Colby yawned loudly, groaning at the sound of his phone ringing loudly by his ear. Shuffling around in his little cocoon of fluffy blankets, Colby reached out to grab his phone, the loudness of the device confusing his ears, which have heard nothing but silence during his peaceful nights sleep. Colby's eyebrows furrowed when he saw the caller ID and the time. Elton Castee was ringing him at.... 2:30am in the morning. What the hell could he want. Groaning, Colby answered the phone and held it to his ear.
"What do you want?" Colby grumbled, slightly ticked off that he was awoken from his deep slumber.
"Colby?" Elton said into the phone.
"That's my name, don't wear it out," Colby yawned, flopping his head back onto his pillow.
"Colby..... dude I'm so sorry," the elder sighed, causing Colby's heart to pound slightly in his chest.
"What's going on?" Colby mumbled, a little more awake now.
"Listen, it was an accident ok? We were just messing around and..."
Colby gulped as Elton trailed off.
"Elton?" Colby whispered, sitting up in bed now.
"I'm at the hospital," Elton sighed.
"Why? Elton what's happened," Colby questioned, pushing the blankets of him and kicking his legs free.
"We were just messing around, in this abandoned building. Me, Sam, Corey and Jake," Elton explained.
That was right. Colby was supposed to be going out with them, but a sudden wave of tiredness and a need to film a YouTube video kept him from tagging along.
"I don't even know what happened. He must of been climbing, maybe he slipped or something because I just turned around and he was, he was just laying there and...."
"Who!" Colby interrupted, swinging his legs over the bed.
"Sam..."
Colby stood up, putting Elton on speaker as he hurriedly threw on a hoodie and some jogging bottoms.
"Where is he? Which hospital?" Colby asked, tugging his shoes onto his feet, grabbing his set of keys (including his car keys) and wallet, making for the front door.
"*insert hospital name*" Elton responded.
"Is he ok? I mean, is he.... just is he awake?" Colby breathed out, trying to remain calm as he stumbled out of his apartment, locking the door behind him.
"I don't know, they haven't updated me. They took him to the emergency department. Jake's with him," elton said, sighing heavily.
"How bad... how bad is it, Elton?"
Colby asked, pushing some buttons on a elevator, scrapping it all together when it didn't come straight away, jogging down the stairs instead.
Elton was quiet, deadly quiet. It made Colby's skin crawl.
"Elton?" Colby repeated.
After a few beats of silence, Elton responded.
"Pretty bad, Colby...."
Colby held back tears as he darted out of the lobby, jogging down the street where his red car was parked. He got in as quickly as possible.
"The nurses will tell you more when you get here," Elton added, after hearing no response from the younger male.
"He wanted to see you, Colby."
Colby closed his eyes, letting his tears spill over.
"I-I'm gonna hang up so I can drive. P-please tell him i'm on my way? Ok," Colby begged, doing up his seatbelt and wiping his wet eyes with his sleeve.
After Elton agreed, Colby hung up the phone, letting out a shaky sigh as he started the car, driving to the hospital as quickly as he could.
{time skip}
The dreaded building came into view, and Colby felt tears building in his eyes as he parked the car. Elton has texted him saying he was waiting outside. Taking long, shaky breaths, Colby took a second to compose himself and wipe his red eyes before getting out the car, slipping his phone inside his pocket and walking towards the entrance. Sure enough, he saw Elton, leaning against the wall looking up at the sky.
"Hey," Colby breathed out, when he was close enough for Elton to hear him. Elton shot his head down to meet Colby's gaze, trying to offer a weak smile to the brunette with red, puffy eyes. "Did you tell him?"
Colby asked. "That I was coming?"
Elton shook his head.
"I popped my head round, he wasn't awake," Elton sighed.
"What do you mean he wasn't awake?" Colby panicked, nervously playing with the sleeves of his hoodie.
"I mean he was sleeping, Colby. Just come on, we're allowed to see him. He's just, not in the best way," Elton said sadly.
"He only got here an hour ago. They're assessing his injuries before they do anything else."
Colby stuck his hands in his pockets, as he followed Elton into the hospital, down a corridor and into a big, open area.
