Actions Speak Louder Than Fortune Cookies

54 - Waiting

Rylee stood there in shock.

"H-he's what?" She had just spoken to him that afternoon. It didn't seem possible. But Chris wouldn't fuck with me like that... She thought.

"There was an accident on set...something with faulty stunt wires. I'm not sure. But he fell like 25 feet straight to the ground...no mats. He got knocked out cold. I don't even know what all he broke, Ry. It was bad." Chris ran his hands through his hair roughly.

"I-I-i ...Chris. W-what?" Rylee couldn't move. She was still stuck on the "accident" sentence. She still had the bat in her hand but her grip loosened and it dropped to the floor, causing a long echoing clang off the hardwood floor.

"I know. I still can't fully grasp it. But our driver, Jeff, is downstairs and can drive us to the hospital."

"I-uh okay." Rylee stammered. Her breathing picked up quickly as she stared at Chris, still unable to move.

Chris put a hand on either one of Rylee's shoulders, and when she didn't seem to register his touch, he put his hands on either side of her face, turning her to face him, she looked frozen. "Ry take a second and breathe." He could feel her panic rushing through her, blood pumping, and he wasn't sure if he could bring her down from a panic attack right now. Not with his own heart beating a mile a minute.

He took this time to breathe with Rylee himself. He kept his hands on her face, a way to keep her and him grounded together as they took deep breaths in and out.

After a minute or so, he could already tell that both their hearts had slowed down tremendously. "Okay, Ry. Can you grab what you need and meet me down at the car?"

Rylee nodded and quickly grabbed up a few items, mainly her cellphone, and the small emergency booklet she kept in the office desk that contained medical info for both her and Sebastian. She was unbelievably grateful at this point that they had filled out this book a few weeks ago, just in case of an emergency.

She took these items and one of Sebastian's favorite hoodies and practically ran down to the car parked right out front. She wasn't sure why she grabbed his hoodie, but she felt like she needed to.

Jeff pulled up to the front of the emergency entrance and Chris and Rylee both hopped out of the back quickly, running through the rain, making a beeline through the electronic sliding doors.

They were about to walk up to the nurses station, shoes squeaking on the tile floor beneath their feet, when they heard Anthony to their right, "Chris, Rylee."

"Hey, thank you for riding here with him." Chris said as he hugged Anthony quickly.

Rylee stood silently beside Chris unsure what to do or say. She stared at a painting on the wall of a field of flowers and mountains. She took in how the flowers slowly led towards a river that wound its way into the mountainside.  There were small pine trees planted throughout and the sun was setting behind the mountain. She wondered why they chose this painting. Was it symbolic? Was it just something in a catalog? Did someone they know make it? If they—

"Rylee?" Anthony questioned, putting his hands on either of her shoulders, waiting for her to respond to his touch. He noticed her hazel eyes drift slowly from the painting to meet his brown ones and then pulled her in for a hug.

Rylee embraced him tightly in return, afraid to let go, like she'd float away. Her tears weren't quite falling yet, but they were about to. "What happened Anthony?" She wasn't sure why she asked. Chris had already told her. She couldn't focus anyway. Where was Sebastian?

Chris just shook his head at Anthony, they both knew she didn't really mean to ask again, shes just in anxiety-filled shock. Anthony separated himself from her and guided Rylee to a chair to sit down in the waiting room that they've been standing in. As she sat down, she put all the things she brought into her lap and Anthony sat beside her, holding her left hand, and Chris sat down, taking her right hand in his.