Remember Me |Merome| [ABANDONED]

Chapter Six

Mitch's chest rose and fell in quick short gasps, as he struggled for breath, and the beeps of the monitor were faint and far apart as his heart struggled to beat, to force the blood through him. Charlotte and an old man with graying hair and a wrinkled face stood next to the bed.

"Charlotte what's wrong what happened?!" Jerome demanded.

Charlotte grabbed a bag of unknown liquid and attached it to a tube connected to Mitch's arm.

"His blood pressure dropped dangerously low, and his heart could stop completely if we don't get this under control. We have medicine, but it will take a bit to kick in. This is Dr. Jennings, he's The doctor in charge of Mitch, I don't believe you've met him yet." She replied without looking over her shoulder, as she hooked the bag up and checked his heart rate again.

"Doctor, it's still dropping. And his breathing is becoming shorter, I think he's going into shock." Charlotte said, her face was serious, she was cool and collected as she worked, not letting emotions get in her way as she did her job. Jerome admired that, he felt like he was going to break down as he watched Mitch struggle to survive. Charlotte looked at him, then at Mitch's parents, who were standing in the corner, speechless and shocked.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to step out into the hall" She told them as she quickly ushered them out. They did as directed and stood outside, the door was shut in Jerome's face and he stepped back, thinking about what had just happened. He looked back at Mitch's parents. He saw that their were tears running down their face, and realized that his cheeks were wet too.

"They said he was doing well..." Mrs Hughes buried her face in her hands.

"He'll be fine, I'm sure he will. They know what they are doing, we need to trust the doctors." Mr. Hughes told her, although he didnt sound too sure. Jerome leaned against the wall and slid down to ground. The medicine has to work. This can't happen, he was expected to be fine earlier and now his heart may stop? This can't be real. He finally let go of his emotions, all of the worry and sadness turning into water rushing down his face. He pulled his knees against his chest and sat there, crying against the wall.

It felt like an eternity, as they waited for the doctor and nurse to tell them it was okay to return to the room, and that Mitch was fine. Occasionally people passed by them in the hall but no one said anything. When they saw them, sitting against the walls with tear stained cheeks and glassy eyes, they just knew, some knew all too well. They would most likely hear about it the next day, hopefully not in the obituary, but sadly that was usually the case.

"Excuse me." A voice to his right caused Jerome to jump. He looked up to see Dr. Jennings in the doorway.

"Is he okay?" Mrs Hughes demanded "Please tell me he's okay."

The doctor scratched his wispy gray hair and stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind him.

"Yes, as of right now, he is stable." He informed them. There was an audible sigh of relief from the distressed group. "You may go in now, but first I will explain what happened. A minor injury in his lungs may have become infected, it caused inflammation and irritation but we administered medicine and he is able to breathe again. There are also antibiotics that should take care of the infection. We will continue to monitor his lungs to make sure that surprises like this won't happen again." The three of them nodded, they had been doing a lot of that recently, Jerome thought. Just nodding their heads while the professionals talked about Mitch's life and possible lack of life like this was an everyday occurrence. Hell, it probably was.

When they returned to his side Mitch's breathing was back to normal, although his heart beats were still sporadic. He lay in a state of peace that filled Jerome with relief. Mitch's parents immediately started talking to the doctor, making sure that Mitch was okay. Tommorow is their last day here. Jerome thought Of course they want to know his condition before they have to go. Jerome sat by Mitch's bed lightly tracing circles on the back of his hand.

He checked the clock on his phone, the whole ordeal had lasted about An hour. it was 3:48 now. He pulled up The Hunger Games on his phone and continued reading. He didn't know how long they sat there, reading page after page, reciting the story to a boy who may not even hear him. When he finally looked up Mitch's parents were gone as was the doctor. Charlotte, Mitch, and Jerome were the only ones in the room. Another glance at the clock told him he had read for an hour. Mitch was still the same as before, except his heart beats had gone back to normal.

"Jerome?" Charlotte asked. He blinked and looked over at her.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be staying tonight? Mr and Mrs Hughes said they would be."

Jerome hesitated a second. As much as he wanted to stay with Mitch, he hadn't been at home since the accident. He also hadn't showered, and he had been sleeping on a ledge. Going home for the night might be a good idea.

"Um, no actually, I'm going to stay at home tonight and come back tomorrow."

"Alright." Charlotte smiled. "I'll see you tommorow then." She gave him a small wave as she walked out the door.

Mitch's parents would be here tonight so they weren't leaving him alone, and if he left he could properly take care of things at home and get an actual good nights sleep. Or as good a nights sleep as he can get with his best friend in a coma. His only job was YouTube so he wouldn't have to worry about work, but he thought he should check with Mitch's job to make sure they knew what had happened and didn't just assume he skipped work.

Before he left he looked down at the unconscious boy beside him. An overwhelming rush of sadness hit him, bringing tears to his eyes. This shouldn't have happened to Mitch. Not his lovely Mitch. Jerome leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Mitch's forehead, then left to head to his car, gently shutting the door behind him.