I'll heal the hole in your heart chapter 2
Summary about chapter 2: (They're 14-15 years old) Dan and Phil have to go on a school trip with all their classmates. Dan starts feeling bad at night and Phil has to help him.
Words: 5.936
Dan -
"And we're moving!" Phil said happily, poking his head between the seats in front of him. I smiled quickly at him before leaning my head against the window and looking out.
"You okay?" he asked, turning to me when he realised I didn't answer him. I slowly moved to face him so that the back of my head still was resting on the window.
"Yeah…" I muttered. I wasn't quite sure how I felt. It was my first school trip and I was really, really nervous. Because of my condition, I had never been anywhere with my class except inside the school. I had never been away from home other than when I had to stay at the hospital. My mum wouldn't let me.
But things had changed since Phil came along. My mum trusted him 110%, and of course, I did too. So she allowed me to go on this trip as long as Phil promised he wouldn't let me out of his sight. But it wasn't easy getting me on the bus. The teachers had been to a meeting with my parents to get all the information they needed about everything. Their 'Dan file' had to be a hundred pages long. Phil was at the same 'meeting', just at my house instead. I always felt bad dragging him into all this. He should be out living his life like a normal 15-year-old—not be stuck with me. But no matter how many times I told him that, he would just laugh and look at me the same way he always did. He knew I didn't mean it—he could always see right through me. I would be lost without him, but I still felt bad.
"What are you thinking about?" Phil asked. He tilted his head a little to the side while he glanced at me with his icy blue eyes.
"About how stupid you look when you do that," I said, smiling.
"Nah, you love it." He looked straight ahead again. I grinned to myself and got back to watching the landscape pass by outside the bus.
I sighed softly and pressed myself further into my seat. I was more nervous than I wanted to admit, and I actually just wanted to drive back home. This was stupid, even with Phil around.
I was lost in my own thoughts when I felt Phil grab my wrist. It was his way of holding my hand—by my wrist instead. People wouldn't understand that, but I did.
But just as he did, he sat straight up on his seat and forced me to turn my head by grabbing me underneath my chin.
"Dan."
"I'm just nervous. It's fine," I assured him. My heart was beating a little too fast, and Phil felt that through my wrist.
"Nervous about what?" he asked, wrinkling his forehead.
"I don't know. It's just… I've never been anywhere and... you know." I moved my gaze to his hand, which was still resting on my wrist.
"Nothing to be nervous about. I'm here, okay? And you just have to tell me if it's too much. Then we'll call your mum and tell her to pick you up. You don't have to stay."
"Hmm." I took some deep breaths and closed my eyes in an attempt to lower my heart rate.
We had been driving for nearly an hour now. I just kept looking out of the window and trying my best to calm myself down. Phil was still holding onto my wrist, but he squeezed it harder and harder as each minute went by.
"What are you doing?" I asked jokingly, looking over to him. But I stopped joking when I saw his face. He looked even paler than me and small pearls of sweat were forming on his forehead. "You okay?" I whispered. I tried to catch eye contact, but he kept looking straight ahead. "Phil?"
"Hmm," he mumbled through his clenched teeth.
"Travel sickness?" I asked nervously and turned fully around to get a proper look. He gave me a quick nod, still without looking at me. "Something I can do?" This was new. Normally people had to take care of me. I never did anything for anyone else.
"Do you need to throw up?" I watched him as he shook his head and swallowed hard.
"I'm fine," he whispered nearly inaudibly. I could tell he wasn't. Maybe he didn't want to admit it because he didn't want me to worry. "Just don't touch me," he breathed out.
"Please tell me if I can do anything." I wanted to be useful for once—not just sit here like I always did.
"Phil?" But he just kept shaking his head.
I sighed softly and searched through my bag. Even though he told me he wouldn't throw up, he still looked like he might any second.
I quickly searched through everything and finally found a plastic bag in which I stored some of the medication that couldn't fit in my toiletry. I took it out and handed the bag to Phil, who grabbed it and clutched it tightly in his hand.
