Chances Are

Chapter 12 Milton Begins to Lose Everything

The next few days flew by for Milton. He still didn't feel like talking to anyone, so anytime he would have visitors he would pretend to be asleep until his visitors would leave or until he would be able to fall asleep for real. He still didn't know how to handle the situation with the Carmichaels. Even if he felt like he didn't feel truly welcomed in the household, he did feel like he owed his life to them. Without their discipline and tough love he wouldn't be the man he was right now. Sure he lived a difficult life but in his mind, the inner strength and optimism that Matthew taught him was irreplaceable. So before he even really thought about it, he knew that he had already forgiven Matthew. The only people that he really couldn't forgive immediately were Jean and Denise. Kristina and John Dylan were always there for him and he felt so blessed to have them be part of his life. He still didn't want to tell them about his new situation, but missed them so much that when they visited him the next day, he was ready to talk and laugh with his true friends.

The next few days that Kristina and John Dylan were able to visit Milton were some of the toughest times in their friendship. Kristina felt miserable as she didn't know what she could do for Milton in his weakened state. She tried many different things to try and comfort Milton but as he was asleep the whole time, it unnerved her that she couldn't help him in any way. Meanwhile it frustrated Kristina that John Dylan wasn't as involved in trying to comfort Milton. He was just sitting in his chair, reading a comic, occasionally approaching Milton's bedside while reading a passage aloud, and then he would sit back down to his chair and continue reading. Whenever they had their visits, the two wouldn't talk because they didn't really have much in common. It was then that the two friends realized that what they had was just a friendship of convenience. Their friendship flourished because of the presence of Milton; otherwise they would just be two acquaintances who happened to see each other once and again. Finally on the fifth day of their visit, Milton woke up and seemed to be in positive spirits as he smiled seeing familiar faces by his side.

Kristina gave Milton a huge hug as tears fell down her face. It seemed like she was inconsolable as she repeatedly asked him how he was feeling and if he was feeling better. Meanwhile, John Dylan stood beside her and just observed her as she bombarded their dearest friend with hugs and questions. Finally John Dylan spoke as he said: "Take it easy Kris, allow Milt to breathe before you bombard him with more questions. How are you bro?" He then held his hand brotherly as he tried to comfort him the best way he could.

Milton smiled as he saw the juxtaposition between the reactions of the two closest people in his life. He smiled weakly but he was unable to hide the sadness on his face. He always was an open book to his two best friends, but now he had to hide the biggest news of his young and miserable life. He didn't know how to tell them about this new revelation so he decided that as long as he couldn't deal with the situation, then he need not give his friends unwanted grief. So he just allowed his friends to share their stories and talk about surface things that wouldn't trigger him in any way. So this went on for several days, as Kristina and John Dylan still visited him as much as they could and generally tried to avoid the topic of why he had another episode, as there would be no reason for him to be hospitalized once again if nothing happened to him to trigger his illness. Matthew still visited him every night to bring supplies but Milton never talked to him and always pretended to sleep on his visits.

Kristina's visits became more frequent visiting him even when John Dylan wasn't there. She brought flowers and baked goodies every day and went as far as to stay the whole night sometimes. She would just watch him sleep and realized that she was falling for this broken young man. She was surprised by these sudden thoughts and tried her best to let go of such ideas but she just couldn't deny her feelings anymore. He was the farthest person he thought she'd fall for. He wasn't traditionally good looking, and all his interests were extremely far off from the jocks she usually dated. But he was fiercely loyal, and his innate positivity despite everything that happened to him really impressed her. Try as she might, she could no longer control the feelings that she had towards him so she finally decided to tell him as soon as he was healthy enough to handle the new information.