The Accident ••• an AJR Fanfic

• 2: Who am I? •

   "I can't believe he hasn't woken up yet." Adam says. He had shown up about an hour ago, and we'd all just been talking. Trying to distract ourselves.

"Me either. I really hope it's soon." Gracie says. She had returned to her nervous doodling while talking to Adam and Ryan.

"I still can't believe any of this even happened." Ryan says. He was picking at the fabric on the seat of the chair, and had one leg folded.

"Neither can I." Gracie and Adam both say in sync.

Ryan suddenly went quiet and his eyes locked on something.

"I-I think I just saw Jack's hand move."

"R-really?" Gracie says, looking up. She walks over to Jack and his eyes seemed to be starting to open a little.

   Adam and Ryan scurried down the hall to get a doctor and Jack's eyes slowly open. Gracie couldn't say anything, she just looked into his eyes while holding his hand.

   "H-hi." Jack stuttered out, a gentle smile forming on his lips.

   "Hi, hi. I love you, I'm so glad you're okay." She cried, kissing him on the forehead.

   "Wh-" Jack started to say but was interrupted by the doctor appearing in the room, followed by Adam then Ryan.

   "How do you feel, Jack?" The doctor asks.

   "My head is pounding, that's about it." He said, nonchalantly, like this whole thing was no big deal. "But why am I in the hospital?"

   "You had an accident, fell down some stairs, hit your head, fell unconscious. You've been out since early yesterday."

   "O-oh." Jack replied, shakily.

   "Mentally, how do you feel?"

   "I just feel kind of confused. Everything seems kind of fuzzy."

   "What exactly seems fuzzy? Can you specify?"

   "E-everything. Except Gracie. She's the only thing that seems clear to me."

   "How about Ryan and Adam? Do they seem fuzzy?"

   "Ryan and Adam? I don't think I know a Ryan or an Adam?"

   The three of them gasped and a sadness filled the room.

Please be joking. Please be joking. Please be joking.

The sentence repeated over and over in all of their minds. Time moved in slow motion before anything else happened.

"They don't look familiar?" The doctor asked, gesturing to Adam and Ryan.

"N-no. I-I'm sorry."

   In three words, it felt like Jack had sent two knives directly through his brothers hearts. Ryan's mouth fell open and a thick tear slid down his cheek, falling onto the bedsheet. A wave of sobs hit him and he had to excuse himself to the hallway. Adam followed him out, leaving Gracie and the doctor with Jack.

The doctor explains that they want to perform another test on Jack's brain, just to see if they can find anything else out. See if they could do anything about his memory loss.

He leaves to give the few of them time to process everything they'd just been told. Gracie could hear Adam softly attempting to comfort Ryan from the waiting room down the hallway. She so desperately wished she could make everything be okay.

   "W-who are they?" Jack asks, looking guiltily up at Gracie. "Ryan and Adam?"

   "Those are your brothers." She replies, tearing up.

"Oh." Jack said, sadly. He softly grabs her hand. "Can you go tell them I'm sorry? I didn't mean to hurt them." He said, tearing up.

"I think they need some time alone for bit. They'll come back in shortly, I know it." She says, squeezing his hand back and then wiping tears from under her eyes.

"Okay." Jack said, pulling his hand away again. He sat and just stared forward, clearly deep in his thoughts. "Can you tell me about them?"

"Yeah, of course. The one you saw wearing glasses is Ryan, and the other is Adam." She paused, feeling so strange that she was explaining this to him.

"Am I older then them?" He asked.

"No." She chuckled. "You're the youngest. Adam is the oldest and Ryan is the middle brother."

"What are they like?"

"They're so nice, and so loving. You are very close with them, you always have been."

"I feel bad for making them cry." Jack says, looking down at his hands.

"It's okay. You didn't know. It's not your fault any of this happened, that you don't remember them."

"I know, but I still feel badly."

"I know, Jack."

He looked down at his hands for a while, then suddenly asking, "What do I do for work?"

"You're a musician. You, Adam and Ryan have a band together, a very successful one."

"Oh. That sounds so fun!"

"I know." She smiles. "The way you always sing and dance on stage really shows that."

"I'm a singer?"

"Yep. You're the lead singer. Adam and Ryan contribute vocals on occasion, but mostly you. Everyone knows you."

"Oh." Jack said. He looked like he was going to continue speaking, but the doctor walked back through the door.

"We are all ready for the test we were talking about. It should only take about fifteen minutes." The doctor explains.

"Okay." She says, waving a little to Jack as they wheel his bed down the hall to the other room.

She steps out of the room, walking the opposite way down the hall to where she sees Ryan, still red-faced from crying, and sitting curled up on a small couch.

She sits down and wraps her arm around him. He looks at her and another tears rolls down his cheek.

"Are you okay, Ryan?" She asks softly.

"No. My mind feels so clouded and I just can't process anything that's happening." He cries.

"Just take a deep breathe and try to relax. I know it's hard." She pauses. "Where's Adam?"

"He went to the bathroom and to get me a water."

"Oh."

A minute later Adam appeared from around the corner, holding Ryan's bottle of water.

"Thanks." Ryan said, quietly. He sipped the water and took a few deep breaths.

Adam sat down in a chair across from them. "How's Jack?" He asked.

"He's good. They took him back for another test, just to see if they can do anything about, you know." She said.

"Oh, okay."

She debated telling them more, but decided that wasn't something Ryan (or any of them, for that matter) needed to keep dwelling on. They just needed to hope that the doctors would be able to do something.