Eternity

“Alexa,” a voice whispered in my ear and I shook a little before opening my eyes. “Babe, you need to get up. It’s time to go.”

“No, I don’t wanna go to school!” I exclaimed and pulled the hood of my sweatshirt over my head and tried to ignore the finger poking my head. “No, go away.”

“Alexa, you need to get up,” the voice continued. “It’s morning.”

I forced my eyes open and pulled back my head; Joe was staring right at me.

“Hey, too early in the morning for you to be staring at me,” I groaned. “What time is it anyway?”

“Just about eight,” he said, looking over to the clock on the wall over the doorway of the room. “My cousins are coming and I doubt you wanna be seen like this.”

“Like what?” I scrunched my eyebrows.

“Like you just woke up.”

“Gosh, thanks,” I replied sarcastically and smiled.

I got up slowly from the hospital bed, feeling confused about how I managed to fall asleep on that sliver of bed that I was lying on. I spotted my phone and shoved it inside my sweatshirt pocket and turned back to face Joe.

“Do I look okay?” I asked, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

“When don’t you?” He asked with a big smile.

“This is why I love you,” I leaned down and kissed him. “You always know how to compliment me at my worst. I’ll be back later.”

“Oh, wait. Before you go, would you mind doing a favor for me real quick?” Joe asked and I nodded my head for him to continue. “Well, the guy who was in the accident with me last night…he’s here. Or at least I think he is. Check up on him, please? The accident was worse for him than it was for me.”

“Sure,” I agreed and paused before leaving the room. “What happened anyway? All I was told was that you were in an accident and you were at this hospital. What kind of accident was it?”

“Car accident,” he said. “I was driving over to your place and this guy came out of nowhere and hit me. From what I’ve heard from that intern that brought you in here, his brakes gave out. He crashed right into my car as I was getting off the turnpike.”

“Oh my god, seriously? I’ll see if I can find that intern to bring me over to him. I can’t believe his brakes gave out; that’s crazy.”

“I know,” Joe agreed. “I was there.”

“Oh,” I blushed slightly. “Right. Well, I’ll go see if I can find him and I’ll stop by sometime later after I’ve, you know, gotten dressed in fresh clothes and stuff.”

“Aha, okay. See you later, babe.”

I waved to Joe as he bid goodbye and searched for the intern who had brought us to Joe’s room the night before. I found him sitting on a gurney in the hallway near a janitor’s closet, his head nodding every so often as he tried to stay against the wall.

“Um, hello?” I poked his shoulder, hoping not to make him angry that I was trying to wake him up. He shook and opened his eyes immediately.

“Grab the scissors!” He exclaimed as he uncrossed his arms and jumped off the gurney before looking at me with an embarrassed expression on his face. “Oh, sorry. Dream.”

“I could see that,” I laughed and his cheeks went slightly red.

“Can I help you with something?” He asked as he straightened out his lab coat.

“Yeah, actually,” I started. “I was wondering if you could tell me the room of the person that was in the car accident with Joseph Jonas. Would you be able to tell me?”

“Well,” he said and bent down closer to my level, which was only an inch or so, to speak in more of a whisper. “I’m not exactly allowed to do that. You aren’t family, are you?” I shook my head. “Okay, see I can’t allow you in the room if you aren’t family.”

“I know, I know, but my fiancé wants me to make sure he’s okay and I know Joe would go if he wasn’t stuck in that bed. I promise to only be a few minutes.”

I looked at him sincerely and then to his I.D. card that was hanging from his lab coat pocket.

“Please, Brendan. I promise to be quick.”

He looked around as if to make sure nobody was listening in on our conversation. He seemed to lean in a little closer, too.

“Okay, okay,” he gave in to my plea. “Follow me, but if someone asks, just say that you were given the wrong room number or something, okay?”

I nodded my head and he began to lead me down the hallway, past Joe’s room, and around the corner to the room containing the other victim of the crash. I smiled and thanked Brendan before he left and crept inside slowly. A figure of a tall body was lying on the hospital bed under the baby blue sheets, his chest making it rise and fall slowly with every breath. I walked over to his bedside and sat down in the chair next to him. His face was hidden beneath the sheets.

After a few minutes of looking out the windows and watching the rain continue to fall as it did the night before, I heard the man stir slightly and draw in a deep breath as he woke up. He pulled the sheets from his face, yet it was still covered by bandages.

“Who’s that?” He croaked, sensing that I was there.

My eyes went wide, not realizing that he would notice I was there unless I said something. He turned his head as if to look at me.

“I know someone’s there,” he said in a croaky voice again before coughing to clear his throat. “Who’s there?”

This time, his voice was much clearer and I paused before I said anything. That voice sounded eerily familiar to me, and I began to think of where I had heard it before.

“I…uh…I’m just here to check on you; see how you were doing. You seem to be okay. Do you need a nurse to bring breakfast or something?” I blurted out. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Alexa?” He said, and I felt my heart stop for only a moment. He knew who I was.

“How do you know that?” I said with a cracked voice.

“Honestly, Alexa,” he said as if his identity were obvious. “How could I forget what you sounded like?”

I swallowed hard and continued to stare at this man in disbelief. He leaned up on the hospital bed and picked at the bandages around his eyes, pulling pieces off bit by bit. I was sure that my heart had stopped at that moment when I saw his eyes flicker open and watched as his devious grin grew ear to ear.

“E-Erik?”