After watching him take deep breaths for a couple of minutes, he flipped open the bag and bent over, making his hair fall into his eyes as he quietly threw up into the plastic bag in front of his mouth. My pulse rose slightly. I didn't like seeing him like this. I was the sick one, not Phil.
"Everything alright here?" our teacher—Mrs. Welsh—asked. She laid her hand on Phil's shoulder.
"H-he's car sick," I stuttered. I hadn't even noticed my breathing had sped up along with my heartbeat.
"I'll be fine," Phil slurred into the bag and spat a couple of times.
"Hm," I moaned and looked out of the window. I wanted to comfort him, but it made me feel a little nauseous seeing him getting sick.
"I'll find you some paper towels," Mrs. Welsh whispered.
"You okay?" Phil asked in a hoarse voice. I simply nodded in response and took a deep breath.
"Here," I heard our teacher say.
"Thank you," Phil answered. I was still focusing out of the window.
"Do you still feel bad?" she asked him.
"Yeah, a little," Phil slurred.
"We'll arrive soon, don't worry. Let me take that."
"Thanks."
I slowly turned my head. Phil was sat pressed against the bus seat with his eyes closed. I placed my hand on his knee and squeezed it a bit, making him open his eyes again and smile quickly.
"I'm fine, Dan. Don't worry," he mumbled and rested his head down on my shoulder. "Just let me rest here for a minute."
"O-okay," I responded nervously.
"Phil?" I whispered and gently shook him a bit. "Phil?"
"Hmm, what?"
"We're here."
"Where?" he asked, disorientated.
"The school trip, you idiot." I nudged him.
"Oh..." He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me. "Right. I'm sorry."He rubbed his eyes and fixed my shirt, which he had wrinkled in his sleep.
"It's okay." I smiled widely. "Now move. I need to use the toilet."
"Yeah, o-of course." Phil took a few deep breaths, making sure he was fully awake before he got to stand. I grabbed my back from the floor and followed him out of the bus.
"Give me your bag. I'll get our baggage. Just go for the toilet," he said, holding out his hand.
"Thank you." I smiled. "Don't leave it somewhere. I'll need the medication in there," I told him, making sure he got it. My whole life depended on that bag.
"I know," he assured me. "Don't worry."
"We've got the whole place to ourselves. What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Go outside?" I suggested and looked around at my surrounding. We were in a big building that all kinds of schools and clubs were using for different kinds of camps. We had to share rooms, two and two. Each room had a bunk bed and a small table. It seemed quite comfortable. This should be fun.
All our classmates had to go on a walk with the teachers, but I couldn't come with them so we had to stay back.
"Good idea." Phil smiled.
The weather was good, so there was no problem with being outside in shorts and t-shirts. Even though I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, I got cold really easily and it was important that I didn't get sick or something.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked. He turned around so he was walking backwards, making it possible for him to look me in the eyes. A wide smile spread across his pale face as he looked down at me.
I grinned shyly and looked down on my feet. "Be careful you don't walk into a tree or something," I murmured to the ground, not daring to look up as I felt my cheeks slowly flush red.
"Oh, did I forget to tell you? I have eyes on the back of my neck," he joked.
"Stop it." I smiled, still looking down.
"Stop what?" he asked happily.
"That..." I mumbled and waved my hands in the air. I couldn't make myself say the rest of the sentence. It would probably ruin everything or make things weird. I couldn't afford something like that.
"What? I'm just walking." He grinned and bent over, trying to catch my eyes to see what I was on about. I did my best to avoid eye contact.
"Yes. But then stop that," I told him, stopping myself. His feet stopped moving and we stood still.
"Something wrong?" he asked. Suddenly his tone changed from happy to more nervous.
"Not at all," I answered and sat down on the dry grass.
"You want to stay on the ground?" he asked, confused.
"Yeah." I looked around. I was sat on the grass in front of the building. Phil was still standing in front of me. "Yeah. Here is fine."
"You sure you're okay?" he asked as he sat down.
"I'm fine, Phil." I smiled and finally looked up. "Really," I assured him. My cheeks were still slightly hot, but I could blame the heat for that rather than my friend in front of me.
