It was about 4-5 minutes before the paramedics showed up and carried his father onto a stretcher. James watched as they carried his father away, and just for a moment, James saw Eileen on that stretcher instead of his father. Michelle came over to him and rubbed his back in a soothing kind of way. He looked over at her with tears in his eyes.
"He's going to be alright, James." Michelle said. "He's a tough old bird." James smiled at that statement. He looked at her face and saw that it had fear and worry in it. He knew right then and there that she said that not just for him, but for her own well being. To assure herself that everything would be alright.
"You seem pretty confident about that." James said. She looked at him questioningly.
"Who, me? No, I'm fucking terrified." Michelle said. James nodded. He believed her right then and there because he needed something to trust, someone to lean on. It just turned out to be his own sister. His mother was tempest tost over the entire event.
A medic came over to them and smiled at the three of them. He didn't smile in a crude and joking manner, but rather in a calm and assuring manner. A manner that made them feel hopeful and safe in the idea that everything would be alright. Because in the ultimate end, it would be.
"You guys better head to Radiance hospital, it's where they're taking him." The medic told them. They nodded and James went to his wallet and pulled out a $20 to leave on the table, but Michelle stopped him and laid her own $20 and went to the car with her mother.
James looked at the restaurant and everyone that had been surveying the entire thing. He waved at them and told them bye as he made his way to the car and the three of them left for the hospital.
~
The three sat in the waiting room in morbid silence. For once in their lives, they each despised the silence but dreaded the thought of the silence being broken by a doctor even more.
James looked over at Michelle who was biting her nails in stress. She often did so whenever she was stressed or worried. She had done this ever since she was young.
James looked over at his mother who was staring deadset at the tiled floor. She looked over at James and smiled. She then noticed Michelle biting her fingernails and James could feel the complaining about to happen.
"Michelle, stop doing that. You're gonna tarnish all that skin. Besides, it makes you look like you have OCD." She said. Michelle quietly fought back.
"Actually, it's a sign of stress relief as well as intellect. So yeah." Michelle said. James stepped in.
"Guys, no. Not here." James said and they obeyed. Suddenly, they saw the doctor come toward them. He called their last name out. Maxwell, family of a Richard Maxwell. They got out of their seats and came over to him to see what he had to say.
"Is he going to be okay?" James' mother asked. The doctor looked at them and smiled faintly. He meant it as a comforting action but it didn't seem to come off as such.
"We have him in intensive care but I'd say he's going to be fine. But for a person his age, another stroke might kill him." The doctor said. James' mother closed her eyes and sighed. James went to put his arm around her but realized Michelle had already done that, so James left it alone.
"So, uh, can we see him?" James asked. The doctor cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yes, I'll lead the way." The doctor said and the three followed suit as the doctor led them to the room that Richard Maxwell was staying at....Room 374. The doctor was in front, Michelle and her mother walked beside one another, and James was the caboose.
When they arrived to the room, they found him lying on the hospital bed asleep. They all looked at him in a worried sort of love.
"Now, he does need his rest but he'll wake up and be fully functional be. However, taking him home, there will be some limitations applied." The doctor said. They looked at him worriedly.
"Like what?" Michelle asked. The doctor explained.
"Well, he can't really really be in an environment that is too energetic. Heart attacked especially at his age can be fatal. So, keep that in mind. Otherwise, everything should be fine." The doctor said and he walked away. Their mother immediately went to the seat close to where her husband was facing. Michelle asked James if he wanted to sit in the other chair but he shook his head.
"Nah, you can take it." James said.
"Are you sure?" Michelle asked. James nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure." James said and she went to go sit down. Suddenly, their father started to wake up.
"Where am I?" He asked. Their mother put her hand nicely rested into his and held them with her other hand.
"Oh Richard, you had a stroke. But everything will be okay." The mother told him. He nodded bitterly and thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I thought so, a stroke I mean. Because I smelled toast. Bad toast. Burnt. Kind of like that one time years ago...the Christmas of '04 when you wanted sunny side up but you toasted worst than anyone I knew." Their father said as a joke. Everyone chuckled at that. "There's a word for smelling things that aren't actually there....um...what's it called?"
"Phantosmia." James said. His father nodded at the thought of the word.
"Yeah, such an interesting word for such an interesting thing." He said "So, when do I leave? I'm gonna guess this is a hospital."
"Yes, we need to wait for the doctor to come back so we can go on from there." She said to him. He nodded. Suddenly, James' phone rang. He looked down and saw that it was Eileen.
"It's Eileen." James said. Everyone nodded.
"Tell that girl I said hi. I've always liked her." The father said. James nodded.
"Will do." James said and he went outside to answer the phone. "Hello." He smiled when he heard her voice on the other end.
"Hey James, it's Eileen. I was just calling to see how things were going." Eileen said.
"Well, they sure are going." James said.
"Uh, what's that supposed to mean?" Eileen asked. James revised what he said in a better way.
"Well, my dad just had a stroke and was sent to the hospital. He's doing better but after finding out what I know, it all just feels so horrible." James said.
"Do you need me to come down? Because I will." Eileen said. James immediately shook his head although she couldn't see it.
"No, don't. Stay there and just take care of yourself and the baby. I will be home whenever I can. I'm just going to be here until everything blows over." James said. Eileen nodded although he couldn't see it.
"Alright, well, I'll go ahead and get off. Just know that I love you and I care, alright?" Eileen asked. James nodded and told her he understood. The call ended and James stood there and sighed in the hallway. He brushed his hand through his hair and laid his head against the wall. He looked up at the ceiling and started to talk to God.
"Why? Just why?" James asked God. "Why do you hate so much?" He sighed and went back inside the room where his parents and sister waited for him.
YOU ARE READING
The Things That Will Be
Fiksi Remaja"If there's no struggle, there's no progress." - Frederick Douglass When a young couple expect a newborn, they are unaware of what the future holds when one of them slips into a coma and the baby becomes a sti...
