A Day in My Life

Crack Of Dawn

DYLAN POV:

I woke up at the crack of dawn and pressed my phone alarm off. It hadn't gone off yet, so it wasn't really a problem, but I knew it would when I was eating breakfast and I would have a freak out trying to turn it off.

I went to the guys to wake them up so we could head over to the hospital. Today was the day.

Blake was already awake and sitting on his bed, on the phone with Aubrey.

As I passed his room, I stopped for a minute to eavesdrop on his phone conversation.

"Yeah," he spoke cheerfully. "I don't know how they pulled it off.... Uh huh. It was actually all Taylor's idea.... Right, Dylan's girlfriend.... I'm so proud of them. They planned it all by themselves.... Yep. Dylan told me the school was able to raise the full $40,000.... I have no idea how they got it together so quickly... Truly blessed... Our little Kota is gonna make it... Yeah... I miss her so much too...."

I cringed. If only he knew the truth.

I walked into Nick and Talen's room and their alarm was playing Fall Out Boy loudly. They were both still fast asleep so I clicked it off and shook them both awake.

"Get ready for a fun little day trip to the hospital!" I said with a fake smile. They both groaned and rolled over so I pulled their blankets off and left them in a pile on the ground.

I sighed and shook them each again. "Come on," I spoke softly this time. "If everything goes well, Kota could wake up tomorrow or the next day and we could finally have her back."

This did the trick and both Nick and Talen shot up and got out of bed to get dressed. I gave a small smile and went downstairs to wait for everyone else to come down.

As I walked into the living room, I passed the bathroom and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I stopped walking and went into the bathroom to study myself further. I bit my lip as I stared back at myself. I looked so tired, so worn out. We all did at this point. We just wanted her back.

I sighed, turned the bathroom light off and went into the living room. Soon, I was joined by Talen, Nick, and Blake.

"You ready?" Blake asked us, while ruffling Talen's hair.

I nodded slowly and took up the rear as everyone piled into the car.

"You okay?" Talen whispered to me.

"Hmm?" I asked, snapped from my thoughts. "Oh. Yeah, I'm just... a little nervous."

"Don't worry," Tal said, clapping me on the back lightly. "Everything will go as planned."

"God I hope so," I mumbled. But... I was the only one who actually knew what the plan was.

—

We walked through the familiar automatic hospital doors and I prayed that it wouldn't be too long before I got to exit through these doors with a healthy Dakota in tow. Or in my arms. Yeah, if she comes out good as new, no way I'm letting her walk by herself ever again.

Picturing it made me smile, she would be sooo mad.

I'm definitely doing the right thing.

Turning to face Blake, I explained to him that I should be the one to speak with the doctor about paying for the surgery since I was in charge of the gofundme and instructed them to wait here since the doctor didn't like when a bunch of people bombarded him with questions all at once.

Blake believed me and I sped away from them to go find Dakota's doctor.

After asking the receptionist where I could find him, I raced to the room they had directed me to and found the doctor right where they had said he'd be.

I quickly rapped my fist against the door until it swung open. "Can I speak with you?" I panted urgently.

The doctor nodded and motioned for me to enter his office. "It's urgent."

I sat down in a chair across from the doctor. "What's troubling you?" he asked, calmly.

"The surgery. Dakota's surgery."

He nodded knowingly and I continued.

"She needs to have the surgery. It's... it's imperative to her survival." I choked out, coughing to make my voice go back to normal.

"I agree," he said with a curt nod.

"It's $46,000. Between my family's savings we have $6,000. My school was only able to raise $11,521. I... I have $9,367 in college savings. I want to put it towards the surgery. That still leaves $19,112 remaining."

My lip trembled. If my brothers found out I lied about how much money the school raised, their hearts would be shattered. And if Blake found out that I was using my college money to help pay for the surgery, he would be furious. Or maybe not. At this point, I had fucked up so badly, he probably wouldn't give a fuck what my future entailed. But I had to do it. I had to lie.

Dakota's doctor frowned, confusion crossing his features.

"Please," I begged, my voice a whisper. "Is there anyway I can pay it off in payments? I'll pay it off for the rest of my life if I have to. Just let her have the surgery she needs to survive. Please." Tears began to escape from my eyes and I was sure that I looked completely pathetic, but I didn't care. I was desperate.

Dr. Leonard's next few words meant everything.

"But... do you not know?" he finally spoke. "The surgery has already been paid- in full."

"What?" I gasped, shaking my head. "But... that's not possible. We didn't even come close."

"I'm afraid I don't follow," the doctor answered, equally confused as I was. He suddenly scooted his chair back and opened a drawer. He retrieved a manilla folder and set it on the desk before opening it and pulling out a piece of paper.

"This is the contract for the surgery right here. The signature at the bottom of the page certifies that the procedure has been consented to and paid for."

I glanced down at the bottom of the paper to where the doctor's finger pointed. There in the space for signature, was a name, poorly scrawled out in cursive. I squinted my eyes to read whose name it read:

~Christopher Rozario~

"Chris," I exclaimed. Pretty sure my eyes popped out of my head.

"A young man came in a few days ago and he paid for the surgery, in cash. He assured me that he was family and that you and your eldest brother had allowed him to pay... He showed all the proper forms of ID and everything and I... If this is incorrect in any way then we won't go on with the surgery."

"No, no! Everything is correct. Yes, of course. I just hadn't heard if the payment went through or worked," I lied, rambling.

"Oh," the doctor relaxed. "Well yes, it went through."

"Okay then," I stated. "We'll go through with the operation."

Dr. Leonard returned the manilla folder back into the drawer where he had first retrieved it. "Very well," he said, giving a curt nod. "Then the surgery will proceed today at 2:00 pm as planned."

I shook the doctor's hand, thanked him for his time, and rushed back out to the lobby to meet my brothers. How had Chris even paid for the surgery? And how were we ever going to repay him??

A grin escaped my lips. None of that mattered right now. What mattered was that the surgery was on. 

I walked back out to my brothers and leaned over, to tell them the details of the surgery and that all was well. Talen clasped his hands together in prayer and thankfulness, Nick let out a massive cheer that resembled a crazy wolfs howl, and Blake smiled and grabbed my shoulder. He gave it a squeeze and we all leaned back, to wait.

If everything went well today, then Dakota was going to be okay.

And if Dakota was, then so were we.