Ten minutes?

Chapter One The Hospital Visit

Jason and I through the course of our lives have been in the hospital many times. Head cracked open from too much shoving around, broken arms and legs from playing on the playground a little too roughly, fevers that we would end up giving to each other, etc.
This time was different. I could lose him forever. I could lose my best friend.
When we arrived at the hospital I immediately jumped out of the car and ran in. Running up to the front counter I was already asking what room he was in. The nurse was trying to calm me down but it wasn't working.
"Sweetheart! Please just take a breather!"
"Tell me what room my brother is in!!"
"You can't visit him right now he's in surgery! I will show you to the waiting room where you can relax until he is done."
The secretary took me by the elbow and started guiding me and my mother to the waiting room. I stole a glance at my mother to see that her eyes were wet with tears and that she was having a hard time keeping them in.
"Here you are. Let me know if you need anything and feel free to connect to our wifi, watch tv and read the magazines that are provided. The doctor will come get you when Jeremy is all finished! Thank you for your patience."
"It's Jason" My mom said in reply. The secretary was already gone and I'm guessing she didn't care that much. My mom leaned over towards me, "Are you okay hun?"
I was not in the mood for talking at all. I simply shrugged and reached to pull my phone out of my pocket and realizing that being in a rush coming out of the house I didn't grab it. I looked around the small room that we were sitting in. The walls were painted a pastel pink and the carpet was blue. Scattered around the walls were paintings of different types of landscapes and animals. There was a small tv in one corner and two small couches on either side. On the back wall there was a long table that had magazines and coloring books on top of it. My mom and I were sitting on one of the small couches. It was barely big enough to fit my mom and I.
Standing up and walking to the other couch was a struggle. My mom tried to reach for my arm but I told her that I wanted to sleep. She let it go and I laid down on the couch opposite her hoping to get some rest.
~~
It was dark around me and I could hear someone walking towards where I was. I snickered quietly hoping that he wouldn't find me in my expert hiding spot: the closet in the hallway behind a pile of toys. The seeker kept walking past the closet and I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was guessing he had already found the other children and that I was the last one. I burst out of the closet screaming that I won. He twirled around and started laughing so hard he cried.
"Jordyn why would you do that?" He could hardly get the words out because of his excessive laughing.
"I won didn't I?" Jason looked at me with his big blue eyes of his that are the exact same as mine. The other children that we were playing with, all younger than us, hopped out of their hiding spots and starting running around to fine new ones before I even started counting."
Looking at Jason I started, "One, two, three..."
He started running as I continued the long count to 50.
~~
I instantly sat up. Looking around the room and realizing that I wasn't in my room anymore made the dream even worse. I had hoped that when I woke up this entire thing, the accident, the surgery and even the secretary was a dream. I was disappointed that it wasn't. Checking the clock next to me I saw that the time was 5:56. I was woken up over two hours ago to come here and they're still not done with his surgery. At this point I was starting to get worried and I was grateful I fell asleep so that I didn't have to think about where I was.
"Did the secretary give you any updates?"
My mom turned to look at me. By looking at her face I could tell that she had not slept the entire time we've been here and that she had been reading the same boring magazines the whole time.
"No they didn't. You might as well go back to sleep. I will wake you when she comes."
"No I don't want to. I'll stay up and wait with you."
She smiled at me and went back to reading her magazine. I turned towards the table to see if any of them would spark my interest and to my surprise there was a People magazine. Picking that up I started to go through the pages, reading every article I was hoping that would be enough to keep my mind off things.

Thirty minutes later a tall, handsome Doctor stepped into the room telling us that Jason was out of surgery. I immediately stood up and put the magazine back on the table.
"Now hold on" The doctor put his hand on my shoulder as if to stop me from bolting out of the room. "He's not ready to see people yet but I am here to inform you that his injuries he went through were fatal but the surgery was a success."
My mom and I both had a smile from ear to ear. I was still upset that I couldn't see him right away but as long as I heard he was okay I was in a better mood. The doctor moved to sit down at one of the couches and it looked like he was just punched in the gut.
"I'm sorry to tell you this part of it. We had to operate on his lungs, spleen and intestines. All of those are up and running." He sighed and then looked both my mom and I in the eye. "From now on Jason will not be able to do the same things he was able to do before. He is paralyzed from the waist down."
Jason Shay who was going to be the senior football star next season. Who was going to be prom king in a month. Who was going to ask out the girl he's been wanting to for years. Who was hoping to get a basketball scholarship. Jason. My brother. My best friend.
My mother started crying instantly. "There isn't anything you can do?" She wailed out those words and I felt my heart break. For my brother.
"I'm sorry Mrs. Shay. There's nothing we can do. We tried everything but nothing worked. I'm sorry." At that the doctor stood up and walked towards the door. "I will have Julianne come and get you when Jason is ready for company. It could be awhile. If you want to call other family members I would do that now. Thank you for your patience." He steps out of the room closing the door behind him leaving my mom and I to worry again.
"I suppose I should call dad. Right?"
My mom looked up and me. I could see tears brimming in her eyes. She slowly nodded her head. Standing up I go over and give my mom a hug before I step out into the hospital hallway. Unlike the waiting room the hallway has blinding white lights and many machines are going off at the same time. There are doctors and nurses running frantically around and the occasional wheelchair getting pushed by a friendly looking nurse. I walked around for a bit looking for where the phone was. Eventually I found it and put in enough money to just have a minute conversation with my dead beat of a father.
"Hello?"
"Hi dad, it's Jordyn. Mom and I are at the hospital right now and we both think that you should be here."
"Why what happened?"
"Jason got into a serious car accident with some of his friends in the car and Zak didn't make it. Dad I'm sure that Jason would want you here."
"Zak Wait? That was a good kid Jordyn. He was a good kid. I'm so sorry to hear about this."
"Yea dad so are we."
"I know your mother doesn't want me there Jordyn, it would just complicate things. I think I'll come when you both are gone and check in on him." I should have figured he won't show. He hasn't been around since Jason and I were 7. It's been almost 10 years now since we've properly seen our father and our mother has made sure of that. She didn't want us around that negativity.
"Okay." Realizing I most likely shouldn't have called at all, I hung up and started to head back to the waiting room.