The men in scrubs were unloading Kellin’s bloody lifeless body from the back of the ambulance. Vic dropped to his knees at the sight of him lying there, he looked dead. They rushed passed him yelling “Code 17! Code 17!” as they burst through the doors and into the crowded emergency room. Vic saw tony who was sitting against a wall beside Jaime, who was looking toward the sky.
The world paused for a moment just spinning around him. A woman in yellow scrubs kneeled in front of him and said “Excuse me sir, I understand you’re in shock right now but; you are covered in blood and I would like to take a look at your shoulder.” Vic nodded and stood up. He followed the girl into the emergency room and down the hallway; she took him into an examination room and asked him to remove his shirt. Vic swallowed hard and pulled his shirt over his head’ the world still spinning around him.
She took an alcohol swab and gently dabbed at the area around his newest wound. “I see you got in a fight with a bottle huh?” she joked calmly pulling a shard of glass from his back. “No, I did that.” said Vic softly still starring into nothing. “Oh. Did you do this to your arm too?” she asked now running the swab over his stiches. “Got mad.” Vic mumbled into nothing. She let another low ‘oh’ and walked over to a small box with a hazard symbol on it. She pulled out a curved needle and a blue plastic coating wire. “I’m going to sew up your back is that alright?” she asked walking back over to Vic.
He nodded his head and she brought the needle to his skin. “Deep breath.” She said calmly as she pierced his already raw skin with the needle. She ran the thread through his wound; Vic bit his lip he didn’t enjoy this feeling at all. “When this is done I’m gonna need to see Kel…. the guy who just got shot.” Vic said still starring into nothing. “If you think you can handle it I’ll take you too him as soon as it is allowed.” She paused tying the thread into a knot at the end of his wounds. “Your friend was in pretty critical condition… so you see they might be taking him into surgery… you know to get that bullet out.
Although based on the blood it probably went through.” Vic swallowed hard he didn’t want to think of what condition Kellin could be in. “Where was he shot?” asked Vic starring at his shoes. “He looked to have been shot in the hand; probably a ricochet, and in the knee. The knee was a very bad blow; point blank rang I’d say.” Vic looked over his shoulder at the nurse, “If he dies…” The nurse smiled and said, “Well don’t think about that. You can go into the waiting lobby with your friends now.” She walked out of the room and down the hallway.
Jaime collapsed into one of the lightly cushioned chairs in the lobby, he cupped his face in his bloody hands. Tony walked in through the emergency room doors looking frantic no longer covered in puke; he wasn’t wearing a shirt at all actually. Jaime looked up and silently caught his eye, Tony half ran to him and kneeled on the ground in front of him. “Where is he.” He asked his eyes wild. “Jaime put his hand on Tony’s shoulder and shook his head.
Tony’s eyes began to well with tears. He pulled himself upward and wrapped his arms around Jaime’s neck. Tony squeezed his eyes tight and fought back the tears. He took a deep breath and mumbled into Jaime’s shoulder “They’re gonna bring him back, they will they have to.” Jaime just hugged Tony, watching Vic walk around the corner; now shirtless as well. Vic collapsed into the chair next to Jaime and Tony. He reached over and put his hand on Tony’s shoulder. Tony released Jaime and swung his arms around Vic’s shoulders. Vic couldn’t handle his emotions any longer, he let the hot tears run down his cheeks. Tony pulled away from Vic and sat in the char beside Jaime. He took of his hat and handed it to Vic. Vic took the hat and put it on, trying to hide his face. Tony ran his fingers back through his hair and began to twist his braid in his fingers.
Jesse, Justin, Jack, and Gabe walked through the doors and sat in the chairs surrounding Tony, Jaime, and Vic. No one said a word; they just sat down and tried to deal with their emotions. Jesse picked at his finger nails impatiently. Justin starred around the room at the injured people waiting for a nurse. Jack starred at Vic. Gabe crossed and uncrossed his legs about 12 times. Jaime bit at his lower lip.
