Psychoburners

Part 11: Stay With Me

April 20th, 2015

    John had just returned from doing the necessaryshopping of the week. He had also picked up all the letters from his mailbox tocheck them after he finished organizing the items from the bags he wascarrying.
   As usual, he left the letters on the kitchentable and started putting everything in order, taking his time and humming"Shooting Star" by Owl City, one of his favorite songs. He didn'tsing a lot, yet he was not a bad singer at all; when he did, though, hedefinitely enjoyed it.
    After he was done, he sat at the kitchen tableand started checking the letters. Most were either bills or random promotionalcoupons about restaurants of every kind, so John had a quick look at thembefore throwing them away with disinterest. Until the last two small packagescaught his attention. He widened his eyes, gasping quietly. He knew what theywere.

    Without hesitating, he opened the first packageand found what he had ordered a while ago: access passes for Comic-Con 2015.Smiling with excitement, he opened the second package and found what he andMichael had always wanted since they started YouTube: access passes for PaxPrime 2015. They would finally do it. They would finally meet their favoriteYouTubers.
    Without even trying to hold himself, he screamedin joy, jumping up and down everywhere in the kitchen and singing randomlywithin his screams. A familiar voice interrupted him:
- Why in the name of berries are you screaming like someone burnt all your Harry Potter books?
    John turned around and saw Michael standing nearthe door, looking at him as if he was crazy. He stayed frozen for a momentbefore just grabbing his best friend from his shoulders and starting to shakehim, screaming:
- WE'RE GOING TO PAX PRIME!
    Michael's reaction was quick:
- NO WAY!
- YES WAY! OUR PASSES ARE HERE! AND WE'RE GOING TO COMIC-CON AS WELL!
- THESE CAME TOO???
- HELL YEAH!
- THIS IS AWESOME!!!
- I KNOW!!!
    And for the next few moments, the kitchen was filled with Psychoburners' screams of happiness.

- We gotta celebrate this!
- Michael, it's not that big of a deal...
- DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT AGAIN! WE WILL GO AT TWO OF THE MOST KNOWN CONVENTIONS! WE WILL MEET ALL THE YOUTUBERS WHO INSPIRE US TO KEEP GOING! OF COURSE IT'S A BIG DEAL!
- Okay, you don't have to scream, Jeez...
- I WILL SCREAM AS MUCH AS I WANT TO!
- Okay, jacksepticeye...  Whatever you say...
- THAT'S RIGHT, I'M JACKSEPTICEYE AND TOP ON THE MORNIN' TO YA!
    Michael screamed that final line trying to add (and obviously failing) an Irish accent. John rolled his eyes, turned off their new computer (they had finally bought an extra computer along with additional equipment a few months ago, so now they were playing multiplayer games at separate computers) and warned his friend:
- You better NOT do that accent in front of him when we meet him at Pax Prime. IF we meet him.
    Michael rolled his eyes, snorted, turned off their old computer and replied with a whiny tone:
- Okay, fiiiiiiine! I will not!
- Good!
- And we will meet him, I believe it!
- I know. So do I.

    With those final words, Psychoburners left theirstudio and headed to the living room, where they sat on the couch; afterMichael sat, he started stretching himself and pointed out, feeling his bodybeing pulled by both sides:
- You know what could make this day better?
- What?
- If we received our Silver Play Button today!
- Yeah, that would be awesome!
John agreed, smiling. He added, turning on the TV and opening Netflix:
- Well, THIS should be the reason we can celebrate! If of course YouTube remembers to send it, it's already been four months since we hit the milestone...
    Michael was about to answer, when he suddenlyfelt a sharp pain close to his stomach. He let out a scream of pain andgathered himself, holding his legs close to his body. John heard him, turnedaround at his side and asked with concern:
- Are you okay?
    Michael nodded, feeling the pain becoming sharper. He spoke, trying not to yell from pain:
- I'm fine... My stomach is just empty, so it hurts...
    John lifted his eyebrow.
- You sure? You had a few pains in the morning, are you sure they are nothing?
- Yes... I am... Can you order pizza? I'm hungry...
    John sighed, nodding.
- Okay... Usual one?
    Michael nodded and John got up and headed to the kitchen to call. Michael, breathing heavily and sweating, immediately started rubbing the spot of pain, trying to soothe it, but it didn't work. He tried to move slightly, but the pain made him scream louder than before; he felt himself falling on the floor. The next things he heard was something falling at the kitchen table with a loud crash, quick steps and John screaming:
- MICHAEL!
    Michael felt someone lying him down on thecouch. That action made the pain even worse and screamed again, feeling sometears coming out from his eyes. His vision was blurry from the tears; he couldbarely see John hovering over him, but he did hear his friend asking:
- Where is the pain? SHOW ME!
    Gathering his last strength, Michael showed thespot of pain. Then he let his hands fall down and watched John as he was takinghis phone and calling Emily first, then an ambulance.
    He was trying to stay awake, but it was like thepain, the stress from the situation and the dehydration (caused from the sweatand lack of water) wanted to disable his body. The last thing he felt wassomeone holding his hand and the last thing he heard was:
- Stay with me, Michael... Please stay with me...

