I'm stood in the hospital elevator, waiting for it to reach the 5th floor. It feels like it's taking forever. It finally stops and I get off. I walk swiftly down the long hallway and into room 201. All I see is blood on the floor and on the bed. It's like a horror scene. Something I only wanted to ever see in the movies.
"Who are you looking for?" A woman says behind me.
"Brad. He.. Brad." I stutter.
"He was moved to the ICU." A nurse says as she's cleaning up the blood.
"Thank you." I nod.
I make my way back to the elevator and to the ICU. I walk past the rooms, hoping to see his face through one of the windows. Finally, I do. I lay my hand on the handle, throw open the door and walk in. The room is empty. I was told his family was contacted and they are on their way here. I walk over and pull a chair up to the bed. I sit in the chair and stare at his chest moving up and down. The room is completely silent except for the sound of the heart monitor beeping. It's an annoying beep but i'm used to it. I've been in the hospital plenty of times. The silence is ruined by the sound of the door opening. I look at the door and see the doctor stood there. I stand up to greet him.
"Are you Meghan?"
"Sure am."
"Says here your.. his wife." He looks at the paper.
"Ex wife."
"Ex?" He questions.
"It's a long story. Can you just tell me what the hell happened?"
"He was crossing the street when a car sped along and it hit him. He has some internal bleeding and severe bruising. His CT came out clear but he's going to need further testing."
"Oh my God." I sit back down in my chair. But I brought him home last night. I made sure he was dropped off at the motel. This can't be happening right now.
* * * *
Brad woke up the next morning and after I explained to him what happened we're sat in silence. Complete silence. I think he finally realizes what drinking does to him.
"Where's my mother?" He asks, looking at the ceiling.
"She should be on her way. They called last night. But everyones so far away."
"Yeah I get it."
"I'm gonna go call Chris and tell him to bring in the kids."
I get up and walk out of the room. I call Chris and he says he'll bring them in right away.
About an hour later the room door opens the kids walk in, Chris behind them.
"I'll give you guys some time." I say, taking Chris out of the room.
We go down to the coffee place and get some coffee.
"I can't believe he's in here."He says, sipping his drink.
"I know." I sigh.
"He's my best friend. How'd I abandon him like that?"
"We all thought there was no hope for him. Don't bring yourself down." I say, grabbing his hand.
When our coffee is done we get on the elevator to go check on the kids. When the elevator door opens I see the kids stood outside the room and nurses and doctors running into the room. I run over to them.
"Daddy.. He's..."
I look through the window and see him seizing on the bed.
"Okay lets go down here."
We all go to the waiting room and sit there. Soon, the kids all fall asleep. One of the doctors was nice enough to loan us an on-call room for the kids to sleep in. Chris and I stay in the waiting room.
"What are you doing here?" Chris asks someone. I look up and see Macy walking towards us.
"I thought I'd come and check on you guys. How you holding up?" She asks, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm doing fine." I fake a smile. Truth is, i'm not. I'm doing terrible. But I refuse to let anyone see it.
* * * *
"He's out of surgery." The doctor tells me as I'm waking up in the chair in the waiting room.
"Is he.. Is he okay?"
"He's fine. As of right now."
"What do you mean right now?"
"There were some complications. We weren't able to stop the bleeding on the brain."
"Oh God." I say, turning to Chris for comfort.
"Make him comfortable and keep him surrounded until it's his time. I'm so sorry." The doctor walks away.
"Let's go." Chris says, leading me down towards the room.
I look in the window and see him lid down in his bed, connected to wires and covered in blankets. I let Chris go in first since they've known each other longer than I've known him.
When Chris comes out he doesn't say anything to me. He sits in the chair across the hall. I slowly walk to the door and go inside the room.
"Your crying." He says weakly to me.
"I am." Not even realising it.
"Stop. This is not how I want to remember you." He looks at me.
"And this isn't how I want to remember you." I say to him.
I walk to the bed as slowly as I can. I reach the side of it and prop myself gently next to him. I lay my head on his shoulder and put my arms around his waist. I feel his arm wrap around me, pulling me too him. I can tell he's in pain by the way he winces when I touch him but he doesn't say anything.
"I'm going to remember you as the girl I was in love with in highschool. The one I had my first children with. You made my dreams come true. And I should've thanked you for that every single day. But I didn't."
"It's okay." I whisper into his chest.
"I love you Meghan." He says, stroking my hair.
Then, just like that, his chest stops moving and his hand isn't stroking my hair anymore.