The morning couldn't have begun any more perfectly. Jason Fells smiled just thinking about it as he waited in line for the cashier. Ever since the sunrise this morning, things had just been going absolutely flawlessly. He blushed slightly, slipping his hands into his pockets. Things almost always seemed to be that way when he spent time with Katrina. He sighed, shaking his head and grinning once more. He and Katrina's wedding was only a month away now. It still didn't feel completely real, but there was no denying it now. When he'd told her that morning as they were eating breakfast that he still couldn't quite wrap his head around the fact that she had actually agreed to marry him, she had laughed and shaken her head, reminding him that she wasn't in any position to change her mind. He laughed softly, taking a step forward in the cashier's line. He certainly did not deserve a woman like Katrina, but all the same, she was his bride and he her groom.
He finally reached the cashier's counter and pulled his debit card out of his wallet, handing it over to the young woman behind the counter. It didn't take her very long to complete the transaction and to Jason's relief, he was soon back outside in the warm spring air of Virginia. He smiled, raising his eyes to the beautiful sapphire sky above him. Birds were singing in the tree surrounding the diner, a light breeze was dancing through the air, and surprisingly, the city around him seemed somewhat quiet. Pulling his keys out of his pocket, he clicked the unlock button on the car's remote.
Once inside, he slipped the keys into the car's ignition and the automobile gently purred to life. Then, backing out of the diner's parking lot, he pulled out onto the main road. Every now and then he thought he heard something vibrating from the back seat, but knowing his car, he just presumed that it was some car part that was wearing out. He'd take it into the shop to have it looked at later.
Yet, as he pulled into the parking lot of the office building where he worked and parked the car, the buzzing from the backseat continued. His eyebrows lowered, his face crinkling with confusion. What was that bussing noise? He pulled the keys out of the ignition and the car stopped, yet still, the buzzing continued. He paused, listening to it a moment and then turned, glancing into the backseat. At first, he didn't see anything that might have been the cause of the noise, but then he saw it and immediately groaned. His phone was buzzing ardently in corner of the left side of the backseat, it's screen glowing. He unbuckled and then reached back and grabbed it, trying to swipe to answer the call, but suddenly the phone stopped buzzing and the call ended. As it did, the phone's lock screen appeared. His eyes immediately widened. Thirteen missed calls? He scrolled through the notifications for the calls and groaned. He must have left his phone in the car during breakfast with Katrina. Now he had thirteen frustrated people waiting for him to return their calls. He shook his head. How could he have been so naïve?
Scrolling through the notifications again, he tried to see if he recognized any of the numbers on the screen. As he did, however, he quickly realized that all of the calls had come from the same individual or at least the same phone. His eyebrows went down again. Who had tried to call him thirteen times? He didn't have time to even attempt to answer, for at the same moment, his phone began to buzz again as the caller tried to reach him for the fourteenth time. He immediately swiped to answer the call and then raised the phone to his ear, asking softly,
"Hello?"
"Jason? Am I talking with Jason Fells?"
Jason's eyes widened. "Ben? Why-?"
"I've been trying to reach you for the past twenty minutes! Where are you?"
"I was driving to work. My phone was in the backseat and I-."
"Never mind. There's no time for questions. I need you to come to the hospital."
Jason froze. "The hospital? Ben, what's going on?"
