Page 38 of In the Shadows

“Mom, what happened?”

“You don’t remember anything?”

“I remember hitting something, then being hit. I heard grinding and screaming. I tried to reach for Joey, but couldn’t move,” and then it hit me, “Fuck, the bus?”

She didn’t move to scold me for my language, so I knew what she was about to say was going to be bad. Confirming my worst nightmare, the words I feared most spilled from her lips, “Yes, the bus crashed. It hit a patch of ice, Rob overcorrected to avoid going off the side of the road which forced the bus to tip over on its side. The guys from BOD narrowly missed slamming into it.”

“What about the guys?” Panic ensued, my heart rate accelerated as the monitors beside my bed began beeping at an alarming rate, escalating my stress with their high pitched sound. The nurse barreled in the room, checking my pulse before adjusting the dosage on the meds they were giving me. The last words I heard came from my mother’s soothing voice.

“Sweet dreams, my dear, sweet boy. I’ll be here when you wake.” She stroked her fingers across the back of my hand, lulling me to sleep.

I woke some time later to the sounds of multiple voices in my room. As I opened my eyes, the most pronounced of the voices filled the room. “He’s alive!” Diamond’s love of horror movies poured through in his statement. I was sure I was taking on the appearance of Frankenstein’s monster given my injuries.

“Ha, yeah. How are you guys doing?” I scanned the room, making eye contact with Diamond, who flanked one side of me. Mickey was on the other side with Easton standing at the foot of my bed. Before they could answer, I addressed Easton directly, “Please, call your dad and ask him to pull any and all strings he has to get me moved into Joey’s room.” He nodded and left the three of us alone.

“Dude,” Diamond began, “I’m so fucking happy you’re okay.” He looked subdued, like he was holding something back which wasn’t in his nature.

“Okay, man, I can see it written all over your face so spill it,” I urged him.

He and Mickey exchanged glances before he dove in.

“Fuck man, Easton saw it all. Poor guy’s gonna be in therapy for life. Sal sent the BOD guys home, they were freaking out. He’s already got them set up with a therapist.”

“Is Joey still in a coma?”

“Yeah, the swelling on his brain isn’t going down. Joe hasn’t left his side.”

“How long have I been in the hospital?”

“A week, your clavicle wasn’t what kept you here, but the contusions and internal bleeding did. Sounds like you may be getting out in the next day or two if you can keep from freaking out and setting off your monitors.”

Ah, seems my mom had a conversation with them while I was out.

“Where’s my mom?”

“We sent her to the hotel, told her we’d stay here until she came back,” Mickey said. “I was in the kitchen when we crashed.” I looked over at his bruised face, spotting the stitches in this right cheek.

“He’s gonna have one badass scar to tell his conquests about,” Diamond teased him.

“Yeah, fucking broken glass sliced my cheek open. I could put my tongue through it. Dishes flew everywhere, but at least the cabinets pretty much stayed intact or I would have been crushed to death.” He shuddered. “Other than that, just some bruising where shit pummeled me.”

I reached over, squeezing his hand. Diamond took my other one, each taking on one another’s pain.

“I was playing Xbox. When we slid, I felt it. I saw the crash in slow motion, watching Rob fight with the steering wheel. Fuck,” he ran his hands through his short hair, “I thought we were all goners. I was the only one to walk out on my own once they tore the side of the bus open to extract us. I got thrown across the bus and into the table on the other side. Cracked a couple ribs, had some internal bruising, but that’s about it. They released me a couple of hours later.”

“What about Rob, is he okay?” I asked.

Again, they exchanged glances only this time both their faces filled with sorrow.

“He was thrown through the windshield, and the bus slid over him. It was fucking brutal.” His face paled, as he relived his spoken words. This was the first time since I’d known Diamond that I’d seen him cry, triggering tears from both Mickey and me.

Easton came back in. “My dad said they won’t move you because they plan to release you tomorrow.”

“I have to get to Joey. Can you guys help me?”

“Let me get a nurse,” Easton said, returning a couple of minutes later with a nurse pushing a wheelchair.

She secured my left arm in a sling, tightly bound against my chest so there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I’d be able to move it. Not to mention the fact that Broom Hilda would probably beat my ass if I even dared cross any of her proverbial lines. I was sure she was a nice lady but her gruff exterior was bit scary.

---