Take Me to Church (boyxboyxboy)✅

Epilogue

The news of Nick's suicide attempt came to me right after the end of our freshman year of college. He sounded down the last time I talked to him, but he promised he wouldn't do anything to harm himself; obviously he broke that promise when he swallowed a bunch of pills. He was lucky his roommate found him when he did. I was the first person he called when he was discharged from ICU and transferred to the psych unit.

Jeremy had already been home from Michigan for a couple of days. I understood why Nick didn't call him. He was quick to fly off the handle, particularly when it came to Nick, only because he cared about him and loved him.

Together Jeremy and I went on a road trip down to Florida to help pack up his apartment. He decided he wasn't going to go back to school, at least not back to school in Florida, and we offered to make the twenty-four hour drive down to Miami. We planned on stopping at a hotel or motel somewhere along the way since I couldn't drive for twenty-four hours straight.

"What the fuck was he thinking?" Jeremy said as I sped down the highway. "Slow down. You're going too fast."

Glancing at my speedometer, I realized I was going over eighty miles per hour.

"I'm going to fucking kill him, I swear," he said.

"Calm down," I said, tapping on my brake to slow down a little. "He wants our help. He needs us. He doesn't need us making him feel worse than he already feels."

"I just don't want to lose him," he said.

After close to three days, we made it to the hospital. By this point, Nick had been in the hospital for eight days and would probably be getting out soon.

"Have you ever been to a psych unit before?" Jeremy asked me on the elevator up to the fifth floor of the hospital where the psychiatric unit was located.

"No," I replied, not sure what to expect.

As we stood at the nurse's station, we spotted Nick almost right away. He was hard to miss. Wearing his glasses that Jeremy and I loved so much, he stood in the back of the psych unit, biting his nails. In only a pair of socks, he wore a red t-shirt and khaki shorts. His hair was longer than I'd ever seen it, pulled back in a pony-tail on top of his head. He was clearly the cutest, and youngest, patient on the ward.

As soon as he saw us, he abruptly bolted, running right into our arms. He clung to both of us, one arm around me and another arm around Jeremy.

"You alright?" Jeremy asked, quickly wiping his eyes, hoping no one would notice his tears.

"Eh," Nick said with a shrug, a typical Nick response. "Thanks for coming. You guys are awesome."

Holding each of our hands, he led us to an open room where other patients sat with their visitors.

When I thought of a psych unit, I thought of patients in hospital johnnies pacing around in circles, talking to themselves and crying or laughing uncontrollably. My assumptions proved incorrect. I realized I had probably watched one too many old movies with such depictions.

"Okay. I know I was stupid," Nick said. "So save me from a lecture."

"We're not going to lecture you," I said. "We're just glad you're okay."

Jeremy's eyes remained on Nick, his vision no doubt blurred from the watery film over them.

"What the hell is this?" Jeremy teased him, pulling his ponytail playfully.

Nick shrugged, his cheeks a light shade of pink.

Tears instantly came to Nick's eyes as Jeremy kissed the side of his head.