Stand By Me, Chris

Chapter 16

"She won't kill you," Gordie said, trying to make me feel better.

"She'll just bash your brains in!" Teddy laughed.

"Not funny Teddy," I rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to call Daniel again," I said, getting up and picking up the phone.

"That nurse said not to use the phone!" Vern told me, and I just rolled my eyes and kept dialing the number to the hospital that Daniel was in.

"Hello?" I heard the nurse's voice.

"It's Lauren Peterson again, I need talk to Daniel," I said.

"Let me get him," the lady said, being just as rude as I remember.

"Lauren?" I heard Daniel's voice.

"Danny!"

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, and so is Gordie and Teddy and Vern," I told him.

"What about Chris and Will?" He asked.

"They still won't tell us. How are you?" I asked him, remembering that he was also in the hospital.

"I'm going to be fine, they're letting me go home in the morning," Daniel said happily.

"I need you to do something for me," I said.

"What?"

"You have to convince my mom not to come down here," I told him.

"Why?" Daniel asked.

"She can't be here, it will ruin her, you have no idea how bad this is. I don't want her here. Tell her that it isn't a good idea, maybe ask if you can stay with her for a couple days to comfort her. Anything to keep her from coming out here, I don't even know where we are," I explained.

"Lauren, you better hurry up, that nurse will be coming back soon," Gordie told me.

"Daniel, I've got to go, please keep Mom away. I'll call you as soon as I can, love you," I said.

"Stay safe, Lauren, love you," Daniel said, and I hung up the phone just as Alice walked in.

"Lauren, you better come with me," she said.

I looked over at Gordie, his face was pale and full of fear. Teddy and Vern weren't even paying attention, they were watching cartoons.

"Is everything okay?" I asked Alice.

"Just come with me," she said, and I followed her out into the hall nervously.

"What's going on?" I asked Alice.

"The other girl that was in the car, Rebecca, woke up. She has a concussion, but I want you to see your brother," she said.

We walked down a few halls, my stomach was turning, I didn't know what was going on. Alice stopped in front of a room and turned to me with a look of sympathy.

"He doesn't look to good, but whatever happens, I promise it will be okay," Alice told me. I thought I was going to be sick after what she said, and I felt even worse when she opened the door and I saw Will.

He was laying in a hospital bed, a bunch of cords and tubes were hooked to him, and his face looked terrible. The left side of his face was all cut up, you could barely see any skin, and he had bruises everywhere. His eyes were shut, and he didn't seem to be breathing.

"Oh my..." I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Alice put her arm around me, holding me up, I was about to collapse, then a beeping sound started. "Is he dead?" I yelled, running over to the bed.

"No! He's waking up!" Alice exclaimed, and she ran out of the room.

I grabbed Will's hand and squeezed it, and he tightened his grip around my hand. His eyes fluttered open slowly.

"Will!" I said, crying with tears of happiness.

"Wha...what's happening?" He asked, his voice sounded rough, and it seemed like it hurt him to speak.

"You're okay! Will, you're okay! The nurse made it sound like you were dead, but you're okay!" I said, filled with happiness.

"Honey, don't overwhelm him!" Alice said, coming back into the room with a bunch of nurses trailing behind her.

"You're going to have to leave while we clean him up," a nurse said, leading me out of the room.

I ran down the hall, only taking one wrong turn, until I got back to the old break room.

"Lauren! What happened?" Gordie said, running up to me.

"Will is fine! He looks pretty bad, but he's awake!" I said, hugging Gordie.

"What about Chris?" He asked.

"I don't know, but let's find out," I told him.

Teddy and Vern were still watching cartoons on the old television, so Gordie and I snuck out quietly.

His room is somewhere around here," I said, walking down the white hallways, I was completely lost, but I didn't want Gordie to know.

"What are you two kids doing?" Alice asked, coming up from behind us.

"Trying to find Chris's room," Gordie said.

"Gordie! You aren't supposed to tell her!" I said, punching his arm.

"He's about to go in for surgery, he has some broken ribs and we don't want them to affect any major organs. I'll let you two see him, but only for a minute," Alice said, and for the first time that day, Gordie didn't look as pale.

Gordie and I walked with Alice down the hall, and the walk couldn't have been any slower, I just wanted to see Chris.

"Here it is," Alice said, showing us the room, "he is awake, but he probably won't be able to talk."

"He's awake?" Gordie asked, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Come on! You didn't tell us he was awake?" I asked, suddenly angry, Chris was important to us, and Alice didn't think it would be nice to tell us he had woken up.

"He's been up for a while, but something is affecting his brain. When he goes in for surgery we around going to check that out too," Alice explained.

"Can we go in?" Gordie asked Alice.

"Yes, I'll give you five minutes, no longer," she said, and she walked away.

Gordie grabbed my hand and we entered Chris's room. No one could ever have prepared me for what I saw. Chris was as white as a sheet, I couldn't even see his hair, he had bandages practically all over his face. I looked over to see tears rolling down Gordie's cheeks.

"Who are you?" Chris asked us.

"It's Gordie."

"And Lauren," I added.

"I don't know you, get out of my room!" Chris yelled at us.

A/N
FINALLY!!! today I realized that it has been almost five months since I last updated, and I am sooooo sorry. I finally wrote more to the story, and thanks to everyone who kept commenting, it encouraged me to write more. I am hoping to finish this soon, so comment what you think and also comment suggestions. I am so happy I finally updated! Thanks for all your support, you guys mean the world to me!
-Maddie