The Boy I Used To Know ( A Josh Hutcherson FanFic)

Chapter 27

Kayne watched with his eyes wide as Josh fell to the floor. With a hand clutched to his throat and a jerk in his breath, Josh slumped to the ground, unconscious.

***

"Dr. Murray, what's happened to my son?" Josh's father asked for the third time that day. When Dr. Murray held up a hand to tell him to be patient, he started to pace again. "Goddammit, can someone tell me something, please?!"

Kayne sat on his bed, head between his knees, humming a tune. He didn't know what to say to them or if he could even look Josh's parents in the eye. They arrived an hour after the phone call. His mother's eyes were red and his father looked older than the last time Kayne saw him. As they wheeled Josh into the emergency room, all Kayne remember thinking of was how he should not have shouted at him. Should've been kinder. Should've been softer.

Annie rushed in right after a nurse gave Josh's father a cup of water and an envelope.

"Is Josh ok?" Annie asked frantically, her eyes searching the room for him. Josh's mom hugged her and they both broke into a sob by his bed. Kayne contemplated on getting out of there but his leg would not budge and his prosthetic one was so far away that he didn't want to come across as weak to have to hobble all the way there.

Josh's father opened the envelope. His eyes grew wider as he read the leaflet enclosed.

"Organ donation! What is this?! Are you trying to tell me my son might not make it?!" he waved the leaflet at the nurse angrily. She shook her head sheepishly, trying to think of an explanation but the look in her eyes gave her away.

"It's a precautionary measure. Just in case your son... this might be something he would want to do before it is too late," she told him with a slight hesitation.

Josh's father took a seat, letting it sink in. The room was so deafeningly silent that it made the situation ominous. Kayne lifted his head to look at them. The nurse excused herself and got the hell out of there before Josh's father could throw another fit.

That was when Dr. Murray came in with his eyebrows scrunched up and a frown that screamed of bad news.

"Mr and Mrs Hutcherson, your son is stable for now. He is in a chemically-induced coma to speed up recuperation but there is something I must tell you. Josh's laryngeal cancer has started to spread to his lungs. In a few months, maybe less, it could worsen drastically."

"What about the treatment he is getting? The chemo?" Josh's father enquired anxiously.

"He has completed his second phase of chemotherapy but I notice that he has been missing some right here," Dr. Murray pointed to the unmarked boxes on Josh's treatment sheet. "His chances of recovery three months ago were high, at about 70%; but now, with the cancer in his lungs, I am afraid to say that Josh might have only this year left. And obviously there is no way I can confirm this. Josh may continue to surprise us. If only in a good way, Mr. Hutcherson."

***

They wheeled Josh back into his room at 7pm that same day. The Hutchersons stayed for an hour or two before they left. Annie appointed herself caretaker for the week and snuggled up on the armchair beside Josh's bed.

"Josh, It's going to be alright. You're going to wake up and maybe this will all be a dream," she whispered, kissing his cheek.

"Don't tell him that," Kayne said from his corner of the room. He sat by the windowsill, guitar in hand. "Don't says things like 'you'll be ok'. He isn't going to be. Look at him. In a damn chemically-induced coma."

"What makes ignoring him any better?" she replied.

"I am not ignoring him. He isn't even awake. I'm just giving him his space," Kayne said. Then added, "Maybe you should too."

"Just because you've been by his side in this hospital longer than I have, that does not instantly make you a know-it-all. I'm his best friend and I'm sticking with him," Annie snapped. She turned to face Josh, her back towards Kayne.

"If you were here, you'd know that he's in a heck load of pain and he needs his space. You being in his goddamn airspace 24/7 isn't exactly the most comfortable thing."

"Comfortable for who, Kayne? Hmm? For you or for him?"

Kayne glared at her, jaw clenched so tight it might break.

"You're just jealous that he loved me first and you can't wait to get rid of me," Annie spat. She was getting pissed now. Kayne and his bullshit righteousness was getting on her nerves. She stood up and faced him. "I know what's going on here and I know it damn well. I want him as much as you do but if you're going to put your selfish want before his health, I swear..."

"You swear what, huh? You're going to kill me?" he taunted. "You're going to suffocate me in my sleep, Annie dear? Why are we getting so defensive? You can have the boy. Screw him. I never wanted him around in the first place."

"You say that, Kayne. But you kiss him behind my back. For once, I thought you were a better person than you made yourself seem. I thought you'd actually take care of him. Maybe I would even give in. Let him choose you," she exhaled in disgust. "But you're just another insecure little boy who is determined to ruin the friendship of others because you can't have one."

"You don't know me, you sly piece of shit. Don't presume to know who I am and give me shit about it. You're just the same, aren't you? Girl hanging onto the last thread of her fraying romance. Your boyfriend is dying and all you care about is whether he'll pick you. You and I, we are not any different. You need love as mush as I. You have two legs, good for you. Don't come in here and belittle me for something I cannot have." Kayne propped his guitar against the wall and hobbled back to his bed.

"Maybe you should leave, Annie. You're making too much noise," Kayne finally said, lying down on his bed.

"It's not true. I love him and I will respect his choice. But in the meantime, I'm going to be here for him when he wakes up. I'm not some needy shit you think I am," she replied, drawing the shades around Josh's bed, separating them and blocking Kayne from view.

***

The next morning, when Annie went back to the Hutcherson's rented flat for a wash, Kayne sat beside Josh and lightly stroked his cheek, as if the act itself might break him. The nurses said he wouldn't be awake for another four hours, so Kayne talked to him. He talked about their first meeting, the things they debated about at 2am, the hospital food, the walks they took around the hospital, their first kiss and the kisses after that. He told Josh punny jokes that he knew Josh would appreciate, not knowing whether Josh could hear him or not. He talked about Annie and told him about the things he liked about her. Said she was strong. Said she was smart, caring and fiercely loyal.

Kayne sighed. He pressed his lips softly to Josh's before grabbing his guitar from where he had put it last night and started to strum. "This one is for you, love. Please wake up."

Night falls,
We're covered over now,
We're covered over now,
Daylight,
Sometimes it ends too soon,
I don't want to sleep,

As he broke into the chorus, Kayne began to cry. He thought of the friends he had made years before he met Josh and how they had all left him. He knew never to make promises to people he met in the hospital. They would never be fulfilled. He looked at Josh. The tubes in his nose, the IV stabbed into the back of his palm, his thinning hair and the red freckle-like scar around his neck. He took in the sight of the beautiful boy in a deep sleep in front of him, dying. It hurt to see him this way, made him wish he knew Josh the way Annie did. Before the cancer, before the drugs. He wished he never met him, even. At least he would not feel so much so hard, at such a horrible time.

Til' I remember lending softer ears to my lungs,
Til' I remember lending softer ears to my lungs,
And maybe if I hold you now, would you hold me now?
And maybe if I hold you now, would you hold me now?

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A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter of TBIUTK! I am back! Graduated and free, I can finally write to my heart's content. I hope you enjoyed this chapter ( even though I personally want to shake myself really hard for making Annie and Kayne fight). Do vote, comment and all the good stuff. I missed writing this. :)

P.S: Do listen to the song that Kayne sang. It is The Mortal Boy King by the Paper Kites. Here's a link. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPcEQwEPmVg )