I woke up with a jolt. My whole body felt wet, I was sweating. I threw away the blanket I had draped myself with and sat up straight on my seat.
Reality finally sank in and I realised it was a dream. No, not a dream, It was the worst nightmare of my life. I took out the bottle of water Claire had in her bag and took a long gulp of it, not caring that the water ran down my neck and into my shirt. I calmed down my breathing and closed my eyes, massaging my temples.
This should never happen. Ever.
As if on cue, I heard hurried footsteps down the hallway, nearing me. My eyes snapped to the figure.
“What is it?” An alarmed voice asked someone. Please let this not be some sort of déjà vu!
“Emergency at Room 201! The patient is having a hard time breathing. Irregular heartbeats!” Another voice panicked.
“Send a nurse to Room 201!” The alarmed voice shouted back.
I quickly jumped to my feet and looked through the glass door at Brian. He was sleeping. I looked around confusedly, and back at him. He seemed to be breathing normally. The heart rate monitor was beeping regularly and at a rate which should be normal. Nothing looked wrong with him.
I saw the doctor walking towards me, to Brian’s room. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, even though nothing seemed wrong to me; but before I could do so, the doctor hurried right past me and into the elevator. Why was he going there? He should have checked on Brian.
Then I recalled the other voice I heard earlier and the one I heard in my nightmare. The one in my nightmare said Room 301, which was Brian’s; but here the other voice said Room 201, which was Jake’s – WAIT, WHAT?
Jake.
I shook Claire violently to wake her up. She instantly shot out of the chair and looked at me. “What happened?”
“Jake! We have to see him now!” I shouted at her, grabbing her collar and yanking her to her feet. I dragged her with me to the elevator and pressed the button to the second floor.
I ran out of the elevator, even before it barely opened and planted myself in front of the door. It really felt like déjà vu.
Claire rested her palms on the glass door, her breathing getting heavy as the doctor checked Jake’s vitals and the heart rate monitor. What was happening?? I? think? I? had? an? idea.
The heart rate monitor was beeping faster than normal.
I saw the nurse filling an injector with some sort of a liquid. She gave it to the doctor who injected it in Jake’s arm. That didn’t have any effect as Jake’s heart continued to beat fast. He was visibly breathing heavily but he still had his eyes closed.
I guessed Claire couldn’t bear to see it anymore so she turned around, her? forehead covered in sweat and I could even hear her own heart beating fast.
I turned my gaze to Jake as he laid there, looking motionless and pale. He didn’t seem to be breathing. The doctors and nurses worked on him for about what seemed like eternity but in reality was only a couple of minutes.
Suddenly it became silent, dead silent and I realised it was because the heart rate monitor stopped. I stood there frozen as I saw the doctors take out a machine. It was a defibrillator. I watched in horror as Jake was shocked with the defibrillator. Jake’s chest rose and fell from the shock. The doctors kept on giving him shocks but no heart beat was detected.?
A gasp escaped my lips and I slapped a hand on my mouth and stumbled back, nearly falling on the chair. I saw Claire clutch her chest and breath fast through her mouth. She must be in pain.
I heard the door open and someone walked out of the room. I turned my gaze from Claire to the balding, old doctor who was eyeing Claire with sympathy in his eyes. I’d kill him if he said-
“We’re sorry, Miss Greene. We couldn’t save your friend,” He said calmly and put a hand on Claire’s shoulder before walking away with the nurse trailing after him. I looked back at Jake, whose whole body was now covered in a white duvet.
Claire’s legs shook, as if she lost the energy to do anything. She sank to the floor, drawing her knees closer as she hugged them. It looked like she felt her heart crumble within her. And I couldn’t control my tears anymore.
I sagged next her and pulled her to me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. She burst into tears and I hugged her, not caring that she was wetting my hair. She clutched on to me tighter as she cried her heart out. “So, so sorry.”
I still couldn’t believe it. Just when we thought everything would get better, life decided to fuck us up.
~~~
We all attended Jake’s funeral a few days later.
His parents were depressed. I didn’t see them much, but at the funeral they looked completely broken.
Brian survived. However, Jake didn’t. We all cried for him. Even Brian and Sam, who I never expected to cry, actually did for their best friend. Claire. I didn’t know what to say about her. It aas like she was lifeless. She blamed herself for Jake’s death, and there were times she would starve herself or lock herself in an empty room for days. She was depressed too.
I tried to get her to move on, but of course I knew she needed loads of time. A couple of months; or years, perhaps. It broke my heart to see her like that. I missed Jake terribly. He didn’t deserve to die. It wasn’t fair. But then again, who said life was fair.
After his death, we all kind of, drifted apart. We didn’t interact with each other much. Even Brian and my conversation limited and we no longer behaved the way we did with each other – mischievous, flirty and fun. We just were all sad and missed Jake a lot.
After more than six months, we got back together. We started dating.
Claire became reclusive. She was often lost in thoughts about Jake and she began failing her classes. I was worried for her. I knew it was difficult to get over Jake, but she was ruining her life because of this. I’m sure Jake wouldn’t have wanted that. She wanted to be a professional photographer. And no matter how much she denied it with a forced smile, I knew on some level, she highly blamed herself for Jake’s death. I knew she cried herself to sleep every night, and every now and then because of the dried up tears and prominent dark circles under her eyes. She also stopped eating much and had become so skinny that she could be a great competition for Victoria’s Secret models. I tried to help her a lot but most of the times she used to shut me out and push me away.
We all moved on in our life, well we tried to. Sam changed his ways, he didn’t wanted to be like Jesse. Now he was his neighbor’s boyfriend, and no, I didn’t mean that old lady.
After high school, we all separated because of our career choices. Josh and Darren got accepted in Winona State University in Minnesota. Tyler went to Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. Claire got accepted at Bard College in New York City. She gave up on her dream of becoming a professional wildlife photographer and I felt really bad for her. She was interested in it so much. Sam surprisingly got accepted at Pace University, also in New York City. Brian and I were lucky enough to get accepted in Danville Community College in Virginia.
All the seven of us, no matter how far away, we still were friends. And I hoped someday we would all be able to hang out again, even if it was just for a day. I missed them all a lot. Especially Jake. Maybe we could go on the camping trip Sam came up with when we were still in high school. The only difference would be, we’d be going without Jake.
Life went on for us, without Jake. But I believed he was with us, we were just not aware of his presence.
And that was how I lost a great friend. But he would always be alive in our hearts. Loved and cared for. Never withered away with time. Never forgotten. And never lost for he was always with us. And always would be with us, his friends who still loved him more than their own lives. Because there was something between the eight of us. Something when put into words is called FRIENDSHIP.