Having A Great Time With Sage

Chapter 9: Ezekiel

I walked the halls of Lily Valley Memorial Hospital again, this time a thick white cast wrapped around my left arm. It was easy enough to lie to the doctors about how I broke my arm, so why was it so hard to lie to Ashley? I didn't have to tell her that this was because of my father, but I did anyways.

The nurse who helped me earlier came by with a sling, helping me get my arm situated. Damn, I had really hoped it wasn't broken, but the feeling and pain of it was all too familiar. She said I was free to go home, so I thanked her and started to walk out.

Might as well stop by and see Josh, try to sort things out with him. I thought as I headed towards his room. I stopped just short of the door, hearing an argument within.

"Joshua Macon Finnegan that is absolutely no way to speak to your mother!" A man's voice was scolding, I could only assume this was Josh's father. I kept out of sight of the door.

"How many times do I have to say it? She's not my mom! Mom is dead and I wish you would quit trying to replace her!" Josh sounded like he had been crying, but he was clearly very angry.

A woman's voice as clear and cold as crystal spoke up, "Well then. I may not be your mother, but you are my son."

I had almost leaned into the room when I heard a pair of heels on the tile, quickly clicking their way towards me. I backed up in just enough time for a red eyed young blonde woman to brush shoulders with me as she emerged.

"I'm sorry." She hurried away, her face tilted down, clearly trying to cover up that she was crying.

"Jane, wait!" Josh's father called from inside.

"Yeah, you just go chasing after her! Get outta here and leave me alone!" Josh yelled just before the door opened again.

A tall, flustered man who bore a remarkable resemblance to Josh quickly made his way out of the room and down the same way that Jane ran. I pressed myself against the wall to avoid being checked by him.

I hesitated before going inside. Josh sat on the center of the bed, his head in his hands.

I knocked on the already open door, "Hey."

"Get out, I don't wanna see anyone." Josh didn't look up.

"Well that's too bad." I tried to joke hesitantly and pulled up a chair on his right. I remember Ashley told me about his hearing situation.

Josh looked up and made a nasty face. With a scoff he said, "What're you doin' here anyways?"

I raised my casted arm and sling. "I was in the neighborhood. Couldn't help but overhear that little scene, like everyone else in the hospital. What's up?"

"What the hell happened to you? You look terrible." Josh dodged my question, but his own was fair enough.

With a small sigh I explained how my dad broke my arm while beating the crap out of me last night. Josh's reaction wasn't dissimilar to Ashley's, although he seemed to be more disgusted than unbelieving.

"I've told you my situation, now you tell me yours."

"Oh that's how this conversation's going to go? No way. Why would I want to talk to you anyways?"

A ball of guilt rolled around in my stomach. I tried to explain to him what happened yesterday, it felt like I was back in the interrogation room all over again. He sat and listened patiently, I couldn't read his expression for most of it.

When I finished he nodded slowly, "I still think you're a coward, but..." Josh looked me in the eyes, "I trust that you didn't want any of this to happen to Sage."

I smiled lightly, a sense of relief passing over me. "So... what was the deal with your folks?"

He groaned, covering his face and leaning back "It's a long story."

Josh leaned back against the pillows. "My mom died when I was twelve, so for a while it was just me and my dad on our own. That was, until he started bringing all these broads into our house, one after the other, thinking each one was going to be the one. It was all the same, each one was a perky little bleached blonde chick with baby blue eyes and somehow each one kept getting younger.

"Now in walks 'Jane' and she's about seven years younger than he is and she looks like she could be my sister. So what does he do? He goes and marries her and wants me to act like everything is fine. It's like he wants me to forget my mom." He was ranting furiously.

"Well, I mean, I think she seemed sorta nice. She seemed like she really cares about you." I shrugged.

"As if you know anything, Young." Josh nearly spat at me when he spoke. I can't say that I blame him. I don't really know why I'm prying into him so much.

His look softened ever so slightly, "She's... definitely not the worst lady he's brought home." He grumbled. "At least her blonde isn't from peroxide."

I saw the smallest of smiles crack on his face for a moment, but it vanished quickly.

"Have you... been able to see him?" Josh asked quietly, not looking up at me as he did.

A cold, unsettling feeling gripped my stomach, "Yeah..." He cut his eyes over to see me. "He looked a bit better, I guess?"

"They haven't let me leave yet to see him, did he ask you about what happened?"

I shook my head, "No, he's uh- they've got him on a-" I couldn't remember what that doctor had called it, Josh still had an eye on me waiting for an answer, "A breathing machine, he's still... asleep for now."

Josh turned away from me clearly upset, grabbing the covers and pulling them over his shoulder as he laid down. "Can you cut off the lights when you leave?"

I stood up slowly, looking down at him, "I'm still... really sorry, Josh."

"Just get out!" He raised his voice, then, "Please... just leave me alone." There was a shake to his voice that sounded like he was trying not to cry.

I turned off the light and pulled the door shut, standing in the hallway for a moment. I don't know what I was waiting for, so I just stuffed my hand into my pocket and headed down the hall. Before I knew it I was standing in front of the big frosted glass doors with red lettering stating "ICU".

Maybe he'll be awake, maybe he'll be awake and everything will be okay. I thought like a moron.

I stood in the doorway to his room, it looked the same as before, and so did he. The only difference was who else was in the room.

"Oh, hi, are you here to see Sage?" The woman sniffled as she looked up at me. She had been crying and she sounded exhausted. Her long brown hair fell in soft waves down her back and her light eyes were dulled by the dark circles beneath them. This had to be his mother.

"Um, yeah, I'm a friend from school. I was just... checking in on him." It wasn't entirely a lie...

"That's sweet." She gave me a kind yet sad smile. "It really means a lot to me that his friends care enough to come see him. I haven't even seen Joshua yet."

"Josh- um," I stopped myself, not knowing how much she knew about the situation, "He said he'd be by as soon as he could, Mrs. Wilson."

"It's Natalie, dear, it makes me sound like my mother in law to go by Mrs. Wilson." The hint of Sage's crooked grin was in her smile. Seeing Natalie had increased this guilt tenfold, I could almost physically feel it weighing down on me. I had to think of a way to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"Oh, would you look at the time?" I made a quick motion with my good arm, trying to conceal the fact that I wasn't actually wearing a watch. "It's getting late, I promised my mom I'd be back in time to help her make supper."

"Oh... yes." She said distantly, then she grabbed my hand and gently squeezed it, "Thank you." She gave me a tired, sad smile.

I made my way out of the hospital as fast as I could. That's enough trying to be nice for today.