Chapter 43 - Oxygen

The only light Jon could make out was the little indicator on his oxygen tank. He was down to two thirds.

A third of a tank for the trip down. A third for the trip back up. A third for emergencies. It was time to head back up.

Well, no. This was the emergency.

Jon continued to swim in the darkness, brushing up against the surfaces lightly. The last thing he needed was to collapse the structure and find himself crushed under it.

He couldn't call for help. He couldn't see if anyone was making their way in. Shawn wouldn't be able to communicate the situation to anyone else, either, not without making his way all the way up to the surface. By the time he made his way back down with help, Jon would be a goner.

Jon's oxygen was down under a half, now. He was running out way faster than it had on the way down. Of course it was—his heart was racing. He was panicking. If he couldn't calm himself down, he was going to need more than a third of a tank for the trip up. The thought didn't exactly help to calm him.

Jon swam faster, applying more pressure to the walls. No use trying to avoid being crushed when he was about to suffocate, but he couldn't exactly push hard, either, not while he was under the water.

For a moment, he stopped swimming. He took long, slow breaths, and he closed his eyes. There had to be a way out of his. If he allowed himself to focus, his eyes to adjust to the darkness . . .

Slowly, he opened his eyes. He could see nothing. It was pitch black.

And he was down to a third of a tank.

Jon began pressing against the walls with all of his might, knowing all the while how fast he was draining his oxygen. He could only hope Shawn had already made his way up to the surface—he was probably panicking, too.

Then, at last, he heard scuffling from the other side of the wreckage.

Jon knocked as hard as he could against the walls, hoping to be heard, but it was only moments before something crumbled and light flooded through. There was no time for the dust to settle, or for Jon to catch a glimpse of his rescuers, before the wreckage above caved in. Something hit Jon in the head, and he knew no more.

A rough bed. An excruciating headache. Dozens of voices—or maybe there were just a few. Jon opened his eyes a crack, and all he saw was bright sky above.

Then the stretcher began to move.

"Can you tell me what happened, son?" An unfamiliar man's voice stood out among the crowd, though Jon couldn't see his face.

"We're on vacation from Pennsylvania." That was Shawn's voice. "My dad took us scuba diving."

"Had you gone before?"

"Yeah, loads of times. Uh, but never near shipwrecks. I kinda got too close, and my dad was trying to swim after me, and he got stuck. I got the message to my mom, and she passed it to the tour guides."

In his daze, it took Jon a minute to figure out Shawn was talking about. He couldn't push any words out. It was difficult to even pull air in.

"We'll take good care of your dad," the man said as the stretcher was taken into an ambulance.

"Wait! Can I come with you?"

"We'll meet them at the hospital." That was Ashley.

"But you should go with him, at least! You're a nurse!"

Jon didn't hear the rest of the conversation; the door to the ambulance closed, and the paramedic covered Jon's face with a breathing mask.

The next couple of hours were a blur. Jon fluttered into and out of consciousness, and by the time he was awake in the hospital, answering the doctor's questions, and breathing normally, he wasn't sure whether or not he'd just imagined the exchange between Shawn and the paramedic.

"You were very lucky," the doctor said at last, when he was satisfied with Jon's responses about his remaining symptoms. "That's one sharp boy you've got."

Jon sat up straighter in the bed. "Can I see him?"

"In just a minute, we'll call him in, don't you worry. That lady of yours has a tongue on her as well."

"Is she here?"

"They're both waiting for you."

"Am I okay?"

"Like I said. You were lucky. But I'd say the scuba diving is over for this trip."

"Thanks, doc."

The doctor made a couple of notes on a clipboard, then he left the room, and for the first time, Jon managed to fully sit up and get a good look at his surroundings. The room was a lot smaller than Shawn's room at the hospital had been, and the shelves were a little more cluttered with machinery, though Jon had been unhooked from everything but a couple of monitors, one of which beeped just loud enough to keep him awake.

The door slammed open, and Shawn ran into the room.

And threw himself at Jon.

Jon almost fell back on the bed. He stabilized himself with one hand, then sat up a little straighter and wrapped both arms around Shawn. "Hey." He gave Shawn a couple of pats on the back.

Shawn didn't let go. "I'm so sorry," he mumbled.

"It's okay. I'm okay."

"I can't go through that again." His grip tightened.

"Through what?"

"Getting taken away by social workers."

Jon tried to pull back, but Shawn held on tight. He wanted to ask, again, what Shawn was talking about, but before he could form the words, it hit him. It was the part he hadn't thought much about. He knew how hard it had been on Shawn when his father first left him, even if he didn't show it. He knew how difficult the wait had been, every visit his father skipped. He'd seen first hand how painful the court hearing was.

But he hadn't thought for a long time about how incredibly traumatic that first removal would have been, when social workers took Shawn away from home and started looking for foster homes. It was the piece for which Shawn had blamed Jon.

It was what he would have to suffer through again if something happened to Jon.

Jon pulled Shawn closer. "You're not getting rid of me that easy," he said.

Shawn let his breath out and released his grip. He took a step back and rubbed his eyes. "Uh. Ashley's talking to the doctors out there. She'll be here in a minute."

"Okay." Jon looked him in the eyes, though Shawn was avoiding his gaze. "You alright, Hunter?"

Shawn nodded. "I'm alright. You?"

"Yeah." He took another deep breath. "Okay. Hit me with it."

"Hit you with what?"

"I've gotta be in trouble, right? For swimming off into the wreckage."

"You didn't break any rules."

"I knew you didn't want me to. You got that look."

Jon chuckled. "You learn your lesson?"

"Yeah."

"Well, doctor says no more diving on this trip, but other than that, we're alright."

Shawn didn't smile, just nodded solemnly.

Jon wanted to ask whether he'd just imagined Shawn referring to him and Ashley as his parents, but it wasn't the right time for that, and Shawn wasn't the person to ask. He didn't have time, anyway. The door opened again, and this time Ashley came in with one of the doctors. She didn't throw her arms around him, but instead looked into his eyes, felt his forehead and neck, checked the monitors, and pressed her fingers into his wrist. Jon watched her frantic movements with a bit of amusement, wondering if it had been killing her to be on the outside, unable to look after him.

When she was done, Jon shifted to embrace her, but she pointed a finger into his chest. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, Jonathan!"

Jon held up his hands in surrender. "Fine by me."

"I mean it. What were you thinking, swimming into that little space."

Shawn looked away, rubbing the back of his neck, but Ashley only had eyes for Jon.

Jon reached out to put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry," he said softly.

Her eyes filled with tears, and he gently pulled her into his arms.