Bro Code

Chapter Three - Alex

I don’t know when I woke up. In fact it was quite a time later before I even realized I had woken up. Even though my eyes were open, everything was still dark. Dark and painful. Exactly how it had been when I was unconscious.

It was the darkest part of night when I realized I was no longer dead to the world. The normally white hospital was eerily black. There was throbbing around my kidney area, but nothing like it had been before. I wondered if I finally got a new one, or if they decided I would be fine with one and removed it. Neither of those were likely. Due to the non-functioning kidney, the other had been under a lot of strain, making it weak. It couldn’t work on its own. I wouldn’t have even been in the position if I had listened to the doctors and quit soccer two years ago, but no… I had to be a daredevil.

Pain racked my stomach, and I moaned loudly, bringing my hands up to cover my face. The IV that was attached to my arm made a slight dripping sound every second. I was glad I hadn’t been awake when they put it in. I hate needles. I ripped out my IV when I was nine and lost so much blood I passed out.

I reached out with my right hand, feeling for my phone. Mom always put it on the table next to me when we went urgently to the hospital, but oddly I couldn’t find it. My hand did knock something over that loudly crashed to the floor, making me wince. I pulled my arm back, thought for a moment, then reached out again, this time farther than before. A cold screen flared to life under my palm, giving light to the otherwise dark room. I pointed the light at the floor and cringed when I saw the shattered clock on the ground.

I slid my thumb across the screen and typed in my password. Three texts popped up: Two from Sam and one from Jason.

Sam: Hey bro, I got to your stuff before Wren did. Don’t worry.

Sam: No, actually you should worry. Don’t make your password your birthday.

Jason: Doing alright? Tryouts were yesterday. I got number 17 for you.

I’m surprised you remember my birthday tbh, I texted Sam back. To Jason I replied a simple: Thanks.

I slipped my phone under my sheet and leaned back, staring up blindly. I wondered where Mom was. She typically slept in the hospital room with me. She probably thought I could handle it alone, since I was turning sixteen in a week. Still, I wanted to know if I was going to be okay. I mean, I felt a lot better than I did before I passed out, but that didn’t mean anything. Pain can be numbed, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less severe.

My phone buzzed, scaring me so much the heart rate monitor spiked. By the time I finished the phone from the tangle of sheets the monitor had gone back to normal.

Sam: Good to know you’re back from the dead.

Alex: Am I okay?

Sam: Depends what your definition of okay is.

I stopped typing, trying to keep my breathing steady so the monitor wouldn’t pick up again. I didn’t want the nurses knowing I was awake.

Alex: Not dying?

Sam: Not yet.

I failed in keeping my heart rate steady.

Alex: WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN “NOT YET?”

Sam: Calm down bro. It was a joke.

Alex: Not a funny one.

Sam: As far as I know you’re fine. I don’t know much, though. They operated as soon as you were stable to stop internal bleeding. Oh, and Coach got in deep shit for not forcing you to quit the team.