Happy Anniversary.

We jumped up and nearly ran the poor nurse over in eagerness to see Alex. "Brother and cousin." Rian lied, pointing to him and myself respectively, knowing they would only allow family back to see him. The nurse nodded, an obvious look of disbelief on her face, but she didn't call it, looking just as exhausted as we were.
Walking through the maze of rooms reminded me of why I hated hospitals. Knowing I was in mere feet of the sick and dying made my skin crawl and it was an experience I tried to limit happening to a bare necessity. Spiders crawled up my spine and I shivered, trying my best to not run the opposite way. "You okay?" Rian asked, sensing my discomfort.
"I'm good." I lied as we entered an open room to reveal the most horrific sight I had ever laid eyes on.
Alex was even more attractive in person, but you couldn't tell because of all the wires and monitors attached to him. He looked paler than any living human should ever possibly be. The medicine they were pumping into him kept him asleep, but as peaceful as he looked, it was unsettling. He looked too dead. He laid on a bright white bed with thin, stiff sheets covered him from his torso down. Bright white bandages covered both of his arms up to his elbows, disappearing under his hospital gown. The gown was a similar shade as my scrubs, and even though his bloody clothes from the party laid in a bag next to him, in their haste, the nurses must have forgotten to remove his favorite beanie - the black one he wore nearly every time we talked - , as it still remained on his head, covering his messy blond locks. Before thinking, I reached forward and pushed some of his fringe that had fallen into his face back under his cap. Rian watched me as I did it, but otherwise said nothing.
Rian and I approached his bedside, each of us going on opposite sides. "He should wake up in twenty to forty-five minutes. If he isn't awake in an hour and no one's in here to check on him, come find someone." The young nurse informed us politely as she worked around us, checking Alex's monitors and IVs and writing on her clipboard, adjusting things as needed. As soon as she had everything to her satisfaction, she headed to the door. "He'll probably be quite hazy and not remember too much; you'll have to jog his memory. And when his parents arrive, the doctor would like to have a conversation with them."
Rian came up with an answer immediately. I didn't believe that this was the first time he'd done this. "Right. They were on a business trip this week," - And from what Alex told me, ever other week too - "But they headed here as soon as they heard. They just called me saying they'll be here very soon."
"Well, when they get here, just press the red call button on this remote." She held up a small square with red, green, blue, yellow, and black buttons. "Red is doctor, green is nurse, blue is food, yellow is maintenance, and black is emergencies. Got it?" Rian nodded while I stayed quiet. I would figure it out eventually, maybe.
As she left, we both relaxed a little. Rian laid the remote next to Alex's head and grabbed a chair, pulling it so it was directly next to the large hospital bed dominating the middle of the room. "Mine as well get comfy; you'll probably be here for awhile." He told me, kicking off his Nikes and propping his feet up next to Alex's. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Maybe I'll get a quick nap in before the Crazies show up."
"The Crazies?" I questioned.
Rian's face tinted with pink once he'd realized what he'd said. "That's uh, what I call Alex's parents. Don't tell them that, though; they love me and I'd rather not get on their bad side. Like I said, crazy." He explained.
"Should I be afraid."
"Very." Rian laughed at my scared expression.
For the next while, we stayed quiet in the tense, apprehensive room, waiting for Alex to awaken. I fiddled around on my phone, anxiously checking Tumblr and Twitter. My Twitter feed was clogged with people commenting on tonight's occurrences.
@WhiskeyHandz: Can't believe that emo tried to off himself. Some people just can't take a joke!
@Jack-Flower: If ur gonna try to kill urself, y would u do it at a party? #AttentionSeeker #smh
@Beersack: He ruined the party and got people arrested. The nerve of people today... #Idiots
@Kellin-schmellin: @OfficiallyRianDawson and @Barakat-jagk, why were you with that fag tonight? Rage ignited inside me, and my fingers flow over my phone in record speed, typing out an angry response.
@Kellin-schmellin He's better than anyone else at that party. Fuck off. I hit send before I could even think about what I was doing, but even after I did think about it, I had not a single regret, even after the responses started coming in.
@StillIntoYou13579: Wow, someone's a little feisty tonight!
@JesseistheLawson: Calm down Jay!
@Hey-Jardine16: I can hear the bells...
@WhiskeyHandz: Aw, how cute. You're trying to stick up for him.
@Kellin-schmellin: Back off, Barakat.
I heard a cynical chuckle come from Rian. "Wow, do people really have nothing better to do with their life except tweet about something they have no idea about? This is ridiculous." My phone buzzed a minute later with a notification that Rian had responded to my tweet.
@OfficiallyRianDawson: Seriously, guys. Shut up. It's been a tough night for all of us. After Rian's tweet, no one else responded. People respected Rian like they didn't respect me. He was the sweetest guy ever to most people, but he gave off that vibe that made you know not to mess with him. I had no doubts that he could hold his own in any situation he found himself in.
"...What are you talking about, brother and cousin? He doesn't have any living siblings, and he hasn't talked to any of his cousins in years..." A voice and three sets of shoes came down the hallway, coming closer and closer to the room. Rian and I exchanged wide-eyed looks, knowing we were out of time and there was nowhere to hide.
"Damn it." Rian whispered.
