We All Fall Down

Chapter 36

John

The harsh lighting woke me before the pain did. There were voices I didn't recognize mixed with ones that I did, but my eyelids felt like they were glued shut. It takes several minutes to remember what happened, and it rushes at me like a tidal wave.

Roach was driving, the rain had stopped but the roads were slick and he lost control of the truck after hitting a pocket of oily water. Rose was next to me, but she wasn't wearing her seatbelt. I recall considering telling her to buckle up, but I didn't. One of my many regrets. Mickey was in front with Mary Beth and Roach – the last thing I remember seeing before I blacked out, was Mary Beth's body lunging into the windshield like she was nothing more than a ragdoll being flung across a room.

The voices drummed between my ears, my head pounded and my arms felt leaden as I tried to tug them up to cover my ears.

"Whoa, look who's awake," someone said as I winced.

"Sorry," their voice dropped to a whisper. "You've suffered a concussion, but you're lucky..."

Lucky. I think as—whom I assumed was the doctor—continued listing off my injuries.

Broken leg, cracked rib, minor abdominal bruising. Otherwise, okay.

As I forced my eyes open, they scraped like sandpaper. I blinked and gestured for water. Out of the corner of my eye, a person slowly stepped forward and placed a cup with a straw in front of my face.

"Ben!" I rasped, then the reality hit me like a boulder as I looked behind him to see Becky and my dad in the corner of the room. My heart dropped at the sight of him, how horrible he looked after only a few days. Maybe he'd already looked bad, but with time away, it gave the illusion that he'd gotten rapidly worse.

"We just got here an hour ago," Becky spoke softly, worry lined her face. "You gave us quite a scare," she added, her lip wobbled as she sank on the foot of my bed and placed a hand on my good leg. A motherly touch.

I swallowed, "H-how is everyone else?"

The doctor said my friends were all fortunate as well, but Mary Beth and Rose seemed to have sustained pretty severe injuries. Their parents were also here and advised me not to worry before he excused himself.

"Can I see Rose?" I asked and noticed the flicker of Becky's eyebrow. Ben still had not said a word, nor had he moved from where he stood beside me, still clutching the cup of water.

"I'll go see if she can have visitors," my dad offered. I watched him turn and shuffle toward the door, the effort to hold himself up was clearly a strain.

I look to Becky, "Is he not taking any medication?"

Her lips parted but no words came. She didn't know how sick he was and likely only found out when they decided to come here together.

"He stopped taking them," Ben offered, his body finally dropping into the small seat against the window to my left.

"Why the hell did he decide that?" anger bubbled in my chest, and I inhaled as deep of a breath as I could before the pain shot back like lightning through my body.

Ben shrugged, helpless.

"Can you talk to him?" I look back to Becky, pleading.

"That's not my place, John. You know that," she fiddled with my blanket, averting her swollen eyes.

"I think we all know your place in our family," I countered, her gaze shot back to meet mine just as my dad re-entered the room.

"Her parents are pretty upset, as you can imagine," his face flushed and glistened with sweat. "They didn't know you boys were on the trip. Th-th-they..." he tried, but his eyes grew wide, his mouth slacked as he fell to the ground.