Categories > Original > Drama
It’ll be okay she told me. He’ll be just fine, you’ll see. Coaxed the elderly nurse as she eased my stiff fingers off of the gurney.
I watched with a deathly blank expression as they whisked him away down the hall toward the ER. After the gurney and the small handful of doctors disappeared around the next corner I felt weakness overcome me and as I stumbled forward blindly, the nurse held my forearm in an attempt to steady me. Her feeble attempt was in vain and I collapsed to the ground into a slow spreading puddle of crimson. Then everything went black.
The car skidding…..the jarring impact…..the shattering of glass…..the terror…..frightened faces….orange and crimson flames reaching toward the sky……an explosion……screams replaced with white noise…….blacking out……running through the hospital…..blood……..
“Kevin!” I screamed as I bolted upright in the hospital bed. I frantically searched my surroundings for my brother only to realize he wasn’t there. I took a few deep breaths to calm my breathing and slowly looked around the white hospital room again. Empty. Suddenly I heard a click and my eyes darted toward the door to see my frail mother standing in the doorway. My sheepish grin became a shocked frown as I noticed her red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked face.
“Mom….?” I called cautiously.
She looked up as if she had only just realized I was there. The moment our eyes met she burst into tears again and ran over to embrace me in a death grip. I gasped in surprise.
“Mom,” I gently pulled out of the hug and looked her dead in the eyes, “What’s wrong?”
“Alex,” I looked past my mother at the door and saw my father standing there, his face unshaven and his expression grim, “Kevin….”
He looked as if he were choking on his words.
“Kevin didn’t make it, Alex. He died during his surgery an hour ago.”
I lost it. I screamed my brother’s name so loudly and so many times that my parents finally had to call in the nurses to sedate me. As I fought, scratched, and yelled at them to let me go, I experienced a sensation in my right arm that felt like ice slipping through my veins. In a matter of minutes I had slipped back into unconsciousness.
Days later after I got out of the hospital I found myself standing on the edge of a hole in the ground with my parents, surrounded by my brother’s friends and teachers, watching them lower his casket into the cold earth. We finally said our good-byes and got in the car to go home. When we got to the house I immediately went to Kevin’s room and sat on his bed. I noticed his guitar sitting in its stand at the foot of his bed.
Suddenly I felt as if a fire had lit up inside me. I gently picked up the guitar. If he couldn’t live his dream anymore…. I strummed the guitar. I would live it for him…..
I watched with a deathly blank expression as they whisked him away down the hall toward the ER. After the gurney and the small handful of doctors disappeared around the next corner I felt weakness overcome me and as I stumbled forward blindly, the nurse held my forearm in an attempt to steady me. Her feeble attempt was in vain and I collapsed to the ground into a slow spreading puddle of crimson. Then everything went black.
The car skidding…..the jarring impact…..the shattering of glass…..the terror…..frightened faces….orange and crimson flames reaching toward the sky……an explosion……screams replaced with white noise…….blacking out……running through the hospital…..blood……..
“Kevin!” I screamed as I bolted upright in the hospital bed. I frantically searched my surroundings for my brother only to realize he wasn’t there. I took a few deep breaths to calm my breathing and slowly looked around the white hospital room again. Empty. Suddenly I heard a click and my eyes darted toward the door to see my frail mother standing in the doorway. My sheepish grin became a shocked frown as I noticed her red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked face.
“Mom….?” I called cautiously.
She looked up as if she had only just realized I was there. The moment our eyes met she burst into tears again and ran over to embrace me in a death grip. I gasped in surprise.
“Mom,” I gently pulled out of the hug and looked her dead in the eyes, “What’s wrong?”
“Alex,” I looked past my mother at the door and saw my father standing there, his face unshaven and his expression grim, “Kevin….”
He looked as if he were choking on his words.
“Kevin didn’t make it, Alex. He died during his surgery an hour ago.”
I lost it. I screamed my brother’s name so loudly and so many times that my parents finally had to call in the nurses to sedate me. As I fought, scratched, and yelled at them to let me go, I experienced a sensation in my right arm that felt like ice slipping through my veins. In a matter of minutes I had slipped back into unconsciousness.
Days later after I got out of the hospital I found myself standing on the edge of a hole in the ground with my parents, surrounded by my brother’s friends and teachers, watching them lower his casket into the cold earth. We finally said our good-byes and got in the car to go home. When we got to the house I immediately went to Kevin’s room and sat on his bed. I noticed his guitar sitting in its stand at the foot of his bed.
Suddenly I felt as if a fire had lit up inside me. I gently picked up the guitar. If he couldn’t live his dream anymore…. I strummed the guitar. I would live it for him…..
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