Chapter Eight: Merry Christmas
"Seshama, I have a request." Heather pushed a piece of Shannon's hair out of his face and waited for Seshama's reply."Yeah?" Seshama on the other end of the phone was just waking up from a dead sleep. "Can you come down to North Carolina...Now...I need you here." Seshama yelled into the phone, "What the hell Heather it is rucking Christmas and it's 6:00 in the morning!" Heather put her head in her hands. "Please Seshama, Shannon got into a car accident, they had to operate on his skull to stop internal bleeding." Seshama sat straight up in bed and jumped out of it. "Punk wake up we are going to North Carolina!" Punk sat up and rubbed his eyes. "No we aren't...I'm not going to Shannon's house." He said before he was interrupted by Seshama. "Shannon is in the hospital Punk, god damn it, put your damn differences aside and grow up!" Seshama threw a whole slew of cloths into a bag and grabbed the car keys before Punk even got changed.
Heather watched Shannon's face, wishing he would open his eyes. Heather could hear the nurses around the room chatting happily to the new Christmas. Heather hadn't called her family yet but she would once she felt that Shannon would be ok. The plane to North Carolina was a long ride. Seshama didn't bother to call Heather to ask her a ride from the air port. Calling a cab she thrust her bags in the seat. "Whispering Pines hospital." Seshama said putting her seat belt on. Once at the hospital Seshama ran to the receptionist leaving punk to carry the bags. The receptionist gave the room number and floor Shannon was on and Punk had to run to keep up with her, nearly getting one of the bags shut in the door. Heather was sleeping when Seshama and C.M. came in the door. Her head rested in the crook of his arm two red casts were holding his arms together. Shannon's head was heavily bandaged in white gauze and a purple cast was on his left leg. The rest of him was covered in sheets and thin blankets. His head also housed a bald spot where the doctor has to operate.
Seshama looked to Heather and sighed. Heather didn't tell her how bad the accident was so the appearance of Shannon in the state was shocking. C.M. sat down the bags and looked with disgust at Shannon. "Drunk driving..." Seshama punched C.M. with a glare. "You don't know that!""Merry Christmas Seshama ...C.M." Heather said as she lifted her head from Shannon's arm. Seshama walked over to her friend and hugged her. "Can you stay here with Shannon I need to get something to eat..." Seshama nodded. Heather left the room and went to get something to eat. Seshama walked over to the diagnosis sheet and read. "No intoxication." aloud. C.M. looked to Shannon and sighed. "So, there is some sense in the guy. He just wanted to get home to Heather." Seshama nodded and sat in a chair. She though she saw pity in C.M.'s eyes as he looked at Shannon. Heather was gone about 2 whole hours returning with a woman, a box, and a tray of food. "He looks in worse shape than mine." Heather nodded and distributed food around the room to C.M., Seshama, and herself. "Thank you for coming to visit James he looks like he is getting better already." said the woman before hugging Heather. "God bless you." she said before turning toward the door. "Blessed Be." was Heather's response as she sat down watching the woman leave. Heather forced herself to eat what she had put on her plate.
Not feeling vary hungry she only ate half. She placed the nicely wrapped box on the table and entwined her fingers with Shannon's "Heather are you ok? Did the doctor's say he would be ok?" All Seshama got from her futile attempts to make Heather come out of her silent state she had been sitting in for over an hour now was a nod. Heather was cursing Matt for even having the damned party and herself for letting him go. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and Heather didn't know when she had put herself into a deep meditation only focusing on Shannon. She heard Seshama ask her a question but the only thing she did was nod. She had the whole day planned so that it was one present after another, but because of this car crash Shannon and herself were sitting in a hospital. Every once and a while she would run a hand across Shannon's cheek or trace a tattoo on his shoulder. Only when Seshama took her on a walk through the hospital garden did she come back to the real world with a realization that she was not with Shannon. Seshama sat down with Heather and watched her.
Heather still had not shed even one tear, but she looked damn near close. Putting an arm around her friend she let Heather rest while she brushed her hand over Heather's hair. Heather was clutching onto a hat, black, with the Gas Chamber Ink logo written on it. Seshama sighed and thought to herself, 'what a horrible Christmas, especially for Heather." Both firls sat there for an hour and a half before walking back up to the room. Shannon had still not woken up from the accident and that just added onto the stress, and worry. The term you never know what you have until you lose it already sunk into everyone's minds. Even C.M. Punk was rethinking how he treated Shannon. A nurse came in once or twice ushering everyone out of the room to check Shannon's bandages. The third time this happened Heather yelled at the nurse so loud the doctor came in and had to tell the nurse to leave and that he would check the bandages. Heather sat next to Shannon hoping that even his eyes would move, since they hadn't since 7:00 this morning.
The beeping of the heart monitor and the almost flat line of the mind recorder sped up quickly before Shannon's chest rose with a deep breath and his eyes opened slowly. Heather watched as Shannon tried to focus his vision, restraining herself from hugging him in releif. "Heather?" He said looking around the room. "Where am I?" Seshama and C.M. walked over to the bed and watched as Shannon tried to sit up. Heather put a firm hand on his chest and pushed him back down softly. "At the hospital, you got into a car accident and broke a few ribs, two broken arms, your leg is broken, and you had some head trama." Shannon looked to Heather and than to his arms and the rest of his body. "Why is Seshama here?" Shannon asked looking to her. "Because it is 9:45 at night...on December 25th." Shannon groaned. "I missed Christmas...and I had such a great present for you." Heather laughed and said, "I think mine is going to be better than your." Shannon shook his head slowly before Heather leaned down and kissed him. "But, you don't get it until Tomorrow."
