I felt her warm small hand slip into mine on the bed sheets, I opened one eye to see her sit in the chair beside me, I lifted my head off the bed and rested back in the chair. "Coffee?" she whispered as she passed me a plastic cup with some form of hot brown liquid in it, wasn't sure if it was coffee, but hospital vending machines are never good. "Thanks" I whispered back she smiled and squeezed my hand, Jane was worried I could see it in her face, "you've been here 3 days, go home get some sleep." she said quietly. "no" I snapped "I'm not leaving him." she didn't take it personally, she knew I hadn't slept since it happened, apart from the odd hour in the chair by his bed. I looked across the ward and saw Chad coming in door we nodded at each other and he carried a third chair to the bed side. "No change then." he said I shook my head and stood up to stretch, leaning over Morris I whispered I'm his ear, "Come on mate, we are all here for you." he looked so frail, pipes were up his nose and in his mouth, wires everywhere and machines bleeping.
The last 3 days had been a whirlwind, police interviews, doctors reports and question after question, we still didn't know who had stabbed Morris or why, what we did know is that his spine had been severed and he was in a coma. The doctor had no idea how long he would be in the coma, they had operated on him, but until he woke up we didn't even know the extent of the damage. Chad stood up and walked round the bed, "mate." he said resting his hand on my shoulder, "Go, get some rest." I looked at him and Jane I knew they were right, I stood up and hugged Jane, "come and get me if anything changes." I told her, she nodded. Chad had rented a room in a hotel near to the hospital so we could be there for Morris, both Chad and Morris didn't have any close family left we were all he had, I took a stroll through the park and back to the hotel. I got the keys and started the slow walk up the stairs to the room, I closed the door fell on the bed and drifted into a deep, restless, haunted sleep.
I woke to the sound of Chad hammering on the door to the room, I jumped up and ran to the door opening it I saw Chad dripping with sweat, "He's awake." He said breathlessly. I grabbed the key to the room and we both ran to the hospital. When we got there Jane met us in the corridor, "They are looking at him now" she said "we can see him in a minute." We all nervously waited for the doctor to meet us, after about 10 minutes he came out. We all looked at him expectantly, "Well" he said, in that tone all doctors have, "He's awake, unfortunately the knife severed his spinal cord, to put it bluntly, he is going to be confined to a wheelchair for the foreseeable future." Jane burst into tears and Chad turned to face the wall, not wanting to show his, all I could feel was an overwhelming sense of both anger and hurt. Why? Is all that kept going through my head. The doctor did say more, I didn't hear it. We all pulled ourselves together and went back to his bed side, he was awake but grogy.
In one day, one night, one hour, one incident all our futures had changed forever. Nothing was going to be the same againn.
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