Destroying Everything

Chapter 4

Devin's P.O.V.

My heart was racing as we piled in a cab headed for the hospital. I couldn't think of anything else. My mind was on Josh. What happened? When did he leave last night? Why didn't I know he was gone? These were the things on my mind now. How could I have let this happen to him? He was the love of my life. I told him I would always protect him. And, up until now, I think I'd done a pretty decent job at it. If anything happens to him I don't know how I would live with myself.

The ride to the hospital seemed to take hours, when in reality, it only took a few minutes. I wasted no time in jumping out of the car, hurrying inside and up to the front desk.

"I'm here for my boyfriend, Josh Balz." I told the young lady.

She nodded and typed something in on her computer, biting at her lower lip for a moment. "Someone will be out to see you in a few minutes" She began, pointing toward the seats behind us "Please have a seat sir."

Part of me wanted to cuss at her. Scream at her for acting like this wasn't important. Like Josh was just another patient. Maybe he was to everyone else, but not to me. To me, he was so much more. I was driving myself insane with worry and I know the others could tell.

"Dev, come on, sit now." Ryan said, trying to steer me away from the desk.

I didn't want to leave. I wanted answers. Wanted to know that Josh was okay. That we still had our whole lives ahead of us. I wanted someone to tell me I wasn't about to lose the best thing that's ever happened to me. But of course, they weren't telling me any of that.

I sighed and let Ryan lead me back to a seat, swallowing hard. I wasn't going to cry. Not now. I had to stay strong for Ryan. If he knew I was scared, he would be scared and that's the last thing I wanted. I wanted him to get better. He had to get better.

"Why won't they tell me anything?!" I asked a bit louder than I'd expected.

"I'm sure they'll tell you something as soon as they know more." Chris said, pacing back and forth, his eyes fixed on those double doors.

I knew this wasn't only hard on me. We all loved Josh. He was a part of us. When one of us hurt, all of us hurt. Nothing would ever change that. He had to get better. He just had too.

After what felt like hours, the double doors opened and a doctor walked toward us. "Are you the family of Josh Balz?" He asked.

We nodded and I quickly got to my feet "How is he?"

"Right now, he's in a coma. We won't be able to tell how much damage there is until he wakes up. He's pretty beat up though. He has several broken bones, broken ribs. But like I said, we won't know the extent of his injuries until he wakes up." He informed us.

I took a deep breath and nodded my head "Can I go see him?" I asked softly.

The doctor nodded "Of course. Now, I'm warning you, he looks pretty bad. I don't want you to be startled or taken by surprise." He added.

I nodded and took in a deep breath as he led us down a long hallway to Josh's room.

I hated hospitals. Too many people dying. One room we passed must have just lost someone. There had to be at least 10 people surrounding a bed, crying. A nurse was trying her best to calm the people down, but it wasn't working.

I could never do their job. Having to tell someone their loved one is gone. How would you even do something like that? I couldn't do it.

One room was a little old couple. The man was lying on the bed, machines hooked all over him. I could vaguely hear the woman begging "don't you leave me. I love you. Carl."

I shook my head and tried to fight back the tears as we stopped at Josh's room.

"Go ahead, you can all go in." He said, offering us a small smile.

Chris went in first, then ricky then ryan. I stood outside the door for a few minutes, trying to mentally prepare myself for what I was about to see.

Finally, I forced myself to go in and immediately wanted to run back out.

He looked terrible. There were tubes and wires littering his small frame and where there wasn't a tube or wire, there was blood or bruising.

How could anyone do this to someone as beautiful as Josh? What kind of heartless asshole could do this to another human being?

I swallowed hard and approached his bed, carefully taking one of his hands in mine. That's when it happened. I broke down. Which is not like me.

Pretty soon I felt an arm slip around me and Ricky rested his head against my shoulder.

"Who could do this to him, Ricky?" I sobbed "how could someone do this to him and leave him for dead?"

Ricky took in a shaky breath as he gave me a light squeeze. "They're going to pay for this, Devin. Believe me." He said softly.

I'd never seen ricky like this before. Out of all of us he was the least violent one. But I could see the fear, the anger and the hatred in his eyes and I knew he meant what he said.

"We're going to take care of the guys that did this, josh" Chris started, running his finger lightly across Josh's arm. "Don't worry about that. They're going to pay."

I cleared my throat and brought his hand up to my lips, carefully kissing over each knuckle. "Everything is gonna be okay, baby." I started, trying to keep at least some composure. "I love you. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm never going to leave you again. I promise you. You're gonna get better. You have too. I need you. We need you." I finished softly.

It wasn't long till Chris and Ricky excused themselves, saying they'd be back soon.

Ryan stayed with me and we both sat on either side of his bed, holding his hand. The only sound in the room was the gentle beeping of the monitors.