In The Blood

Over Yonder

(Tim)

I felt my knees start to wobble and, dizzy as fuck all of a sudden, reached out to steady myself only to vaguely feel a hand slap across my cheek.

"Breathe, Tim!" Chance's voice yelled at me.

"Don't let him—"
"Move the lunch cart!"

"He's gonna pass—"

"Clear the area!" came a loud and urgent yell just before people to my left started to stumble and fall, nothing but blurs as time slowed to a crawl. Something crashed loudly behind me and my legs gave out. I fell over towards the right, people shouting about the handrail on the wall before I completely passed out, shocked beyond all comprehension at my realization that my biological family had been with me all along, right under my nose.

When I blinked things back into focus, I was on the floor, legs perched up on the wheelchair, my friends and family all around me talking quickly and with a sense of urgency. I heard someone crying and the PA saying something about doctors to the ICU hallway. Faces were all around me, peering down at me like I was a bug.

"Yep, he's conscious now," Sawyer said, moving something wet around on my face.

"How long you say?" Mom fretted from a few feet away.

"Ah, just a few seconds," Chance estimated.

"Stop it, stop it, I'm fine," Chris was trying to tell someone. "I'mma deck the next person to fuss over me instead of Tim."

"I'm OK," my lips said without any sound to the words.

"Whassat?" Casey asked. "I can't read lips."

Adam patted at my face like I was seriously injured from a minor fall. "How're you feeling?"

I tried to cough my voice back into working as I pulled my legs off the wheelchair. Thank God I was wearing underwear, else I'd be showing everyone everything I got. I gave the chair a good kick to get it out of my way. "I'm—"

"Oomph!" Austin grunted, him and Kevin having taken the brunt of the wheelchair I'd kicked. Austin had fallen straight over and onto the floor but somehow Kevin had fallen into it and went zooming down the hallway all akimbo, shouting "whoaa!" all the way and sending bystanders scrambling to avoid being run over. I could swear one dark-haired dude right behind him just up and vanished into thin air to avoid being roadkill.

"Kevin!" Mitch screamed, Avi, Scott, and Kirstie running after him. I sat up just in time to hear a terrible crash and we all winced. Mitch screamed again for good measure.

"I'm OK!" Kevin called from down the hallway. "Seriously, doctors, I'm OK. See? I can move everything just fine. Y'all OK? I didn't crash into anyone, did I? Where'd that guy in the red shirt go?"

"We're fine," an unidentified voice said. "No idea about that guy. Ain't here now so he's got to be fine too."

Oh good. I started to relax just to see what Sawyer, Casey, Taylor, Chris, Matt, Adam, and Austin were snickering at—Smith, Kats, Rupert, Fred, and Kline slink into the men's room covered in interesting colors and textures of food and drink. I started to smile too.

"Sorry, guys!" Matt called out to them. "Tim's head was less than a second away from hitting it!"

That would have hurt. I started pawing at my head for any bumps and bruises.

"You're fine," Sawyer assured me. "Matt pushed the lunch cart away and he, Adam, and Chris blocked you from the handrail. You just kind of got up close and personal with Chris is all."