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Jacob Finding His Way - 8. Chapter 8

(MY GRANDFATHER’S POINT OF VIEW)

As I drove into the city limits, I was already lost. Since the last time I was here, the town has grown a lot. I could remember this town when the west side was one town, and you had to drive thirty miles or so in order for you to get to the east side of town. Back then, it was different, but now the whole place is just one big city.

When I reached the downtown area, I started to recognize where I was. I realized I passed the exit I should have taken. I did the turn around, and headed back from where I came from. I finally saw the exit to the hospital, and took it. At that point, I passed the collage on my left hand side, then I finally made it to the hospital.

I parked the car in the hospital parking lot, and walked up to the front of the building. I stood there, and it brought back memories I didn’t want. My daughter, Jake’s mom, had to come up to Florida to pick me up; I just had a stroke, and no family in Florida. I moved up there with my, now, fourth ex wife.

As soon as I got into town, my daughter put me into this hospital. I was here for almost four months. I grew to hate the place, but they did take good care of me while I was here.

I walked in, found the elevator, and went up to the fifth floor. As soon as I got off, I walked up to the nurse’s station and gave my grandson’s name. She told me he was still in surgery, and I could wait in the waiting room around the corner.

I walked around the corner; there was my daughter and granddaughter sitting there. I walked over to them, shook them awake.

“Grandpa, you’re here, you’re here!”

My granddaughter jumped out of the seat and hugged me. Then my daughter hugged me.

“Tell me where we are! What’s going on?”

“Dad, Jake has been in surgery now for almost five hours. The doctor said it was an eight hour surgery, but he hasn’t come out and told us anything.”

“I thought they got it all the last time.”

“They thought so too dad.”

“I really wanted to come up here when my grandson was shot, then more so when he was told he had cancer. You told me everything is fine, not to worry. I did worry, and now he is sick again.”

“I know dad, he was doing really good. Just he started throwing up every time he ate. The school nurse noticed he was getting thinner, and called his doctor.”

“How did you miss it? How did you not notice he wasn’t eating?”

“Dad, he was sleeping a lot. He was complaining of pain he was having in his legs and arms. I wanted him to sleep; I thought he was eating at school.”

“But he wasn’t, was he?”

“Dad I know I dropped the ball here.”

“I see Andy isn’t here as well.”

“No dad he isn’t, and no I don’t know where he is.”

“Before I leave, I am going to find that kid, and wring his neck. His brother is over here in the hospital, sick, and he can’t even show up.”

I sat down, and hugged my daughter. I knew it really wasn’t her fault. She did the best that she could. She has been the sole provider of this household since the first grandchild was born. I hold a lot of props for her; she is doing a great job.

The door opened to the surgical wing, and Dr. Whitmore came over to us.

“Dr. Whitmore, this is my father, you can tell him anything.”

“Yes Ms. Hernandez thank you for letting me know. I just came out here to let you know what was going on with Jake. We were successful on pulling out the kidney. But we have run into complications in the surgery that we didn’t think would have come up.’

“What kind of complications?”

“Ms. Hernandez, Jake started bleeding, we couldn’t stop it at first. It happens sometimes with people who have cancer. We got the bleeding under control, but found polyps under the kidney. That concerns me because it isn’t cancer, but can become cancer. So we removed them. As we were looking around, we found some more, and removed them as well. We had to call in Dr. Mitchell and his team.

He is now in dealing with Jacob’s spine. The bullet moved, when it moved, I don’t know, but it did. It is pushing and rubbing against his spinal cord. If we would to leave it in, eventually it might actually break through the spine.”

“So is Dr. Mitchell going to take it out?”

“This is where it gets tricky, where the bullet is lodged, it makes it hard to really do any kind of surgery. Dr. Mitchell is going to pull the bullet out, and piece together your son’s spinal cord. In order to protect his spine, Dr. Mitchell is going to put in metal pins. This will help support the spine, and allow it to heal.”

“Will the metal pins come out?”

“No, Jake will always have them in there. He will always be in pain, really nothing will stop that. We do believe he will still be able to walk and move his arms normally. So you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Bottom line Dr. Whitmore, how bad is this?”

“We have our work cut out for us today. The surgery was to be only eight hours; we are looking at around twenty hours if not more. Being in surgery so long brings its own problems. I will not lie to you, he is very critical, and has a fifty, fifty chance of living. To tell you the truth here, I truly believe the reason your son lived the last time, was because he wanted to live, he fought to live. When we wheeled him into the room this time, he seemed defeated; he looked like he has given up.

I won’t give up on Jake, I promised him that, and I will keep my promise. But it will be up to him after the surgery if he wants to live or not. It is going to be up to you guys to get him through that.

May I ask Ms. Hernandez, where is Jakes friend, what was his name, Joey?”

“He moved last Friday.”

“That’s not good at all. When he was in here before, his friend was here all the time. Stayed the weekends, helped Jake get better. Those two were peas in a pod. I truly believe that Joey helped him through it the last time. Now he lost that backing. I know you have to work Ms. Hernandez and Marie has to go to school, but Jake doesn’t want to fight any more, so someone needs to be here to remind him he has people who love him, and wants him to be around.”

“I understand Dr. Whitmore. We will be taking turns, but someone will be here all the time.”

“Ok then. I need to get back in there, I will try to come out and give you another update in a couple of hours.”

“Thank you Dr. Whitmore.”

Dr. Whitmore left, and we sat down again.

“We need to stay here with Jake, and make sure he comes out of this. I will not out live one of my grandchildren; I already out lived my sons, not my grandchildren. I can’t and won’t lose him.”

