Found

Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE: SEBASTIAN

Alexander and I are standing outside of Iris's room at the hospital talking to one of the doctors on staff. Iris was sleeping off the sedatives and various other medications administered since he arrived two hours ago. Alexander and I were allowed to ride in the back of the ambulance, but we weren't given any details about his condition until now.

"We're going to have to keep him for a few days, but he should be able to go home Wendesday."

Today was Sunday... I looked the doctor over. She was young; just out of med school from what I could tell. She was wearing pale blue scrubs and a lab coat, her mouse brown hair pulled back into a tight pony tail. She wore glasses, and she was holding a clipboard in her hands.

"Now, if you could explain to me what happened..."

Alexander and I told her about how Iris was attacked at the party last night, and that tonight he just collapsed. We told her that we had no idea that he was in pain. Alexander asked her if the bruise we found on Iris's stomach was part of the reason why he passed out.

"Well, the blow he took definitely contributed some of the damage, but your friend would have been sent to us sooner rather than later."

"What do you mean?"

"Has your friend been put under a great deal of stress lately?"

Alexander and I exchange looks. Stress? What kind of stress? We give her a helpless look and she continues to explain the situation.

"It seems he's developed some ulcer complications, and since the toxicology lab came back negative for drugs, the most likely cause is stress. Anyway, to answer your question, the ulcer itself wasn't very severe, until he was kicked. That's what brought him in here tonight, but given a few more weeks, this is where he would have ended up anyway if he hadn't gotten help."

My heart felt like someone was squeezing it. I knew that Iris was scared, and he was tense most of the time, but he had every reason to be! So, why does it surprise me so much to hear that he's been like this for weeks, now, maybe longer? I did know, in the back of my mind. Alexander and I knew from the moment we first saw him that he was in trouble, but it didn't connect that he was suffering, and had been suffering for weeks now.

"How long has the ulcer been there?"

"Given the size, I'd say he started developing it a few weeks ago. He was probably just beginning to show symptoms when you brought him in. It's strange, but in a way that kick was a good thing. It alerted us to the problem before it could get too severe. Now we can treat him easily and without taking up too much time."

The doctor got paged to leave. I asked her if it was okay for us to see Iris. She said that he was under a lot of medication, so he wasn't likely to wake up until tomorrow morning. Then she told us that visiting hours had ended, but it was okay for us to go in to his room for a few minutes, as long as we didn't disturb him. She turned to leave, but then remembered something and came back.

"By the way, we're trying to get in touch with his parents, but we're having trouble locating them. Do either of you have a phone number or a work place where we can reach them?"

We told her we didn't, and she walked off.

When we walked into Iris's room, the first thing I noticed was the IV tube running along the length of his arm. The bag attached to the stand held some clear liquid in it. There was a machine by his bedside measuring his heart rate. He was laying in the bed wearing one of those backless hospital gowns, and he was sleeping off the drugs like the doctor said. He didn't look peaceful like he did last night when he fell asleep between Alexander and I. Right now, he looked painfully alone, and it was killing me to see him here in this room.

Alexander walked over and sat down next to Iris. I stayed by the doorway. Careful not to disturb any of the equipment, Alex lifted Iris's hand, and held it in his lap. The hand looked so small and pale; you could see all the veins poking out of the skin. I could feel my stomach curl. This is why I hate hospitals! They made me think of some sort of medicinal purgatory, and I hated how every hospital room looked exactly the same; it was like the person sitting in the bed wasn't necessary here, they were just filling up space until the next sick person arrived or until they died--  

I shook my head as the tears started to fall. I've got to think of something else. So I thought about our first meeting with Iris that day in the alley... but that just made me wonder what would have happened if we had taken him to the hospital sooner, and that just made me even more depressed.

We should have known! We could have stopped all of this sooner!

"I'm going to kill Zachary when I see him."

I looked up at Alex. He was shaking, his hands balled up into fists. I knew he wasn't kidding, so I walked over and covered his hands with mine, tapping into his energy. I could change his attitude around so that he wouldn't think about Zachary or how much he hurt Iris, and us. I was going to change his direction of thinking so he would focus only on Iris himself, and not on the person who put him here...

"Don't do that, bro."

"I have to, Alex. You can't afford to lose your temper here. There are too many people and too many electrical devices around. You could blow this place up if you're not careful."

"I don't care. That bastard hurt Iris, and he's still hurting him. I can't... just... do nothing..."

But I had already gained control over his emotions. Already his anger was being replaced by a sense of calm. I kissed his forhead as he started to cry. Without his anger, Alex didn't know what to do with himself. He wanted to help, we both did, but we didn't know how.

Five minutes later, we were told by the doctor from earlier that our time was up, and that we had to go. We walked out of the hospital, numb and miserable. I didn't want to leave him in that place all alone, but we weren't given any choice.

Forty-five minutes later, Alex and I were walking into the penthouse, and Sarah and Colette were on us about what happened to Iris. I don't even remember how we got home. I guess we walked. Fabian and Ignacia took the girls away; Alexander and I really weren't in the mood to be answering questions right now.

Laying in our bed, Alex and I sat in total darkness. We didn't feel like turning the lights on when we got there, and now we were just too tired to make our way to the light switch.

I was thinking about what the doctor said: He'd have been showing symptoms. What kind of symptoms? I thought about how easily Iris got out of breath when he was anxious. Was that because he was in pain? No, I would have noticed. Wouldn't I have? He has asthma; he told us that on the bus ride during our second date, so I just assumed his loss of breath was due to his weak lungs, but could it have really been because of his ulcer problems, and he just didn't want to say anything? The question I kept coming back to was always 'Why?' Why didn't we see it? Why didn't he tell us? Did he really not know? Why was he so afraid to talk to us still? Why did it happen to him in the first place?

"Do you think this was our fault?"

I'm startled to hear Alexander's voice come from the space beside me. I had gotten so used to the silence, that I forgot he was next to me.

"What do you mean?"

"The doctor said he was under stress... He was always so tense around us those first few days. Do you think we pushed him too far, and that's why his ulcer got so bad?"

Was it our fault? No... It was Zachary, it was...

I stare at the ceiling and think. This whole time I had been blaming Zachary, which we all knew he was the most at fault here. But could we have had something to do with this? Did we contribute to his stress? I know he was scared of us when he first met us, but he wasn't anymore. And the only reason he was scared in the first place was because of the hell that Zachary put him through... Or am I deliberately placing all the blame on his shoulders to ease my own guilt of the part I played in this? I didn't know. I didn't have any of the answers. The only one who could tell us was sleeping alone in a hospital bed right now.

I didn't know I was crying until Alexander pulled me closer to him. He held me, and let me feel what I was feeling. He didn't say a word, and we stayed that way until the sun came up.