Tony rubbed his knees and looked down the hallway. Vic twisted in his seat and crossed his arms over his bare chest. He starred up at every nurse walking by, hoping, praying, they were coming to tell them about Kellin. He watched nurse by nurse walk by to give the other people in the waiting lobby news of their friends. But not them, they had heard nothing since they brought him in. A woman in scrubs came over and smiled at the group; she flipped through a few pieces of paper and asked, “Are you boys waiting for Andres Rodrigues?” Vic dropped his head into his hands. She didn’t speak; she just stood there waiting for a response. Vic finally shot her a dirty look and she walked away without another word, not a sorry, or a smile.
Vic looked at his phone 6:42am. He wandered how long they had been there, He didn’t leave the strip club till around 3 and Kellin was down for about 45 min before they found him. He lost track of time in his head, all he knew was he had been sitting here without any news about Kellin for far too long. He looked around the lobby; they were the only ones left. He wondered if maybe something happened to Kellin and they couldn’t find them to tell them the news.
Vic stood up and walked toward the nurse’s station. He drummed his knuckles on the counter waiting for the nurse to look up from her papers. She was a heavy set black woman with the name ‘Betty’ embroidered into her scrubs. She looked up and smiled, “What can I do for you sweetie?” Vic stumbled over his words, “I uhhh, my friend was uhm, shot and I wanna know if, uhhh he’s okay I guess…” Betty smiled again “Well, I’m going to need a name and if you plan on leaving this waiting room you and your friend are going to need a shirt.” Vic crossed his arms over his chest and spoke slowly “His name is uhm, Kellin Quinn, K-E-L-L-I-N Q-U-I-N-N.” Betty rustled through clip board and loose pages Before pulling one from under a clipboard and reading through the information quickly.
She looked up at Vic, no longer smiling. “Your friend was shot in the knee correct?” Vic nodded, “When your friend was brought in he wasn’t breathing.” She paused and flipped through the pages on the clipboard. “Your friend had a very shallow heartbeat and he did go into cardiac failure.” Vic’s eyes went wide. “He was stabilized after 4 minutes. But due to his already shallow heart beat your friend could have brain damage when he wakes up.” She paused flipping through more of the pages on the clipboard. “So your friend was brought into emergency surgery to fix his leg and his hand.” She smiled at Vic and returned Kellins clip board to the bottom of her pile. “That’s it? That’s all you know?” Vic was flustered, “Sweetie I’m sorry I’m not assigned your friends case. When the doctors get out of surgery they will come give you updates. Our emergency care center may not be busy but we have many daily patients in need of care as well.” Vic nodded and returned to his seat.
All eyes were on him expecting news. “They had to shock him back and his knee is completely fucked.” No one questioned the news; they could tell Vic wanted to speak as little as possible. Vic crossed his arms and slouched into his chair. He shifted Tony’s hat over his eyes and decided he’d try to sleep off his hangover. He felt his mind grow light, he fell asleep much sooner than he expected to. His mind went places he didn’t want it to go. He could hear Kellins voice begging not to be shot, he heard the bang of the bullet leaving the barrel. He tried to wake up but he couldn’t leave his dreams.
The night mare continued, He could almost feel the pain he thought Kellin felt when the bullet connected with his knee. He exaggerated every detail, He thought maybe Kellin had put up a fight; maybe the other guy looked worse. Maybe there were 10 of them and they all turned out worse than Kellin. Maybe it was just a drive by and Kellin hadn’t gotten into trouble at all. Kellin had a habit of running his mouth to the wrong people, and Vic knew in the back of his head that is probably what happened. He wanted to give Kellin the benefit of the doubt but, dreams have a tendency to spin out of control.
Vic felt a hand on his shoulder “Vic wake up! Vic! Vic!” Vic opened his eyes and pushed Tony’s hat back from his eyes. He hummed questioning his wake up. It was Jaime, “The doctors here you have to hear this.” Jaime grabbed Vics head and turned it toward a woman in scrubs with what looked like blood on her shirt. The girl looked very young to be a surgeon and pretty scarred. She opened her mouth to speak her jaw shaking.