“I know dad, we will take care of him.”

I was angry, how could a young, healthy kid all of a sudden get will sick. Cancer doesn’t run in the family, as far as I know it doesn’t. At this point all we can do is wait.

It was already eighty thirty at night, and still we haven’t gotten another update. All of a sudden we heard over the intercom, ‘Code Blue, surgical room 310 Code Blue.’ Several doctors started running in and out of the surgical hall, then nurses as well.

I stood up, started walking back and forth, and just gave in, went up to the nurse’s desk, and asked:

“Nurse, I am sorry I don’t know your name, what surgical room is my grandson in? His name is Jacob Hernandez.”

“He is going through surgery right now in room 310.”

“What does ‘Code Blue’ mean? Why was it said over the intercom?”

“Sorry about that, Code Blue is when an issue has come up in a surgery. The reason we needed to announce it over the intercom is to have all nurses and doctors that are available, to help out in the surgery.”

“Is it really bad ma’am?”

“Sir, I really do not know. I should not have given you this much information that I have. I am not a doctor in the surgery. Also, I don’t know what’s going on in there. It is something major, but major could be a blood issue to assistance on holding the patient body limb. Please be patient, one of the doctors will come out and speak with the family as soon as they can.”

“Thank you ma’am.”

I headed back to the seats where my daughter and granddaughter are sitting. They are worried; you can see it on their faces.

“There isn’t nothing to worry about, really nothing we can do until the doctor comes out and tells us what is going on.”

“Dad what did the nurse tell you?”

“She couldn’t tell me anything. Just wait until a doctor comes out and speaks with us.”

I didn’t want to worry my daughter; I got information that I shouldn’t have. I thought to myself, it’s best for me to keep the information to myself for the time being.

I looked at my watch, Jacob has been in surgery over thirty six hours, and still we have not heard a word on what’s going on in the surgery. So we wait, that’s all we can do. Finally, after being in surgery for forty two hours, the doctor came out. This time it was a huge group of white coats.

“Ms. Hernandez, thank you for your patience. Sorry it has taken me so long in coming out here and speaking with you. This surgery became more tricky than any of the others. We were ready for surprises that would come up during the surgery. As I told you last time I was out here what we found and that I called in Dr. Mitchell into the surgery.

He did his part successfully, and then I took over again. When Dr. Mitchell was in there, he found the same polyps on your son’s spine, I removed them. When we were about to close, your son’s heart stopped, we had to shock it back. While we were doing that, the work that was done last time to your sons heart, ripped. Dr. Mitchell at that point had to get back in, and fix the heart.

Your son started bleeding out, and we were running out of blood in our bank of his type. That is one of the main reasons we do not like having anyone on the table for a long time. We were lucky that Columbia, next door, had his type, and gave us the necessary amount we needed to continue the surgery.

The heart was repaired; we will need to keep a very close watch on his rhythm. Ms. Hernandez, your son has lost many vital organs, the other organs that are left, are either damaged or repaired or we sliced portions of them off due to the cancer.

I will not lie to you ma’am, you thought your sons recovery last time was long and hard. This time it’s going to be worse. We had to put him into a coma, and we will need to keep him in it for at least forty eight hours.”

“Why Dr. Whitmore did you guys have to put my grandson into a coma this time around?”

“For several reasons, one of which is the pain he will be in when he wakes up. We were in there digging around his spinal cord, and then putting metal screws in there doesn’t help. Then we worked again on his heart and other organs of his body. We need to give the body a chance to begin to recover, without the added pressure being conscious would add to his heart and body if he came out in the next couple of hours.

We can’t keep him in the coma more than forty eight hours though. We need to start on the chemo as soon as possible.”

“Dr. Whitmore, what are the next days and weeks going look like?”

“Ms. Hernandez again I won’t mislead you, it’s going to be hard, more on Jake than anyone. When he does come out of the coma, he will be in so much pain, he will be screaming in agony, that even the most powerful medicine we can give him for pain, will only dull it out. At the same time, we need to keep him awake, due to the chemo we will be giving him. So on top of the pain, he will be throwing up as well. One or the other is bad, but together it is even worse.”

“When can we sit with Jake?”

“He has already been moved into the ICU wing. We put him in a private room, due to the machines he is hooked up to, and the vomiting he will be doing soon. You can go at any time.”

“Thank you Dr. Whitmore, thank you.”

“Ms. Hernandez, I will be canceling my vocation I had planned. I want to be here at the hospital with your son. I promised him I was going to get him through this, and I intend to do just that. He will be walking out here ma’am.”

“I as well will be on call for your son Ms. Hernandez. I was his first doctor; I plan to see him through his injuries as well.”, Dr. Mitchell added.

“Thank you Dr. Whitmore and Dr. Mitchell, I can’t say how much this all means to us. I know when my son wakes up and finds out you cancelled your vacation, Dr. Whitmore, he will be angry.”

“Let him be angry, but he will be well taken care of.”

We shook the doctor’s hands, and then headed to the ICU. I asked the nurse at the desk what room Jake was in, she directed us to his room. When we walked in, it was a sight I wasn’t prepared for. Tubes and wires coming out of Jake, I didn’t know what to think. When I got up to his bed, his was laying on his side, the bandages all the way down his back. I just stood there stunned, looking at my grandson.

(JOEY’S POINT OF VIEW)

It was Monday, my third day in Phoenix, and I already hate it. I never wanted to leave Texas in the first place, I was pulled here kicking and screaming. I miss Jake so bad, I couldn’t eat, sleep, or think of anything else, except Jake.

