Long Away

Chapter 59

"When did Gwil say he would be back again?"
Rami shrugged without looking up from his phone.
"I don't think he said anything specific."
Joe hadn't seen Gwil since they talked last night. When he woke up in the morning, Gwil had already left the house. It was early in the afternoon now. Joe had expected him to be back sooner than this.
"He's not reading my texts," he told Rami.
"This meeting can't take that long, can it?"
"I don't know. Maybe he has other errands to run."
"But then why isn't he answering?", Joe wondered out loud.
Now Rami finally looked up.
"Joe, are you okay? You're not worried about him, are you?"

"Well..." Joe let himself sink against the backrest of the sofa.
"I wouldn't say I'm worried. Yet. I don't know, forget I said anything."
Joe realized he was overthinking. Gwil was an adult man who could look out for himself and didn't owe his friends an explanation about where he was going or when he would be back. But it wasn't like him not to tell them. And with everything going on, it was really starting to feel as if the universe, or whatever powers were in charge of it, had a personal vendetta against Joe and the people he cared about.

Joe checked his chat once again. Still nothing. Maybe he should call him?
"You don't have to act as if you're not worried," Rami said.
"I'm sure Gwil is fine. We have no reason to assume otherwise. But that doesn't mean it's weird that you are on edge right now."
Reluctantly, Joe turned off his phone and put it down on the coffee table.
"I guess so," he sighed.
"Thanks, Rami."

"Nothing to thank me for. Hey, are you hungry too? Maybe we could cook for ourselves and Gwil for a change." Rami chuckled at his own suggestion.
"Yeah, sounds like a good idea," Joe agreed. He could really use the distraction. Rami stood up from the couch.
"Come on then."
After a five second debate with himself, Joe decided to leave his phone where it was and followed Rami into the kitchen.

"What should we make?", he asked him.
Rami was carefully scanning the fridge for its contents.
"How about a curry?"
"Sounds good to me."
Joe looked over to the living room table. He was already regretting his decision. What if Gwil was texting him right now about some kind of emergency? Joe shook his head at himself. Distraction. That was what he needed. Not his phone.
He looked over Rami's shoulder.
"What do you want to put in it?"

After ten minutes of chopping up vegetables and debating which of Gwil's pans looked like he would miss it the least in case they accidentally damaged it, Joe allowed himself another look at his phone.
"Any news from the lost boy yet?", Rami asked while he was drowning an innocent cup of rice in boiling water. Just when Joe wanted to say that there wasn't any, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway caught their attention. A look out of the window confirmed that Gwil was back.

A wave of relief washed over Joe. He exhaled heavily.
Rami was visibly happy as well, although in his case it was probably mostly because Joe finally had one less thing to be anxious about.
"See? Told you he'd be fine."
Joe picked out the spices they wanted to add while they waited for Gwil to come inside. The kitchen door opened, and Joe spun around to greet him. He froze when he saw the look on Gwil's face. Somewhere between shock and defeat, his eyes darted from Joe to Rami and back.

"Gwil? What's wrong?" Rami sounded equally as alarmed as Joe felt.
"I..." Gwilym began, but the words got stuck in his throat, came out as nothing but a shaky breath.
"W-why don't you sit down first? Have some water?"
Joe practically pushed Gwil out of the room and to the dining table, while Rami grabbed a glass to fill it for him.
"There, sit down." Joe pulled a chair back for Gwil, and he did as he was told. Joe looked over his shoulder into the kitchen. Rami was turning off the stove and finally came to join them.

They were now all seated at the table. Both Joe and Rami waited anxiously while Gwilym emptied the glass of water. His hand was shaking slightly when he put it down. He took a few deep breaths before he finally spoke.
"I have... really... really bad news."
The tone in his voice sent a spark of anxiety shooting through Joe's body.
"Is it about Ben? Did the hospital call you?"
Horror scenario upon horror scenario flashed through his mind when Gwil nodded.

"They said they were ready to let him wake up. I was already done talking to my agent, and the hospital was on the way back home. I know, I should have picked you up so we could all go together, but I figured... And now it's probably better you didn't see... Anyway." He paused, trying to bring order to the chaos that was coming out of his mouth. Meanwhile Joe stared blankly at him. Everything else around him became a blur. There was only one thought on his mind. Please don't say he is dead. Please don't say he is dead.

"I... I went there. They told me to stay in the waiting room. And then I waited for what felt like an eternity. I left my phone in the car, otherwise I would have texted you, but I didn't want to leave in case they would come in any moment. After a literal hour, I asked what was taking them so long. They said it just took some time for the narcotics to wear off. Eventually I could convince them to let me see him. Then I was alone with him and... God, seeing him like that... It was awful. And he didn't react when I talked to him. And I didn't even realize how much time was passing while I just waited. And nothing happened. At some point a nurse came to check on him. And she acted all strange, and then Dr. Hidgens was there and... He said something must have gone wrong."

"What do you mean, gone wrong?", Rami pushed him to get to the point. Joe was completely overwhelmed trying to process the pictures Gwil had just put into his head.
"Guys... He's not waking up."
"What?" Joe could barely hear the word coming out of his own mouth.
"He's not waking up. They don't know why, but he's still in a coma."

***
Hey guys!

Have another one, as a treat. I'm still suspicious how long this motivation to write will last, so I figured, might as well take advantage of it and make up for the last few months. I realize some of the filler chapters weren't that great in terms of how I wrote them, but my brain was just not cooperating. Yay adhd.
Anyway, I hope you liked this one, and I'll see you next time!

Tay