Date: Thu, 22 May 2014 22:25:16 +0000
From: Nice Guy <niceguy0398@gmail.com>
Subject: My Little Brigade Boy 11

Niceguy98
Chapter 11 - Bonded By Blood

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It was driving far too fast for the road, and as I watched, it began to
swerve erratically.  I called out a warning, but it was far too late.

Time slowed to a crawl, and the world went sepia.  Keith's face went from
the amused lopsided smile of a doting father to the pale gaping face of
someone who was completely disbelieving of what their eyes were telling
them.

Matthew didn't even have time to turn around and express shock before the
car mounted the pavement and hit him.

I have no idea how fast the car was going, but Matthew flew through the air
like a rag doll and hit the ground, hard.

I dropped the box, possibly breaking something, and sprinted towards him.

Keith got there before me, but just stood there, looking like he was going
to faint.  As I ran up to him, I shouted out "Call 999!" to try and snap
him out of it.

Somehow, it worked and his fingers began fumbling with his phone.

As soon as I got by his side, I knelt down to try and assess his injuries.
His right leg was at a funny angle, blood was pouring out of the back of
his head and his eyes were half-shut.

Gently log-rolling him over onto his front, I leant over to try and assess
his breathing.

As I leant over his mouth, he began to emit a long, drawn out breath that
sounded terribly final.

"G...Gr..." he mumbled.

"Sssh." I said, gripping his hand. "Try not to talk."

I looked up briefly, and registered Keith on the phone, but I couldn't hear
what he was saying.

I suddenly felt Matthews hand grip mine tightly, squeezing with a strength
I had no clue he possesed.

I looked down, and his mouth, half-open, wasn't emitting any breath.

My adrenaline spiked and the bile rose in my chest.

I almost joined Keith in his wailing, but something snapped in my brain.

I was determined to not let history repeat itself.

This was not the end.

I wouldn't let it happen.

Not a chance.

Tears blurring my eyes, I placed my hand on his chest and pumped for all I
was worth.  I felt his ribs crack under my hand, and bile rose in my throat
yet again.  Swallowing it back, I tried to get on with the task in hand.

I looked up at Keith.  "Is help on the way?" I shouted.

Keith nodded.

"Make sure they know he's stopped breathing!" I continued.

Keith just began sobbing.

"Keep it together!" I screamed, more to myself than Keith.

He began sobbing slightly more coherently down the phone.

I turned my attention back to Matthew.

Slowly pushing his head back, I inhaled and blew into his mouth, inflating
his lungs.  As I looked up, my eyes locked with his normally blue and
sparkling eyes, which seemed grey, unfocused and half-closed now.  The
bridge of his nose and the right side of his face was blood red, peppered
with asphault and weeping.  I nearly lost it again, and had to slap myself.

I felt absolutely no pain, which was strange, but the jolt did help to
knock the tendancy to break down out of me.

I looked at my hand, and realised it was covered in blood.

Matthews blood.

Not completely out then.

I turned back to his still chest, and placed my hand on it again.

Something silver at the side of the road suddenly caught my eye.

Matthews necklace.

I suddenly registered someone at my side, and turned to be confronted with
fluorescent yellow.  The sirens hadn't even registered.  "We'll take it
from here son." the paramedic said, seemingly in slow motion.

I nodded and dumbly moved away.

The paramedics ripped open Matthews clothes and placed defib pads on his
chest.  He looked so fragile. So... broken.

I heard the machine bleat something, the paramedic shouted "Clear!" and the
shock was delivered.

Matthews back suddenly arced as he began gasping for breath. He transformed
from waxy white to agitated red almost instantly.

I watched, amazed. My heart thrummed, as if it was deciding to stop beating
in sympathy with Matthew's

The paramedics looked at each other briefly, then got busy again.  One of
them drew up a clear fluid from a vial into a syringe and injected it
straight into his arm, as the other stuck a breathing tube down his throat.

Call it instinct. Call it impulse. Whatever it was, I bent down and picked
up the necklace from the side of the road where I had spotted it.

I briefly registered the whoosh of a breathing bag before looping the
necklace around my neck, letting the sharks tooth come to rest next to
mine.

When I turned back, Matthew was already on the back of a trolley and was
being wheeled into the ambulance.  I ran over, grabbing Keith, who was
still standing shell-shocked, before jumping into the back of the ambulance
next to Matthew.

I grabbed his hand and held it tightly, never wanting to let go ever
again. His hand felt The wail of the ambulance, the beep of the machines,
Keith's heavy breathing and the rasp of fabric as the paramedic busied
around faded to a background drone as I squeezed tightly.

"You're going to be okay, buddy." I whispered, hoping he would be able to
hear me. "It's all going to be fine."

The back doors suddenly opened.  My hand was wrenched from Matthew's as the
trolley was wheeled into the emergency room.

A concerned nurse saw the state of Keith and I and ushered us out and into
a white-walled room with loads of chairs and a pile of soft toys.  "How is
he?" Keith asked, his words catching in his throat.

"The doctors are doing everything they can." said the nurse
sympathetically, before sitting us down and rushing back out.  The room
didn't have any windows, and we were alone.

