Risking it All

14

My phone read 11:27 pm. I had never been more exhausted in my life. When Mom asked me if I wanted to go home with Dad, I had refused. Now, I regret saying no. Mom and I sat in the same place for almost two hours straight. Tired if doing nothing, I fell asleep. But somewhere around 11:45, a man dressed in a business suit barged into the lobby, startling me out of my daze. "Excuse me," he said. "Where's Nicholas Straight?" And that woke me up.
I shook Mom awake. When she opened her eyes she said, "What's wrong?" I secretly pointed over to the man frantically talking to the nurse at the front desk. "That man just walked in asking for Nick. Is that his dad?" Mom leaned over in her seat a little and squinted a bit. After a moment, she said, "Yeah. That's Neil Straight." I made a face. "Why is he here now? Where was he?" Mom shrugged. "Let's go ask him." She pulled me over to Nick's dad. "Excuse me," she said. "I'm Amanda Marsh. And this is my daughter Mackenzie. I know we haven't had any proper introductions, but you are aware that Mackenzie is dating Nick right?"
His eyes grew huge and said, "You're Mackenzie?" Confused, I said, "Yes, I am." Without hesitation, Nick's dad throws his arms around me. Speechless for why he was doing this, I pulled away and said, "What was that for?" He pulled away and looked up at me. I noticed tears were in his eyes. "You have no idea how much improvement you put into Nick's life," he said. "And I just wanted to thank you." I was still confused. "For what?" I asked. A bittersweet smile came over his face. "For being yourself," he said. I opened my mouth to say something else, but a doctor came over to Nick's dad and stared talking to him. Standing there, I swallowed my thoughts and walked over to where Mom and I were sitting. All what I could think about is that the love of my life is laying in a bed, barely breathing. I remembered a song I started writing when I was going through radiation. I think the lines of the chorus are powerful, even as I sat in the hospital.
It's all I can say, you took my breath away. Now I'm slowly breaking down. And it's all I can be, I can hardly breathe. But now I'm barely holding on.
Thinking of those lyrics made me cry. I sat there, feeling alone in the world. If Nick somehow could transport himself right next to me and hold his hand and tell me everything will be okay, them I wouldn't be silently crying. I never thought it would be so boring to do nothing.