Pain

The last couple of days have been the worst I've had in months. The call we received at the restaurant the other night wasn't from the same person that was texting me. My text messages were from a girl friend of mine wanting to tell me about a party next weekend. The call, well...

"It's about time you two got here," Sean snapped at us as we ran up the sidewalk towards the hospital. "What did you do? Stop to make out or something?"

"Fuck you," Devon grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him up against the wall. "What the hell is going on here? Why were we 'summoned' here?"

"Devon," I tried to get between the two of them. "This isn't the time," I turned to Sean. "Please tell me everything is ok."

"I -" He shook his head, at a lost for what to say.

"Who?" I asked, my heart in my throat, fearing the answer.

"Reed," he barely choked out as his eyes filling with tears. "Amber called me....he..."

"NO!" Devon snapped as he slammed Sean against the wall against. "Stop lying!"

"You think I'm lying?" Sean glared at him. "That's my brother in that operating room! It's my brother who may not get to see his little girl grow up or see his new baby! Do you think I would lie about that?" Sean gripped Devon's hand and ripped them away from him. "Fuck you, you bastard!"

I watched Sean walk away from us and I saw Devon fall forward against the wall he just held Sean against. I didn't know what to do first, to run after Sean and see how Amber was - find out more information about what was going on with Reed. Or go to Devon and make sure that he was ok after having just found out that the man that was like a brother to him is possibly going to die.

I choose Devon. He needed me more.

I went to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Devon?"

"It has to be a lie Janie," he said after a while. "Reed has to be ok, he can't...." I hugged him tighter as his body shook in my arms.

We stood like that for the longest time before he turned towards me and asked me to take him to see Reed. "I need to see him."

Hand in hand, we walked into the hospital together and made our way towards the waiting room that the nurses directed us when I asked for Amber.

The waiting room was silent - deadly silent. For a moment I was afraid that they got some bad news about Reed's condition but one look around told me that they were all just in their own little world of prayer.

"Amber," Devon pulled on my hand as he hurried across the room to where Amber sat with Sean. "What happened?" He asked as he sunk to the floor at her feet, letting go of my hand as he went down.

Through her tears, she told us that it was her fault, she wanted ice cream but they didn't have the kind she wanted at home. "I asked him to go to the store - he didn't want to go - he just got home from work and wanted to relax with Alexis and me." She told us they argued and he reluctantly agreed to go. At that point she was crying too hard to understand anything else that she tried to say. With a huge sob, she turned to Sean and he wrapped his arms around her, comforting her as she buried her face against his chest.

"His car was hit on the passenger's side before he turned down the road to come home," Sean told us as he stroked Amber's back.

"I didn't need the ice cream that badly," Amber's muffled voice cut in as she lifted her head from Sean's chest. Wiping her cheek, she stared up at him, "I can't lose him Sean, I can't."

"You won't," he promised her. "I won't let anything happen to him."

Beside me I heard Devon scoff, "Don't," I hissed. "She needs that right now."

"No," he leaned towards me. "She doesn't need to be lied to!"

I happened to agree with him on that point but I also didn't think that she needed to hear that he wouldn't make it.

It was a long night - we didn't leave the hospital until long after the sun came up. I would've stayed as long as it took but Amber asked me to relieve her parents from babysitting so they could come down and be with her. "I need to be here," she told me. "But I don't want Alexis to have to see me or her daddy like this."

"Of course we'll take care of her," Devon promised and then told her he would be back to check on her and Reed. "When you get to see him, tell him he made a promise to me that he can't back out off." After glancing at me for a brief second, he told Amber that he really needed Reed to be there like he promised.

It's almost been a week since the accident and sadly, there hasn't been much of a change in Reed's condition. He remains in a coma in critical condition and everyday his little girl cries for him when I put her to bed at night. I'm afraid that she'll spend her lifetime crying for him.

And I'm afraid that if he dies, Amber will never be the same again.