"Erin," A faint voice whispered. "Erin!" It got louder. Lazily, Erin opened one eye to see Gina and Tyler stood over her bed. "What are you doing, what time is it?" She said, rather annoyed at being woke up. Leaning over in her bed she saw that the clock read 4:32 am. She groaned.

"Quick Erin we have to go to the hospital!" Tyler said. Erin jumped up. "What why!" She said, panicking. "It's Rick," Gina said, putting her hand on Erin's arm. "This morning Mike heard noises coming from his room and when he got there Rick was having a fit and struggling to breath so we called an ambulance, there already gone."

Erin jumped up, throwing a jumper over her pyjamas and rushing down the stairs with Tyler and Gina. She was scared. Very scared. Jumping into Gina's car she saw a tear running down Tyler's face. He looked over. Embarrassed that he had been seen crying again he tried to hide.

"It's okay," Erin said holding out her hand. "Boys can cry to." Tyler clutched Erin's hand as she also began to cry. "I'mm soo scaredd," She said, shaking. Tyler leant his head against hers. "So am I," he said.

10 minutes later they arrived at the hospital. "C'mon!" Erin said, pulling Tyler towards the door. Gina hurried after them until they arrived at reception. "Where is Rick Barber please?" Gina asked the receptionist. "Ward 62, go up the stairs and to the left." She replied. "Thank you," Gina said as they all ran up the stairs and down the corridor.

When they finally reached the ward another receptionist was waiting and wasn't prepared to let them in unless they were immediate family. "Please you have to understand…" Gina trailed off whispering something to the women. Even though the receptionist still didn't look certain on letting them in they were allowed to go and see Rick.

Erin and Tyler ran down the ward as they realized they were in the children's ward. They ran past small children that could have been no older than five and skinny teens with all the colour drained from their faces. Tyler's speed slowed. "What if he looks like them?" he said, worriedly. Erin squeezed his hand, "Don't worry he'll still be Rick whatever he looks like," She said reassuringly but secretly Erin was scared.

About a minute later they saw Mike sitting by a bed. Running up they saw Rick, unconscious lying in the bed being fed by a drip. "What happened?" Erin shouted at Mike, tears streaming down her face. "The doctor said that Rick needs to have an operation as soon as possible so the tumour can be removed, its grown much bigger so it needs to be removed or it could take over his brain. " Mike explained sadly.

Just then the doctor arrived. "What's going to happen to him?" Erin whispered, still crying. "Well," the doctor began, "The test results show that the tumour has grown much bigger than we had expected so we need to operate soon but it may be dangerous to operate as it is so big."

Both Erin and Tyler stared at the doctor in shock. "So what you're saying…" Tyler started. "Is that he might die," Erin finished. Slowly and sadly the doctor nodded. Erin's heart missed a beat.

Gina and Mike just stared at him in horror. Tyler punched the wall furiously; tears of anger pouring down his cheeks. And Erin. Erin collapsed to the floor, tears streaming from her eyes. She was going to lose the one person that made her life better. She had been alone, broken and scared. Now she was going to be all three again.

"Is there anything you can do to prevent the likelihood of deat…" Gina asked her voice trailing off as she looked at Erin and Tyler hugging each other while crying.

"Well obviously we make every operation as safe as possible and every one does have its own risks but luckily the main growing point of the tumour is far away from the actual main part of the brain so removing it should be much easier than if it was nearer the middle of the brain," The doctor explained.

Even though she was crying Erin was listening. Obviously she was still scared and terribly worried but what the doctor said to Gina and Mike gave her a tiny bit more hope. Rick could survive. He was a fighter, he didn't give up easily.

"C'mon Tyler," Erin said getting up and holding her hand down to him. "We shouldn't be here at the moment, not until its settled down a little it's obviously not helping us as all it does is make us upset, we'll come back when Rick's awake."

Slowly, Tyler got up and nodded. "Your right," he said, wiping his eyes. "Let's go home." So Gina went out to get her car and the two friends walked from the building, unsure if they were ever going to see Rick again. But they had hope. They hoped he would survive. Hoped he could fight his way through…

Aw:( This story is really sad and again sorry for depressing story lines but as long as you all like it I'll keep writing it. I've also taken into account some reviews about my chapters being a little longer and possibly getting Electra and Liam involved a little later on but im thinking of adding a new character to the story aged around 12-15 so if any ideas please review them! Darc

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