"What do you want to do here then?" he asked, his tone a mix between happy and rather confused.
"Just, nothing," I answered without really knowing where this conversation was going.
"Hmm, okay. Whatever you want, King Daniel."
"Very funny." I quickly nudged his shoulder, leaned back on the grass, and closed my eyes, just letting the sun heat up my body. I could hear Phil do the same.
We were just lying—no talking. I liked silence like this. It was something different with Phil. I could be like I wanted to be. If I wanted to talk, we could talk. If I wanted to stay silent, we would say nothing. I didn't need to entertain him all the time. It was just like being around myself. I was comfortable with him.
"What do you wanna do when you grow up?" I asked, still lying stretched out on the grass, my fingers buried in the straws.
"Hmm, I don't know," Phil mumbled. "I haven't really thought about it."
"You haven't?" I asked, surprised.
"No. Or maybe. Something with media could be nice, but… Yeah, I don't know." He sighed. "Have you thought about anything?" he asked.
"Yeah…" I breathed out. "But first of all, I don't even know if I'm going to grow up and..." But I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence before I felt Phil moving around beside me, making me turn my head to see what he was doing. He was rolled on his side and supporting himself on his elbow while resting his head on his hand. I rolled on my side too, to get a better look when the sun was out of my sight.
"Dan."
"Hmm?"
"Don't say that." He shook his head a bit while he glanced sadly at me.
"But it's true…" I whispered, looking away.
"I know. But just don't… please," he begged. "You can be whatever you want because you're going to live a long, happy life, okay?" We didn't talk about the future that much. I wanted to sometimes, but Phil just got angry or frustrated. It was more comfortable for me to talk about it than for him. I understood though. I had been around illness and hospitals all my life. It was nothing new to me or my family, but to Phil it was something different. I liked it. He didn't just accept everything like my parents did.
"I'm sorry," I mumbled and rolled back onto my back.
"It's okay." Phil placed his hand on my shoulder and gently rubbed his thumb across my shirt, making me look at him again. "But what do you want to do?" He smiled.
"You'll laugh." I giggled nervously and blinked up at him.
"No I won't, stupid," he responded slightly offended.
"If you promise, then I'll tell you." I smiled.
"I promise," he said determinedly.
"I want to be an actor." I glanced away from him, afraid of his reaction. "But it's never going to happen. With a heart like mine... It's just unrealistic."
"Don't let a disease stop you from having dreams, Dan. It doesn't matter," Phil tried.
"Well, who would hire an actor with a heart condition?" I asked.
"I don't know. You never know what could happen. If I dreamt about being a football player, would you then tell me I couldn't?"
"But you suck at football."
"I know, but that's not the point, Dan. If it was something I liked, should I just stop because I'm bad? And maybe I could be better at some point." He stopped for a second, just looking me in the eyes. "If it's something you like, Dan, don't just stop because of a weak heart."
"It's a stupid idea..." I muttered. I thought a lot about how my life would turn out, but every time my mind came to subjects such as universities and future job opportunities, I became sad. I didn't know how much I would be able to handle in the future. School was hard enough already.
"It's really not, Dan. I think it's a great idea," Phil assured me. "I mean it…"
I didn't answer—just laid down again, allowing the sun to shine back on my face.
"You could sign up for a drama club or something. Be in the school play."
"Would you come and watch me then?" I giggled jokingly.
"How is that a question? Of course I would!"
I smiled at the sun as I felt my cheeks slowly turning red again. Hoping Phil wouldn't notice, but he stayed down right beside me.
Phil -
"Dan?" I asked after about 20 minutes of just laying flat down on the grass. But I got no answer. "Dan?" I asked again and moved up to a sitting position, making it possible for me to look down at him. He was fast asleep beside me.
"Great," I muttered, smiling widely. I never had the heart to wake him up, but we couldn't stay here all day. Our classmates would also be back soon.
I watched him as he slowly rolled over and made himself comfortable on his side. I lay back down again, facing him and just watching him sleep peacefully. I liked watching him like that—he didn't seem ill at all.