All I could think of is of last Friday, the look on Jakes face, I can’t get rid of that look at all. The tears rolling down his face, then he started crying. He was broken, beaten, with nothing to live for. That was the look. I promised Jake I would never leave him, never hurt him, and here I did it, I broke his heart.

I couldn’t stay in that room with Jake, he was crying so hard, the pain in his crying hurt me even more. I ran out of his apartment, down to my building, and hid under the stairs, curled in a ball crying. I don’t want to lose Jake, I want to grow old with him, just be by his side. I stayed there, crying for hours, then, got up, wiped my face and went home.

At this moment I truly hate my parents. We don’t even live in an apartment; we are living in a hotel room. My parents keep saying we will be getting a house here, not an apartment. I don’t care if we get a mansion; I just want to be with Jake.

Throughout the evening, I kept calling Jakes house, getting no answer. I went to bed, and got up the next morning bitterer at my parents then the day before. I bummed around the hotel room all day waiting for four. It seemed to drag on, but finally four o’clock arrived, I ran to the phone, tried Jake again, no answer. I kept trying till eight, I was getting worried. So I decided to call Chase and find out about Jake.

The phone rang a couple of times, and then Chase answered:

“Hey Chase, this is Joey. How is it going man?”

“It’s ok. How was your drive to Arizona?”

“Boring as hell, all I could think about is you guys. I have been trying to call Jake since yesterday, but I haven’t gotten an answer at his house. Do you know what’s up?”

“You don’t know Joey?”

“Know what Chase?”

“Joey, man, he is really sick.”

“What do you mean really sick?” I was standing now, worried.

“Joey I thought you knew. The week before you left, Jake had a doctor’s appointment.”

“I knew that Chase, but why is he sick now?”

“Joey, that doctor’s appointment wasn’t scheduled. The nurse was worried of Jake’s weight, weighed him. She saw that he lost thirty two pounds since the last time he was weighed, so she called his doctor.

Let me make a long story short. The doctor went to the school, got nervous, took Jake to his office, ran tests, and found the cancer returned.”

“What? How bad is it Chase?” At this point I really wanted to cry.

“It’s bad Joey, really bad. He went in for surgery yesterday, which was supposed to be only eight hours long. The surgery went over forty hours. They had several complications in the surgery. I was told they almost lost him a couple of times.”

“Chase, tell me, how is he doing right now?” My eyes were getting teary, I was shaking really bad, I felt like I wanted faint.

“Right now he is in the ICU, and the doctors are really worried that he might not make it this time. It is bad enough that one of the main doctors cancelled his vacation and stayed here, just for Jake.”

“When would you know anything more Chase?”

“Tomorrow I will know more. That’s when they’re going to pull him out of the coma.”

“He is in a coma! Why is he in a coma, how?”

“The doctor’s needed to put him in the coma. They had to do surgery to his spine to remove the bullet. It had moved. Then they had to put metal screws in his spine for support. They took out one of his kidneys and had to work on his heart again. His heart stopped working during surgery, they shocked it, but while doing it, and it caused another tear in the heart.”

At that point I went completely numb; I hung up the phone, and went to my bed. I couldn’t believe it, I wasn’t there for Jake when he needs me the most. I was crying so much, I closed myself in the restroom. Why didn’t Jake tell me he was sick again? I would’ve done anything to stay there while he was going through this. I would have lived on the streets, just as long as I was with him.

I couldn’t stand it any longer; I wanted to be with Jake. That’s it; I am going to do whatever it takes to get back to him.

(GRANDFATHER’S POINT OF VIEW)

Through the night, we stood watch over Jake. Worried what the outcome might be. The next morning, we took shifts to be by Jakes bed side. When we were not in his room, we were either eating or sleeping in the ICU waiting room.

When I woke up, there sitting in the seat next to me was my grandson Andy; I rubbed my eyes to make sure they were not playing a trick on me. Andy looked over at me; I stood up, and waved for him to follow me.

As we got onto the elevator, I looked at him, he was dirty and looked like he hasn’t had a bath in weeks. His clothes torn, hair a mess, and he looked very tried and worn out. We got to the first floor; we walked out of the hospital, and went across to Burger King. I ordered a couple of meals, and we ate.

“Andy what is going on with you?”

“I don’t know grandpa.”

“Is it the drugs, are you doing drugs?”

“Yes….”

“Andy you are too young to be throwing your life away. You are the oldest son of your mother; she needs you to be the man of the house: More now than ever.”

“I know grandpa, I know. I just don’t know why I can’t behave. Why I can’t just be more like Jake, stay in school, listen to mom, and be there for her?”

“First of all, partly it’s the drugs Andy. You need to stop doing them. Secondly, you need to clean yourself up. Your brother is fighting for his life; we might lose him any day. He needs his family Andy, and that’s you. He looks up you; he needs his big brother in his life.”

“I know grandpa. He needs me to show him the right things, but I am afraid all I am showing him is how to be bad. I was so scared the last time around when he was here. I stayed in his room every day until he woke up. I just couldn’t see my little brother look so sick, so I left. He got better, he was doing really well. I don’t understand why he got sick again.”

“No one does Andy. He got the short end of the stick, but he is fighting it. We have to stay by his side, that way he wins this battle Andy.”

“I don’t plan to go anywhere this time grandpa.”

“You better go to my hotel room and take a shower and clean yourself up. Here is the key to the room, it’s down the street. Let me give you some money where you can buy some new clothes. We can’t have you in there like this.”