"He's just in the ED at the moment, they'll move him to a ward when they know what they're dealing with," Elton said softly, looking back at Colby. Colby looked around, cringing as he took in the many cubicles filled with patients, sitting in their hospital gowns on the uncomfortable looking beds, heads down, waiting for treatment. Elton stopped outside a small room, the room having glass doors that you could see right through. Colby's eyes scanned over a sign hooked onto the door.
"It read, 'resus 2'. Now, Colby wasn't a doctor, but he knew that resus was where the really badly injured people went during their stay in the ED. He'd seen plenty of hospital programs to know that if this was where Sam was, he was in a bad way. And sure enough, colby's eyes settled on the person laying in the bed. He could just see a tuft of blonde hair sticking up, and his heart rate sped up. From what he could see, his best friend was laying down, propped up on a couple of pillows with an oxygen mask on his face. He was asleep, but he didn't look too bad, but then, Colby wasn't close enough to determine that yet. Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a middle aged man with dirty blonde hair, a stethoscope hanging loosely round his neck.
"Oh, hello," he smiled, looking at both Colby and Elton. The older male went to introduce himself, but they were interrupted by Jake popping his head around the corner.
"Colby! You're here," the younger boy smiled. Colby nodded towards Jake.
"Oh, so your Colby. Your Sam's friend right?" The man with the stethoscope asked.
"I'm Doctor Noble, I'll be looking after your friend while he's here," the man explained.
"If you don't mind i'd like to talk to you about Sam's injuries before you go in and see him," doctor noble spoke, earning a nod from Colby. Elton excused himself to go and make some phone calls outside and Jake disappeared back into Sams room.
"I-is he ok?" Colby stuttered, lifting his head to look at doctor noble.
"He's - well I wouldn't say he's absolutely fine, but ok? Maybe. Your friend has been involved in a very serious accident, as I'm sure you've heard. His injuries, are as expected, severe. He came in with chest and head trauma. The chest trauma caused a pneumothorax, we inserted a chest drain to re - inflate the lung but I'm still concerned about it. We ruled out any neck or back injuries but he did suffer, as I said before major head trauma. We're waiting for the results of the head scan before we determine what's wrong," doctor noble explained softly. Colby just nodded, even though he barely understood a word. All he knew was his best friend since high school was laying in a hospital bed.
"He's dipping in and out of consciousness. And when he's awake all he does is ask for you," doctor noble smiled as a blush crept onto colby's cheeks.
Suddenly, the door to resus opened, revealing Jake.
"Sorry, but Sam just woke up again. He wants Colby," jake told the two males. Doctor Noble nodded, and Colby walked inside behind Jake. Sam was moving his head to the side as they walked in, trying to claw the breathing mask of his face, with little effect. It was now that Colby got a good look at his friend. He had a white bit of cloth taped to his forehead, obviously the head trauma. His leg was in some kind of weird brace thing, Colby could see it poking out from under the thin blanket that was draped over Sam. Colby could see the clear tube travelling from sam's lung to a little machine next to his bed. Sam must of caught sight of Jake, because he used all his strength to claw of the mask. "W-where's C-colby,"
Sam whispered, his voice scratchy and quiet.
"I w-want C-colby," he stated once again. Colby took a step to the side of Sam's bed.
"Sam," Colby smiled. Sam turned his head to the other side, blinking up at Colby.
"C-colbs?" Sam breathed out, before coughing violently, causing his body to jerk forward, a sound of pain emerging from sam's chapped lips. Colby gently lowered Sam's body back onto the bed.
"Yes, yes it me silly," Colby chuckled fondly. Sam looked back up at his best friend. His eyes were red and irritated, probably from crying. Colby reached out, running the back of his finger across sam's forehead, watching the blonde relax a tiny bit.
"How are you feeling, Sam?" Doctor Noble asked.
"M-my head h-hurts," Sam stuttered, trying his best to keep his eyes open but he could feel them drooping. Colby smiled at his other half, taking the blondes hand in both of his own, grabbing a chair that was pushed up against the wall with his foot and dragging it up behind him. He sat down beside his friend, still holding his cold hand securely.
"You can sleep, ya know Sam," Colby told him, as he watched his blue eyes dropping.
"C-can you stay?" Sam asked, looking down at colby.
