Chapter 33
Chris walked into the cold room where Shannon was lying lifeless on a cold, hard table. He slowly walked up to her and grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. The doctor stood over his shoulder, looking down upon them, but Chris turned around, his eyes filled with tears, asking the doctor to let them have a moment alone. The doctor retreated from the room and Chris looked back down at Shannon. His tears were falling faster and he thought of something to say. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he started to speak, "Please baby, come back to me. You can’t leave me here, you can’t leave me yet. I need you so much." There was nothing from Shannon as she lie there, unaware of his presence. Just then, the rest of the guys came in, along with Jess and Mandi and they stood behind Chris. Mandi came to the front of the group and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Sing a song to her. I don’t know if it will work, but you should. Maybe she’ll hear it." Chris turned around slightly, "Which song?" Mandi thought for a second, "I Drive Myself Crazy. That is her favorite song." Chris turned around to Shannon, looking at her holding back as many tears as he could as he started to sing.
Shannon was still unconscience, but inside her, she heard things. She heard voices that sounded like angels. It seemed as if she was in a tunnel, and the voices were coming from each end. She could hear Chris singing at one end, but at the other, she heard another voice that was singing as well.
She looked to where the other voice was coming from, and she saw a figure sitting on a small park bench. She almost did a double take to what she saw there. She saw Justin sitting there, softly singing. She walked closer to him, and eventually sat down on the bench beside him. "Wha. . . what are you doing here? And where am I?," she asked him softly, touching his cheek to see if he was really there. "I’ve been watching over you. I’m proud of the way you have handled things, and I have come to tell you that you can’t leave yet. You have many things you have to do before you can leave. Chris needs you, and so does everyone else." Shannon was softly crying, and she looked into the direction of the other voices, and she heard light cries there as well, "You don’t want me to come with you?" Justin softly ran his hands through her hair like he always did, "Not yet. You have to be with them. They need you more than I do." She slowly stood up and started to walk away, "I love you Justin, I never got to tell you just how much you did mean to me." He nodded gently, "I know." Shannon started to walk further away, crying gently until Justin’s voice called after her, "Be strong, you can make it. I love you, and I always will. I’ll be watching over you." She turned around to him and he was gone. She walked towards the other end where the sounds were still coming from. She heard light cries, and people talking. She knew she couldn’t let Justin down and she walked closer and closer to them, finally reaching the end.
"Oh my gosh Chris! Look! She’s opening her eyes!," Joey exclaimed, pointing down at Shannon. Chris grabbed onto her hand tightly and gave it a squeeze. "Are you alright!? You scared us to death!," he asked her. "I don’t know. . . what’s wrong with me?," she asked him, crying. "I don’t know. . just be strong." The doctor walked back into the room and saw that Shannon was awake and responsive. "Well, I can see that our patient is coming to. We have found out what is wrong." The entire group turned around and looked at him and he continued, "As crazy as this may sound, Shannon here had a mild heart attack." Chris looked stunned, "A heart attack? She is so young! It should have been me that had it, I’m the old geezer around here!" Everyone let out a slight laugh, even Shannon, as he said that. The doctor continued on, "We are going to keep her here overnight just to watch her, and then after that, she’s all yours. But you must watch over her, she’s fragile." Chris smiled, "Wow, someone must have been looking over you." Shannon smiled back at him, "If you only knew!"
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