Snow Lodge
Chapter 64
After a few moments, the three broke their embrace, and straightened up.
"You okay now Bri?" Nick asked softly as he stood up fully.
"Yeah." Brian smiled back at him.
"Good. Cos I'm starving. Let's go get us something to eat now." He held his hand out to Brian, who looked at him for a moment.
"But..." Brian began, looking back at AJ's bed.
"Go on Brian." Howie told him. "I'll stay with him till you get back."
"Are you sure?" Brian asked.
"Like I'd want to be anywhere else."
Brian smiled softly, sensing that Howie needed to be with AJ for a while and stood up. "Okay then. Do you want me to bring you something back?"
"If you don't mind."
"Any time." Brian replied. He then turned to Nick. "C'mon then blonde boy, show me the way to the food."
"Blonde boy!" Nick exclaimed. "Call me that again and I'll be showing you off of a cliff."
Brian laughed and even Howie giggled at the expression on Nick's face. They both knew he was kidding, but he was doing his best to hide his smile behind an indignant look.
"In that case." Brian replied. "I'll find it myself." He patted Nick's stomach as he walked past and out of the room. Nick stood there for a moment, shocked by Brian's suddenly upbeat attitude, before Brian's voice drifted down the hallway.
"Better hurry up Kaos. Last one there pays."
That snapped Nick out of his shock, and he waved quickly at Howie before bolting out of the room.
Howie laughed again and walked over to close the door that Nick had left open, before heading back over to AJ's bed, shaking his head at Frick and Frack's playful behaviour.
He settled himself in the chair next to AJ's bed, taking AJ's hand as he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes; going over everything that had happened in the past few days.
He had barely had a moment to stop and process the things that had happened since he had received the phone call telling him to get down here. Every moment since then had been filled with too many questions, and not enough time to answer them all.
But now, now things were slowly becoming less muddled, and Howie finally felt that he understood most of what was happening around him. He now knew that the only thing needed for things to get back to normal would be for his best friend to wake up.
Howie mindlessly squeezed AJ's fingers again as he sighed.
Suddenly his eyes shot open, and he almost fell out of the chair as he gasped in shock.
"AJ?" Howie called, sounding slightly panicked as he regained his balance and moved closer to AJ.
"AJ, Alex can you hear me?" Howie asked desperately. He had felt AJ's fingers move to squeeze his hand, he was sure of it.
"C'mon Jay. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me bro." Howie stared at their clasped hands, watching and waiting for even the slightest movement.
But nothing happened.
"Damn it." Howie swore. "I know I felt you move." He sighed softly and slumped back down in the chair.
"Oh well, I guess I was imagining it. I'm not trying to hurry you or anything; I just want you to wake up, but I guess you're not ready yet." Howie told him, squeezing his hand again.
This time he definitely felt it as AJ squeezed his hand back. It was only a slight increase in pressure, barely noticeable, but it was enough.
This time, instead of talking to AJ, Howie simply squeezed his hand again, and the grin that split his face when he felt AJ return the gesture lit up the whole room.
His grin faded though as the ventilator suddenly began to change its rhythm, going from a smooth, even rate to a quick uneven one in a matter of seconds.
An instant later an alarm sounded, screaming it's warning through the room.
Seconds after that, several Doctors and nurses rush into the room, and one of the nurses firmly but gently pushed Howie out.
"What happened?" She asked, closing the door behind her.
"I don't know." Howie replied, scared. "He was squeezing my hand a little, and then all of a sudden the ventilator starts going crazy."
"He was responding to you?"
"Kind of." Howie replied. "He would squeeze your hand if you squeezed his first, but if you asked him to do it, nothing happened." He took a deep breath. "Does that make any sense?"
"Yes, yes it does." She assured him. "Listen, it's nothing to worry about, but you aren't gonna be able to go back in until we have finished checking him out. Why don't you go and find the others and then we can see what's happening okay?"
"Are you sure it's nothing bad?" Howie asked her, unwilling to leave his friend.
"I'm sure." She promised.
"Okay then." Howie agreed. "The other's went to the cafeteria, I'll go and fetch them back."
The nurse smiled kindly at him. "Don't worry." She told him. "It'll be alright."
