The Light in the Darkness
Chapter 3
Kevin sat in the unforgiving plastic chair in the hospital waiting room waiting for news. He was still trying to comprehend what had happened to reach this point, and why he hadn't known that things were getting so bad.
He looked over at Nick, who was curled up as small as he could get a few seats down from him. He was rocking back and forth in his chair slightly, completely zoned out and not reacting to Howie, who was talking softly to him and trying to get him to respond, whilst at the same time barely holding himself together.
Kevin then turned his gaze across to the corner of the room, where his other bandmate sat. His small form was huddled in the chair, eyes fixed firmly on his feet as he sat, still as a statue.
He hadn't moved in over an hour. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Kevin could see the soft rise and fall of his chest, Kevin would have thought he was dead. Kevin winced at the thought, not something he needed to be contemplating at that moment.
He let his gaze linger on the small form, watching him for the lightest reaction. He got nothing. He wasn't crying, and not one tear had escaped since the discovery. He had entered the room when he heard the commotion, and collapsed to his knees in the doorway, and terrible cry falling from his throat that had sounded like a cross between a cry of pain and a wail of despair. Kevin had never heard anything like it in his life. It was so raw, so full of anguish, almost primal in it's intensity and it rocked them all to the core.
But since then, there had been nothing. Kevin had led him and Nick away whilst Howie dealt with the paramedics, and then he had guided them into the van waiting to take them to the hospital. From there Kevin had to guide them down the corridors to the waiting room, where they now sat.
Throughout all of this there had been nothing, no words; no tears; no sign that anything happening around them even registered with his younger friend. It was as if he wasn't there with them.
Suddenly, as if sensing eyes on him, he looked up, locking gazes with Kevin for a few moments. But that gaze spoke a thousand words to Kevin. It was full of pain, despair and anguish, but above all there was an overwhelming feeling of guilt, mixed with a severe self-hatred that scared Kevin more than anything, and made him ask for the millionth time in the last few days...
... what the hell had happened between AJ and Brian?