The door to the small hospital room we were sitting in slowly opened and in walked Dr. Ernie, the man who had removed the knife from Kent's shoulder and wrapped up my broken nose after realigning it. Worst pain I had ever experienced.
"How's he been doing in here?" The doctor asked, walking over to the side of Kent's bed and checking on the monitors that continuously beeped.
I was sitting next to Kent's bed, holding on to his limp hand, scared that if I let go he'd somehow stop breathing. The doctor had made it clear that I was only allowed to stay in Kent's room until his parents arrived, which would be soon I was assuming. He also informed me that Charlie was in a room a floor or two below us and was receiving medical treatment as well.
"He's been doing good," I answered the doctor, feeling my eyelids growing heavier by each passing second. It was four in the morning, we had gotten here just after midnight and none of us had gotten any sleep.
Dr. Ernie bent down to examine my swollen face, the blood had stopped dripping out and the pain killers had finally kicked in to numb my face almost completely. He promised I wouldn't need surgery but for some reason I was doubting that.
"You should try to get some rest, he'll be alright if you fall asleep for a little while, promise," Dr. Ernie really liked his promises. He rested his hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me, reminding me of my grandfather. I just nodded my head and just as quietly as he had entered he left the room again.
"Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Rebecca asked, entering the room for the third time even though she had been told to stay out by several nurses and Dr. Ernie.
"I really hope so," That's all I had been praying and hoping for.
Before Rebecca or I could say anything else there was a loud knock on the door. The sound actually made Kent stir in bed, just a little bit though.
"Come in," Rebecca answered almost right away, although this was not her room and she wasn't even supposed to be here. I was expecting Dr. Ernie to come back into the room but instead a middle aged couple was standing in the doorway. The woman held a tan clutch in her hands and was fiddling with it nervously while the man, although rather stoic looking, seemed slightly worried.
"Oh my, poor Kent!" The woman cried out and threw herself onto the foot of the bed, sobbing into the thin blankets. Were these Kent's parents? He looks nothing like them if so, "I just can't believe my son did this to you!"
I heard the woman say, realizing now that these were Charlie's parents here to check up on Kent.
Or maybe they were here to ask him not to press charges.
"Has he woken up yet?" The tall man turned and asked me. I could see the resemblances of Charlie now. He examined my face but looked away quickly one he realized I was glaring at him.
"No, not yet," I replied, I didn't have the right to tell them to leave but I wish they would. They should be down with their son right now anyway, the least they could do is give Kent the chance to recover for a bit.
As if on cue, Kent stirred in his bed and his eyes slowly cracked open to look around the room. A soft groan left his lips while he tried to sit up but was still too exhausted.
"Lay down, don't try to sit up or move around too much," I whispered, lightly pushed back on Kent's good shoulder so he's lay back down.
"What's goin' on?" He mumbled, glancing through squinted eyes between everyone in the room before looking back to me. His eyes were blood shot and one was almost completely red. Purple, black and blue splotches were becoming darker and darker around his left eye, his jaw and right cheek bone. He looked terrible.
"We're at the hospital, do you remember anything from last night?" I explained while Charlie's dad rushed up to the bed to stand behind his wife who was still sitting at the foot of the bed.
"We are so sorry, on behalf of Charlie and our family, we can explain everything Kent, please," Charlie's dad rambled on while Kent slightly shook his head, trying to piece everything together with what little information was given. He had been hit in the head by Charlie and the doctor said he had a mild concussion.
"Your son stabbed me!" Kent tried not to yell, his eyebrows pulling together in a tight scowl, "I really hope you can explain that,"
Charlie's parents both swallowed hard and straightened up a bit, as if trying to hold on to the last bit of pride they might have left for their son.
"We know how it seems, really we do," Charlie's mother finally started to talk, "Charlie was diagnosed a few years back with a bipolar disorder and was on a strict medication schedule for years. We've just found out that Charlie has in fact not been taking that medication for . . . well we don't even know how long he hasn't been taking them,"
"We thought he was doing so well, we were so proud of him. He was always telling us how great school was going and that he was staying on top of his meds and counseling we had set up for him. It was a tough decision to even let him go to that school of yours, but he always wanted to be around you Kent, you were like a brother to him," Kent winced at the mention of how close he and Charlie once were.