I couldn't resist the temptation and gently stroked my fingers across his cheek, making him nuzzle his head onto his hands at the touch.
Being careful not to wake him up, I carefully brushed his brown hair out of eyes. I don't think he could get anymore adorable even if he tried.
I heard voices coming from behind us and I slowly turned around. Our class was walking down the gravel path.
"Dan?" I whispered and rubbed his shoulder.
"No..." he muttered.
"You have to wake up, I'm sorry."
"Please... I'm so tired."
"I know. But the others are coming now and we can't just lay sleeping on the grass," I told him. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times at me. "Good morning." I smiled.
"Go away," he responded, stretching his arms above his head.
"Maybe you should go take a nap if you're so tired?"
"Maybe. I didn't sleep very well last night either," he mumbled, followed by a yawn.
"Why?" I asked nervously. I moved to stand on all fours and leaned over him, blocking the sun from his eyes.
"I don't know. Nervous I guess. It's my first school trip ever and all... I don't know. If something happened..."
"Hmm..." I wrinkled my forehead and slowly looked him over. I began to wonder if it was such a good idea bringing him here.
"Let me help you up," I offered and got to stand. "Take my hand." I stretched out my hand, asking for him to grab it before I pulled him off of the ground.
"Thanks."
We started walking inside until Mrs. Welsh stopped us.
"Everything alright?" she asked, smiling.
"Everything is fine," I responded and moved my gaze to Dan.
"Good. Dinner in a minute. Go wash your hands." She nodded at us and started walking towards the other students to tell them the same thing she'd just told us.
"What time is it?" Dan asked as we stepped inside.
I quickly glanced at the clock. "Around six."
"Medication time!" Dan cheered sarcastically and then sighed.
"Wait here. I'll get it." I ran down the corridor and searched through the bag he'd had with him on the bus. Finding the container in which all his pills were stored, I ran back to him.
"Got it," I breathed and held it up in front of him. "Now walk. I'm hungry."
We entered the great hall. Many of our classmates were already sat by the tables. I looked around, desperately hoping to find two seats next to each other.
"There." Dan pointed to the back of the room.
"Sit down, I'll get the food." I turned to the table with the food on. They decided to make burgers. I knew Dan had to eat as healthily as possible, so I didn't like their choice of food, but there was nothing to do about it. Luckily there was some salad, so I filled a whole plate with that before I headed back to Dan.
"The best I could do," I said. I handed him his plate with a whole mountain of boring salad on and a small burger on the side.
"Wow." Dan grinned. "It's fine."
"Great." I sat down just as Dan opened the box with the pills, making the kid in front of us stare strangely at Dan.
Dan moved his hand with the pills underneath the table and looked down. He didn't like taking all those pills in front of people, but it was better swallowing them with food than water.
"What?" I snapped and angrily glared at the boy.
"Nothing. Nothing…" He tried.
"Great! Then look away," I said harshly, pointing in the other direction. He focused down on his food instead.
"I'm done for today, Phil. I'm sorry." Dan had slowed down on our way back to our room. I stopped, turned around, and looked him over.
I stepped back to him and lifted up his chin. "Time for bed then." His eyes had turned a light shade of red.
"And what should you do?" he asked, breathing heavily.
"Stare at you?"
"Creep." He giggled shyly.
"Yes." I smiled and forced him to start moving again.
"Can I borrow your hoodie?" he asked me and sat down on the bed.
"Where's yours?"
"I forgot it." It looked like he was lying or just too lazy to find his own, but I didn't question it.
"Of course." I nodded before searching through my luggage. I found the hoodie and gently threw it in his direction. He pulled it over his head, not caring to take the hood off as he lay down on the bed. "Anything else?"
He shook his head. "Were you serious with the staring thing?" he asked as he closed his eyes.
"Hmm, yes. Maybe I'll read a bit too." I unpacked his sleeping bag and unzipped it so it could be used as a duvet instead, as I didn't think he had energy go climb into it.
