The Night Shift

Chapter Four: Josh

A/N: Mention of death. Stay safe, y'all.

After the nurse had left, I finally brought myself to call Jenna. Well, at least I tried to call her. She wasn't picking up, and eventually she just started sending me straight to voicemail, which wouldn't let me leave a message, since she hadn't set it up. Mark had called about an hour ago, letting me know that he would be staying on the tour bus at the venue for the rest of the night, and that he would be picking up Mrs. Joseph from the airport at 8 AM. Apparently, she had also tried to get a hold of Jenna, and she couldn't reach her. Seeing Tyler's mother under these circumstances made me very anxious. Ever since I joined the band, she treated me like I was one of her own, and it was really nice at times—unless she was mad about something—then it wasn't so nice.

I got tired of sitting in the waiting room, and went outside and walked around the ambulance bay for a little while. The night was quiet, a few people had come in to the ER, but their cases appeared to be pretty mild compared to Tyler's. Just thinking about him falling made me want to throw up. The noise of his bones breaking was still playing on a loop in the back of my mind. The street lights were bright against the darkened sky, and the streets were silent. It wasn't comforting. I felt on edge, and scared. I wanted to understand everything that was happening to Tyler, but I had yet to hear an update, and I was starting to freak out. I didn't think it would take that long to finish up this surgery. I wanted to trust Kinsley, I really did, but trusting people is hard. I just want to be able to talk to Tyler. I miss him already, and it's so dumb, but that's how it normally is. Even when we're separated, we still communicate in some way, but now it's just radio silence.

The wind began to pick up a little bit, and a flash of lightening lit up the sky in the distance. I felt a drop of water hit my fidgeting hands, and decided that it would be best to go back inside. The last thing I needed was to get pneumonia. We already had enough to worry about with Tyler. The doors to the ER slide open, and I kept my head down as I walked back in, and over to the water cooler that was positioned to the right of front desk. As soon as I took a sip, the doors that led back to the examination rooms opened and Kinsley walked in.

She glanced around the room, and started walking towards me as soon as she spotted me. I decided to meet her the rest of the way, eager to hear the news about my best friend. I sat the cup of water down on the desk, wringing my hands in anticipation.

"Hey," she gave me a small smile, "You ready to see him?"

My brain failed to send words to my mouth, so I ended up nodding my head. A nervous smile was now apparent on my face as I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't think she would let me see him tonight. I figured he'd be in worse shape, but I guess not.

"Follow me," she beckoned me with her hand, and held the door open for me to go through. "I'll fill you in on the way there." Her tone had changed a bit, causing me to study her face and her body language. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy, almost as if she was crying, but it was hard to tell because of the darker circles that were now more pronounced than earlier when she first came and talked to me.

"I hope it's all good things," my voice was nervous, and my words shook.

She took a deep breath as we started to walk toward the elevator down the hallway. "Tyler went into cardiac arrest while on the table. I won't go into detail, but like I told you earlier, I don't sugar coat things either. He was clinically dead for about 15 minutes. I'm sorry I can't give you an exact time, it just happened so quickly." Her hands were now trembling as she reached for the up arrow on the elevator. "He's stable now. I'll be staying with him for the rest of the night, and up until his surgery tomorrow morning. Since there was a complication we moved the surgery back to 11 AM." The elevator doors finally opened, and we stepped inside.