"I'm not going anywhere, I promise," Colby answered, smiling when Sam's eyelids finally closed. His friends hand went limp in his after a while and the blondes breathing evened out. Colby bought the pale hand he was holding to his forehead, sighing as he looked up at Sam. Doctor Noble came over and pulled the oxygen mask back up and onto Sam's face.
"He doesn't seem that bad," Colby whispered, eyes scanning Sam's pale complexion.
"On the outside maybe, it's the inside we're worried about," Doctor Noble sighed, before leaving the room. Colby sighed, running a hand through his brown curls, after releasing Sam's hand and letting it rest on the bed.
"Jesus Christ," Colby breathed out, turning around to face Jake, who was leaning against the wall behind him.
"I know dude," Jake sighed. "I didn't know what to do, I don't think anyone did."
"Did you see what happened?" Colby asked.
Jake nodded.
"He was climbing this ladder to get to the second floor, because the stairs were falling apart. I don't know what happened but he must of fallen from the ladder, I don't know. I just..." Jake trailed off as he buried his head in is hands.
"I heard his head hit the ground, Colby."
Colby cringed at the thought, standing up to pull the younger male into a hug. Jake instantly hugged back, sighing as he tried to rid the sound from his head. Colby sighed too. He should have been there. For Sam. For jake. For everyone.
{time skip an hour}
Colby stayed by Sam, as the blonde slept peacefully. Jake left, but was soon replaced with Elton. Colby and Elton spoke about, well nothing in particular. Just anything that came to their mind they pushed through their lips, just to fill the silence in the room. After sitting there for about an hour, Sam started to wake up again. His little eyes opened, searching the room for his best friend. A small smile came onto his lips when he finally located Colby, who was sat in the chair on his phone.
"Welcome back, sleeping beauty," Elton smirked. Colby's head shot up to meet Sam's gaze and he instantly smiled and shut of his phone.
"Hey," Colby smiled. However, that smile disappeared almost instantly when Sam groaned in pain, squeezing his eyes shut and furrowing his eyebrows.
"What?" Colby asked. "What's wrong?"
"Is it your head?" Elton asked, Sam replying to the question with a small nod.
Elton said something about getting doctor noble and left the room. Colby looked down at his best friend, heart breaking.
"Right, budge over," colby instructed.
Sam looked up at him with confused eyes, but did what the brunette said, slowly moving over in his hospital bed. Colby sat down in the space Sam had created, swinging an arm round his friends shoulders. Sam instantly rested his banging head on Colby's shoulder, eyes squeezing shut once again at the pain. Colby bought one of his gentle hands to Sam's hair, running a hand through the soft locks, hoping to take some of the pain away from the blonde, who was obviously in agony. After a few moments, Doctor Noble came through the door.
"What's going on?" The man asked.
"His head," Elton said, as Sam didn't seem like he was going to give an answer, as he pressed himself more into Colby.
"I can give you some more pain relief, if you like Sam?" Doctor Noble asked, as he gently removed the white patch from Sam's head. Colby held in a gasp as he took in the injury. There was a big, gaping cut in Sam's skin that was oozing blood into the boys blonde hair. The doctor pressed his fingers to Sams head, causing the blonde to groan in pain and try to squirm away. Colby retracted the hand from the boys hair and instead ran it along sams shoulder instead, trying to calm him down. Doctor Noble finally lowered the patch back onto Sam's head once again and stepped back. He placed some more pain relief into the IV in Sam's hand, as Colby tracer circles on his friends arms. Sam just sighed, taking the oxygen mask of his face once more and snuggling into Colbys shoulder. "I'll try and trace the results of the head CT, just to make sure we haven't missed -"
The doctor was cut of though, by Sam's eyes falling shut and his body starting to shake in Colby's arms. Colby blinked, and suddenly was pulled off the bed by Elton and pulled back. The doctor rushed to Sam, pressing a red button on the wall and instantly the room was filled with nurses and another doctor. "Ok he's fitting let's get him on his side," Doctor Noble instructed. Sam was soon led on his side, still shaking. All Colby could hear was the alarming beeps of the heart monitor, getting faster and faster by the second. "Let's get some lorazepam, quick as you can please," the other doctor ordered, and a nurse went scurrying out the room. Another nurse held an oxygen mask to Sam's face, holding it there firmly. Finally, the nurse came back in with some lorazepam, giving it to the doctor who administered it into the IV in the blondes hand. Slowly, Sams fitting died down, his body going limp, his eyes closed. "Right, I want to intubate. The boy has serious chest trauma let's not discount that," doctor noble decided.