“Thank you grandpa, I will pay you back, I promise.”

“Just come back clean and neat. The only payback I want is you to mind fences with your mom and stay by your brother’s side.”

“I will grandpa, I promise.”

Wednesday dragged on, but Thursday was the longest. We knew this evening was do or die time for Jake, and I was worried. At six, we all gathered in Jakes room, and waited for Dr. Whitmore. He arrived ten before seven.

“His vitals are not where I would like them to be, but I can’t keep him in this coma another day, I wish I could. Let me tell you what we are looking for as we take him out of the coma.

The most important item we are looking at is his heart, it can’t stop. The pain will be strong, so the pressure on his heart will be enormous. His heart already is damaged, and if his heart stops, and shocking him doesn’t get it going again, I afraid to open him back up so soon.

If his heart stops, we will need you guys to leave the room quickly where we can do our job. No delay! I can’t make this clear enough. Time is a factor, every second will count and means either he will live or die. Do we understand one another on this point?”

All of us said yes at the same time.

“Ok then, here we go.”

Dr. Whitmore walked over to Jake, put a needle in his IV, and stood back. He kept looking at the monitors of the computers in Jakes room. I don’t even think several minutes passed, when the beeping sounds coming from the machines started to go faster and louder. The numbers on the monitor were going higher, and then Jake started to grab at his chest, kicking around on his bed. Then all of a sudden, he went limp, and the beeps on the monitor went to just one continuing hum.

Right away Dr. Whitmore moved into action, pushed us out of the way, and yelled out a code blue. His entire staff rushed right in, pushing in several machines. They throw the blankets off Jake then ripped off his top. The door shut, and we were standing in the hallway.

My daughter started crying, and she fell to her knees. I hurried over to her, picked her up, and held her. She just kept crying as I was hugging her. I looked at Marie and Andy, they were crying as well. Their brother is fighting for his life in the room that we were standing in front of. No one could believe this is happening.

Finally about twenty minutes later Dr. Whitmore came out of the room.

“Ms. Hernandez and family, Jake is alive, and out of the coma.”

We just broke down again and started crying, happy, but crying.

“He is asleep right now due to the pain medicine going through his body. We had to shock him several times, but his heart to start and that is what we needed. I will be monitoring him through the night; I will not leave this hospital. The next couple of hours are very important. You all could go in and be with Jake.”

“Thank you, Dr. Whitmore for saving my grandson.”

We went in, and sat with Jake, watching him breathe. No one moved an inch the entire night. Morning came, and we were all asleep in different corners of the room. I heard noise coming from Jakes bed when I opened my eyes.

Jake was awake and just looking around. When his eyes rested on me, he tried to smile. I went over to him, and hugged my grandson, then kissed him on his forehead. I turned to my daughter and woke her up.

She jumped, hugged and kissed Jacob. That woke up Marie and Andy, and they did the same thing.

Dr. Whitmore walked in; he looked tired, but happy. He headed over to Jake, and smiled, squeezed his arm.

“Jake my boy you seem to never surprise me. You gave me a scare in the last couple of days. But we have you, and you will not be going anywhere.”

Jake started pointing to the tube that was in his throat.

“I see you are in a hurry for me to remove the tube from your throat Jake. I really don’t know about that Jake, I don’t want to hear you talk about the president, and if Clinton wins, how our country will go to hell in a hand basket. This is the only way I could keep you quiet!”

Dr. Whitmore laughed, and poked Jake on his arm.

“You know the procedure. I will do my thing here, you will then take a deep breath, I will count to three. As I am pulling out the tube, you will be breathing out. Ok Jake?”

Jacob nodded his head.

“Ok then, ready, one, two, and three…..”

As the tube came out Jacob started to cough, but that was it. Dr. Whitmore gave him a cup of ice chips, and explained to him what had happened in the surgery and afterwards, then left.

We gathered around Jakes bed, just talking to him. He couldn’t talk much; he throat was dry and rough. Then he started to push the button that gave him the pain medicine, he went to sleep.

(JACOB’S POINT OF VIEW)

The little bit I was awake, I was glad to see that my grandpa was here. He was so cool, he rarely acted like our grandpa, and he was more like a friend. He was there every time I woke up.

The pain this time seemed to be worse than last time. Dr. Mitchell explained it was because of the metal screws he put in my spine. To me, I didn’t really care, it just hurt worse than before.

This time I was moved into the regular hall for cancer patients from the ICU faster than last time. I started my chemo three days after I came out of the coma. My grandfather and brother were there the entire day through it all.

When I wasn’t throwing up, I had the physical therapist in my room working with me to walk again. Once again I couldn’t take a shower due to the stitches going down my spine and in my front.

But one day this very cute guy nurse came in to give me my sponge bath. He apologized that he had to give me the sponge bath that day, but the other nurses were called to another floor. Hell, I didn’t care if he gave me my bath everyday; he was hot!

David is his name, he is white, beautiful blue eyes, dark blond hair, and he looked kind of built, but wearing scrubs. The scrub bottom did do some justice to his butt; he had a very nice round butt.

He first took off my pajamas, and then slowly removed the bandages on both of my wounds. His hands were so soft, light at the touch; I loved every moment of him touching my body. He then took the water basin, pulled out the sponge. He slowly leathered my chest, being careful of the stitches. He kept rubbing my chest, and then moved to the back, doing the same thing. He rinsed me with another sponge. By the time he was making his way down, I was sporting a full hard on.

