Zach and Daniel were running through the yard with a football when Jonah ran out to tell them that it was time for lunch. Zach grinned. "Let's go, Dani. Come on!" he said excitedly.
"Let's try one last touchdown," Daniel said eagerly.
The boys raced across the yard when Daniel collided with Zach. The boys collapsed in the grass. Daniel got to his feet and frowned when Zach didn't move. "Z, are you good?"
Zach rubbed his side and slowly sat up. Though the pain was excruciating, he forced a smile. "I'm fine," he muttered.
The boys went inside to get food and found the others on the couch watching television. As the show continued, Corbyn leaned on Zach's shoulder. Zach groaned from Corbyn's weight. Corbyn frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Maybe I should just go lie down," Zach muttered and left the room.
Zach got to the stairs and began seeing double. He forced himself to get up one step. Then another. Then another. He barely made it upstairs before collapsing in a heap. He tried to get up and began seeing black spots. That was the last thing he remembered before the world went black.
Jack was beginning to get worried when Zach hadn't come back downstairs after almost three hours. "He's been asleep a long time."
Daniel nodded. "I know. I think one of us should go check on him."
Jonah nodded. "I'll do it."
Jonah headed to the staircase and froze when he heard Zach gasping for breath. He ran up the stairs and nearly tripped over the boy. "Holy shit! Zach, what happened?"
Zach put a hand on his chest. "I don't know," he choked out and tried to get up. Jonah shook his head. "Don't try to move. Just lie down."
Jonah was panicked. What had happened to Zach in such a short time? Zach moaned and curled up as a wave of pain hit him. "Jon, m'gonna puke."
Jonah stroked Zach's hair. "That's okay. It's okay," he muttered, knowing there was no way to get Zach to a bathroom. "Boys! Get up here!"
The sound of footsteps sounded and the others arrived upstairs. "What the hell is going on in here?" Daniel gasped.
Jonah was trying to control his tears. "I don't know. I got up here and found him. He's been here the whole three hours."
Zach retched and Corbyn's eyes widened. "Is that blood?"
Jonah looked at where Corbyn was pointing and took a deep breath. "Yes, Corbs. It's is blood," he muttered.
Jack grabbed his phone. "Yes, I need an ambulance. My friend is in so much pain and he just threw up blood. What hurts? I don't know. Let me ask him. Z, what hurts?"
Everything was getting fuzzy and Zach pointed at his chest, unable to talk. Jack went back to the phone. "His ribs," he replied. "He's been like this for about three hours. We just found him."
After a few minutes, an ambulance pulled in to relieve the boys from the medical tasks at hand. The medics examined Zach as thoroughly as they could. "Seems that his lungs are filling up with blood. One got punctured."
"Okay kid, we're going to put you on a stretcher," the other medic said. "You're Zach. Right?"
Zach nodded. "Mhmm..." he moaned.
"Well, Zach you're going to be okay. Your friends called just in time," the medic said.
As they lifted Zach onto the stretcher, Zach gave a scream that no one had ever heard before. Zach had never been in so much pain. When they arrived at the hospital they were in the waiting room for almost two hours before the doctor came out. "Your friend is fine. We might have to do a lung transplant but not immediately. You can go see him if you want."
The boys nearly trampled each other to get into the room. "Zach!"
Sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Hope you enjoyed❤