"You two, could you wait outside please."
Elton and Colby reluctantly walked outside, watching through the window.
"What - what just happened?" Colby blinked. Elton frowned at the younger and squeezed his shoulder. "Lets go and get a coffee, Colby," Elton decided. Colby let Elton drag him away from Sam's room. He was too shocked to protest, anyways.
{time skip}
Colby and Elton had both gotten a drink from the hospital cafe. They were just approaching Sam's room when they were met with a bed being wheeled out of the room. The bed containing a very very pale and frail Sam. He had a tube coming out his mouth, and a nurse was constantly squeezing a pump attached to that tube. Colby blinked, his heart plummeting. "W-where are you taking him?" Colby asked. Doctor Noble stepped out from the room.
"I'm afraid the results of the CT show a bleed on the brain. Unfortunately, Sams going to need surgery before it get's any worse," the man sighed.
"What? Now?" Elton asked, as Colby stepped towards the bed and grasped Sam's hand.
"I'm afraid it can't wait," was the doctors reply. Colby sighed, a tear falling from his eye as he took in the state of his best friend. He slowly leant down and pressed a gentle kiss to the blondes forehead, releasing Sams hand and standing back. The nurses continued pushing the bed away, and doctor noble followed. A kind looking nurse came up to the two males, taking in Colby's distraught face and Elton's worried one. "If you like, you can wait in the relatives room until he's done?" The nurse asked the both of them, to which they nodded. She led them down a small corridor, and into a room with a sofa and a station in the corner where you can make yourself a hot drink. She left Elton and Colby to it, patting Colby on the shoulder before walking away. Colby collapsed onto the sofa, his thoughts revolving around a blonde boy and the pain he was in.
{time skip 4 hours}
4 hours. 4 long, hours Colby and Elton sat in that waiting room. Neither could sleep, too worried about what was going on with their best friend to rest peacefully. Finally, the door to the relatives room opened, revealing doctor noble. He smiled sadly at the two males, Colby obviously was still upset, due to the tear tracks running down his rosy cheeks. "He's stable," the Doctor smiled. Colby let out a shaky sigh of relief, wiping his eyes. "We stopped the bleed, he's ok. He's in ITU, sleeping, but one of you can come sit with him. "You go, Colby. I'm going to call the others and update them," Elton said. Colby nodded, standing up and following doctor noble. They entered a lift, and the older male pressed a button which took them to level 5, the neuro ward. Colby stepped out into the room, following the doctor down some corridors before they came to a door marked "intensive care unit". Doctor Noble opened the door for Colby, beckoning him to go inside. Colby sighed with relief when he saw his friend. Sam was sleeping, an oxygen mask around his face and a white bandage around his small head. Doctor noble left Colby to it, leaving the room. Colby sat down in the chair next to Sam's bed, grasping his hand tightly, eyes filling with happy tears. Sam was ok. Sam was going to be ok.
An hour or so later, the anaesthesia finally wore off and Sam slowly opened his eyes.
"Hey.." Colby spoke, squeezing his best friends hand tightly.
"C-colbs," Sam whispered, his voice croaky from hours of not using it.
"Yeah, yeah I'm here," Colby smiled, stoking the back of Sam's hand.
"You scared me," Colby admitted honestly. Sam looked down at his other half.
"God, Sam. If I'd of lost you.."
Sam couldn't do much to comfort his friend, but he did give Colby's hand a weak squeeze as he shut his eyes. Colby knew Sam needed his sleep to recover, so after bringing Sam's hand to his lips and kissing it softly, he let his smaller friend drift back of into another peaceful sleep.
Wow, that was long one 😂
Ok, so firstly, STRANDED WAS INCREDIBLE OMG!! It was such an amazing series wowwwww 😍
And secondly, Colby's country song 😂
The boy can sing 😂
I can't stop listening to it lmao 😂
Anyways have an amazing day ily 💙