New Names

20

I can't move.

I feel the doctors rushing past me but I can't. Move.

Jordan, my brother, only fourteen. I'm seeing him.

On the hospital bed, jerking to and fro, his body shaking. His chest jolts upwards, it looks like he's having a heart attack, not that I know what that looks like. He's spazzing. I can't move. Max is crying. I want to comfort him but I can't move. Adam is yelling. We're standing in shock, watching as they stick something in his chest. He calms after a minute.

"What happened?!" Adam screams. One of the nurses tries to explain, but he's just as distraught as we are.

"Something happened. It must've been the trauma he suffered in his head. This is much more serious than we originally thought. We'll need you to leave now. Please. Jordan needs rest." 

Adam says nothing and storms out. I'm still standing there, unblinking, staring at Jordan. I feel a light, warm touch on my arm.

"We need to go Wallie. Jordan will be fine, I promise," Max says. I snap out of it and look at him, perplexed. I can't speak, but Max leads me down the hall and out to the parking lot.

"I'm taking you home."

Max lets me sit in silence while we drive, where exactly I don't know. Max' never mentioned where he lived.

It makes me somewhat sad that we pull into the hair salon parking lot. 

Max is like me.

Max has no home.

I knew I have to be strong, but I can't. All I want to do was cry. But I can't, so instead, I just numbly let Max lead me to the hammocks. He sits me down, takes my shoes off, and lays me down. I don't close my eyes, so Max takes his coat off and drapes it on me. While he's knelt, we make eye contact. It all comes crashing down after that.

Tears start to fall, and I break down. Max wipes the tears away as they collect on my cheeks, and he soothes me, strokes my hair until I'm calm again. After that, he says four small words. Four words that I've heard time and time again, but from him, knowing how much he's gone through, they mean the world. They gave me a sense of comfort I've never felt before.

"It will get better."

With that, he gently places a kiss on my forehead and walks to a hammock of his own. I watch as his frame blends into the darkness. When he's no longer in my field of vision, I reach up and touch the spot where he kissed me. My fingertips tingle. I wrap myself in his oversized coat and close my eyes at three in the morning, because maybe in everything that went wrong tonight;

It might turn out to be good.