Green's A HERO IN THE HALLWAYS REVISED - Prologue. Prologue

I could always sense when there was something wrong with Craig. He always retreated into himself. When something really troubled him he couldn’t focus. I knew he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong if I asked. All I could do was wait for him to tell me.

“It’s all over,” I reassured him. “She’s gone now. We can finally live our lives.”

He smiled and the cloud over his face disappears. “I know,” he told me and he takes my hand. “I’m going to miss you is all.”

“I’ll be back in a couple of weeks,” I tell him as he grabs my bag. I follow him to my car. “Then you have me all to yourself.” He puts my bag in the Trunk and leans against the car.

I know he’s worried about me. We had been through so much the two of us. Craig was my salvation and I would never let him go again. He loved me and that's all I could ask from him, but he gave me more and I wouldn’t let him forget it.

“It’s just this is so sudden,” Craig said. “Why can’t you just send them your manuscript?”

“Because they already have it. They need me to go over some contracts and they also want me to take some photographs for the cover.” A publishing company had optioned my book. It was my story and I couldn’t be happier. I could share all I’ve been through in my voice. “Come on we have to go or I’ll miss my flight.”

What I didn’t tell Craig was that I wouldn’t be back for more than a couple of days before I would have to leave again. I wasn’t ready to have that conversation. My publishers wanted to take me on tour to promote my book to movie studios that might be interested in optioning the rights.

If I was honest with myself I was terrified. I could feel the anxiety creeping across my body. Two weeks away seemed like a lifetime but to leave Craig again I worried that he would be very mad at me.

“Come on I’m driving,” Craig nodded as I get into the drivers seat. Craig walked around and sat in the passenger’s seat next to, me grabbing my hand. “When you see me next I will be a published author and you can be proud of me.”

I kissed him on the cheek and he smiled. “I’m always proud of you,” He said. “I’ll always be here.” I pulled the car into the road. We were going to be ok.

Craig and I were finally on track and we were free to be everything to one another. We lived through one year of hell and loss but we made it out of the other end fine. Bruised and battered but we were fine. I promised myself that I would never let anything come between us again. My Books release would mark a happy end to all the trouble we had been through.

The car that rammed into me had other ideas. He hit us hard forcing my car to lurch sideways then it flipped. Craig held me in place then he wasn’t in the car anymore. A second later I heard a distant beeping sound. Something is attached to my face. I struggle to pull it off wondering where I was. I was in a white sterile room. The machine I was attached to beeped every other second. I was in a hospital bed.

“It's hard to say Mr. Williams. We won't know the extent of this until your son wakes up,” I heard someone say. It sounds like they’re near but I couldn’t see where. I barely open my eyes when I feel the pain on the side of my head. It’s throbbing.

A nurse walks into the room she checks something in a binder then notices that I’m awake. She hurriedly walked out of the room. A doctor and two other people walked into the room a second later.

“Jonathan,” he said as he approached my bedside. “How are you feeling?” He shined a light in my eyes.

“Who is Jonathan?” I asked.