Smile

Hospital Visit

"Steph!", I heard Euriah come trampling through the door. He barreled into the kitchen. His eyes widened momentarily then flicked apologetically to Chris. Giving me his full attention the words tumbling out of his mouth like a tide pool, into the air and hung there like a piano waiting to drop on an unsuspecting victim, "Ky's in the hospital. He got jumped at the park".

The world started moving in slow motion as my world shifted. Not Ky. He was the sweetest guy I know. Why would someone do something like that. I felt a pang of guilt in my gut. If I would've been there none of this would have happened.

Life slapped into me and I was on the move. "Let's go", I grabbed my keys off the coffee table in the living room. Euriah went on ahead of me. Halfway out the door I turned to Chris who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen looking lost. I felt bad but I felt worse that my best friend was in the hospital. "Chris, I'm sorry. Go without me", I wanted to run to him and give him a hug or something but my body stood frozen in place. He looked so hurt, so rejected, but I knew he understood. Finally, tearing away I rushed to my car then to the hospital leaving Chris and his unasked question alone and in the dark.

I followed behind Euriah, making sharp turns and weaving in and out of traffic. When we reached the hospital I all but walked. Cutting the engine, I jumped from my seat and dashed for Euriah who was already halfway to the revolving doors of the entrance. We bond up the stairs to the third floor ignoring the shouts and complaints to slow down.

Euriah slowed until we reached room 317. He opened the door and I bursted into tears. Ky was lying there, his bed all the way flat wearing and oxygen mask. Even at my distance I could see the entire right side of his face was bruised. Walking closer I saw his bare abdomen. It was bruised badly but there was a large bandage with blood seeping through in an X shape. A sob racked my body. Poor Ky! He didn't deserve this, not in a million years.

I walked to his left side wear I could see, clearly, the damage that had been inflicted. He not only had the bruising on the left side of his face but a busted lip and his nose had been broken. Taking a closer look at his stomach I could see his broken ribs and the cut that wouldn't stop bleeding.

Reaching out I gently ran my knuckles along his jaw, the only thing that seemed to not be damaged in any way. Ky flinched at my touch and his eyes fluttered open. His deep emerald green eyes glistened with pain and I thought I was going to cry harder.

"Oh, Ky", I whispered choking back more tears, "who did this to you?".

His lips twitched but I shushed him. I watched as his hand floated up and rested on my jaw. He winced but it was apparent he was fighting the pain. My stomach wrenched at the thought. Lifting my own hand I held his to my face brushing my lips softly against the knuckles. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lip and it warmed my heart. Ky was still Ky even though he was in so much pain. I smiled back at my friend as I secretly promised to not leave his side until he had healed.

The door opened and a doctor walked in. He glanced at us then sat in a small stool and washed his hands. "Are you Maliki's friends?", he asked drying his hands with a brown paper towel.

"Yes", Euriah and I nodded.

The doctor had a syringe and was tapping it to get rid of any major air bubbles. "And where is his family?", he injected whatever was in the syringe into the IV that was pumping fluid into Ky's veins.

"He doesn't have any", this caught the doctor by surprise. "His family moved from California a long time ago".

"We're his family now", Euriah added.

The doctor stood up to leave, "Well, you two are welcome to stay. He'll be very disoriented when he wakes up and it'll be nice for him to see some familiar faces. I'll have a nurse bring a couple of blankets if you want to stay over night". He shut the door quietly behind him.

I looked down and watched as the drugs kicked in. Ky was drifting into sleep and his hand began to sag. Gingerly, I laid his hand by his side and watched as he drifted into sleeps hold.

°°°

I awoke to a loud snoring and the faint smell of coffee. Looking around the room I could make out two figures standing on Ky's right side. Blinking, clearing my vision, I saw that it was Dad and Vanessa. Vanessa saw me and walked away and came back carrying my oversized coffee mug. My throat tightened and I felt like crying. How could she be thinking about me right now? It was Ky who needed us and yet she still brought me coffee.

"Thank you", I said my voice still heavy with sleep.

My dad was finally aware that I was awake and smiled. I wondered how they found out I was here.

"Christian told us", he said reading my mind. "Next time call us".

I nodded and sat up causing Euriah to stir. He had been snuggling with my feet all night as usual. He was so weird.

Ky was still asleep so I decided to use the bathroom. While I was taking my usual long morning pee I checked my phone. I had five texts, three missed calls and the normal social media notifications.

I checked my texts first. Two were from Chris. I didn't have the heart to open them. They were probably hate messages telling me he never wanted to talk to me again. The others were from Crawford, Dad, and Justin. Why was he texting me? I opened his first.

Hope your friend's okay. He's in our prayers.

JBizzle

How the hell did he know? I opened the others. Dad was asking where I was and Crawford was asking if I had any headphones. I checked the missed calls. Two from Dad and Vanessa and the other from Chris. I put my phone down until I was done with my clean up business and then checked Facebook. Dad had uploaded a picture of Euriah and I sleeping captioning it, These two goofs stayed the night with Ky while he's recovering. It had over a hundred likes and forty-six comments. One was from Justin--so that's how he knew. I didn't bother to check anything else because Ky was waking up. I'd reply to Chris some other time.

°°°

For the next three weeks Euriah, Dad, Vanessa, and I switched off on Ky-watch. By Monday, May nineteenth, Ky was released. Dad had told Dr. Robinson that he'd stay with us until he was fully healed, which meant Ky would be living with us for the next four months.

I still hadn't talked to Chris about what had happened that night but I heard that he gave his tickets to Karisma and Crawford who originally couldn't go. We hadn't talked much at school aside from the small talk of Ky's condition schoolwork.

Today I had to start moving the furniture into the Glicina, the coffeehouse. Euriah had agreed to help me because Dad and Vanessa were busy with Ky and other things, but just the two of us wouldn't suffice. I had to talk to Chris.