The Only Exception

Book 1 Part 2

I laid there, but Josh never came back. Dylan and Desiree came to the car and looked around for a moment and asked,

“Celeste, where’s Josh?”

“He...went to get me a...soda...”

“We just passed the soda counter, he’s not there.” Then a cop showed up and asked Dylan if Joshua Neiman was his brother.

“Joshua has been mugged. He has been sent to the hospital in Chicago.”

I started to cry even though I was sick. Josh didn’t deserve to get mugged. I called my mom and said told her the whole story, from when I got sick to when he got mugged.

Ten minutes later, my mom came to pick me up and Josh’s parents came to cry with us all. We all went up to the hospital, to check on Josh and to see if I had food poisoning. After I tested negative for food poisoning and being ill, I was able to go into Josh’s room, where he was being patched up. I sat next to his bed and cried. After all, it was my fault that he got mugged. I held his hand and he squeezed mine. He finally was awake.

“Josh? Oh my gosh! I thought you were gone...”

“Who are you? Why are you talking to me?” Josh started to freak out so much that I had to press the button to get the nurse in the room.

“What’s wrong?” the nurse asked me curtly.

“He woke up and I was talking to him a little and he doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t even remember me. And we were together not to long ago.”

“I’ll get the neurologist in here right away, Miss Thomas.”

They sent Josh into a CAT scan or an MRI, or something like that, and they told us that he had amnesia and doesn’t remember anything that happened in last few days. So now he doesn’t know that the incident happened a few days ago. The bad thing is that I am kind of growing organically attached to him. He is like my personal sunshine, clearing my gloomy skies from all the bad, and increasing the good in my life.

But all of a sudden, I seen the guy who saved me. I followed him as far as I could before he went into the restricted area.

I ran up to the window of the door to see if it was worth running in there and getting caught. I banged on the door and an older looking doctor came up to the window and opened it.

“Yes? How can I help you, miss?” the female doctor asked.

“I’m incredibly sorry to disturb you, ma’am, but do you know by any chance who the boy with wavy brown hair and green eyes is? I have a project that I need to do and I need to ask him a few questions.”

“Oh, I think I know who you’re talking about. His name is Noah Christensen. But he just went to the nurse’s lounge. I can go get him for you, if you would like, miss?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, how rude of me. My name is...is...Natalie Rae Johnson. But you don’t have to go through all that trouble for me. I can talk to him some other time. I am pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Then I walked away.

When I got to the turn in the hallway I needed, I ran all the way back to Josh’s room, to find my mother crying.

“Mom, what’s the matter? What happened? Did something happen to Leah, Mallory, Khloe, Kira, or Daddy?”

My mother wiped her eyes and turned to face me, “Celeste, it’s about your father. He’s just had a horrible heart attack and is here in the hospital. I have to stay here for the night. Could you, by any chance, baby-sit the kids for a while? It would-”

“Mom, don’t finish. I’ll do it. Don’t worry about it. You belong here with Daddy. Besides, almost all of us get along with each other.” I gave her a reassuring smile so she can cheer up a little.