April 21st, 2015, St. Joseph Hospital

    Michael woke up by feeling a slight pain insidehim. He bluntly opened his eyes, still feeling pain at the same spot. He lookedaround. He was at the hospital, wearing a gown and hooked up with lots ofmachines. He was hearing noises: the beeping of the heartbeat machine, buzzesfrom the rest of the machines, voices and steps outside the room; and finally,a quiet snore on his right. He turned towards its source. He saw John sleeping ona small armchair, his hair messier than ever and his glasses worn sideways. Hehad obviously fallen asleep like that, guarding Michael.
- John?
Michael spoke, but his voice came out as a whisper. Somehow, his voice was gone. He could barely be heard.
- John?
He repeated, this time a little louder. John stirred at his sleep, trying to find a better position. Michael cleared his throat and repeated one more time:
- John!
    John stirred once again, murmuring, until herealized that Michael was calling him, making him finally wake up and look athis friend with both worry and relief.
- Oh my God, Michael! Are you okay?
    Michael stared at him while he was fixing hisglasses and replied:
- Yeah, I guess...
- Do you feel pain?
- A little...
- Okay, good. The injection actually worked.
- The what?
- ...
- John?
- You remember nothing?
- The last thing I remember was me falling unconscious to your couch.
    John sighed, took off his glasses, rubbed hiseye sides close to his nose and whispered:
- I guess the anesthesia was indeed strong...
     John put his glasses back on and startedstretching, while Michael was watching him confused, trying to remember. He soongave up.
- What happened?
    John took a deep breath, fixed his messy hairand explained like he was narrating a story:
- You fell unconscious. Well, you were NOT fully out, you could still hear and feel, as far as I presumed from your actions, but the only thing you did was screaming in pain. I was trying to calm you down until the ambulance came. Once they got you in, you woke up again. I explained the situation and they injected a painkiller in your body. When we arrived at the hospital, it was difficult for you to stay any more awake, so they gave you some strong anesthesia to examine you and see what was wrong. I was warned that you might have some short-term memory loss when you wake up, and as it seems, you did. Thankfully, it was not too much.

    Michael nodded, everything in his head being ablur. He felt having a headache just by listening to all of that.
- John?
- Yeah?
- What... What do I have?
- I don't know yet, Michael... They examined youlast night and the results are not ready yet... We do know that your voice isgone because of your loud screams, but besides that, we're still in the dark...
    Michael felt himself shaking. But it was not from cold, or stress, or anger. He whispered, feeling some tears in his eyes:
- Johnny...
- Yes?
- I'm scared...
    John sighed deeply, staring at his best friend shaking. Without hesitating, he caught his hand and whispered back:
- You think I'm not?
    Michael felt himself relaxing by feeling John'shand on his. However, he soon started shaking again; he whispered, letting histears flow without holding back:
- What if... What if I have...
- It's okay, Mike... Everything will be okay... I will stay with you no matter what...
    Michael stared at John, letting more tears fall;this time, they were tears of relief.
- You will?
- Yes... You stayed with me when I was at the hospital two years ago... It's time to pay you back for it.
    With those words, John hugged Michael carefully,trying not to hurt him a lot. Michael hugged back, trying to wipe his tearsaway.
- ...
- ...
- Thank you for staying with me...

    After they let go of each other, the door openedand a doctor came in the room, holding a folder. He looked at Michael for amoment and then spoke:
- Good morning, Mr. Blunt. I see you are fully awake from the anesthesia.
- Good morning, doctor...
Michael greeted, his voice slightly shaking. Hetook a deep breath to calm himself down. The doctor asked:
- Any pain?
- Just a little if I'm still.
Michael replied with more confidence. The doctornodded, wrote down some notes and turned towards John.
- Did he have any memory loss?
- Yeah, but not too much. He just doesn't remember how he got in the hospital.
- Good.
    The doctor wrote down a few more notes. Michaelfelt himself shaking once again, but when he saw John looking at him with anencouraging smile, he calmed down. He took another deep breath, smiled back andturned towards the doctor. He was ready, no matter what he heard. John hadstayed with him.

- So, the results from your examinations last night are ready. I hope you are ready to hear them.