"I'm sorry sir, but your not allowed past this point, you'll have to wait in the waiting room," said a nurse.
"But," Brian tried to make an excuse.
"I'm sorry sir. The waiting room is this way."
"I will give you some forms to fill out about the patient and if you give me your name, I'll call you as soon as something comes up," said the nurse handing Brian a stack of papers. Brian sat down and wrote as much as he could about his best friend.
About a half an hour later the nurse walked into the waiting room. Everybody's head perked up, wondering if they were being called in to see their loved one. "Is there a Mr. Brian Littrell here?" asked a nurse. A few teenage girls sighed when they heard his name.
Brian hopped out of his chair and practically flew over to the nurse. "That's me!" he said. "Can I see her, how is she? Is she okay?" Brian asked still wearing only his bathing suit.
"Why don't you talk to her doctor, this way Sir," she said leading Brian through a hallway. Brian hates hospitals, and he got shivers walking down the hallway. He paused as he heard someone screaming from pain in a room.
"Sir… Sir!" said the nurse trying to get Brian's attention as he gazed at the door with screams coming from behind it. "This way Sir." She lead him through a door at the end of the hall into a room with a bunch of doctors in it, all doing work. The nurse signaled to a doctor, who stood up, grabbed his clip board, and walked towards Brian.
"Thank you," Brian said turning to the nurse, but she had left already.
"Hello, Mr. Littrell. I understand you are a good friend of Ms. Donaldson?"
"Yes, how is she, is she okay, when can I see her…" Brian said rattling off all the questions he had been waiting to ask for the last half an hour.
"Well, Ms. Donaldson has suffered from a concussion," said the doctor leading Brian out the door and down another hallway. "Because of the small
amount of oxygen in her blood, she fell unconscious on impact. Ms. Donaldson is doing fine at the moment. We do not expect her to be unconscious for too much longer…"
"When will she wake up?" Brian said interrupting.
"We do not know the exact time she will regain conscoiusness, but we do not expect her to be unconscious for more than two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Brian shouted.
"Yes, sir. Only time will tell when she will wake up… Here she is right now," he said opening a door.
"Can I have some time alone with her?" Brian asked.
"Yes sir. I assume you have contacted her family, or has the nurse?"
"Her sister was there when it happened. So were a bunch of her friends, one of them has contacted her parents."
"Okay. Mr. Littrell, I will let you have your time with Ms. Donaldson. Is it okay for the nurse to send her family and friends in when they arrive?"
"Yes of course," Brian said walking into the room and pulling a chair next to Liz's bed. "Thank you for all your help!"
"No problem. I'll be back later to do a checkup."
"Ok," Brian answered. He sat down next to Liz. His hair was still damp. The doctors had put a patient's gown over the bikini she was wearing. Sheets and a blanket had been laid over her neatly with her arms resting over the blankets beside her. Brian took her hand with both of his and linked his fingers with hers. He kissed the back of her hands as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"Lizzy. I don't know what to say. I don't know if you can even hear me right now… I'm sorry! I should have swam down to you right away, so that this
all wouldn't have happened. Please be okay!" He said holding onto Liz's hand as if that was the only way he could contact her. "Liz, you need to wake up, now! I can't handle two weeks knowing that you are here. You need to wake up so I can take you home. You know that you are a part of me that I can't survive without," Brian said with tears streaming down his face. He looked at her and brushed the hair from her face. He softly ran his finger over the deep purple colored black and blue on her forehead. "I need you in my life
Lizzy. You are my best friend in the world. I love you Lizzy. You can't leave me! I won't let you!" Brian cried putting his head face down on the bed with her hand in his by his cheek. He cried for a few more minutes. As he calmed down he heard a knock on the door. Sitting up he wiped the tears from his cheeks.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened and in walked Nick and Megan. Megan's eyes were red from tears as were Brian's. Nick had his arms wrapped around her for support.
"Hey man," Nick said. "How's it goin'?" he asked.
"Hey." Brian said standing up. He gave Megan a long hug and she then sat down and took Liz's hand.
"How is she?" Megan asked about to burst into tears.
"Well, she's unconscious, but the doctor said she will wake up soon."
"How soon?" Megan asked eagerly.
"He's not exactly sure, but he said, that she would… um… she would wake up probably within the next two weeks."
"Two weeks?" Megan shouted louder than Brian had.
"Yeah, that's what he said."
"Oh."
"Have you called your parents?" Brian asked.
"I tried, but then I remembered that they are on a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea for the next two weeks," Megan answered.
"Oh," Brian said.
"Here man, we brought you some cloths to change into," Nick said.
"Thanx," Brian said realizing that he was wearing a bathing suit.
"I'm gonna call Laney and Riley and tell them that Liz will be okay."
to be continued...
Lauren M. Elizabeth "Littrell" © 1999
