Do It Jakey! //Jake Kiszka

Chapter 30

SEPTEMBER 2016

As Alice Cooper, nurse on duty at the hospital that morning, walks down the hallways, she thinks about what she has just witnessed. Julia Silverman, 24 years old next month. They brought her at the hospital the night before, she felt weak, sick, a sharp pain in her chest and a very high fever. Her roommate called the ambulance, and they brought her there. They spent the whole night on her, trying to understand what was happening, when eventually they found out. Alice has dealt with a lot of different things, working at the hospital, but this is though.

In the waiting room, she recognizes Julia's roommate. She has bright pink hair, easily distinguishable. There are a few people with her. A blonde, tall girl sitting by her side, a bunch of boys probably in their teens, one girl, and two adults, probably their parents. She looks at them, thinking they are probably Julia's family. On the other side of the girl with pink hair and the blonde one, there are three other people. One woman, so little and thin, she can barely see her behind a tall man, who is probably the husband. And then another boy, probably in his late twenties. It must be him, she thinks.

She smiles politely as she gets closer, and they all stand up right away. "Julia Silverman's family, I suppose", she says, and they all nod. As Alice looks at them, she is happy for Julia. All of them considered themselves her family, and they clearly are not all related, although a few look a lot alike.

"she is stable, now. but we'll probably need to go on checking everything". They all look at her scared. "checking what?", the thin woman asks. "She had a pain in her chest, fever, nothing more".

Alice shakes her head. "it looks like it is far more complicated than this, I'm sorry". She brings the papers she has in her hand in front of her face, looking at them without reading anything. After many years, she still can't look at patients' families while talking to them. "you will be able to see her in a few hours. In the meanwhile, I need the father. We have to discuss a few things with the doctor who is taking care of Julia".

The tall man she saw before takes a step forward. "I am her father", he says. "Robert Silverman. She is Julia's mother", he says motioning at the thin woman on his side, "and her brother", this time the man motions to the boy in his late twenties. Alice looks at them confused.

The man speaks again. "we are her family, what do we have to do?".

"oh, no. I wasn't talking about you", Alice says. "I didn't explain myself well, I'm sorry". She feels everyone's eyes on her. "I need the father of the baby".

As she looks around, she can only see shocked faces. "Julia's pregnant. Didn't you know that?".

And Jake feels the whole world on his shoulders. He stayed in his corner the whole time, perfectly knowing what would happen if he dared to say anything in front of Julia's parents. He knows they hate him. Dave is great, but Julia's parents... no, he doesn't really like them. And right after the initial shock, he sees Robert turning to him. "what the hell have you done!?", he yells.

Jake is unable to move, everyone else is still shocked. Josh takes a step in front of his brother. "no need to yell at him", he says firmly.

Robert rolls his eyes. "please don't put yourself into others' stuff, kid". Then he looked again at Jake. "I told her she shouldn't be with someone like you. you are not trustable, clearly".

"hey! Don't talk like this to my brother!". Josh can't let this happen. he feels Jake's pain and confusion. He feels his fear.

"god please! Move away you all and let us deal with it!". Robert can't stand those kids. Why the hell did his daughter stick around them? Why did she choose to be with them? And that roommate of hers. He knows she is a lesbian, and he is not completely okay with it. He really can't stand any of Julia's friends. Everyone seems so useless, so childish, so immature. He has never met half the people here, he seems to remember someone from Dave's wedding, guessing they are Jake's family. Well, he doesn't want them to talk either.