Come Alive

“Mom, I’m sorry but I just can’t make it…No not—…No, Mom, it’s not like that…No I’m not working too hard…yes I’m totally fine…I’ll see you soon, I promise…Mom?...Yes, yes, I love you too…He’ll be fine…I just can’t make it tonight…Maybe tomorrow or the next day, yes…”

Who the fuck was talking so loudly in Jack’s room? Jack realized his eyes were still closed and if he’d simply opened them he’d know who was screaming half a conversation but the lights were just so bright it wasn’t worth it.

“…No you don’t understand…It’s not like—I swear this is important!”

Okay Stranger, it’s time for you to shut up. Jack yawned, he was still ridiculously tired—his bed wasn’t really that comfortable. Wincing at the light, Jack’s eyes focused on a hooded man pacing back and forth near the windows. Wait—was Jack in the hospital? Glancing around the room and taking in his surroundings, the IV hooked up to his wrist is what confirmed it. What the hell was going on here?

“Uh? Excuse me?” Jack’s voice was rougher than normal too.

The stranger turned around, dark brown eyes mixed with a curious amount of emotion distracted Jack immediately from the thousands of questions bombarding his mind, this guy was something else. “Mo—mom, mom, mom, ma! I’ll call you back, okay?” He hurriedly stuffed his phone into the back pocket of his jeans, “You’re awake! Do you need anything? Should I call one of the nurses? Are you feeling okay? No, of course you aren’t. Should I go get you water?”

Jack blinked a few times.

“Is that a yes?” The man’s hair was disheveled perfectly and Jack thought for a minute that maybe he had somehow wound up on some primetime sitcom episode. This man looked like an actor from everything from his hair down to his expensive boots.

“W-who are you?”

“What? We just talked a few hours ago?” Mr. Nameless sat down in the chair beside Jack’s bed. “I’m Alex. Alex Gaskarth. You just saved my life.”

Jack raised his eyebrows and gaped at the other man. This was definitely a joke right? Jack was on TV, right? He looked around for the cameras, “You’re kidding right? Sorry, but I don’t know you, man. I don’t think I saved your life. You’re probably in the wrong room or something.”

Alex shook his head and leaned in closer, his voice almost a whisper, “You really don’t remember?”

Jack blinked again, was this guys being serious?

“Um, I’ll be right back.” Alex stood up and rushed out the door.

Before Jack could really get a handle on what had just happened, Alex and a man in a white lab coat came back inside. “Ah! Jack, it’s good to see you’re awake again!” The doctor read over the chart attached to the foot of Jack’s bed.

Alex resumed his seat beside Jack, “Yeah he says he doesn’t remember me. Or, apparently, what happened back at MTV.”

MTV? What was Jack doing at MTV?

“That is rather strange…” the doctor moved to inspect some of the machines hooked up to Jack. “Jack, do you remember anything from the shooting?”

“There was a shooting?” Jack looked from the doctor to Alex.

Alex bit his lip and motioned toward his own chest. Taking the hint, Jack glanced down at himself. Not only was he shirtless, but there was also a huge bandage secured to his right pec. “I…was…dude, was I shot or something?”

Alex snorted back a laugh and nodded, “Took a bullet for yours truly. Thank you again, my good sir.”

“Yes but that doesn’t account for your apparent memory loss. What’s the last thing you remember, Jack?” The doctor pulled a pen from behind his left ear to take notes on Jack’s clipboard.

“Uh…I was walking to the grocery store to get ramen…and batteries…and I think I passed a mob of people. Did I ever make it to the store?”

Alex and the doctor both nodded, “Yeah you were holding a bag of groceries before the…incident.” Jack nodded and the doctor continued, “What can you remember about yourself?”
Jack recounted his personal information to the doctor, faltering only when he was asked where he lived and what his mother’s maiden name was. “Right, well, Jack, I think it’s best if we keep you here for a few days for monitoring. It isn’t normal for your brain to be malfunctioning like this.”

“A few days? But it’s almost New Year’s! You can’t make him be stuck here for the New Year!” Alex interrupted, “That isn’t fair…”

This Alex kid knew what was up. Jack nodded in agreement, “Yeah! I don’t want to be stuck here when the countdown starts.”

The doctor chuckled, “We’ll run some tests and if everything comes out clear, you’ll be free to go by then, Jack. You’re not in any discomfort, right?”

Jack shook his head; surprisingly being shot didn’t leave him in that much pain. But maybe that’s because he was on god-knows-how much medication. The doctor excused himself and left Jack and Alex alone again. “So.” Jack turned to face him and suppressed a smile, “I’m basically your hero.”

Alex laughed, “Yeah, I guess you are…” the two were left in an awkward silence for a while until Alex broke it, “Uh, just so you know… I don’t really have any intentions of leaving you here by yourself. I’ll stick around as long as you need me to.”

Jack smiled, “You don’t really have to. I mean…”

“No, no I really do. I owe it to you. Besides, I—for whatever reason—don’t mind.” Alex pressed his lips together and turned his face into a somewhat obnoxious smile, “So! You were telling me before about how you play guitar?”

Jack lost track of time as he and Alex discussed music. Apparently he loved the guitar too and it wrapped them both up in an endless conversation that was only interrupted by a nurse bringing Jack food.

“Shit, man. We were talking for like three hours.” Alex had his feet up on Jack’s bed as he watched Jack cringe over the hospital’s spaghetti.

“Did we really? I wasn’t even paying attention…” Jack looked back down at his plate, there was no way he’d be able to finish this.

“Want me to go out and smuggle you in a hero or something?” Alex nodded toward the food in front of Jack.

“Would you really?” Jack liked this Alex guy. “Can you even do that?”

Alex shrugged, “Who knows? But watching you struggle with that pasta is worse than watching a bad comedian in front of a live crowd.” He got up and looked at his phone before he said in a shockingly serious matter, “If I’m not back in twenty minutes, call for help.”

Jack laughed but as Alex left the room he began to wonder what was really going on here. Who really was this Alex guy and why was he so willing to just sit in the hospital with some stranger all day? Didn’t he have a life with his own friends and his own family to worry about? Jack thought back to the phone call he’d heard earlier, was Alex’s mom mad at him for something?

Jack was still shirtless and he scared himself by looking at the bandage again. He kept forgetting he had been shot and that was a whole new area of questions he had to worry about. But for now, he was getting a sandwich delivered to him by an incredibly nice (and incredibly attractive) fellow musician and there was a Spongebob marathon on TV, so there wasn’t much he wanted to worry about.