“Don’t worry Jake, no need to be embarrassed about what’s going on down below. Everyone gets hard when someone else is touching them.”

David continued cleaning my legs and feet, then did something no other nurse has done before. He grabbed my dick, which was hard as a rock, and started jerking me off. It felt so good. I exploded quicker then I have done in a while. David rinsed his hands, and then cleaned my dick and balls. He had to redo my legs and stomach, but I didn’t mind.

He redressed my wounds, and then I got dressed again. David rinsed out the basins and sponges then put them away. He came over to me and leaned down.

“I hope I can bathe you tomorrow again Jake, I enjoyed it.”

He winked at me, grabbed my crotch and gave it one last squeeze, then left. I was happy a cute guy like that gave me the time of day.

I did get several more sponge baths from David before I was able to bathe myself, but that didn’t stop David from stopping in.

Although the pain was there, and at times really bad, I was feeling better as the days went on. I completed my chemo on time and no other complications came up. Dr. Whitmore was very happy with my progress he decided to let me go home earlier then he intended to do.

He made it clear to me that I must follow the regimen he set out for me dealing with all the new pills I had to take, as well, if I feel sick, no matter how small it may seem, I am to call him immediately when it happens. Also I must keep up with my appointments with him and Dr. Mitchell and take it easy on my body.

It won’t heal over night, I must give it time. For the rest of my life I will be in pain no matter what. As time goes on, the pain will get less, but again, not go away. But for now, it will be unbearable at times. You’ll just have to take it a day at a time.

Finally the day came for me to go home again, four weeks to the day of me going into the hospital. When Dr. Whitmore signed all the paperwork in order for me to go home, he called for a nurse to wheel me out. When the nurse arrived with the wheel chair, I was happy to see it was David, I getting to like this guy, not like Joey, but someone to talk to about me.

My mother, brother, sister and grandpa came to pick me up. As we got into the elevator, David put a paper in my pocket, and whispered in my ear,

“Please call me whenever you have a chance.”

I nodded my head, and the elevator door opened. I was wheeled out to the front door; my mom’s car was there. David and my brother helped me up, my grandfather handed me my cane as I stood. I turned and shook David’s hand, and wobbled to the car.

Boy was I glad I was heading home, and the worst, I truly hope so this time, was behind me. Plus I met David, I know he won’t replace Joey, no one will ever replace Joey in my heart, but I have someone to talk to again.

As we drove home, my grandpa took us out to eat for dinner, and it wasn’t fast food. It felt good when we drove up to the apartment, because I was tired by the time I got home. Once again I was helped out of the car; I got inside, and went to my room to go to bed. My brother is right behind me as I got to the room.

“Hey bro, do you need any help getting ready for bed or the restroom?”

“No that’s cool Andy, thank you for asking.”

Andy left and I took off my shoes, jacket, sweater, and just lied down on my bed. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

(JOEY’S POINT OF VIEW)

By the time my parents got home with my sister, I was already lying on the bed just looking into the dark of the room. They turned on the light, but didn’t say anything at first, and then my dad broke the silence.

“Joey you need to stop acting like a baby, and grow up. This is my family, so therefore, I decide where we live. Do you understand me Joey?”

“Since when have you cared about us? All you have cared about since I could remember is work.”

“Son, I would be very careful on what you say next.”

“Oh what you are going to beat me like you have done many times before. Go ahead like it’s new to me.”

“Joey you better settle down, or I will discipline you.”

“Oh, go to hell dad. You never cared about your faggot son. You wish I was never born. Do you understand you pulled me away from the only person that ever cared and protected me when I needed it?”

Before I knew it, my dad’s hand hit me right across the face so hard I fell back against the bed when he hit me. As I was getting back up, my dad already had his belt off. Swing after swing, my dad started hitting me with the belt.

“You never speak to me like that again, ever. Hell I don’t care if you live or die Joey. You never to what you’re supposed to do anyway, and that is be a man and give me grandchildren. You’re a plague on this earth, and people like you should never have been born.”

My dad kept hitting me, as my sister was crying in the corner of the room. My mom tried to stop my dad, but he pushed her away. He just kept hitting me. Then my mom was able to grab the belt in mid air. At that point I ran from the room, out the street and kept running. I was crying, not so much of the hitting my dad did to me, yes it hurt, I was crying because the guy I loved was sitting in a hospital bed fighting once again for his life.

(GRANDFATHER’S POINT OF VIEW)

“I am glad Jake is home now, and looks like he is going to recover completely. I would like it if I could stay a while longer. I just want to be here and ensure my grandson recovers and that he doesn’t try to hide if he gets sick again.”

“I would love it dad, if you would stay. I feel so much better with you here, and I know Jake and the kids love it with you here.”

“Thank you, I will not be in the way, I just want to feel better about Jake.”

I got up from the kitchen table, put my cup in the sink and headed to Jakes room. When I entered, Jake was already asleep, on top of the covers.

He reminded me of when he was just a kid. He never made it to his bed changed into his sleeping gear, we were lucky he had both shoes off. Here he is, a young man, still not able to change into his sleeping gear before he fell to sleep.

I sat on the bed next to his chest, just looking at him. His chest was going up and down, his face at peace. We did need to do something about his hair. A young man his age shouldn’t run around without hair, it made him look older then he was.

All of a sudden Jake eye’s just opened, and he grabbed for his legs. He reached for his table, but I was in the way. I got up, grabbed his pain pills, took two out, handed them to him with a cup of water, and he took them.

“Grandpa is everything ok?”

