Left You Behind

8

Lukas's Pov:

"Morning guys" I grumbled after I lazily got out of my bunk and slouched my way to the front lounge area of the bus.

"Hey Luke. It's okay if we call you that right." Zach asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah of course." I responded as I yawned and poured some coffee. "Scar did you get Frankie's meds ready yet." It was a routine. Me or someone else in the band gets her medicine ready then once she wakes up, we give her ten or so minutes then we have her take her meds and on the occasion one of us looks away we have to have her show us that she did take them and not hide them.

"No, can you get it my straightener is heating up." I nodded and proceeded to pull out the numerous bottles of medicine.

"Woah. She's gotta take all these just in the morning."Rian asked in shock as he reached for the coffee pot. I nodded and moved over some so he could reach better. "If you don't mind me asking what are they all for?"

"These four.." I said as I pointed them out. ".. are because she has kidney failure in her left kidney and is on the transplant waiting list I guess you can say. But with the kidney issues she has other life threatening health conditions and the medicines help with those conditions. She can't miss them. The other four isn't my business to share." I tried not to sound to harsh on the last part but it just came out that way.

"That's cool. Does her kidney or other conditions act up while preforming?"

"We have longer in between song time that way she has time to breathe and get everything in check. A few times it's acted up badly but it usually requires a trip to the hospital just to get fluids pumped through her system. Especially if its hotter out." I explained.

Suddenly a blanket cocoon covered Frankie came out and flopped onto one of the couches and placed her head on Sams lap.

"Heat up please?" She asked still half asleep. Rian looked at her and nodded before moving a little bit and turning the heat up.

"Morning Franks. How'd you sleep last night?" Scarlet asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"Shitty. I had nightmares and the moments I would go back to sleep we would hit a pothole." She mumbled.

"You'll get used to it soon small child." Jack joked. She flipped him off and got off the couch and came over to me where she wrapped me in her blanket cocoon and hugged me. Something I've grown used to.

"What time do we play?" She whispered now more awake and realizing her brother is right there.

"In about 6 hours. Now you know the drill." I sighed as I gently pushed the small cup towards her. She pouted and squeezed her eyes shut before throwing the pills in her mouth and swallowing them. "Open please.." She opened her mouth and moved her tongue around proving she took them. "Good girl, now go get ready for the day." She stuck her tongue out at me before shuffling her way to the bunk area then into the bathroom.

xXxXxXx

"You guys ready for your first huge performance?" Zach asked as we all sat in the green room chilling. Frankie sat in the corner of the room and we could all hear Escape the Fate playing through her earbuds as she tapped on her leg to the drums. Everyone else lounged around having a few drinks and just getting prepared.

"Yea, we're gonna get the crowd fired up for you." Sam joked.

"Remembrance on in 2." A roadie said as he looked at his clipboard. We all got up and Sam grabbed Frankie attention before we all headed out to grab our instruments.

As soon as we left the green room we could feel the summer heat pour over our bodies. I looked at Frankie with the "you gonna be okay" look and she simply nodded as she twirled her sticks between her fingers.

Once we were all set up we ran right onto the stage one by one. Scarlet. Sam. Me. Then finally Frankie.

"Hello Bright and Sunny Baltimore. How is everyone doing tonight?" Scarlet yelled into her mic. The vrowd cheered in response. "Are you guys ready to rock?!" Her voice grew deep in a mysterious way. The crowd cheered louder. "Great, now we have the generic questions out of the way. We just wanted to thank everyone who came out today. Make sure to stay hydrated with the heat and be sure to have a good fucking time." With that we dived right into our setlist.

xXxXxX

Our set was almost done. We had one more song but the heat had gotten worse. I had walked back to Frankie's drum kit to make sure she was still okay because I knew the heat wasn't good and we haven't really had big breaks between songs.

"You okay?" I mouthed. She nodded but the pained look on her face explained everything. Her hand was pressed against the side and she was taking quick shallow breathes. I couldn't risk her getting worse and I knew we had to get her to the doctors. I quickly stepped next to Scarlet. "Frankie needs to get to the doctors now. If you want I can take her myself and we can get a fill in." Scarlet nodded.

"Okay guys we are gonna have a quick change of plans for these last 3 songs." Scarlet explained as I ran to side stage and passed my guitar to the John the guitar tech.

"George. I need to take Frankie to the hospital. Can you fill in?" I asked the drum tech. He nodded quickly and grabbed extra sticks. I grabbed my guitar back and passed it to Scarlet before I stood next to Frankie and made sure she got off stage just fine.

Once we got off the stage Frankie wrapped her one arm around my waist amd used me for support and to keep her balance.

"You guys okay?" Alex asked in concern.

"Frankie needs to see a doctor so I'm taking her. We'll be back later tonight and I'll give you details then." I explained as we got passed them.

Me and Frankie quickly got into the rental car and I drove us to the nearest hospital. Her face was pale white and it was evident that she was in tremendous amounts of pain due to her kidneys and coexisting health problems.