... biggrin
Asher chapter 7
Chapter 7 After Visiting Hours
Hours later, long into the night, Ricky remained at the hospital. He was placed in the waiting room by Alice while Kate went under surgery to have her appendix removed. He was falling in and out of consciousness as he battled to stay awake.
Alice came into the waiting room. She walked to Ricky’s chair, and tapped his shoulder.
He opened his eyes wide, but didn’t look at her. “A-Alice?”
“Yeah, it’s me,” She said kindly. She was wearing her working clothes, and was sweating.
“How’s Katherine?”
“She’s doing great. Her surgery’s finally done, so she can come home tomorrow-” Alice looked at her silver watch. “Or, I mean, later today.”
Ricky rubbed his eyes, and looked at Alice. “What time is it?”
“Around two,” Alice sighed. “How about I take you home? Do your parent’s know you were here?”
“Yeah,” Ricky pulled out his cell phone. “But you don’t need to drive me. My brother can come get me.”
“You sure?”
Ricky nodded. He looked like he was asleep with his eyes open.
Alice smirked. “Go home and get some rest, OK?”
Ricky finished a text message without even looking at it. It sent in about three seconds, and in another three seconds his phone vibrated. He gazed down at the text. “My brother’s already here,” Ricky said. He almost missed his pocket as he tried to put his phone away. He smirked at Alice.
She laughed a little.
Ricky chuckled, “Well, it was nice meeting you.”
“Same here,” Alice nodded. “Come over anytime if you’d like.”
“Thanks,” Ricky glanced over Alice’s shoulder. “When Kate wakes up…can you tell her I hope she feels alright?”
“Sure thing,” Alice smiled.
Ricky walked through the hospital doors. He turned to wave, and then started across the dark parking lot.
“Ricky!” Someone whispered behind him, and then grabbed his shoulder.
Ricky jerked away. “Huh?!” It was too dark to see.
“It’s me, man, cool it!” Mark laughed quietly in the darkness. His teeth glowed in the small amount of light coming from the hospital windows.
Ricky sighed, “Oh, hey Mark…What’re you doing here?”
“I was gonna ask you that,” Mark said. His voice suddenly sounded stern.
Ricky glanced at his brother’s car. It sat a few feet away, but he couldn’t see if anyone was inside. “Hey, how’d you get here? Did you ride your bike all the way in the dark?”
Mark paused. “…I asked you first, but…your brother drove me. He told me about Kate, so I asked him if I could come to see her.”
Ricky looked at the hospital. “Well, I don’t think they’ll let you in now. Visiting hours ended a while ago.”
Mark pushed passed his friend, and walked up to the hospital doors. His silhouette was the only part of him seen as a car pulled up in front of Ricky. His brother rolled down the window, and stuck his head out.
“Pat,” Ricky breathed, “you told Mark?”
“Huh?” Ricky’s brother raised an eyebrow. “Tell him about what?”
“About Katherine being in the hospital?”
He sat back in the driver’s seat, and turned the car off. “I didn’t tell Mark anything. He rode his bike to our place, and then asked to come here.”
Ricky paused. He looked over the car at Mark.
But he was gone.
“…Pat, did Mark get into the hospital?”
He looked over his shoulder at the hospital through his tinted window. “I was talking to you, so I didn’t notice. He probably went in. go after him and bring him here so we can go home, OK?”
Ricky was staring at the hospital.
“Ricky,” his brother grumbled, “you hear me?”
“…What?”
His brother grumbled, and stepped out of the car.
Ricky stumbled away from his brother’s car. He walked back up to the glowing hospital doors, and looked inside.
No one was in the waiting room. Not even the woman Ashley was there.
Ricky pushed on the door, but it was locked. He turned around to face the parking lot, and called out, “MARK? YOU OUT HERE?” but there was no answer. He tried again. “HEY MARK!!!” This time there was an answer.
“Quit yelling,” Mark hissed as he touched Ricky’s shoulder. “I’m right here.”
Ricky pulled away. He studied his friend’s slim outline for a minute, and then asked, “How’d you know about Katherine?”
Mark’s eyes were glassy. He looked frustrated. “I already told you! Pat told me about what happened to Kate!”
“No he didn’t,” Ricky protested. “Pat didn’t tell you anything! I asked him.”
Mark’s gaze cut through Ricky. He sighed through his teeth.
“…Look, I just wanna know the truth, man,” Ricky said as calmly as he could, which wasn‘t very.
“That is the truth,” Mark grumbled under his breath.
“Mark…Why are you so pissed?”
“…I need to get into this hospital,” Mark said to himself, ignoring his friend’s question.
Ricky glanced into the empty waiting room. “You can’t. Visiting hours are over. Besides, Katherine goes home tomorrow. Can’t you wait til then?”
Mark was staring at the empty desk in the waiting room.
“C’mon…Let’s go home.”
Mark didn’t reply
“Mark, you should--”
“Just go, Ricky. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
Ricky lowered his head, and backed away from the hospital. He made his way back to his brother’s car, and without saying a word he slipped into the passenger seat.
Ricky’s older brother started the car. “Is he coming, or not?”
“No, we’re leaving him,” Ricky mumbled as he searched around him for his seatbelt. There was a long silence between then as they left the hospital. Ricky watched Mark take a seat on the curb in front of the door. After the silence grew too long Pat turned on the radio.
“…Did you tell Mark about Katherine?” Ricky asked.
“No, I didn’t.” his brother said. He glanced at Ricky as they came to a red light. “I already told you. He just showed up and wanted a ride…Is he OK?”
“I don’t know,” Ricky said. “He didn’t seem OK. I mean, he looked all pissed, and he kept saying that you were the one who told him about Katherine being in the hospital.”
Pat sighed.
“…Pat?”
“Did you ever think that maybe Mark’s pissed at you for what happened?”
Ricky stiffened his back, and pressed the back of his head into the car seat. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Mark’s probably just scared for her. Didn’t you tell me they were really close?”
“Yeah,” Ricky breathed. He wished he could be close with Kate, too.
“Mark wasn’t with you and Katherine when you went to the hospital with her…Maybe he thinks somehow this is all your fault?”
Ricky protested, “But that’s not my fault!” He raised his voice. “How could he be pissed at me?”
Pat grinned, and rolled his eyes. “Oh, never mind.”
“No, tell me!”
“Don’t worry about it,” Pat insisted. He glanced at his brother, and dropped his smile.
“That makes no sense!” Ricky said. He was growing more and more angry at the thought. “It’s not my fault her ******** appendix burst! ******** that!”
“Hey, chill out,” Ricky’s brother snapped. After that he said nothing, and only listened to Ricky’s angry mumbling.
Ricky mumbled the frustration out of him as he stared out the passenger window. He started to calm down.
“…Maybe you should apologize to Mark tomorrow,” Pat said after nearly twenty minutes of silence between him and his brother.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ricky breathed. Not long after he fell asleep.
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