As I ran inside the hospital, I ran towards a nurse who was going to talk to someone else.
"Do you know a Rhett? He has brown hair and brown eyes?" I asked hurriedly.
Her eyes widened. "Yes, follow me,"she replied and rushed me into a room.
"What the hell? Where is he?" I asked as I gave her a confused look, but all what she did was smiling sadly and then leaving the room. I was going to yell at her, but then I heard someone coughing, so I turned around, and I gasped. He was lying there in the bed, trying to regain his breathing, but he sighed harshly. There were lots of tubes attached to his arm, and there was a large bandage covering the side of his stomach, a black eye, his lips were busted, and his right leg was in a cast. I wanted to cry.
Instead, I walked over to him and whispered "Rhett?"
He fluttered his eyes opened and he gave me a small sweet smile. "Hey Zayden," he said raspy.
"How can you say hi to me? You're a mess! Who did this to you? I'll beat the shit-" I started to say but Rhett cut me off.
"It's fine, Zayden. The prick only did this for a stupid reason."
"It couldn't be a stupid reason if someone did this to you!" I argued, and he sighed and ran his hands over his face. "Zayden, I know you care but let's not talk about him."
"Sure. Let's appreciate how fucked up you look like right now," I announced annoyingly and he chuckled, but the whined.
"Don't make me laugh, it hurts so much" he said, his voice was so little and broken. Again, I wanted to cry. Or to kill that stupid asshole who hurt him like that.
"Just tell me who did this to you and we can talk about something else," I demanded.
"I don't know." I looked at him straight in the eyes and he was telling the truth. Why would someone do this to him? He didn't do anything bad..Or did he?
"Rhett, did you do anything bad?" I asked when I came back to reality. He had his eyes closed. That's when I realized his heart meteor was in a flat line and then the doctors came rushing in.
"Get the Defibrillator!" A doctor screamed and ripped open his shirt.
"Wait, he's going to be alright, right? You can bring him back to life!" I screamed.
The same nurse who told showed me Rhett's room, and was talking to Cassandra, held my arms and said softly, "You have to go Zayden. I know this would be hard for you."
Then she softly pushed me out of the room. There was a big window so I could see what the doctors were doing. They put the two pads on his chest and I heard "Clear!"
Rhett chest popped up, arching his back. But he fell back down and the heart meteor was still on the flat line. The doctor did it again and I was hoping Rhett would come back.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
The doctor shook his head and Rhett eyes didn't open. That's when I lost it. I started banging on the window, screaming "Do it again! Rhett! Wake up!" Then I punched the window, but it didn't break. I punched it again and again but the window wouldn't break.
"Rhett! You can't die now!" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around to see my dad, Cassandra, Cade, and Eden.
"What's going on?" Eden asked but Cade dragged him away from us. Cassandra looked at the window and shook her head. Her eyes glistered with tears and my dad was holding her.
"I'm sorry, Zayden. I know he was a good kid," my dad said and put a hand on my shoulder.
I roughly shrugged him, still staring at Rhett. "What do you mean was? He is a good kid."
My dad didn't say anything after that. The only sound I heard was Cassandra's cries and my dad saying sweet things to make her stop crying. I closed my eyes and looked down. In those moments, I only wanted to have two things so badly, they were my only two hopes in life, and I was ready to do anything in my power to have them. The first thing was that Rhett would wake up. Even if it means that he was pretending to be dead, we'll just have a big laugh and he'll be healthy and happy, and a live.
The other thing was, I wished if he passed away, that I'll be able to see him like I saw my mom. He'd never leave me as she has never left. I shut my eyes tightly and tried not to let the tears fall down. I didn't want Rhett to be gone. I wanted him to hold me and I wanted to feel his warm cheek when I kiss him. I didn't want him to be cold the whole time. To the end of the time.
I wanted people to know that he's actually there and that I wasn't just making him up in my mind. I snapped my eyes opened when I felt cold finger tips on my cheek. I glanced at who it was and I just shook my head.
"He's not gone," she whispered.
"Don't you see him right there? His heart stopped," I whispered back.
"Tell them to do it again."
"I already did!" I almost screamed.
"Tell them again," my mom said and the coldness disappeared. I sighed and looked up to see the doctors about to put the blanket over his head when I banged on the window.
"Do it again! Please! " I screamed. They looked at each other and nodded. The doctor put the pads on Rhett's chest and the doctor looked at me straight in the eyes. I nodded and with one big zap, the doctor screamed "Clear!"
Rhett's back arched and he snapped his eyes opened. He fell back down and I waited for a few seconds to see if he was going to close his eyes. He didn't. Rhett turned his head towards me and there was confusion in his eyes.
"Rhett!" I screamed and stormed through the door.
"Oh my god!" One of the doctors shouted.
"Hold that kid out!" he shouted again pointing at me.
"NO! I want to stay here!"
"Take him out!" he shouted and then turned back to examine Rhett again.
Few minutes later, all the doctors went out of the room and one of them walked towards me and my father were we were standing.
"I'm Dr. Stewart," he introduced himself and shook my father's han.
"Your son saved his friend's life today, we all are grateful for your being here today, young man," he said and offered me his hand to shake. I didn't. I ran past him, and stormed into Rhett's room again. I found him with his eyes opened, and he smiled to me when our eyes met. How could he laugh like that? I ran towards him and squeezed him in a big hug. Rhett sneaked his arm to my back and hugged back lightly.
Tears streamed down on my face, but I couldn't keep the stupid grin off my face. I didn't know why I was crying, or even if I was laughing or crying, or doing both together. I was officially losing my mind. But that didn’t matter. Rhett mattered. He was the only thing which mattered in that moment, and he was alive, and warm and smiling at me like the stupid fool who he was.
When I let go of him, I dried my cheeks in the sleeves of my t-shirt, and noticed bandages on his arms and one thought came to my mind. I was going to ask him about his bandages but the rest of the people came and I didn't want them to know. Cassandra stopped crying and she was smiling bright like always.
"You almost gave us a heart attack, Rhett!" Cassandra exclaimed and slapped his arm lightly.
He gave her a goofy grin and said "It hurts like a bitch."
She slapped him again and I chuckled. I looked around and saw everyone there. Cassandra, my dad, Eden, Cade, and even Shane Nolan.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
He smiled and patted my shoulder. "I heard you screaming your lungs out so I thought about checking what's with the commotion," he said and I smiled. He looked the same the last time I saw him but this time he had a bandage on the side of his head. The doctor walked out and then walked in again with a smile on his face.
"Nice to see everyone here," he said and his smiled widened. He talked off about what's wrong with Rhett but I wasn't paying attention. I kept looking around into their faces, and thought about what the doctor said.
Yeah, everyone was there. It felt nice and a whole family.