Number 12

Chapter 8

Sam’s POV

I woke at six to the sound of Michael’s phone ringing. He rolled away from beside me to grab it of the table. I was staying at his place while I was there. He answered it. I lay there not really listen to the conversation since I could only hear half of it. He hung up after a minute of talk and rolled so he was facing.

‘My mother has an hour or two at the most to live’ he said. I jumped off the bed and rummaged through my clothes looking for shorts. I quickly changed not caring that Michael was in the room. He had seen me naked countless times. He used to always sneak into my room and we would sleep together. Sleeping alone now felt strange.

We didn’t bother with breakfast. I don’t usually have it until later so it was fine. I followed Michael once we were at the hospital. He led me to the intense care unit, somewhere that I had been many times before. Michael gripped my hand so tightly that I thought I might lose circulation but I didn’t say anything as he was scared.

The room was white. Anna Blake was in the middle on the bed with white sheets, hooked up to about ten different machines. She smiled as we entered. Michael sat down beside her in a white chair and I sat on his lap. Anna looked sickly pale but she still had her bright smile.

‘Sam, how are you? How is the relationship with Michael? How is football?’ she asked.

‘Slow down. I’m great. The relationship is amazing and so is football’ I laughed.

We spent the next hour with more family, laughing. Suddenly her brain stopped. She couldn’t speak and she didn’t seem to understand what we were saying. The heart monitor stopped beating. Michael tensed up under me. I grabbed his hand and walked him out as the doctors walked in.

I stopped in a secluded park like area. I climbed the nearest tree and Michael followed me up. We sat there for a minute in the silence before Michael started to cry. I sat there trying not to cry also and support him.

‘You must think I am stupid for crying’ he smiled slightly

‘You put up with me when I lost my family. Think of this as payback time’ I smirked at him. He pulled me closer and I let him sit there in the silence. I swung my legs reminding me of when we were younger and used to always climb trees. I watched Michael out of the corner of my eye. He sat there and tried to calm himself down.

‘Hey, I’m here for you’ I said.

He was about to reply when there was a shout below us.

‘I found them’ someone called. We got pulled down by our feet. I found myself surrounded my Michael’s four brothers.

‘It’s Sam and Michael’ Todd laughed trying to be surprised by finding us. I laughed and I saw that Michael was laughing too.

The Blake family decided that since everyone was there they would have the funeral on Tuesday which was the day before I was going back. Michael said he would come back too since his mother wasn’t in Johnsonville anymore.