Tracks on the Beach

I'm Alive

Gauge is rushed into Coastal Beachton General Hospital on a gurney, surrounded by nurses and paramedics.

"We need a doctor," one of the nurses shouts, "out of the way!" They push him through a set of double swinging doors. As the double doors swing, Breeze rushes in, bawling, one arm held by her Aunt Vanessa who is holding her back.

"Gauge," she cries, "my Gauge." She falls to her knees.

"Come on, now Breeze," Aunt Vanessa says with a smile, so no one else can see how embarrassed she is, "he'll be fine, the good doctors here are going to help him, just as they helped you."

"He's gonna die," Breeze bawls elongating the word die as she now falls to the floor. Aunt Vanessa now tries to pull her up, but Breeze flails her arm from Aunt Vanessa's grip and goes into full tantrum mode on the floor.

"WHY?" She shouts out from her tears, "WHY?"

Ariella and Cash walk in arm in arm. Ariella notices Breeze on the floor.

"Now there's a hot mess," Ariella comments, then steps over her and walks on.

"Breeze, honey," Aunt Vanessa bends down to her to help her off of the ground, but Breeze only flails away in a higher pitch.

"I'don't understand, why-eeee," she bawls, "Why is life so hard?"

"Darling, we have to have hope that he'll be fine," Uncle B now pulls her up, "now, let's quit all of this, because in about five minutes, I'm going to need some comforting. He's my son, and his life is in danger similar to the way his mother died. This is traumatic for me. Now, let's dry up those tears."

"No one understands me but him," Breeze cries and runs off into the nearest door, still bawling. Aunt Vanessa gives Uncle B's shoulders a squeeze as a thank you for trying. Breeze suddenly emerges from the door.

"That was a supply closet," she cries and runs in the opposite direction.

Breeze busts through some swinging doors into another hallway, still crying from being be so upset. She leans against run of the wall and just let's her tears flow. N'Sync's "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time on You," plays as she cries, which makes her cry harder. A nurse walks by as the song becomes it's loudest.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the nurse apologizes, "I didn't realize my headphones weren't plugged in." She plugs them in and the song is no longer heard. Breeze turns so that her cheek is against the grainy wall of the hospital.

"I wish I could be with him now," she says in a whisper, as she still cries.

In his room, Gauge can hear the mumble of voices but does not understand any of them. He feels a sharp pain in his side and things go black. The next thing he hears are the doctor's trying to revive as he hears the words clear, before blacking out again. A bright light blinds him.

"Gauge?" he hears a familiar voice call out. He knows this voice, it's his friend, but it doesn't sound like Cash. "Gauge, is that you?" Gauge tries to talk and he can feel his mouth move, but no words come out. His throat is dry and his lips are chapped.

"The light," Gauge mumbles in a whisper.

"Yes, the light, don't look at it," the familiar voice warns him, "Gauge?"

"Cage," Gauge calls out, recognizing the voice, "it's you. The light is so bright."

"It's not time yet," Cage warns him, "don't look at the light.

"It's so bright," Gauge barely gets out.

"Gauge, you got this, you can beat this," Cage encourages him. Everything once again goes black.