Listen // Lams

Chapter 8

- John -

And just like that, we were already headed back to South Carolina.

After packing last night, Alex and I went to sleep. I knew he had slept pretty fitfully and not well, as I could feel him shifting and moving all night. I'm sure he was stressed, so I tried to calm him a little bit and get him to sleep for at least a bit before we got on the plane.

Our flight was in the late morning, so we woke up a little earlier than usual to get to the airport and get through security and all that super fun stuff. I knew Alexander didn't love flying, so I brought some things to distract him and hoped that his lack of sleep the night before would help him rest on the plane. The flight was about two hours, so that would at least give him a little bit of a power nap if he slept for some of it.

Before I knew it, Alex and I were on the plane, in seats much better than we should've had thanks to Peggy and her generosity. I settled in next to him, letting him have the window seat so he could watch the plane leave the ground and have the view from so high up as a distraction.

As we prepared for takeoff, I noticed his body tending in nervousness and grabbed his hand, coaxing him to lean his head against my shoulder.

"Closing your eyes might make it a little bit better." I told him. He nodded against my shoulder and squeezed his eyes shut, grasping onto my hand. By the time we successfully up in the air, he was fast asleep. This is what I was going for.

I spent the rest of the flight reading and playing some random mobile games on my phone while trying not to move too much with Alex leaned against me. I drank some water that the flight attendant gave me, and asked for a cup for Alex in case he woke up before we landed. I was planning on getting lunch at the airport in Charleston anyway, but I didn't want him to have to wait if he was thirsty.

At last, we were making our way back down to the ground, and the feeling of the plane's wheels hitting the pavement jerked Alex awake. His eyes were full of panic for a moment before I told him that we were in Charleston and that nothing had gone wrong with the flight. He nodded and rubbed his eyes, stretching a bit in his tiny seat.

After a few more minutes of waiting, a flight attendant helped us get our carry-ons down and we were headed off the plane to baggage claim. We were hoping that there wouldn't be too much stuff we had to pack, but we weren't sure how long we'd be here. It was definitely better to be safe than sorry and not have the things we needed.

Charleston in late winter was much more bearable than New York City in late winter. The moment we stepped out of the airport with all our bags, I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt some warmer air engulf my body. Charleston held some bad memories, but I guess the weather was a plus if you're not good with the cold.

Alex seemed to be enjoying the weather as well, I'm sure his home in the Caribbean was warm like this too. Probably warmer, but again: anything was better than New York's snow and frigid temperatures. The one good thing about the snow was Alex's reaction to it, having never seen it before in his lifetime. It was adorable.

Peggy was picking us up from the airport, and among seeing us, she pulled us both into her arms in a deep hug.

"I missed you guys. I wish we weren't seeing each other under these circumstances. I'm so sorry." She told us as we got into the car.

"I'm just hoping that things improve. Vanessa said he wasn't doing so well, but maybe that can change. He's such a great guy... losing him would be a nightmare." I told her. Alex was staring out the window in a daze. He hadn't eaten much at all when we stopped for lunch in the airport, not that I was really surprised by that. I was just really hoping that this whole situation wouldn't throw off his recovery.

We dropped our bags off at the Schuyler mansion and greeted Peggy's father before going to meet Vanessa at the hospital and see how Usnavi was doing.

Needless to say, walking into his hospital room showed that he was not doing well at all.

Apparently, there had been a big car accident and he was involved in it. According to Vanessa, the paramedics told her that he's lucky he didn't die on impact, but that if he lived he would probably never be able to drive again and would probably be confined to a wheelchair.

His face was littered with deeply colored bruises, and his usually tan skin was looking washed out. He had gone into a coma and the doctors were trying to run a whole bunch of tests to see if there was brain damage from the crash.

Perhaps the worst part of it all was knowing that the person at fault for the accident was a drunk driver who had no injuries at all. Usnavi didn't deserve any of what was happening, and it could've been prevented if that person just hadn't been behind the wheel.

I watched as Alex sat at Usnavi's bedside and silent tears cascaded down his cheeks. He wasn't signing anything, but I knew that he was talking to Usnavi in his head, telling him everything that had been going on lately, telling him how much he needed him to stay with us.

After a while, we were ushered out of the room in a blur as more doctors came in, lingering over Usnavi and trying to find out exactly what the issue they needed to address was. We heard some beeping and more running from doctors down the hall, and were told we had to go for a while. That wasn't reassuring.

By the time we were back at the Schuyler mansion, Alexander didn't even want to sign anything. He went up to the room where our things were and began to write. I let him be and sat talking to Peggy.

I didn't see Alex again that night until I came upstairs to go to bed.

a/n: why does he write like he's running out of time
also - your obedient servant is underrated. it is an excellent song