slipped into the room before Alan could respond. A minute later she returned. "You can go in now."
With trepidation, Alan entered the private ICU room. He had trouble reconciling the image of his vivacious and energetic young son with that of the man so pale and still lying on the bed. The familiar beeping and clicking of machinary sent chills dancing up his spine. He placed his hands on the bed railings and bowed his head. The pain of the situation pushed a sob from deep within his heart, and he did his best to suppress the emotional turmoil with a shaky breath.
"Mr. Eppes." Dr. Weisz called from the door. "You can come back in the morning; I promise."
Acknowledging her with a nod, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss to Charlie's forehead."I love you, son, please stay with me." He longed for Margret; she would know exactly what to say to bring their youngest home. Closing his eyes, he worried that she may already be doing so. Please, I need him. Don needs him. The world needs him.
TBC