My adrenaline rush suddenly crashed and the world returned to it's normal
hues. The aural exclusion lessened and my vision slowly returned.  I was
suddenly aware of the sticky metallic drying blood on my hands, and walked
to the bathroom to try and wash it off.

My hands were shaking as I tried to wash myself, the outflow running red. I
caught a look of myself in the mirror.  I was as white as a sheet and my
eyes were bloodshot. My head was splitting apart and my left knee stung
like crazy.  Rolling up my trouser leg, I was confronted with a huge
weeping scratch across my kneecap.

I had survived worse.

Rolling my trouser leg back, I caught another look at myself in the mirror.

But Matthew might not.

My eyes started to water, and I wanted to cry.  But I stopped myself, froze
the grief and pain to be dealt with later.  Keith was still in shock and he
needed me. Needed me to stay strong and keep him grounded.

I knew how to put up a façade.

My fathers death taught me how the hard way.

I splashed myself in the face with water, and walked out of the toilet.
Keith looked up at me, concerned.

"You okay?" he asked, gesturing me to sit next to him.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

Keith put his arm around me, and I sunk into his chest, suddenly realising
how tired I was.  Sleep wouldn't claim me though, so I ended up floating
somewhere in-between conciousness and sleep for an hour or a few, I wasn't
sure, before the door opened to reveal a white coated doctor.

I was instantly awake.  "How is he?" I said, searching the doctors face for
any kind of tell.

He took a deep breath.  "He's alive." he said.

I released a breath I didn't realise I had been holding.

"But, he's in a coma. Probably induced by the head injury he recieved." the
doctor continued, with a heavy heart. "We've stabilised him and we're
moving him to peadiatric high dependency right now."

"Ca..can we see him?" Keith said, grabbing my shoulder reflexively.

"Are you his father?" the doctor said.  Keith nodded in the affirmative.

"And you are...?" he continued, looking at me.

"I..." I said, my mouth still dry.  I coughed before continuing.  "I'm his
brother." I croaked.

"Then, yes." he said, "Just as soon as we have him settled in, I'll bring
you up."

Keith grasped the doctors hand.  "Thank you." he whispered.

"You are very welcome, sir." the doctor said genuinely.

I sat back down heavily, my head in my hands.  He was alive. Nothing could
be worse than the alternative.

That much was true.

But he was in a bad state. He might never wake up.

I might never see him smile, hear him laugh or feel his soft, luscious lips
ever again.

The grief threatened to tip over again, the heat rose in my chest, but I
swallowed it.

A psychologist would probably say that was unhealthy, but the psychologist
wouldn't have a normally very strong man sitting next to him, looking like
a lost puppy.

A nurse came to see us, and guided us up to his private room on the high
dependency ward.

I opened the door and saw him.

He was lying on the bed, on his back. His eyes were shut, and he could have
been asleep if it weren't for all the tubes poking out of him.  He had one
down his throat, connected to a hissing machine that was breathing for him.
There was one in the back of his right hand, and another running to his
middle, where I presumed a catheter had been inserted.  A heart monitor was
attached to his right index finger as well, and from what I could see, it
was beating strongly.  An enormous dressing covered the back of his head,
his cheek had been picked clean of gravel and cleaned, and his right leg
was in plaster and tractioned.

The only sounds in the room were the heart monitors and the hiss of the
breathing machine as it forced air into his lungs.

Alive, yes.

But his mind may have been damaged beyond saving. Beyond anything.

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

The grief finally boiled over, overwhelming me to the point of despair.  I
fell to my knees, burying my head into the heady disinfected bed.

My shoulders and chest heaved, but absolutely no sound came out.  Once it
burst, it wouldn't stop.

I grabbed his non IV'd hand and began whispering, between my dry heaves.
"I love you, Matthew." I whispered.

Keith suddenly came to my side and put his hand over my shoulders.  "You
did a wonderful thing, Grant." he said, tears filling his eyes. "You
brought my boy back to me."  His breath caught in the back of his throat.

Sighing deeply, he stood up.  "I've got to make some phone calls." he said
gravely.

I nodded and turned back to Matthew.  As soon as Keith left the room to
make those tricky phone calls, I began talking to him again.  "I am so
sorry I wasn't there, right next to you. It should have been me."

"I..."

I stood up, leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I am never leaving your side, not until you get back up off that bed and
give me one of your wonderful handstands!" I finished, squeezing his hand
tightly. "Because you are my brother. Through thick and thin. Always and
forever."

The door opened and Keith walked in, followed behind by a stern-looking
nurse, who's name tag identified her as "Tracy"

"I'm sorry, but we have to go." Keith said, walking towards Matthew and
kissing his unscraped cheek.  "I'll see you later, kiddo." he whispered
sadly.

I stood up and looked the nurse square in the eye.

"I am not leaving his side." I said coolly, daring her to argue. "He is my
brother, and he needs me. Now more than ever."

The nurse stared at me, boring into me for a moment before she sighed
deeply.  "I need to talk to the senior sister." she said, walking out of
the room.