Charlie's dad stepped up to speak now, as his mother was too choked up. "The doctor's downstairs also told us there were other things involved, something to do with Ambien and alcohol, we're not completely sure yet. I don't even know where he would have gotten those things. . . we should have check up on him, but at Thanksgiving when he came home he seemed to be doing so well. . ."
Charlie's dad reached over and rubbed his wife's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Tears were still pouring down her face and I actually felt bad for both of them. They just wanted to see their son happy and healthy.
"He's a good kid," Charlie's mother stated confidently, "He just needs to be on his medication regularly, you know he loves you Kent,"
"Obviously not. I firmly believe he was going to kill me tonight if he had gotten the chance," Kent responded harshly. I didn't blame him, Charlie had lost it and hurt both of us, Kent more than anything.
"We have a huge favor to ask of you Kent, please, please, don't press charges," Charlie's mom sobbed out, blowing her nose loudly into the tissue she had been clutching and gaining a disgusted look from Rebecca, who was being nosy and curiously watching this whole situation from the corner of the room that she was not supposed to be in.
"What?" Kent yelled now, sitting up more despite the pain, "Are you nuts? He attacked me and stabbed me! Not to mention broke Sadie's nose and drugged all of our friends!"
"We are aware," Charlie's dad responded coldly, "you two have grown up together, you know Charlie is good, Kent. He's just very . . . sick and lost right now, he needs help not a jail cell,"
"He deserves to be locked up and you know it," As Kent spoke, Charlie's mom sobbed even louder than before and threw herself into her husbands arms.
"Please, Kent, we are begging you. He'll come home with us and we'll get him the help he needs and deserves. This shouldn't be something that ruins the rest of his life, please," Kent sat in the hospital bed completely still, holding onto my hand while he glanced between Charlie's parents.
The rom was awkwardly quiet for a while, other than the steady beeping from the machines booked up to Kent, no one said a word. I stared at Rebecca, secretly hoping she had an answer for this situation but how could she? What should Kent do? What should I do? Kent wasn't the only one Charlie assaulted tonight.
"I'll think about it and that's all I'll say for now," Kent finally answered and even though Charlie's parents were visibly upset, they didn't push anything else.
"We are going to go back down to Charlie now, we'll tell him you're both doing well," They began to walk out of the room when Kent called out to stop them.
"I'd appreciate if you never told him anything about me, or Sadie, ever again," The couple simply nodded and left the room as fast as they could.
"Could you give us a minute?" Kent asked Rebecca who quickly followed the couples actions and left the room just as fast, mumbling something about needing to find some food anyway.
"I'm so sorry Sadie," Kent squeezed my hand and opened his mouth to continue talking but I leaned forward to kiss him before he could.
Finally being able to kiss Kent made my heart flutter inside my chest and my cheeks burn. Kent cupped the side of my face and pulled me close to him, his thumb rubbing gentle circles on my cheek before gently pulling away, keeping his forehead pressed against mine.
"I should be the one apologizing right now, I feel like this is all my fault," I whispered while staring down at our hands laced together, hot tears starting to roll down my face.
"This wasn't just about you Sadie, you heard Charlie himself. He had a lot of anger and hatred built up towards me that I honestly had no idea about," Kent laid his head back against the bed and sighed, "I had no idea my best friend hated me so much,"
I leaned forward and rested my cheek against his shoulder, not knowing what I could say to help at this moment. Maybe just being here for Kent would be enough, it had to be. This was a lot to process for both of us. No doubt some counseling would be a smart decision for both of us in the future.
Kent carefully pulled me up so I was laying in the small hospital bed with him, resting his good arm around my shoulders and keeping me close. I think both of us were scared that if we let go of each other, one of us would disappear.
We talked for a little bit, recounting the memories we had made this year and everything that would be waiting for us after break. I told Kent I planned on applying to come back to school for our senior year and he was excited about that, promising we could make it through the remainder of our junior year if we had made it through this mess. Kent slowly drifted back into a peaceful sleep and soon enough so did I, listening to his steady heartbeat and breathing.
I didn't know what was going to happen when his parents showed up, I'd be meeting them for the first time in the worst way possible and I didn't know what I was going to tell my parents about the large hospital bill that was sent to our insurance. All I knew in this moment was that Kent was okay, we both were okay and that meant everything else was going to be okay.