Spinning Out

Chapter 41

ELIJAH

I hand the woman behind the small station my vaccine card and ID. She offers me a mask as she writes down the room I'm headed to. I'm nervous, this meeting is something that is very important to me. Jaina waits for me in the hospital lobby, smiling and offering a small wave as the doors close to the elevator our story began with.

Bryant called me last night. He's settling in for now, but is looking forward to his day in court so that the uncertainty of where he will be doing his time and how much will be behind us. He's still sober, which believe it or not does require work while inside as alcohol may be contraband, but not impossible to keep. He's going to meetings and has met a few friends inside. Not that he plan on keeping in touch with all of them on the outside, but at least he isn't alone during this time.

The doors of the elevator open up again on his floor. I've been given his room number. Today is his last day here. He's been moved from the ICU to a lower level of care. Jaina said he is dying to get out of here and finish his recovery in his own home. I think Jaina might be looking forward to that as much as he is given this hospital has been her second home for far too long now and the restricted visiting hours has limited when she can see him. Now she will be able to go over later and watch movies with him or share a meal.

Room 425, the window blinds are draw, but I can make out his shape inside. I tried to rehearse what I should say to him, but I never could find the words. Poor guy has been through so much already, and now he will be leaving this room to find himself in a court room, watching the perpetrator of his crime get sentenced.

Never have I felt more in the middle than I do now. Jaina has assured me she doesn't blame me for what happened and she's working hard to forgive Bryant. It takes time sometimes for fear and anger to cool off so that you can believe in the good in people again. She said by the time she stands in the court room; she will be rooting for Bryant to get the help he needs

I knock on the door that is ajar.

"Come in," he calls out.

I step inside. I wish we were meeting under other circumstances. I've realized Jaina means a lot to me already and it is important to me that Nathan knows who and am and we can get to know each other.

"Hey," I say. I make my way over to here he is on the bed. "I'm Elijah."

"I've heard a lot about you, man, " he says holding his fist out for me to bump.

In the background, a small TV mounted to the wall is showing some game show that I'm sure nobody our age ever watches. When he sees it has captured my attention is laughs and turns it off.

"I'm bored and it's the only thing on," he says.

"I'd be going crazy if I had to sit in bed all day," I tell him.

"I am so glad today is my last day," he says.

"I'm glad you're ok," I tell him. "Jaina says other than the broken bones and the clot surgery you had to go through, you're otherwise ok."

"Yea, I got really lucky. I'm still having trouble seeing in my perhipheral, but at least the doctors think that will be temporary," he says.

I don't know what to say to him. I have so much I think he needs to understand, but it all seems wrong to say now.

"I'm really sorry," I tell him. I might not have been the one in the car, but I feel like my life is so tangled with Bryant's and the legal case now that I am too involved not to say it.

"It's all good," he tells me. "I'm alive and should make a full recovery."

He motions to the seat at the side of his bed. There is a curtain in the room that separates him from another patient. I can hear them, but we can't see them. I take a seat.

"Ss he was your friend, huh?" he asks.

"Yep, since childhood, " I tell him. "Just like you and Jaina."

"We're lucky. Not everyone gets that, "he tells me.

"I know," I say.

"I bet it's hard to watch him go through this," he says. I'm a little shocked he could find empathy for me under the circumstances. After all, he is the one in the hospital bed covered in scars.

"Not as hard as it was for Jaina and you," I say.

"Our struggle is over. Yours has just begun," he tells me.

He's right. This is the happiest I've ever seen Jaina. She's been able to sleep now that she isn't hunting down the driver. She also has cut back on the visiting hours since he can call her or text her instead of her needing to be here with him.

"Tell me about him," he says.

"He's in jail waiting for the court date," I answer.

"No," he laughs. "Tell me about him before all this. What was he like?"

"Oh," I say, a little surprised at the request. "He's a good guy." It feels weird to say that after what he's done, but I'm hoping this one moment of dumb decision making doesn't define him forever.

"I figured as much when he confessed," he says.

"You're pretty understanding for someone in your position," I tell him.

"I don't think being angry at someone close to my age for the rest of my life is really going to help anyone. I might feel different if any of my injuries were permanent or if Jaina had been hurt. But we all make stupid choices."

"He's made a lot of stupid choices, but they were all little and didn't affect other people. This one is shocking to me."

"Well, it was a little shocking to me that Jaina went after him the way she did. Sometimes our best friends do things we wouldn't think they would. I'm not surprised she figured it out, just that she really threw herself into the search." he says.

"She did. She's a good friend. She opened herself up to a whole different world to get that information. It's pretty impressive," I tell him.

"I probably shouldn't admit this," he tells me, "but I don't really think the prison system is always the right place for people, you know?"

I do know. I can't even imagine my friend having to spend years on the inside of bars, but it's inevitable. We will miss years of getting to do things together, years of growing up. I wonder what the time will do to him as a person. I wonder who he will come out as.

"Yea, the system isn't a master key for everyone. But he was also suffering on the outside knowing what he did and unable to make amends for it," he said. "I don't want to watch him punish himself forever. I can't do it. Just a few weeks of it was hell. He needs to feel like he's done his time. And maybe time behind bars will give him the opportunity to leave alcohol behind forever."

"I hope one day soon this horrible event will be behind all of us," he says.

"Me too. But I'll never be sorry I got to meet you two," I say.

Nathan nods. It's quiet for a moment and I feel like this is the start of an easy friendship between us. It makes me happy. I thought this would go in an entirely different direction. He is Jaina's best friend after all. If I didn't pass this check, she'd probably get rid of me for good.

"I'm glad we've all met too," he says. "Now just treat her right because if I have to hurt you for hurting her, then this whole thing becomes a big tragedy."

I'm not sure if he's joking. It hard to take his threat seriously as he's sitting bandaged up in a hospital . His smirk tells me he's at least half kidding, but knowing he cares about Jaina like I care about Bryant makes me believe he'd be capable on that drive alone.