"Read something for me," he mumbled, half-asleep.
"I'll just be reading loud to myself." I said and wrapped the sleeping bag around him.
"I'll listen. I promise." He smiled and yawned lazily.
"Okay then. It's going to be Harry Potter. Is that okay?"
"Do I have other choices?" I could hear he was already drifting off.
"No." I laughed, opened the book, and started to read for him.
Half an hour and a few chapters later, light snoring was the only sound filling the room. I stopped reading and moved my gaze towards him. He was passed out asleep on top of the bed, legs tangled in the sleeping bag and his head hidden underneath his hand.
The door was suddenly being pushed open by one of the teachers. "Hey, Phil, would you and Dan like to... Oh." He spotted the sleeping form on mattress. "Is he okay?" the teacher asked nervously, lowering his voice.
"It's fine. He's just tired," I assured him. "I'll just stay here and read while he sleep. It's okay."
"Okay, good. I'll tell the others not to bother you."
"Thank you, sir." I smiled.
After reading about 200 pages, my eyelids were too heavy to keep open. The hall had become silent and it was slightly dark outside.
I quickly changed out of my clothes and into something more comfortable. The last challenge was getting up into bed without waking Dan. It was an old wooden bed, which would definitely make a sound as soon as I put a foot on the ladder.
As carefully as I could I claimed up the ladder, one slow step after another.
"Phil?" I heard Dan mutter beneath me. Shit I thought to myself, stopping my movements. "Is that you?"
"Yeah..." I answered and stepped back down on the ground.
"I'm scared," he whispered.
"Of what?" I got on my knees beside the bed. It was hard to see anything—I could only make out the outline of his figure.
"I don't know. It's just..." He stopped to breathe. "Could you maybe sleep down here?" he asked, nearly too quietly to hear.
"Of course," I whispered and stood back up. "Move over." I grabbed my sleeping bag and unzipped it like I did with Dan's.
"Are you cold?" I asked as I lay down.
"A little."
I wrapped both of the covers around him, leaving me with only a thin blanket.
"Now you have nothing?"
"It doesn't matter, Dan. Don't think about me. Now just sleep." I made myself comfortable on the small bed and pressed myself against Dan. I tried not to make this too weird, but I didn't want him to be scared. He had only ever slept at my house before, so I understood.
"Thank you..."
Maybe we had been asleep for two hours when I woke up to some whimpering noises coming from beside me. It took me a minute to understand that it was Dan making them. I looked around, confused from sleeping. I couldn't really see anything, so I stumbled out of bed and turned on the light only to reveal Dan curled up in a ball on the bed. It sounded like he had trouble breathing so I slowly turned him around. He was covered in small beads of sweat and his breathing was heavy and gasping.
I stuck two fingers to his neck to feel his pulse. It was really fast, so I removed his covers and placed my hand down on his chest. His heart was pounding just as fast and irregularly.
"Dan?" I nervously shook him a bit.
"Huh?" he squeaked out through struggling breaths.
"The beta-blockers. Where are they?" I asked urgently, making sure he would understand.
"Plastic bag in…" It was obviously hurting him with every breath. "B-backpack."
I hurriedly spun around and overturned his backpack, making everything fall out.
"It-it's not there!" I desperately searched through his stuff. Nothing.
"You used... the bag. Carsick. Must have… f-fallen o-out."
"You mean, they're on the bus?" I stopped all my movements, froze, and turned my attention back to Dan who looked even worse than before. "Jesus Christ, Daniel…" I muttered as my muscles started trembling.
I pulled him into a sitting position—it wouldn't do him any good lying down. I climbed into the bed and placed myself behind him, making him sit between my legs so he could use my torso as a pillow. He just fell numbly onto me and breathed heavily.
With unsteady movements, I picked up my phone and called Mrs. Welsh. I had her number just in case anything like this happened.
"Phil?"
"Hurry down here!" I practically yelled into the phone. "And call an ambulance!"
