My Bully

Chapter 20

I stood up. "Where is he?!"

Cally continued to sob and shake her head. I grabbed her shoulders, ignoring the beginning stares of other customers, and shook her. "Cally!"

She swallowed and gained some control of herself again. "The h-hospital two blocks away."

I was out of the café before I even knew my feet had moved. I ran past people, bumping into them sometimes, and frantically tried to find the hospital.

I finally saw it and burst into the lobby. I ran to the front desk. "Is there an Eliot Conners here?"

The lady looked surprised by my demand and paused. "Yes. But, he's in the emergency room right now."

"When will he be out?" I asked. She gave me a small frown. "I'm not sure. A couple hours, maybe. Who are you? I'm not allowed to let just anyone in there."

"I'm... a friend." I took a deep breath. "Can you tell me when he gets out? Please?"

She sighed. "I suppose but, if this gets me in trouble, it's the last time I do anything for a kid."

I nodded. "Thank you." I walked back to the waiting room and sat down. Cally had caught up to me and was waiting for me. "So, how is he?" She asked quietly.

"He's in the emergency room. I don't know anything else." I didn't look at her. She had stopped crying and was just shaking a little.

"What happened?" I asked.

She seemed to be anticipating my question and closed her eyes. "We were going into science and he looked horrible. I made him stay in the nurse's office for the rest of school and I came to get him later. He still seemed a little off but, I thought maybe he just needed some fun."

I watched her clench her eyes to hold down the tears. "We walked past the stairs and he stopped. He said he needed to do something and he'd meet me outside. I..." She had to pause as her voice cracked. "I thought he just needed some time. If I had only gone with him..."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault. You were just being a good friend." She sighed. "I waited outside for a good ten minutes before I got worried. I was just turning around when-" She bit her lip but, it didn't help as she began to sob again. "He fell right in front of me! I-... I didn't know what to do! I called 911 immediately and I did my best to give a statement but-" She cried harder and put her hands over her face.

I awkwardly put my arms around her and held her close to me. She was sobbing for a good hour before she calmed down and apologized. I told it was okay and stood up. "I'll be back. Want a soda?" She nodded.

I walked over to the small area set up with vending machines and got a couple sodas. I came back to Cally and handed her one of the sodas. She took it and held the cold bottle in her hand without opening it.

I sipped mine, the taste not even registering in my brain. I was just sitting down when a couple of docters passed by. "I don't know. The injuries were pretty bad."

I gripped my bottle tighter and turned away.

They can't be talking about Eliot. There's no way...

Ten minute later the front desk lady walked up. "He's in the recovery room now. You can go see him but, only for a little bit." She glanced at Cally. "Do you know where his parents are?"

We both shook our heads. "No. They're probably passed out." I mumbled.

We got the room number and hurried down the hall. I opened the door slowly, afraid of what I might see.