“Of course everything is ok Jacob; I just wanted to talk with you. Just when I came in, you were asleep that’s all.”

“Sorry grandpa, I would have stayed awake if you would have told me.”

“Don’t be silly Jake, your still recovering. You will be finding that you’re sleeping a lot more than usual. Jake I have noticed something, if you don’t want to tell me or if it’s none of my business, you can tell me to butt out. I have noticed besides the pain of the surgery, you look like you lost someone close and dear to you. You have a gaping hole in your chest, and that isn’t where the surgery was done.”

“Grandpa!”

“Sorry Jake if I have embarrassed you, but I notice these things.”

“My best friend moved away, and I really miss him a lot. We did everything together, and now I have no one to talk to like I talked to him.”

“Is this the guy that everyone keeps talking about? What’s his name, Joey?”

“Yes grandpa his name is Joey, and yes he is the one everyone keeps talking about. He was with me when I went through this the first time. He didn’t even blink an eye, he helped me.”

“Friends like that are hard to come by, they are like brothers.”

“Yes sir, grandpa, that is true. But Joey was more to me then a brother.”

“I understand Jake, just take it day at a time, it will get better. You lost your best friend and got sick in the same week. That would bother most people.”

“Yes it really bothers me.”

I got up, rubbed Jakes head; I noticed he was falling asleep again. He laid back down, and went right to sleep. I pulled the covers over him, kissed him on his forehead and turned off the light.

As I left his room, I started to wonder what he meant that Joey was more than a brother to him. No matter what, I will always love my grandson.

(JACOB’S POINT OF VIEW)

I was woken up the next morning by a knock on my bedroom door. Very drowsy I asked who ever was at my door to come in. to my surprise it was David from the hospital.

“Sorry man, for waking you. Your grandfather told me it was ok for me to come back here.”

“That’s cool, not a bother. I should get up anyway. May I ask, what do I owe this visit to?”

“Of course you could ask, but it is up to me if I will answer the question.”

We both laughed, as I was slowly pulling myself out of bed. My legs were hurting this morning, nothing new, but not so much my arms. I started rubbing my legs, then a sharp pain started going up my spine, I couldn’t stand it. I laid back, in hopes for the pain to settle down.

“Hey Jake are you ok, you look like you’re hurting?”

“Yeah, just my legs are hurting real bad, and now the pain in my spine, is even worse than in my legs.”

David moved over to my end table, grabbed my bottle of pain pills and the bottle of water I had sitting at the there, and handed them to me.

“Here Jake, take these. You should not let the pain meds wear off, or you will be in pain for a while till the pills kick in.”

“I know I just wanted to sleep a little longer.”

“To answer the question you asked me earlier, I just wanted to stop in and see how you are doing, that’s all. You haven’t called me yet, so I was just wondering.”

“Sorry about that David. After we left the hospital yesterday, we went out to eat and talked about this and that. When we got home, I was dead on my feet. Plus my back and legs were starting to hurt. I just wanted to lie down and sleep.”

“I figured that much, so I just came by.”

David sat on my bed starting to rub my legs, then move up to my back. To say the least, it felt good. The pain wasn’t completely gone, but it was dull.

“David I am very glad I met you. You made me feel good at a time that I thought I couldn’t feel good again. I need to tell you something and please don’t be mad with me.”

“I will never be mad with you. Let’s put our cards on the table, and see where we stand afterwards.”

“I agree David, let’s do that. I am pretty sure you already know that I am gay. By the way, how did you figure it out?”

“You were talking in your sleep about a guy name Joey, and you were begging him not to go, you love him. Rest assured when ever your family was in the room when you were sleeping, you were on a lot of pain medicine, you couldn’t talk in your sleep.”

“That a big worry off my shoulders, I can tell you. None of my family knows about me, and I don’t want them to know. You know David, the Friday before the surgery, Joey my first boyfriend, had to move with his family. I never told him I was sick again, I didn’t want to put him through it again. I love Joey so much and my heart hurts just thinking about him.”

“I do understand what you are talking about, and before you go any further I know where I stand in the mix of things. You just broke up with your first, and that is hard, I surely don’t want to be the rebound guy. I like you Jake; I really think you are the cutest guy I have seen. I will settle for now for a friendship with you. Then we will see where it leads in the future.”

“Thank you David, I just didn’t want to string you along. I do find you very handsome as well. How old are you?”

“I just turned sixteen couple of months ago.”

“What and you is a nurse already?”

“No I am not a nurse. I volunteer at the hospital for extra school credit. I am barely in tenth grade in high school on the west side of town.”

“That explains why I don’t see you at school. So that means you’re just a year older than me.”

“Yes, and by the way, thank you for making me feel like an old man.”

We both laughed, and then I punched David’s shoulder. The pain medicine finally kicked in, I was able to get up and get dressed. David and I hung out through the morning, he ran me through my excises I needed to do. David had to head back to school by lunch.

The rest of the day I spent with my grandpa. I do love the man; he makes you feel better about yourself when you are in the dumps. We all sat down for dinner that evening, discussing my return back to school the next day.

My grandpa woke me up the next morning for school. I got ready, ate, and waited for my grandpa to take me. On our way, we stopped and picked up Chase. Man it felt good to see a familiar face, as well a friend. We hit fist as he got into the car. When we arrived at the school, my grandpa asked me to take it easy, be careful, and for any reason if I need to come home, just call.

Chase and I walked to the elevator and went to down to eat breakfast. I met up with the guys, and they were very happy that I was back. We talked about many things, more about Juan now has broken up with his girlfriend.

