Thera ^
Chaos broke out. You would think, hey, it's only like 20 people, no big deal. Right? Right? Wrong.
Maple and Misty started crying, too. Cora started running around trying to keep things calm and soothe people, along with Olivia. Some of the guys started pacing back and forth, racking hands through their hair or rubbing the backs of their necks. Giovanni even put an arm around Barbie to comfort her. Ian came over to me.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
"Well I'm not peachy-keen if that's what you're asking!" I snapped, before realizing that it wouldn't help the situation at all. I sighed. "Ian, I'm sorry. There isn't a need for me to get angry with you. Is there any way to get to him or find out more on what happened?"
"I called a friend of our dad's," Duke said as he walked over with his sister Destiny following close behind. "We know which hospital he's heading to."
"Duke and I were going to head over," Destiny supplied. I looked over at Andi to see what state she was in.
I pointed at Duke. "You need to stay here and comfort Andi, tell her everything will be alright."
"But I ne-"
"Ut-uh nope," I silenced him. "You to Andi, now." He finally nodded and went back to the poor blonde that threw her arms around Duke as soon as he sat down next to her and buried her face in his chest. I turned back to Ian.
"Who do you think should go?" I asked him. He scratched the back of his neck looking around.
"It shouldn't be someone in a bad state," he said, "because if the guest is freaking out that could jeopardize either Graham's state or the doctors around him. I'm definitely going, Destiny is going. You can come if you want to, but I'm not sure if you'll be needed here."
I glanced around at everyone, most of whom were actually my friends now. "What good would I do here?"
"The same thing you did with Duke," he told me, a small smile pulling at his lips. "You knew who needed to go where to comfort someone else. Maybe you could set up everyone else like that," he suggested. I shook my head though.
"I want to be there for Graham." Ian nodded.
"Fair enough," he agreed.
"What's going on?" Rye asked coming into our little group. "Is someone going to Graham?"
Ian nodded an affirmative. "Thera, Destiny and I—"
"I want in," he said, stepping closer to my side. Ian looked at me for approval. I nodded; I found no reason not to. It would probably be good to have him there with us, four was a nice, even number. We departed before anyone else could question us or try to join. Too big of a number, no matter how calm they appeared, wouldn't be good once we were all at the hospital.
"You got the address, Destiny?" Ian asked as we exited Amanda's house. It was nearly dark out, but we all loaded up into my car. Although Ian was pretty much in charge of this, he had driven his motorcycle here and that clearly couldn't seat everyone.
"No, but I know which hospital," she said and told us.
"I know where that is," Rye spoke up. He shifted uncomfortably, and dropped his eyesight momentarily. I was going to ask him what that was all about, but he switched to the front seat with Ian and started giving directions. I figured I should be focused while driving after the news that was just given. The whole way to the hospital Rye gave directions on which road to take or turn down. Just because I didn't focus on it doesn't mean that I still didn't wonder how he knew so well. Arriving there, we all rushed in and lined up against the front desk. We all started talking at once, much to the lady's un-surprise. Apparently she has to deal with this a lot.
"Please, you have to calm down. One at a time please," she asked nicely. Destiny put a hand to her mouth and turned away. Ian and Rye on either side turned towards me. I cleared my throat.
"Is there a Graham here? Graham Rucker?" I didn't know quite what I was supposed to say in this situation, but I just told her what we knew. "He was in a car accident and we were informed that he came here. Is there any information that can be given about him? We have a lot of people that are concerned."
She clicked on her computer for a moment before giving us a look of pity. No, my heart plummeted.
"There's a report here for a crash, two people came in. One, despite our every efforts..." she trailed off. Oh God, I thought, clutching my chest. A single tear rolled down my face.
"Wait," Ian's voice was shaky too. "You said there were two people in that crash?" The lady checked her screen again and nodded.
"What's the condition of the other?" Rye jumped in. A few clicks.
"Still alive, so far the reports only mention a broken wrist and internal bleeding. It seems that this subject wore a seatbelt and the other didn't. This shows why it's so important."
"This isn't time for a lecture lady, we need to know if our friend is alive!" Destiny, much to my surprise, snapped at her. The lady's eyes widened slightly.
Standing up, she walked around to where we were standing. I got prepared to fight in case she had gotten offended or something, but she just told us to follow her. She led us to the emergency room section and stopped us before entering a room on her own. I huddled against Destiny's arm and she squeezed back. "Please be alive, please be alive," she whispered.
"You can enter," the receptionist said, "but only one at a time."
We looked at each other. "Who first?" I voiced. Destiny nudged me.
"You go," she said. Neither guy disagreed, so I stepped through the doorway. Two more tears fell from what I saw. I nearly fell down in my relief.
"Graham," I said, my voice sounding like a sob. My hand few up to cover my mouth. There were scratches all over his face. His chest and right wrist were bandaged in white cloth, while a smaller bandage was placed on his shin. "Oh Graham, I'm so glad you're alive." I stood next to his bed and went to reach for his hand to hold, but realized that I couldn't. Awkwardly, I pat the sides of my legs and wipe some of the sweat that had collected on them off. A male nurse entered.
"Girlfriend?" he asked when he saw me standing there. I let out a tense hah sound.
"No, I'm just a friend." He nodded.
"Well, I have to check some of his vitals, if you'll excuse me. He's still unconscious and probably will be for another hour or so. While the doctor said there was some internal bleeding from the impact of the airbag, he should be able to recover fully." I thanked him and excused myself to go back to the other three. Relaying what I saw and what the nurse told me, more tears escaped Destiny's face.
"At least he's alive," she breathed out. "I should go call the others to let them know."
"Yeah," Ian agreed. "Outside might have better reception." She quickly left, pulling out her phone. He watched her leave, then turned back to us. "Who was the other person?" he asked with insistency. Crap. I hadn't even thought to ask who else was in the car with him. Who would Graham wake up without? It probably wasn't anyone that I knew, but it was going to be bad for him. I felt my chest constrict.
"We need to find out who," Rye insisted as he left to find someone to ask.
"What can we do for Graham?" Ian questioned. Taking a look at him, he needed to being doing something to help with the situation, or at least to make it seem like he was helping.
"I can take first watch, if you want to take Destiny and Rye back to the others. When you arrive, make sure Destiny explains everything correctly and it doesn't get lost in translation. Work out a watch schedule for at least the next week; I don't want Graham to be staying alone whether he'll be asleep or awake. He needs company. Then, set the next watch for three hours from now and bring me food when you come. I like peaches."
Ian was serious until the last part where he cracked a little smile at the memory of remembering my obsession with peaches. Rye came trotting back over to us. His face was red and I could see sorrow resonating in his eyes.
"His brother," he said softly. "It was his older brother." We were all crestfallen. Ian quickly relayed what he and I had worked out to Rye, but he objected on one part.
"I'll stay here with Thera first shift," he insisted. "You take Destiny back to the others."
Ian left with Destiny while Rye and I sat down in Graham's room. There was only one seat and not enough room for the doctors and nurses, so we ended up sitting on the floor against the wall. I was still pretty shaken up, so Rye wrapped me in his arms and I leaned back into him. We sat there, listening to the heart monitor beep and the occasional update from a hospital staff, praying that Graham wake up soon.