My Brother Zach

The Hospital

6 months later

"Farro!" I called. "Where are you?"

I hopped off the last few steps and went into the kitchen. It still had a fresh new look, since just recently Mum and Dad had renovated the whole house.

"Ah," Farro groaned from the shiny marble counter. His hands were buried deep in his dark hair as he bent over a thick book. "How on earth do you do this equation?!"

"Mr Jamison's famous algebra homework?" I asked knowingly. He nodded and slumped over the pages in front of him.

"Ask Abbily to help. She's good at maths," I said, opening the fridge and taking out a bottle of juice. "I'm gonna go and visit Zach."

Farro peeped up at me through his hair. It fell over his grey eyes messily. "She's out shopping. With Lacey."

I adjusted my bag and sighed as I walked to the door. "When she gets back, then."

"She's always with Lacey these days," he grumbled, picking up his pencil again.

"Hey, don't pretend you mind," I said with a laugh. "I've seen you watching that one. A lot." I laughed again, then swept my side-fringe back.

Farro stared at me. Suddenly the whole room fell silent, and it was just us, alone in the entire world.

"There's only one girl I watch," he said so quietly, he might have not even said it at all.

Yikes.

He doesn't mean Lacey.

"Gotta go," I called hurriedly, and then ran out of the house.

------------------------

"Hi Liberty!" a friendly voice chirped, and I smiled as I pushed my sunglasses to the top of my head.

"Hey, Melody," I said, walking up to the petite nurse. I had just entered the hospital building after almost crashing into a bus, almost knocking down a tree and almost running over a dog.

Goodness knows how I got my license.

"Where's Zach?" I asked as we began ascending towards the stairs slowly. The hospital had an "If you're quite healthy, if your legs are a pair, don't stand in an elevator, climb those stairs!" policy. They actually stuck those kinda things around on the walls and floors.

"Room three-four-nine. We moved him to test his blood pressure and to take some small tests," Melody explained. "I'm sorry you weren't notified."

"It's ok," I said, brushing off the matter. "I'm just gonna sit with him for a bit, if that's alright."

Melody nodded, then pointed me in the direction of the room, before quickly hurrying to some other patient's room, where an alarm had been sounded.

I knocked two times, then slowly opened the door.

"Zach?"

No answer.

I stepped inside and saw he was sleeping, one arm hugging a small piece of card to his chest. He was balder than ever now, and the hospital lights flickered over his shiny head. My heart lurched when I saw drips inserted in different parts of his body, and the machines gathered on his right.

The room was clean and white; the blinding sort that makes your eyes hurt a little. But on the floor near Zach was a very faint red stain. Perhaps the mark of blood which had been wiped away too late.

I sat down on the cushioned seats beside him, and gently removed the piece of card from his fingers. I couldn't help noticing how rough they were when my skin brushed against his.