The day went pretty fast, when I finally got to JROTC, I decided to give it a chance. Though I couldn’t march due to my spine and legs, I tried to learn everything else.

The six weeks exams came, I passed them all, I thought I was lucky. My grandpa already went home, but we talked on the phone several times a week, I miss him so much. At the same time though, Andy moved back home.

As the second six weeks of the second semester of my freshmen year started, I was promoted to PFC in JROTC class. I thought that was cool, I really don’t think I earned it, but hell, I will take it.

More and more I was talking with David on the phone in the evenings, during the weekend, David came down and spent Friday and Saturday night at my apartment. We were becoming will close friends, nothing happened between us since the hospital.

I heard that Joey ran away from home after his father kept beating him all the time. His mom didn’t even try to stop his father from hurting Joey. I was so angry with Joey’s parents, I wanted to kill them. I didn’t know where Joey was, nor did any of his family. I just wanted him found and for him to come back home to me.

Almost at the end of the second six weeks, I didn’t need the cane anymore. I still had pain in my legs and spine, but I was walking just fine without the cane. At that point I pretty much sank my teeth in to school work, and nothing else.

Dr. Whitmore was happy with my progress. I gained almost all my weight back that I was weighing before my first surgery. It looked like the cancer is gone and nothing more has been detected.

As I was completing my second six weeks exams, in JROTC, I was given a second promotion to Corporal. This time I did believe I earned this promotion, and I took it with pride.

That Friday Chase and I were walking home and just talking about old times. As we reached his street, we said our goodbyes, and I headed off to my apartment.

When I got home, my mom was already there. I was surprised about her being home so early. When I walked in, Andy and Marie were sitting on the sofa and my mom on the chair.

“Good Jake your home, sit down we must talk. As you all know, I want all of you kids to get at least your high school diplomas. I can’t send you to collage, but for sure I can try everything in my power that you all graduate.

So with that said, Andy needs to get back to school, but Austin won’t take him back. So I decided that we are going to move back to the west side where Andy could attend high school there.”

I just looked at her, but it looked like it wasn’t a surprise to my sister and brother.

“Mom, when are we going to move?”

“Jake, we are moving this weekend. I already got your transcripts from your school as well as Marie’s. That way you guys can start the final six weeks of the school year at the new school.”

“Why can’t we wait for summer if we have to move?”

“Because Jake, Andy has already missed too much school as it is. Don’t worry, you won’t be lifting anything heavy. You will be staying at the new apartment, and as we bring things in and you unpack what you can.”

I stayed quiet, but wasn’t happy about it. The entire weekend was rough. We had to get up early in the morning to move. By Saturday night, all of our furniture was in the new apartment. This apartment is a nicer one then the one we were living in.

Sunday we all worked unpacking and putting things away. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, we pretty much had things where they belonged. I showered, set out my clothes for school, and went to bed.

We didn’t get up early the next morning, due to us having to register for a new school. Marie was first then, it was Andy and then me.

When we got to the high school, I thought Austin gave me the creeps. This one was even creeper. Newman High School, the first high school built here, and it looked like it. This school was also formed in a “V”. At the front of the school was the stadium. I thought it was weird. Also the stadium bleachers went all way around the football field, and were made out of concrete. The football team had a dug out on one side of the field, not connected to the school.

We went in and registered for school. They went head and gave us our schedules, and told us second period was about to start, I thought we would have gotten a free day of no school, but no such luck for any of us.

Once again I was lost in a new high school. I didn’t want to start over again. I barely got used to Austin, now Newman. By the time I found the class, I was late. When I walked in, I gave the teacher my schedule; she looked at it, and then directed me to take a seat.

The class was boring to say the least, English,. boy do I hate it. The bell rang, I grabbed out my schedule was about to head out when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and there was David standing there with a big smile on his face.

“Hey man! What’s up?”

“Nothing much here” he said. What are you doing here? I thought you went to Austin?”

“I did go to Austin, but my mom moved us in order for my brother to attend school.”

“This is way too cool. I am glad you are here.’

“I am glad to see a face I know.”

“Let me see your schedule so I can help you find the classes.”

David looked at my schedule, and then looked at me.

“I have all the same classes you have except JROTC. I will show you around the school.”

As we headed to the next class, we had to use the stairs. It was taking me a while to climb them.

“Austin had stairs, had did you get around the school?”

“The principal gave me a key to the elevator to use.”

“Well, we will try to do the same here.”

Finally got up the stairs, but got me and David late to class. Lunch was no different here as it was at my other school. I met David’s friends. They were cool, plus they were cool with David being gay. Before the bell rang for fourth period, I was able to get a key to the school’s elevator.

Fifth period was JROTC, and David wasn’t in this class, but he told me where it was. I walked across the street, and there in the parking lot is an old brick building, painted on top of the doors, JROTC. Across from the building were the portables, which I had no classes in.

I open the first door, but it opened to the office, I quickly shut the door. Went to the second door, opened it, and it went into the classroom. All the students were already at their desks. I walked in and didn’t see any instructor’s around. So I headed to the back of the class where there was a door to the office I first saw.

I knocked on the door, at first no answer, so I walked in. The outer office had a desk on one side, then a long table with shelves on the other side. The inner office had two desks, in the further desk was an instructor sitting doing paper work of some kind. He was African American, maybe in his late forty’s, he was wearing his army uniform. I couldn’t see his rank.

“Sir, my name is…..”

The instructor stopped me.

“Did I ask you to come in sir?”

“No sir you didn’t?”

“Did you even knock before you came into my office?”

