Lost and Found || Buddie

Chapter 5

The first hour of the trip was mostly quiet, the faint sout of the radio in the background. It was a comfortable silence for the most part.

Eddie was thankful though when Maddie spoke up, distracting Eddie from his thoughts. "How are Shannon and Christopher?" She asks, making small talk. "Sorry I didn't make it to the birthday party."

"It's okay Maddie. I know you had to work. Besides, he loved the gift you dropped off for him. He snuggled with that thing the whole day." He chuckles softly thinking of the dinosaur stuffed animal his son had gotten. He was glad Maddie was still around even with Evan gone. It was nice to have a piece of him around still. "They're good though."

"Good, I'm glad." She says, checking her phone as it rings. "Evan? We're on our way." She speaks and puts the phone on speaker.

There's some shuffling on the other end before Evan speaks. "Okay, I was going to ask that. I'm at the hospital. They're checking me out." He mumbles. "Wait, you said we.. who's we? Please don't tell me mom and dad are with you." He groans and Maddie could almost see the disgruntled look on his face.

"No, I wouldn't do that. They don't even know yet anyways, I didn't call them before we left." Maddie reassured him before looking at Eddie, gesturing for him to speak.

The man looked taken aback. What was he supposed to say. 'Hey man, glad you're not dead.' Yeah, he didn't think so. "Hey Evan." Is all he says.

"Who is that?" Evan asks, not noticing the voice. And it stung a little bit, but Eddie couldn't be mad. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other in four years.

Chuckling softly, the older man spoke. "It's Eddie, you know, your best friend." He teases.

There's a moment of silence before there's more shuffling on Evan's side. "Eddie? I didn't realize you two kept in touch." His voice was small.

"Yeah, me and Eddie kind of kept each other sane over the time that you were gone." Maddie says sadly, fiddling with the sleeve of her hoodie. "He was the one I called to tell that you were alive. I figured you wouldn't mind me bringing him though. Figured you'd like to see him."

"Thanks Maddie. I'll be relieved to see some familiar faces." Evan pauses. "I have to go, the doctors are coming in. I'll text you the address. I love you." Evan hangs up the phone.

And that's when Maddie broke down into shaking sobs. She hadn't heard those words from her brother in years. Eddie doesn't say anything, instead he reaches a hand over and grabs hers, squeezing gently. Silently letting her know it was okay, that Evan was alive and they were headed to him.

The drive to Kentucky was long with multiple stops in between whether it be to stretch their legs, use the bathroom or get something to eat.

Evan had eventually texted Maddie the address of the hospital. By the time they made it to the hospital it was later in the afternoon.

Pulling into the visitors parking lot, Eddie put the truck in park and looked over at Maddie. "Are you ready?" He asks, knowing the answer already.

"I'm scared Eddie. I don't even know what he's going to look like, what state he'll be in when we walk in there. He was gone for four years and held captive somewhere." She says and shakes her head.

"It was a basement." He mumbles and grabs his phone when Maddie gives him a puzzled look. "I got text messages a bit before you called me and I just shrugged it off. I thought it was a prank." He pulls the messages up and shows the woman. "He never called but the messages came through and now I feel terrible for thinking it wasn't real."

Shaking her head Maddie turned her body towards the man. "It's okay Eddie, you didn't know. I thought it was a prank too until I heard the voicemail." She gave him a sad smile. "But come on, let's go." She sighs heavily and hops out of the truck.

The two walk into the hospital together, Maddie grabbing Eddie's arm and hanging onto him as they walk up to the front desk. Eddie didn't mind at all. "We're here for Evan Buckley." The man spoke before anyone else could.

The woman behind the desk nodded her head and typed some information into her computer before looking at the two again. "Are you two family of mister Buckley?" She asks.

"Yeah, we're his siblings." Maddie nods and then adds. "Our parents weren't able to be here so we came."

"Okay. Go up one floor and he's in room 136." She says and hands them visitor stickers for their visit.

They grab the stickers and place them on their shirts and immediately start making their way to the second floor. The elevator ride felt like it took forever, Maddie thought.

"Alright this is where he's at." Eddie says and points to the room that was labeled 136. Maddie once again took the man's hand and took in a deep breath before knocking and pushing open the door.

There in the hospital bed sat Evan, looking small as he stared at the two as they walked in. "Maddie." He cries and reaches out to her, not standing up because he was hooked up to an IV, he had been severely dehydrated when he showed up to the hospital.

Maddie immediately let go of Eddie's hand and rushed over to her brother and wrapped him a big hug, sobbing into the man's shoulder. "God Evan, I can't believe you're alive." She whispers.

"Me neither." He says softly and looks over at the door where Eddie still stood. "Eds." He sniffled and it broke the older man's heart.

"Evan." Eddie whispers and shuts the door behind him so the three could have a private reunion. He walked over to the other side of Evan's bed and rested a hand on his shoulder. He couldn't stop the tears that spilled out of his eyes and down his cheeks. His best friend was alive, he was right in front of him and he couldn't believe it.