Crashing down

Dec

"What happened to Dec? Where is he!" Tears were welling in Ants eyes, a million possible answers to his questions rushing through his mind. Some of them were so unbearable, he wanted to shake his head in an attempt to remove them from his thoughts.

"Please, where is he. Tell me he's ok." Anne-Marie felt her heart break slightly at the sight of Ant, hating herself for what she was gonna have to tell him. She had found it hard enough herself, when Dec's wife, Ali, had given her regular text updates. She had grown fond of Dec as her relationship with Ant had developed over the last year, and she knew, like most people, how close they are.

Chewing he bottom lip nervously she spoke. "Ant, darling, listen to me carefully ok..."

"No no, please no, please god no don't tell me he's de... dea... Anne please don't tell me he's de..dead" Ant began crying, sobbing uncontrollably at the prospect of this cruel reality that was simply unbearable. Broken, he looked at Anne-Marie silently begging her to tell him he was wrong.

"Dec isn't dead Ant, no. But he is really badly hurt sweetie, the doctors are still unsure what the end result will be."

"What do you mean! What happened to him?!"

"Ant, he was hurt much worse than you. I don't know the exact list of his injuries, it's a combination of broken bones and from what Ali has told me, a fairly significant head injury. What I do know is that, just before you woke, Ali text me to say that he had just come out of surgery, to fix the internal bleeding and it's just gonna take time to see if he wakes up..."

Ants voice was barely above a whisper as he spoke "if... if... they don't know if he will wake...?" For Ant this was the ultimate nightmare. His best mate may not wake up. All Anne-Marie could do was hold him as he cried uncontrollably in her arms. His entire world was on the edge of crashing down around him. The thought was soul destroying.

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Ant ended up crying himself back to sleep, and the combination of emotional, and physical pain from his injuries, meant that he slept until midday. He woke, hungry, and managed to eat a small lunch with some difficulty. Ant was unusually subdued, which didn't go unnoticed by Anne-Marie. His eyes were dull, distant, wrapped up in his thoughts. She wished that she could help fixed the situation, but there was nothing she could do. After Ants lunch had been cleared away, they sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments before Ant spoke.

"I need to see Dec." Anne-Marie wasn't surprised at Ants words. If anything, she had been waiting for him to ask, and had already spoken to his doctor to find out if he could.

"Ant, you can't at the moment darling, you're not well enou..."

"I don't care! Please I need to be with him, I would have been there already if I hadn't fallen asleep. Please don't stop me, I'll just go anyway! I need to be with him."

"I'm not the one who is stopping you, I spoke to the doctor this morning and he said that he's not happy with you moving too far until maybe tomorrow afternoon..."

"Thats too late! Anne, I need to be with Dec incase... please help me." Anne-Marie knew how determined Ant could be and she knew that nothing would stop him from throwing back the bed covers and trying to find Dec. Although she knew he wouldn't get far with his left leg nearly fully incased in a cast as well as his right arm. He would have great difficulty getting anywhere at any speed without help, but Anne-Marie ha a feeling that wouldn't stop him.

"Look, I'll go and speak to the doctor again and see if there is anything that can be done, but I'm not promising anything. You need to look after yourself and get better too." Anne-Marie stood and left Ants private room, leaving Ant with a slither of hope.

****

Much to Ants delight and relief, the Doctor has agreed that Ant could go and visit Dec. It was only for a couple of hours, then he had to come back with the promise that it wouldn't be his only visit during his hospital stay if his recovery continued to go well.

At around 3pm, a nurse brought a wheelchair into his room, and with minimal difficulty and some slight discomfort, Ant was out of bed, sat in the chair and on his way to visit Dec

He felt sick. As he travelled down the hospital corridors, his mind was going into overdrive, not knowing what he was going to face. He knew Dec was sick, but had no idea to what extent. Ants worries only increased when they went through the double doors with the sign 'ICU' written above them. He knew exactly what this meant and it just increased his fear, which wasn't eased even by Anne-Marie's gentle squeeze of his shoulder.

Seeing Ali was Ants only indication that they had arrived. She was stood outside the door to a private room and greeted Ant with careful hug, aware that he too was suffering painful injuries. Ali gave Anne-Marie a larger hug, both girls taking comfort from each other.

"Can I... umm... see him... please..." Ali smiled sadly at Ant before opening the door for Anne-Marie to push his chair inside, since the porter that had brought them this far, had left to give them all some privacy.

The sight that greeted Ant made tears well in his eyes, he knew it wasn't going to be good. However the sight of his best mate, lying in the white hospital bed, hooked up to all the machines, covered in cuts, bandages and more, which the blankets prevented him from seeing, didn't help ease his worry.

Ant couldn't help but fear the worst outcome for Dec.

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To be continued...

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