Young Writers Society

I cried before you did, actually. When you questioned where your dad was, before you even got any answers, my own tears had started. And when you found out that he was actually gone, well, let’s just say the nurses considered giving me a tranquilizer too.

They gave you one right before you started asking, and for a few moments you were okay, but after that it was completely gone and you were screaming again as soon as you got the news about your dad.

Then, just as abruptly as you started, you stopped.

You did that thing where your eyes stare off into space, and you went deadly quiet. I saw the nurses mentally high-fiving themselves for managing to calm you down, when suddenly, something bizarre happened.

First it was just your left hand. It twitched and shook, a heavy beat spreading up your arm and down into your right hand too.

“Uh oh,” the doctor said, and then everything happened at once. Uncalled, it seemed, three more nurses ran into the room, and suddenly they and the doctor were shouting words and numbers and phrases I’d never heard before. Your whole body was twitching and jumping around then, so much so that I half-worried you might unconsciously throw yourself off the bed. I couldn’t help but wonder if this hadn’t been your intention to begin with.

Suddenly everyone was yelling even louder, with a new urgency. Two of the nurses moved to the near side of your bed and blocked you from my view, and that’s about when I began screaming too.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong with you.

And then they were taking you, taking you away from me, as they wheeled you toward the door of our room. Without even realizing what I was doing, I continued to scream and flung myself off the bed, pulling myself after you, ripping out of my arms the IV’s that were holding me back.

One nurse tried to grab me and pull me away from you, but I fought tooth-and-nail, and finally the doctor said, “Just take the damn kid!”

Finally, I thought. That’s all I had wanted.

And now, I am sitting in a chair in your brand new room, watching you. The doctor had rushed you into a bustling corridor, me following behind the entire time - that got strange looks from the orderlies - and then into another isolated room. All of the nurses began working over you then, hooking you up to all these strange machines. This all only went on for less than about thirty seconds, but it was the most agonizing time of my life. Right as you stopped twitching, everyone calmed down. They put an IV in your arm and sent for some kind of scans; I didn’t pay attention to what he said they were.

On a green screen next to your head, a green line blips up and down. A heart monitor of some kind. The beeping is monotonous and is beginning to make me crazy.

There is a rush into the room then - that’s the only way I can describe it; all the air seems to whoosh out like a waterfall and in its place comes your mom and brother.

When your mom walks in, she sits down next to me and gives me a hug, even though I still don’t know her name or anything. I guess superficial stuff like that doesn’t matter in trying situations; tragedy brings people closer together. I think of your dad and realize that, unfortunately, it can also tear people apart.

Your brother sits down in the chair on my other side and holds out his hand. He’s a few years older than me and is wearing a backwards baseball cap. “Nick,” he says, when I shake his hand. I guess he is going to bother with formalities after all.

“Cole,” I say, and just like that our introduction is over; all three of us sit and just watch you like we’re waiting for a miracle. I suppose, after all, we are.

The doctor comes back in then holding a clipboard. He tersely nods at your family and doesn’t even bat an eye at the fact I’m still here. I guess everyone’s finally adjusting to the fact that I’m not about to leave your side.

“Well,” the doctor says, dragging up a stool to face all three of us. “The full... effects of lightning strikes on victims can really only be discovered to their full extent and dealt with as the problems arise. A lightning strike is a high amount of heat and current charging through the body; it can affect both the heart and brain.” Your mom is already crying and he hasn’t even giving us any news yet. “Seizures was something we were watching out for; it’s a common affect of the lightning strikes.”

“She’s fine though, right?” Nick says, wiping his nose on his sleeve.

“Yes, she will be just fine. Like I said, these problems will have to be dealt with as they arise. There are certain medications that she will have to be on to prevent the seizures, but she’s young enough that with any luck she may grow out of them.”

“Why don’t I get them?” I ask.

The doctor just looks at me for a moment. “You didn’t have nearly as much current. Yours was, by comparison, very minor. As I told your family the last time you visited, you should be released within the next week. You will still have to report regularly though for scans and be kept under close watch for any other side effects, such as migraines. You’re lucky, you know.”

His conversation shifts from me to your family again as he goes over the details of seizures. What they should do with you in the event of a seizure, what kind of medicine you will have to take, what to watch out for.

I look at you, chest heaving on the bed across from us, and wonder just who is going to check to make sure that all this is going to be done. Who will make sure that they do all they are supposed to if and when you have another seizure? Who will make sure that you always take your medication? How will they remember every minute detail they need to watch out for?

There’s an awful lot to remember. Not that I don’t trust them, but, well, it’s just... your dad was the one who watched out for you. But he is gone now, and where does that leave you?

Your family is going through their own loss. How can they be burdened with making sure they’re properly doing everything they need to?

I see what I need to do then, clear as day. I will be the one who watches out for you. I will make sure that everything for you is perfect.

And I will never let you go.

_______________________________________

Again, this is a novel I completed a few weeks ago. It's 50 chapters total and the full version can be viewed here: http://www.wattpad.com/1589650-c-h-a-s- ... logue-cole