Keith looked me up and down.  "You don't have to..." he began.

I cut him off with a wave of my hand.  "I love Matthew. I love Alex. More
than my life. I made a promise to him when I became their brothers. To
stick by them through everything and anything." I said, the tears
threatening to crack my voice.

"To lay down my life for them."

Keith smiled.  "I feel exactly the same way." he said. "About
Matthew. About Alex and, about you."

I walked into his arms and he enveloped me.  Kissing my head, he whispered,
"Keep him safe."

"I will." I replied, hugging tighter.  Keith finally let me go, thanked
Tracy just as she walked into the room and walked towards the lift.

Tracey looked at me, and smiled.  "The senior sister has said you can
stay." she began. "But you need to call your mother and get her
permission. And you need to get your own food and drink."

I sighed happily.  "Thank you, ma'am." I said sincerely.

Slightly taken aback by my politeness, she nodded, before gesturing to the
door and saying "Shall we?"

I nodded, but asked her to give me a second.

Turning back to Matthew, I kissed his cheek.  "I'll be back in a minute. I
just need to go satisfy the bean counters." I said jokingly, before turning
back to Tracy.

She smiled warmly, seeing my affection for him, before we walked together
to the nurses station.  Handing me a phone, she told be to dial 88 then the
number, so I dialled my house number.

My mum picked up in the middle of the second ring.  I reassured her that I
was fine, but that I was staying at the hospital with Matthew.

She was adamant that I should come home immediately.

As far as I can recall, this was the conversation that followed.

"Mum, if I was the one on that bed, would you want to leave my side?"

"W...Well no, but..."

"Then you see how I feel right now. The love for Matthew is on par with the
love I have for you and Catriona [my sister]. He is part of the family and
I-"

My mum cut me off.  "I understand. I would do exactly the same thing if the
roles were reversed."

I sighed.  "Thanks for understanding."

"I'll get someone to bring you up a change of clothes and some food
money. Keep him safe."  She rang off.

I thanked the nurses and walked back to Matthews room.

My little fallen imp was still there, unchanged in my absence.

I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten in all the fuss.  His shark
tooth necklace.  I went into the en-suite and pulled it off over my head.
It had somehow remained unscathed through it's flight through the air,
apart from a slight dent at the tip of the tooth. The tooth itself,
engraving and leather chain were all intact.

I decided to wait until the nurses did their rounds and ask them if it was
okay for me to put it back on him.  Two hours later, as the nurse came
round for the night shift, I held it up.

"Is it okay if I put this necklace on him?" I asked the blonde-haired nurse
as she was checking the monitors and writing on Matthews charts.

She looked at the necklace I was holding in my hand, then looked at the one
around my neck.  "I don't see a problem." she said, smiling. "But you may
need a hand."

I beamed at her.

"If you don't mind me asking, was that a present you got him?" she said as
she gently lifted up Matthews head.

"I did." I answered, unhooking the necklace and slipping it behind his
neck. "Him and his best mate."

"That was very nice of you." she said genuinely, "Are you his big brother
then?"

I cringed slightly internally, having a debate with myself whether to tell
the truth or not.  After half a second, I decided to tell the truth.

"Not by blood, but he is my brother as much as any of my kin." I answered,
getting a little chocked up. "He always wanted a big brother, as did his
mate, so I 'adopted' them."

She looked at me, trying to fathom what I had just said. Gently letting his
head back down, she put her hand on my arm.  "He's going to be okay." she
said, "Especially if his big brother has got anything to do with it!"

I smiled my thanks to her.

"Now, let me get you a blanket!" she said, beginning to fuss like a mother
hen. "Because I think you should be trying to get some sleep."

I yawned at the suggestion, suddenly realising how tired I actually was.  I
sat down on the chair next to his bed and tried to get comfortable.

I must have somehow drifted off to sleep, because one of the last things
that registered was the nurse coming back, draping the blanket over me and
walking back out again.

The last thought that registered in my mind was "I don't want to let him
go."

"I'll be there for him. Now and forever. That's a promise."

I woke up slowly, screwing my eyes up at the light streaming into the room
through the open curtains.

"Morning, sleepyhead." a voice said from the other side of the bed.

I stretched out and yawned.  "Good morning." I said to the nurse tending to
Matthew. "How is he?"

"Well," the doctor said, "The wound on the back of his head has stopped
bleeding and the swelling in his leg and his brain have gone down a little,
but there is still no response to any stimuli."  Tentative good news, at
best.

I nodded, not expecting any more.  "Thank you." I said genuinely.

"No problem at all, hon." she smiled, walking away to continue her rounds.

"Hear that?" I said, "The doctor said that you're improving!"  "You'll be
up and bounding in no time!" I finished, wanting to believe it, but it came
out slightly hollow.

My stomach rumbled, reminding me that it had been ages since I had last
eaten.  I fished around in my pocket and found some money from somewhere,
and walked down to the café to get a sausage roll and coffee.

It was pappy and lukewarm and bitter, but it was sustenance. Sustenance
that would keep me awake until the troops arrive.

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End Of Chapter 11

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