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"everything considered, your friend was extremely lucky. he most likely wouldn't have made it if you call just a few minutes later," the doctor explained. "you can visit him now, he is awake, but we suggest having only a small amount of visitors at a time, like one or two. he will be allowed to go home on tuesday."
all eight men let out a reassured sigh at the same time. this is what they were waiting for.
Joey was fine.
after he was taken into the hospital, Corey, Mick, and Sid decided to stay there with him, while the others went over to Shawn's house and stayed there for the night. in the morning they drove back, and here they were, standing on the clean and shiny floor of the hospital with their dirty boots, getting annoyed looks from the doctors, but that was something they cared the least about.
"thank you for saving his life," Jim said, while the others were nodding. "he really means a lot to us."
the doctor smiled. "no need to thank me, this is what we do. you may go and talk to him now."
as he finished, he turned around and walked away.
"so who's going in first?" Corey asked, hoping that the others will notice what he tried to suggest with his words.
"i think Mick should go first, since he was the one who found him," Sid started, "and you should probably go with him. what do you think?" he turned to the others, to see their reaction, while Corey smiled gently. Sid did notice his will to see Joey as soon as he could, and understood, furthermore helped him. and Corey was incredibly thankful for that.
the others nodded in agreement, and even though it was obvious they wanted to see the man as well, they all conceded that Mick and Corey should be the ones to visit him first.
Corey was the one standing the farthest from the door, so he broke apart from the group to join Mick, who was almost the closest to it, but before going in, he turned to Sid, and gifted him with a few quiet words. "thanks, man."
"anytime, Cor, anytime." he gently patted his shoulder. "now go, tell him he fucking scared all of us."
Corey nodded, then walked next to Mick, and together they opened the door and entered the room.
Joey was there, laying in a white hospital bed, staring through the small window on the wall opposite the door.
Joey watched as the light wind blew the leaves of the tree standing there outside, while several kinds of birds were flying back and forth, bringing food to their fledglings, so they could live another day. just like Joey. except that he wasn't a fledgling, of course.
he wished he could be one of the birds. they were free, happy, they could fly, and they were beautiful. the exact opposites of him. if he was a bird, he could just fly away, have a family, and live as he wanted. oh, wouldn't that be incredible?