“Yes sir I did, I assumed you didn’t hear me.”

The instructor got up from his desk, and went to the portable black board in his office. As he was writing the word assume on the board, he was asking me.

“Do you know what it means when you assume sir?”

“No sir I don’t really know.”

“It means that you make an ass of you and me. Don’t you ever assume a thing in my class.”

“Yes sir, I won’t do that again.”

“Wait for roll call to be taken, and hand your schedule the company commander, and he will put you on the class roster. When I have a chance to speak with you, I will call for you.’

I walked out and gave my schedule to the company commander. Nothing more happened in that period. Towards the end, the senior army instructor did call for me, and explained how he ran his program.

The rest of the day went off without any other problems. Andy and I found that we had to take the school bus in order to get home. We reached the buses in time, and got home almost at four.

As the days went by, I was getting used to the new school. I started liking it more and more. David and I were getting closer as the days wore on. I was starting to fall for him; I thought I would never fall for another guy again.

School was coming to an end. There were just two more weeks of my freshmen year. I was excited for the year to end. At lunch that Friday, David pulled me to an open classroom. He closed the door, and turned to me.

“Jake do you ever think the day will come that you will go out with me?”

“David I am falling for you more and more each day. I just don’t want to hurt you because of my last relationship. We didn’t even breakup, he just had to move.”

“I understand that, but could you give me a chance. I have feelings for you, and I want to go out with you.”

“David let me think about it, I promise I will tell you in a couple of days.”

“Ok Jake, that’s all I can ask for. Could you tell me which direction you are leaning?”

David made me laugh, he had a smile I melts hearts.

“I am leaning towards saying yes.”

David jumped up into the air, ran over to me, and pulled me into a hug. He was so happy, it made me happy. I wanted to give him the answer right there, but I wanted to make sure I could move on from Joey. I really love Joey, not past tense, I really do love him.

After David was done hugging me, he leaned in for a kiss. At first I kept my mouth shut, but I just let go. We started moving tongues in each others’ mouths, enjoying the moment. I felt pressing against my thigh, David’s erection. He was hard as a rock.

We broke the kiss and walked out of the room. David had a twinkle in his eye’s that could light up Broadway.

As I was walking to fifth period class, I heard my name being called. I first I thought I recognized the voice, put it couldn’t be. It was my head trying to tell me I was wrong for kissing David. Then I heard my name again, same voice, I knew I wasn’t going crazy.

I turned around, right there in front of me was Joey. It couldn’t be. Joey lives in Arizona. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and then opened them up again. No, I wasn’t day dreaming, Joey was standing right in front of me.

“Joey, is that you?”

“Yes Jake it is.”

We just walked up to him and hugged him, I didn’t care if anyone saw us, and I wanted to feel my Joey again. We let each other go and just stood there looking at each other. I waved for him to follow me.

We walked back to the main building, around where the buses are parked. We stopped and hugged again, but this time we kissed. There was no one around, so I kept kissing him. I let go of Joey finally, still stunned.

“Joey what are you doing here? You are supposed to be in Arizona.”

“Yes I am supposed to be in Arizona, but I ran away. I slept in the streets for a while, afraid to call my family. Finally I was so tired and hungry I gave in, and called my aunt here. She already knew I had run away, and why. She wired me the money for a bus ticket back, and for me to live with her and my uncle. They don’t talk to my mom and dad because of what they did to me.”

“When did you get into town?”

“Three days ago. Today is my first day of classes. Why are you on this side of town? I knew you moved, because the first thing I did was to go and see you. When I knocked on the door, some weird guy answered and said you didn’t live there.”

“Yeah, my mom moved us again in order to get Andy back into school. I also think she was afraid of me going to Austin. When I was in the hospital, there was another drive by shooting.’

“That reminds me fucker, why and the hell didn’t you tell me you were sick again? I had to learn about it over the phone from Chase. You know I would have done anything to be with you.”

“I know you would have. I just didn’t want to put you through all of that again. I had to because I had no choice, but you didn’t.”

“I love you Jake, and that means I will stand by you through good and bad.”

“I know Joey; I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

At that moment I heard someone yelling from the other side of the sidewalk, near the portable‘s. I looked over, and it was David walking towards us. I froze; I didn’t know what to do.

“Hey Jake is this guy bothering you?”

“No David he isn’t, this is Joey.”

David’s jaw dropped to the ground when I said the name. Joey extended his hand for David to shake, but David didn’t move he just stood there, shocked.

TO BE CONTINUED……………

{I am going to close off these chapters a little different now on. Leave the reader wondering. Do you think Jacob is out of the clear health wise? The surprise return of Joey. Will Jacob and Joey pick up from where they left off? Or will David throw a wrench in things? You know Jacob was starting to fall for David, but also wanted to make sure his feeling for Joey were gone. Did Jacob move to the west side of town get him away from the shooters from Austin High School? There are so many questions still need to be answered. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy. Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Remember, the only “pay” an author gets is the feedback of the readers ~!~ Thanks ~!~ I have a home page for you to see what the characters look like or what the places look like. If you want to walk in their shoes, please go to: http://jacobmillertex.com/}

Copyright © 2014 JacobMillerTex; All Rights Reserved.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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It looks like Jacob has a choice to make, since he'd already told David that he was leaning towards saying yes to go out with him. I hope that Joey is able to get back together with Jake and it be like before. 

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Just in the nick of time Joey saved another nightmare how will Joey feel about the contender for Jakes love? How will David feel? 

Like the pace of the story and the makeup of characters, well done.

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