"Doctor, we're losing him! Cardiac arrest!"
"Push a bolus dose of atropine. One milligram, intravenously."
The man looked at the cardiogram line and sighed heavily. His heart rate was dropping steadily, and the increasingly smooth lines on the monitor were hardly encouraging.
"Adrenaline, now!"
The nurse, not distracted by unnecessary words, nervously administered the second dose. As soon as the defibrillator was brought into the room, another medical staff member rushed to do the discharge. A glance at the patient's face (one of the few areas of the body still free of the countless electrodes) made the temporarily vacant nurse wince. The color wasn't just pale. No, it was livid.
"More discharge, now!"
The rescue activities seemed to go on indefinitely, though in reality no more than fifteen minutes had passed. Someone gingerly touched the young man's caddy and slid toward the carotid artery. Eventually, the exclamations in the room stopped. There was no pulse. A reassuring glance at the EKG confirmed what the man said a few seconds later. "He's dead."
The staff only looked at each other in silence. They knew that more than half of the lung volume had been damaged, they knew they had fought to the last second. But this guy was still so young!
"We did everything we could," the doctor said, as if trying to comfort himself.
The nurse nodded weakly, though she could not find it in herself to confirm what seemed to be true. Finally, she took a deep breath and stood up. Time to break the disappointing news to the patient's girlfriend. But what to say in such situations, how to behave properly? In her career, this was the first case of lethal outcome.
The man in the white coat, noticing the obvious concern, suddenly patted her on the shoulder. "It's fate, honey. We must fight to the end, but accept all its outcomes. Not every story has a good ending, not every life can be saved."
The slight chill, the high-flying birds, and the surprisingly bright Shakopee sun. Everything seemed to bode well for a good day. But the beauty of nature, rare for a gloomy city, was lost in contrast to the saddened faces.
There were many people gathered, even too many. It was Joanna who had insisted on inviting everyone the family knew. In fact, she was at a loss, for she had not thought she would ever organize such an event.
Along with the monotonous prayers of the priest, half-whispers were sometimes heard. In general, people were talking about distracted things, and some even managed to make small talk. The usually active and sociable Carlos was incredibly annoyed by this behavior today, but he tolerated it. The last straw was a dialog heard somewhere not far behind.
"So who is it in the end?"
"Hortence, that nerd from school."
"Stop it! You don't know anything about him, not even his actual name! How can you all be here? Go away if you don't respect my friend!"
"Carlos, calm down, please," Kendall put his hand on the boy's shoulder, which cooled him down a little. "Don't pay any attention to them."
The noise of indignation quickly died down, and then the priest continued the ritual, but Carlos' heartache didn't subside for a second. Many people underestimated his best friend, mistakenly thinking he was too serious and responsible. But Carlos knew what he was really like! With him they had organized the Good Luck Patrol in their best years, with him they had searched for treasure and even caught a ghost, but at the same time it was with him that Carlos felt more mature. He always knew how to settle down and set them on the right path.
"Screw it!" The young man, overcome by emotion, ran off into the distance. Kendall tried to stop him, but he only shoved his hand away. No one had ever seen Carlos behave so aggressively. However, how could one remain optimistic in this situation? In the end, Kendall decided to let his friend be alone.
Suddenly he realized that he hadn't heard a sound from James since the beginning of the ceremony, so he turned around. There was no expression on the other boy's face. With empty eyes, he was staring at the lacquered coffin shimmering in the sunlight.
"James, how are you?"
James didn't say anything. He pulled out his lucky comb and held it tightly to him, which seemed eerie to Kendall. How the leader wanted to help such a defenseless loved one, how he wanted to hug him as tightly as he was hugging the damn comb! But there were so many people around, what would they think? How many questions would arise.
From Kendall's thoughts, one might have assumed that of all his friends, he was the most indifferent. But in reality, he just couldn't accept the fact that Logan had left them. To think: Logan was gone. How could he be gone, when just a couple of days ago they were having carefree conversations and fun? Could it be a dream, a mistake, a mix-up? Anything but the truth.
All doubts should have been gone when the coffin lid was opened. There he was, with his eyes forever closed. But Kendall couldn't bear to look at his dead body for a second.
He remembered how during their last meeting, Logan had been afraid of expulsion, of being fired, of Camille's reaction. Then the guy cheered up his friend and had no idea that a much worse outcome awaited him.
"Oh, Logan," Kendall said quietly, covering his mouth with his hand. "I promised you that everything would be okay. But I didn't keep my promise, and I'm sorry. Please, I'm sorry!"