Within seconds our door was being violently swung open. Dan didn't seem to notice at all and just stayed leaning against me, his head resting on my collarbone. Mrs. Welsh and our other teacher, Mr. Robertson, hurried into the room. But Mr. Robertson quickly walked back out again, holding up his phone. I heard him explaining to, what I guessed must have been the dispatcher or Dan's parents, what the situation was.
"The beta-blockers have gone missing," I hurried told Mrs. Welsh. "He needs to go to the hospital."
"We just called, don't worry." She sounded almost more nervous than I was. No time to freak out in situations like this—that wouldn't help on anything. That was the first thing Dan's mother taught me. It was okay to be scared, but staying calm was important.
"Ph-Phil… The tablets… Give th-them to m-me." Dan whined.
"We don't have them," I mumbled and dragged my fingers through his messy sweaty hair. The pills were supposed to expand his veins, making it easier for the blood to go around his body and relieve the heart by slowing down the heart rate. Without them, Dan's blood flow was constricted and his heart was cramping. We never knew when this might occur, but it rarely happened at night so this made me really nervous. I'd watched him have them before, but that was when he wasn't my responsibility. His mother was around to fix things. I was just there and listened to everything she told me about it.
Now he was my responsibility and I couldn't give him the help he needed.
"I'm scared…" he murmured.
I sighed softly and gave the teacher a quick glance before I answered. "I know. Everything is fine..." Everything was not fine—I was just trying to calm him down. Panic wouldn't help.
I slipped my hand underneath his shirt and moved it up to placed it on his heart. I could feel how it was struggling and it made me really scared too.
"Am I going to…" He cut himself of by breathing. "Die?" he whispered.
I felt all the blood leaving my head by that question.
"O-of course not," I stuttered into his hair and gently, dragging my fingers across his chest. "It's your birthday soon, remember? 15 years old, Dan..." I did my best to not make this about the illness in an attempt not to freak him out and make it worse.
"Hm…"
"And I was going to come over. Remember that?" I removed my hand from him and tried to turn my head a bit to get a better look at him. He was white as snow and had his eyes closed tightly together while his mouth was slightly hanging open. "Dan?"
"Hm." But he just kept making a hmm sound with each breath, so I couldn't be sure he was paying attention to me.
"And you are going to be an actor…" I continued with a shaking voice. I wasn't ready to handle this. I thought I was and that was why I agreed to take him on this trip. He should've never come along. I couldn't do things like this. I couldn't be the responsible one and the caring friend all at once. I didn't know how to handle this. I was just Phil and this was my fault. If I hadn't have gotten carsick, we would have had the medication and this wouldn't be that big of a problem. He was really ill right now, and it was my fault.
"Hff…Phi.. It, it h-hurts…" I wrapped my arms around his torso and held him close because I was helpless. I grabbed his one wrist and pressed my fingers against his pulse. I always did that whenever he felt bad. It was my way to holding his hand and it sometimes made him smile because he thought I was ridiculous, but I knew he liked it.
Mrs. Welsh was standing beside me, just looking. All of the other teachers had appeared too and Mr. Robertson was trying to explain the situation.
I looked out of the window and saw red and blue lights coming through the curtains.
"The ambulance is here," I whispered, not even sure if he could hear me.
Two medics rushed into the already too-crowded room and started asking questions. I answered as many as I could until someone handed one of the medics a phone with Dan's mum at the other end.
To get a better working space, they moved him away from my arms and onto the stretcher. He was just like a poorly breathing doll, not reacting to any of the movements.
They quickly cut the hoodie open, along with the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing underneath to get his chest free, allowing them to stick a small cardiac monitor to his chest so they could watch everything.
I hadn't moved from my position and now others took over the situation. The adrenaline was slowly wearing off. I felt light-headed and started to shake a little.
I forced myself to look at Dan and the medics even though it made me feel sick. I wanted to follow everything they were doing to him. He could die and my mind was slowly starting to realise that. My breathing sped up and I started to shake more violently. I could lose him.
They wrapped and oxygen mask around his head and put an IV in his hand.