The door slammed open so loudly that Rian and I literally jumped out of our chairs. Alex even flinched in his sleep; the only reason for him not waking up was the medicine still being in his system. Rian and I stood frozen as a pretty woman who looked to be around the age of thirty with long chocolate hair and piercing green eyes sized us up. When she saw that we were not a threat to her, her face went from angry and serious to relieved and slightly less scary. "Oh, Rian." She turned to the nurse - a different one than who had accompanied us before - who stood behind her husband - a large, broad man with salt-and-pepper hair and soft, pale blue eyes. "It's okay, ma'am. They're good. I didn't mean to make a scene. You can leave." Although her words were kind and the corners of her mouth turned up in an inviting smile, her eyes were hard as they watched me from across the room. Goosebumps were beginning to appear on my arms from her cold, venomous glare.
"Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Gaskarth. The doctor should be here soon and your son will be up any minute now. Have a good night." She smiled before giving Rian and I suspicious looks and disappearing down the hallway. Was it just me, or were the nurses here extremely lenient?
"Rian, tell me what happened." Mrs. Gaskarth demanded, surprisingly not at all sympathetic or worried, considering her son had just almost died.
Rian explained to the Gaskarths to best of his ability about the party and why I was here, altering the story slightly as to keep them from getting angry. Throughout the tale, I stayed silent behind Rian and watched Alex's parents get angrier and more upset as the story progressed. By the end, despite his attempts to keep them from becoming displeased, both parents had deep, infuriated creases in their forehead and vibrant irritation in their eyes. Mrs. Gaskarth, not astonishingly, was the first one to speak. Mr. Gaskarth had yet to speak. "We ought to keep him in this hospital, Peter!"
As much as Rian and I didn't want to hear that, she was probably right. However, I got the feeling that she didn't want to keep Alex here because of his mental health when I heard what her husband had to say. "You're right, Isobel; how could he do this to us? This damn cutting thing...that won't fly. It's not like we can stay home and baby him through this, and he knows that! Of course he would pull something like this, probably wants more attention." He turned to Rian and me, an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry, he's pulled shit like this ever since his brother died." Then, specifically to me, in a colder voice than even Isobel had used, "You should probably leave. This isn't something we want everywhere. Let's keep this a secret, yes?"
I almost snapped right then and there. The way he treated me like I was a three year old who couldn't keep a secret. Yes, maybe he just met me and yes, maybe he didn't fully trust me yet, but that didn't mean he got to be a condescending asshole to me. It was me who found Alex dying on the bathroom floor. It was me who alerted other people and got them to call 911. It was me who saved their son's life. It was me and Rian, not them, who sat in the ER for hours waiting to hear any news on Alex. And here they just pranced right in and commanded me to leave after all I had done. Maybe it was just the way I was raised, but I thought they could have showed me a little more respect rather than treat me like a spider they desperately wanted to be rid of. Even something as small and simple as a thank you would have been nice. I wasn't petty, really, but I knew when I was being wronged and treated unfairly.
However, I didn't argue. The venomous looks they gave me told me that only bad things would come from arguing with them. What could I do, really? If I fought and tried to stay, they would just call security. The nurses didn't have a problem with me being here before, but I'm positive if the Gaskarths wanted me to leave, I would have no choice. Rian gave me a helpless look and shrugged, mouthing "I'll call you later." I gave a small nod, and with one final longing look to Alex, I walked out into the hallway, the door practically slamming shut behind me.
It wasn't until I had exited the hospital that I realized I had no ride home. Zack's mother might actually bite my head off if I called him at this hour, especially considering he was probably already grounded for life by being caught at the party. My parents would probably yell at me and hang up laughing at the thought of coming to pick me up. Estimating the time it would take for me to walk home to be about an hour, I started home, nearly crying in frustration. I was never giving into Zack's pleas for me to party more ever again.
About five minutes into my walk, I got a text from Rian. See? Like I told you: CRAZY.
I laughed out loud. Got that right.
I am sorry, though. Didn't think they would kick you out like that. Do you even have a ride home? By this time, I was already twenty minutes into my walk, and I saw no reason to worry him.
Nah, but I'm already almost home. Don't worry about me. Talk to you tomorrow?
Yeah, sure. I'll tell you more then.
K. I slid my phone back into the large pocket of my scrubs, noticing that I probably looked like an absolute basket case walking home like this. I laughed to myself, and soon found it hard to stop. Even as I arrived home thirty minutes later, I was still chuckling at myself.
That is, until I walked into the living room to my two half-asleep parents who had obviously waited up for me. Needless to say, they weren't exactly balls of sunshine, those two.
"What the hell, Jack?! You know you had a curfew. I don't care if the fucking sky is falling; when I give you a curfew, you stick to it and you come home at that time, and not a second later!" My mother shouted. I was sure she had woken my siblings.
Suddenly, I was exhausted. The emotional toll of tonight and the physical exertion of walking miles of mostly hills to get home was finally slamming me harder than a brick wall. I wanted to collapse and laugh and cry hysterically all at the same time, and my parents, as well as May and Joe, who I saw gather at the top of the stairs, noticed immediately. My father guided me to the couch just in time for me to pass out on it, and before my mother, her voice now soft and caring since she had realized something was wrong, could even check to see if I was okay, black spots waltzed in my vision before growing fatter and taking my entire line of vision, lulling me into a deep, restless sleep.