"It's not your fault," James said, trying to sound at least a little confident. "Come here."
A shiver ran through his body, but it went away quickly when Kendall felt warm hands on his waist. It was exactly what he needed right now. He didn't care what anyone else thought of him and James.
When everyone had laid the flowers, the guests began to read the farewell speech. The boys tried to listen attentively, but they were distracted by Carlos' voice: "Griffin's coming!"
"Griffin?" James interjected. "How could Mrs. Mitchell have invited him?"
"I came here myself when Gustavo told me," came the voice of the approaching businessman. "I'm sorry for your loss, guys."
Kendall stared at Arthur. No, he wasn't sorry in the least, and the sneering smirk was clearly insidious.
"Tell me straight, why are you here? Did you come to mock us?"
"Not at all. On the contrary, I have a favorable offer for you."
At that moment Carlos got as close to Griffin as he could. "How can you think about money?" He aggressively poked his finger right at his boss. "You're a mercantile bastard, Griffin, and we don't even want to listen to you!"
"Quiet, Carlos, behave yourself." Griffin adjusted his jacket and continued. "As far as I know, you're studying to be an actor? I think a generous cash bonus will help you get ahead."
"Go away!" Carlos replied just as angrily, and he could hardly resist punching his smug boss.
Arthur didn't react in any way, and moved toward James. "Okay, how about you, James? You like fame and admirers, don't you?"
He looked at Griffin with disdain. "Explain properly what you want us to do."
"Apparently, the marketing people and I underestimated your fans. They literally flooded the mail with letters about missing Big Time Rush songs. I had to postpone terminating your contract and seriously consider it because you might have damaged the company's name.
"I thought Logan's return would smooth things out a bit, but what happened was what happened. When the media found out about his death, there were even more letters. People really like you guys, and I've already made merch for Logan's first solo album. I need to sell it."
"Even if I dreamed of a career in music, it wouldn't be with you, Griffin," James said, crossing his arms.
"Think about it. Daddy and you will make money, and we'll quiet the fans. Remember, if RCM CBT Globalnet Sanyoid's reputation suffers, I'll 'take care' of your image too."
"You're so vile and greedy." Kendall was indignant, but he was interrupted by someone's voice. He flinched in surprise.
"Mr. Knight, in five minutes it will be your turn to give your farewell speech. Get ready."
"Oh, no." Kendall had been so distracted by the conversation that he had completely forgotten to rehearse his speech. Usually he could handle his eloquence even without preparation, but now his thoughts were filled with completely different things.
"Kendall, what are we going to do?" Carlos asked fearfully. "What if he really does get back at us? It's the end of our career dreams!"
"Let me think. It's complicated."
For several minutes, Kendall paced from side to side. James and Carlos didn't touch him, but watched him hopefully. They truly believed that their leader would find a way out, he just had to think of something!
"Well, we need to appease the fans and sell the merch. Is Griffin really out of stars now that he's come crawling back to us? Think, Kendall, think-"
"I know what to do!" He said excitedly, and then his cheeks dimpled. "But I want your opinion, guys."
After Kendall explained the idea, the guys nodded.
"Logan would be so proud of you right now, man," Carlos said, and in a burst of emotion, he ruffled his buddy's hair. "We'll do it for him and the fans."
"Mr. Knight, are you ready? You're next."
Kendall turned to the woman and nodded, then headed confidently toward the microphone.
"Distinguished guests, today I would like to honor the memory of our dear friend. Surely many of you haven't seen him since he, along with me, James and Carlos, went to conquer Los Angeles.
And you know, after we became a band, a lot of things changed in our lives. But Logan's always been himself. Just as witty, careful and responsible, still getting us out of trouble.
As you know, he's wanted to be a doctor since he was a kid. I am sure that such a talented and purposeful person would have become a great surgeon. Some people dream of a medical career because of money, some because of status, but not Logan. He just wanted to save people's lives and bring a little bit of good into this world.
So... Sadly, our friend's goal will never be fulfilled again, but we are in a position to help him. Big Time Rush will be doing a final, farewell tour in Logan's honor, or as you may remember him, Hortence Mitchell. We will donate all proceeds to the fund to fight the virus that killed Logan. We can't bring our friend back, but we can still save others and stop the spread of this terrible strain.
Logan, if you can hear us now, we hope you are happy. We'll never forget you, my friend. Rest in peace!"
Kendall finished the last sentences in a trembling voice. He could no longer hear the reactions of those around him, and he felt far away from the real world. But he was sure he was doing the right thing, no matter how painful the farewell tour was for the boys.