"Let's go," one of the medics said, and started rolling Dan through the corridors. Some of the other students was looking out in the hall from their rooms. I quickly got up and followed them, not even caring to put on my shoes until Mrs. Welsh stopped me.
"Who is driving with us?" they asked as they pushed Dan into the ambulance.
"Him." The teacher pointed at me and one of the medics led me in to sit beside Dan. "And me." Mrs. Welsh pointed at herself. She put in the front seat.
After a couple of minutes, everything was ready and we started driving.
"You okay?" The medic asked me. I felt really dizzy and disorientated, probably just as pale as Dan, but nodded anyway. This shouldn't be about me. "This works the same way as the beta-blockers," he told me as he injected some medication into the IV. I kept nodding without saying anything and took a few really deep breaths as I felt the blood leaving my head. I knew all this, but I had never been in a situation like this with Dan on my own.
After a few minutes his heart slowed down a bit and it became easier for him to breathe.
"We'll arrive soon," the man told me while he wrote something down on his clipboard.
"Hmm," I breathed in understanding. I almost felt ill because I was so shocked.
After another couple of minutes we pulled over in front of the hospital. They rushed Dan inside. Mrs. Welsh and I followed them. I quickly took my place in a chair outside the room where they took care of Dan.
"Phil?" Mrs. Welsh carefully poked my shoulder. "Would you like to talk to Dan's parents?" She held out a phone.
I took it with my shaky hands and pressed it against my ear. "Hello?" I asked nervously.
"Hey, Phil," said a tired voice. "Everything okay?"
The whole situation washed over me and I started sobbing into in phone. "No," I squeaked out before I started crying properly. "I'm s-sorry!"
"Hey, hey. Nothing to be sorry about—it's not your fault. Everything is fine, okay?"
I shook my head in response even though she couldn't see me. I couldn't form words.
"You did just fine, Phil. Don't worry." How could she stay so calm?
"It was m-my fault the medication got l-lost, I..." I sobbed and told her about the bus trip.
"It wasn't your fault, sweetie. Your teacher told me about how you handled it back on the camp. You did perfectly. Absolutely perfect, Phil."
I sniffed a couple of times and took a deep breath. "I made sure he wasn't cold or a-anything, but I-I still couldn't t-take c-care of him!" I grasped.
"You did nothing wrong, okay? You did everything we told you, Phil. He's lucky having someone like you.." she assured me and stopped talking for a second. "We'll be there as fast as we can. But we have to drive a long way. Stay with him, can you do that?"
"Y-yeah. Yeah, o-of course," I sobbed.
"Do you want me to call your mum?" she then asked me.
"Hmm, yes." I sniffed.
"Okay. Okay, we'll arrive soon. But none of this is your fault, Phil."
"No..." I muttered. "Okay. See y-you soon." I unsteadily handed the phone back to Mrs. Welsh, who continued talking to Dan's mum as she walked away.
I sat still on my chair, unsure of what would happen next.
After what seemed like an eternity, a nurse walked up to me. "Are you Phil?" she asked.
"Y-yeah, it's me." My heart was pounding really hard in my chest from pure nervousness.
"You can go see Dan now, if you want." She smiled down on me. I nodded, rose from the chair, and followed her down the hall before we stopped outside a room.
I slowly poked my head inside. Dan was lying stretched out on the white hospital bed with a big cardiac monitor standing beside, naked from his waist and up. All kinds of wires were stuck to different places on his chest. It beeped a steady rhythm along with the movements of the chest. A bag of saltwater was hooked up to his hand and oxygen tubes were attached to his nose.
I swallowed hard and entered the room.
"W-will he be alright?" I stuttered and walked closer.
"Yes. He'll be just fine," she assured me with a caring smile.
I watched him breathe peacefully as I stood right beside the bed.
"Phil?" he asked in a hoarse voice, nearly impossible to hear. He didn't even open his eyes.
"Yes." My eyes started water up again. "Yes. Hello…" I whispered. What do you say in a situation like this?
"Thank…" He slowly opened his eyes, took a deep breath and glanced tiredly at me "...you."
A/N: Please continue! ^^