Silence is Suicide.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Silence is Suicide.

Chapter Twenty-Two.

Later, I drowsily re-awoke with Jeremy hovering over my face. He had a toothy smile plastered on. 

"They said you'd wake up around this time. Come on, it's time to take you home."

I stared at him. My brother, or possibly my brother, hopefully my brother. 

The nurse unhook my IV and pulled  out all the needles. He began to talk to Jeremy while I stayed on the bed, afraid to move. Jeremy nodded occasionally and stroked his beard. The nurse handed my savior a bottle of pills. Jeremy nodded again and patted the nurse on the back. Jeremy then walked back over to me and told me it was time to get discharged. I slowly lifted one leg over the bed, and then the other. I stretched while I stood. Jeremy patted my back and laughed. "Okay, lil' bro, Ambrosia's waiting in the car."

When we were walking through the sterile hallways to the front room to discharge me, I looked up at my possible brother. He saved my life a number of times. I wanted to thank him so badly. 

He looked down at me and furrowed his brow, "What's wrong, Emerson?"

Then, I hugged him. That's all I could do... I hugged him and buried my face in his gut. Jeremy, caught by surprise, hugged back. "You're welcome..." and then he whispered, "I love you too..."

He let me go and started walking again. He told me to wait in a chair while he discussed something with the lady at the front desk. I sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair and waited, just as he asked me to do.

When he turned around, he looked stressed. He motioned for me to follow him. We walked out to the parking lot and found a rusty, blue Chevy Cruze with Ambrosia in the driver's side. Jeremy let me in the backseat and he took shotgun. Ambrosia turned around and smiled a crooked smile at me.

"Hey, trooper. You're lookin' better already."

I smiled back at her and nodded. Thanks, Amb.

"I told her everything." Jeremy said emphasizing the word 'everything'. I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

I watched out the window of the Chevy. To be honest, I haven't been in a car, other than a police car, in a long time.

Ambrosia flicked on the left blinker and pulled into a Dairy Queen drive-through. Jeremy handed me my board. "What do you want? You can get anything you like."

I gave him a questionable look. Really? Don't tease me, Jeremy. I haven't had an ice cream treat in forever. I always craved for something like this... I uncapped the marker and wrote, "medium turtle sundae...?" and handed the board back.

Ambrosia ordered six chocolate dilly bars and three turtle sundaes. We drove to the next window, payed, and received our ice cream treats. She handed me my sundae and my eyes grew wide with excitement. I felt like a small child at that moment. I took a huge scoop with my spoon and my taste buds danced on my tongue. Ice cream never tasted sweeter. I heard Jeremy chuckle at my childish excitement, I felt a little hot from embarrassment, but I couldn't hide my joy. 

I was finished with my ice cream by the time we reached the garage for Jeremy's apartment building. We all climbed out of the Chevy and walked back to the apartment. 

**

During the one week period of waiting for the blood test and my resting period, Jeremy taught me bass guitar. He taught me every day from dawn to dusk. He was totally serious about it. I practiced and practiced and I started to get the hang of it, and it wasn't too bad to start with.  My fingers hurt form the pressure I needed to apply to the strings, but I didn't complain. After the first two days of playing, the rest of the band came over to practice with us. I met Darren, Pete, and re-met Eddy as the guitarist. They complimented me on my work. I felt successful for once. Every day after that from noon to eleven at night, we would all practice. From eight to noon and occasionally from eleven to midnight, Jeremy would help me become more familiar with bass.